This document provides guidance on developing a social media strategy for non-profit organizations. It emphasizes the importance of having a clear strategy and outlines key elements to consider, including setting goals, choosing appropriate platforms, cultivating online communities, creating engaging content, and measuring results. Community engagement and storytelling are presented as important aspects. The document also promotes MyCharityConnects as a free resource for non-profits to learn about technology and social media.

1. Back to Basics: Developing a Social Media
Strategy for Your Organization
April 19, 2012
Generously supported by
PwC Canada:

2. What is CanadaHelps?
A public charitable foundation that provides accessible and
affordable online technology to both donors and charities.
For Charities
A cost-effective means of raising funds online.
For Donors
A one-stop-shop for giving.
CanadaHelps is a charity helping charities.
CanadaHelps is giving made simple.

3. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP 3

4. About PwC
•PwC provides industry focused assurance, advisory and tax
services for public, private and government clients in four areas:
• Corporate Accountability
• Risk management
• Structuring and mergers and acquisitions
• Performance and process improvement
•Part of a global network of firms – 154,000 people in 153 countries
•PwC service areas include our multi-disciplinary Not for Profit
and Sustainable Business Solutions Practices
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP 4

5. PwC Canada Foundation
PwC established a charitable Foundation in 2004.
Its mission is to help
build and empower community leadership
by helping employees sharing their time,
expertise and resources.
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP 5

6. PwC community impacts
The total number of volunteer hours donated by PwC employees
during work hours over the past seven years.
90,000
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP 6

7. How PwC looks at the work of our sector
Thought Leadership
Publication:
Capacity Building: Investing in
not-for-profit effectiveness
Read more about the initiative:
www.pwc.com/ca/capacitybuilding
Twitter: @CSRjames
James Temple
Director, Corporate Responsibility,
PwC
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

8. Who are you?

9. Basic Social Media Strategy

10. It’s time to get deliberate about our use
of social media

11. The #1 factor for
determining success
on social media:
having a strategy.

12. • Canada leads the world in online engagement
• Focus on video: Canadians love YouTube

13. The SECRET TO SOCIAL MEDIA SUCCESS is…

14. Strong Good
COMMUNITY CONTENT
Supported by:
• Structured PLANNING
• Social CULTURE
• Willingness to MEASURE &
LEARN
• ACTIONS

15. Agenda
Be Social
Planning
Community
Content
Measure & Learn

16. Source: Beth Kanter, bethkanter.org

17. BE SOCIAL

18. Letting Go
• Control
• YOUR attachment to
the organization
• Doing what “we’ve
always done”
Opening Up
• To meaningful
involvement from
donors, clients,
volunteers, public
etc…

20. Your
Your CAUSE INSTITUTION

22. Source: The Networked Nonprofit by Allison Fine and Beth Kanter

24.  8pm July 6th
Story posted 5am July
6th

27. Where Do You Fit?

28. • How is your organization embracing
the social culture shift?
• What barriers do you face?
Culture Shift

29. Tips for Getting Buy-In
• Sign people up for tools to reduce fear
(Twitter, Google Reader, alerts etc…)
• Seek out example organizations and show
their success
• Search for your organization & show the
conversation’s already happening

30. Bust Myths
• Bust myths:
– 73% of donors gave online in 2010
– Baby boomers are the biggest cohort of online donors
in Canada
– More than 17 million Canadians use Facebook
– Per capita, Canadians watch more YouTube videos
than any other country

31. Think Social
• Conversation, not
promotion
• Show personality
• Be quick
• Add value

32. Always Be Listening
• Google alerts
• Follow example brands and nonprofits
• Google Reader, Twitter, e-newsletters

33. Plug In to Networks
• Join and participate in conversations
happening online

34. Social By Design (not by accident)
• Put people at the
heart of your
campaign design

35. PLANNING

36. How your organization uses social media
• Marketing and publicity
• Fundraising, donor engagement
and retention
• Connecting with others around
your cause
• Building relationship and online
community
• Collaboration and collective action
• Sharing expertise on our issues
• Movement building and social
change

