{"id":2271,"date":"2013-06-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/?p=2271"},"modified":"2024-05-08T17:47:28","modified_gmt":"2024-05-08T17:47:28","slug":"nonprofit-community-engagement-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/blog\/nonprofit-community-engagement-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Engagement is Useless"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-2284\" title=\"online community management\" src=\"https:\/\/causevox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/online-community-management-e1367418780111.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"391\" height=\"452\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Only if you do it incorrectly!<\/p>\n<p>Deb Ng\u2019s, author of Online Community Management for Dummies,\u00a0post over at Kommein about smart ways to engage your community, especially through social media, got us thinking about the best practices for nonprofits.\u00a0 Many of the same rules apply to nonprofits as to standard businesses.\u00a0 As Deb noted:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>First, communication is a two-way street.<\/strong>\u00a0 Don\u2019t talk <em>at<\/em> your contacts and fans, talk <em>with<\/em> them.\u00a0 Read and respond directly to their posts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Second, be relevant.<\/strong>\u00a0 Don\u2019t post things that are off-topic just to try to get interactions.\u00a0 Stick to what makes sense for your organization.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Those are just two of the basics, but for a nonprofit, there are specialized concerns that you should keep in mind.<\/p>\n<p>First, focus on the reasons that drove your fans and supporters to Like or Follow your page in the first place.\u00a0 They connected emotionally to your cause (or are close to someone who did), and that connection should be nurtured.\u00a0 Updates about your activities, or things that affect your cause in a broader context, are always welcome.\u00a0 You can also share challenges that your organization faces or success stories.\u00a0 And things don\u2019t always have to be \u201cheavy:\u201d you can post a funny picture from a post-fundraiser mess, share a video from a partner organization that you like, or anything else that might be interesting to your community.\u00a0 But with any of these things, here\u2019s the key:<\/p>\n<p><em>Drive a conversation<\/em>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Updates.<\/strong>\u00a0 If you\u2019re updating supporters on your activities, ask what they think you should tackle next.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Networking.<\/strong>\u00a0 If there\u2019s relevant news from a location outside your territory, ask your supporters if they know someone who might like to help your org get involved there.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Troubles.<\/strong>\u00a0 If you\u2019re talking about challenges, ask how they might resolve them, or ask them to share their own relevant troubles.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Good news.<\/strong>\u00a0 If you\u2019re sharing success stories, ask if they have any to add.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The goal is not just to get supporters talking to you for the sake of chatter, but also to share useful information, feedback, and advice between your org and the community.\u00a0 This ties directly into the second most important part of community engagement:<\/p>\n<p><em>Show that they helped you.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Incorporate their ideas into your activities, respond to their suggestions, invite a supporter to help lead an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/fundraising-events\/\">event<\/a>, and take other actions that demonstrate the value of their thoughts.\u00a0 The more you <em>use<\/em> the things they share, the more they will be inspired to <em>share<\/em>.\u00a0 And that\u2019s a good thing.<\/p>\n<p>It all begins with effective community engagement.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/kommein.com\/engaging-with-your-community-so-you-actually-learn-from-them\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Read Deb&#8217;s post on her blog here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Only if you do it incorrectly! Deb Ng\u2019s, author of Online Community Management for Dummies,\u00a0post over at Kommein about smart ways to engage your community, especially through social media, got us thinking about the best practices for nonprofits.\u00a0 Many of the same rules apply to nonprofits as to standard businesses.\u00a0 As Deb noted: First, communication [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Olivia Hosey","author_link":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/author\/ohosey\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2271\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}