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When\u2019s the last time you evaluated your not-for-profit\u2019s social media strategy? Are you using the right platforms in the most effective way, given your mission, audience and staffing resources? Do you have controls to protect your nonprofit from reputation-damaging content?<\/p>\n
These are important questions \u2014 and it\u2019s critical you review them regularly. At the very least, you need a social media policy that sets some ground\u00a0rules.<\/p>\n
Annual reviews<\/strong><\/p>\n As you know, the social media landscape changes quickly. The platform that\u2019s hot today may be decidedly not hot tomorrow. So review your online presence at least once a year to help ensure you\u2019re dedicating resources to the right spaces. Most nonprofits maintain a presence on Facebook and LinkedIn because that\u2019s where likely donors tend to be. But if you\u2019re an arts nonprofit or visually oriented, Instagram may be a better venue. And if your constituents are teenagers or young adults, you\u2019re most likely to find them on\u00a0TikTok.<\/p>\n In general, fresher, frequently updated accounts get more traffic and engagement. So try not to overextend your organization by posting on multiple platforms with only limited staff resources. Determine where you\u2019ll get the most bang for your buck by surveying supporters and observing where peer nonprofits\u00a0post.<\/p>\n Content monitoring<\/strong><\/p>\n Social media is 24\/7, and incidents can escalate quickly. So closely monitor your accounts, as well as conversations that refer to your nonprofit. A \u201csocial listening\u201d tool that scans the web for your nonprofit\u2019s name can be extremely\u00a0helpful.<\/p>\n But the best defense against reputation-busting events is a formal social media policy. Your policy should set clear boundaries about the types of material that are and aren\u2019t permissible on your nonprofit\u2019s official accounts and those of\u00a0staffers.<\/p>\n For example, it should prohibit employees, board members and volunteers from discussing nonpublic information about your organization on their personal accounts. With organizational accounts, limit access to passwords and regularly check posts and comments. Content from your feeds can easily go viral and create controversy. Make sure your staff knows when to engage with visitors, particularly difficult ones, and maintains a zero-tolerance policy for offensive comments.<\/p>\n Crisis plan<\/strong><\/p>\n Mistakes, or even intentionally damaging posts, can occur despite comprehensive policies. Create a formal response plan so you\u2019ll be able to weather such events. The plan should assign responsibilities and include contact information for multiple spokespersons, such as your executive director and board president. Identify specific triggers and a menu of potential responses, such as issuing a press release or bringing in a crisis management expert. Be sure to include IP staffers or consultants on your\u00a0list.<\/p>\n Hopefully, a crisis won\u2019t occur. But if it does, you\u2019ll want to sit down and review your plan\u2019s effectiveness after the situation has been resolved.<\/p>\n Select and protect<\/strong><\/p>\n These days, no nonprofit can afford to ignore social media. Just make sure you\u2019re applying your time and effort to the right platforms and protecting your accounts from those who would harm your organization.<\/p>\n \u00a9 2024<\/em><\/p>\n <\/body> When\u2019s the last time you evaluated your not-for-profit\u2019s social media strategy? Are you using the right platforms in the most effective way, given your mission, audience and staffing resources? Do you have controls to protect your nonprofit from reputation-damaging content? These are important questions \u2014 and it\u2019s critical you review them regularly. At the very […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,10,15],"tags":[8,11,12],"class_list":["post-16852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-news","category-not-for-profit","tag-articles","tag-news","tag-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16852"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16853,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16852\/revisions\/16853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sfw.cpa\/news-and-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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