37. • Gain exposure
• Engagement
• Influence
• Action
• Create lasting
impact
• Offer support
Set Goals
From Don Bartholomew: http://metricsman.wordpress.com/

38. EXAMPLE #1
Collaboration and collective action around an
unfair piece of legislation
GOALS
• Connect with like-minded organizations to
coordinate actions
• Energize an online community to take action

39. Pick the Right Tools
• Which tools best support your goals?
• Where’s your audience?
• What capacity do you have?

40. EXAMPLE #2
Share expertise on our cause within our local
community.
GOALS
• Use our blog to position ourselves as the go-to
source for local media on our issue
• Lead conversations with other local organizations
about key issues relating to our mission.

41. Tools You Can Use
THE BIG FOUR:
• Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn, YouTube
OTHERS TO EXPLORE:
• Blogs, Google+, Tumblr,
Foursquare, Pinterest,
Instagram (now owned by
Facebook)

42. Fish Where the
Fish Are
• 25% of all time
online is spent
on Facebook
• Survey
supporters about
the tools they
use

43. Define Roles
• Determine the right people for executing
social media
• Train accordingly

44. Draft your Social Media Guidelines
• Responsibility
• Transparency
• Copyright
• Proprietary Information

45. Social Media Guidelines
• Privacy and personal
information
• Respect
• Good judgement
• Productivity
• Personal use of social
media

46. COMMUNITY

47. Role of Community
Manager
• Understand & advocate
for the community
• Listen & engage
• Problem solve & prevent
crises
• First point-of-contact
• Lead the community to
action

48. Characteristics of a
Good Community
Manager
• Have a personality
• Be passionate about
the cause
• Care about the
community
• Leadership
• Don’t try to control
• Be prepared

49. Have a Vision for Success
• Strong online communities have a clear rallying cry and
committed members
• What would your ideal online community look like?
• What actions would they take?

50. • Who are they? (Middle-aged men, young
mothers, teens from Parkdale etc…)
• Motivations
• Other communities & online activities
Know Your Community

51. Source: Beth Kanter, bethkanter.org

53. Nurture All Community Members
Happy
Spreaders Donors Evangelists Instigators
Bystanders
Engaging,
Regular Reasons to Resources & Ongoing
interesting
communication give tools support
content
Links to easily Peer-to-peer Recognition
Thanks and
share content fundraising
praise!
Good stories Creative ideas
Stories about
they can
the impact of
spread
their giving
Opportunities
to engage
offline

54. • Statement of purpose for
the community
• Community rules around
respect
• Moderation and deletion
of comments
• Privacy statement
• How you will use the
posts (i.e. marketing
material, fundraising
etc…)
• Prohibited posts
Terms of Use

55. Think Multi-Channel
• Engage on other media
• Collect contact information when possible
• Provide offline opportunities when possible

56. Look Outside
• Find your ideal community on other networks
• Join the ongoing conversation
• Mobilize fundraising campaign with existing
network

57. CONTENT

58. Know Your Audience
• Define your key audiences
• Describe them
– Get specific
– What do they do?
– What do they care about?
– What moves them to action?
• What do we want them to do?

59. Messaging that Gets Remembered
• Simple
• Unexpected
• Concrete
• Credible
• Emotional
• Stories

60. More Principles of Social Content
• Short
• Personal
• Shareable
• Easy calls to action

61. STORIES!
• Stories often make the best content, but
charities are really bad at telling them

62. Tim Horton’s

64. • Remember the number ONE
• Focus on HOPE, HUMOUR, SURPRISE,
EMPATHY [less on fear, anger, hurt]
• Appeal to IDENTITY (from Made to Stick)
PRINCIPLES OF GOOD STORYTELLING

66. Other Good Social Content
• Resources, useful information, educational… but
make it stick
• Events/urgencies
• Controversies, thought-provokers
• Reviews
• Questions, conversation-starters

67. Stats & Data
• Use with caution
• Make them concrete
• Make them relevant
• Focus on one stat at a
time

68. The rule of thirds

69. • Re-use existing
content,
ADAPTED TO
SOCIAL
PLATFORMS
• Use content
across
platforms
Recycle Content

71. Content for Fundraising
• Stories about impact
• Peer-to-peer
campaigns
• Clear, concrete calls
to action

72. MEASURE & LEARN

73. STEP 1: Set Clear Objectives
• Review your goals
• Set measurable
objectives that will
allow you to achieve
your goals

74. Smart Objectives
• Specific
• Measurable
• Actionable
• Realistic
• Time-specific

75. EXAMPLE #2
Share expertise on our cause within our local
community.
GOALS
• Use our blog to position ourselves as the go-to
source for local media on our issue
• Lead conversations with other local organizations
about key issues relating to our mission.

76. Smart Objectives
• Increase blog subscribers by
50% over the next 12 months
• 30% of blog posts contain
active discussion in the
comments about the issues
raised – more than 3
comments
• Increase website traffic from
blog by 100% over next 12
months
• Increase media calls related to
blog topics by 25% over the
next two years.

77. STEP 2: Select Metrics

78. Social Media Data
• Subscribers/ Unsubscribes
• Followers/ Unfollows
• Comments/ Unique commenters
• Favourites
• Video/photo views
• Retweets
• Likes
• Page/post views
• # of posts

79. Social Media Data
• Most popular posts
• Conversations
• Feedback
• Repeat supporters
• Comments
• Recommendations
• Click-throughs
• Donations
• Sign-ups

80. Your Measurement Tools
• Google Analytics
• Google Alerts
• Twitter search
• Facebook Insights
• Blog statistics
• Hootsuite
• Bit.ly & other link
trackers (Trick.ly)
• Surveys

81. Spreadsheets!

82. STEP 3: Learn & Take Action!

83. Take Action
• Listen, learn, and adapt.
• Which posts generate conversation and
sharing? Which don’t?

84. Try an Experiment!
• Try a time-limited
experiment on one
of the tools
• Reflect on what
worked and what
didn’t

85. Strong Good
COMMUNITY CONTENT
Supported by:
• Structured PLANNING
• Social CULTURE
• Willingness to MEASURE &
LEARN
• ACTIONS

86. ABOUT MYCHARITYCONNECTS

87. www.mycharityconnects.org
free online resources
 Information about
technology and social media
 Webinars
 Past webinar slides
 Learning opportunities
 Events across the country

88. MyCharityConnects Conference 2012
JUNE 12 – 13 | Allstream Centre, Toronto
Collaborate to build a stronger sector.
Innovate to solve complex problems.
Celebrate our work and the difference we’re making.
• Join non-profits from across Canada and social media
experts for the premier social media and online
fundraising learning opportunity of the year.
• Registration opens in February
www.mycharityconnects.org/conference

89. 2012 MyCharityConnects Webinars
www.mycharityconnects.org/webinars
Join us for these FREE online information sessions that cover topics relating to online technology,
social media and fundraising. Registration is open to employees, volunteers, and board members of
Canadian charities and nonprofits.
April 25 - Essential Twitter Tips for Your Charity
May 9 - Preparing for a Website Redesign
May 23 - Editorial Calendar Essentials: Organize &
Plan Your Online Communications
June 27 - Elements of a Great YouTube Video

90. 2012 MyCharityConnects Workshops
www.mycharityconnects.org/workshops
CanadaHelps often conducts workshops on the topics of online fundraising and social media in
communities across Canada. Registration is open to employees, volunteers, and board members of
Canadian charities and nonprofits.
Rationalizing Social Media: Strategy and Cost-Benfit Analysis of
Fundraising through Social Media
• April 19 – Victoria, BC (generously supported by PwC; presented in
collaboration with United Way of Greater Victoria)
Back to Basics: Developing a Social Media Strategy for Your Organization
• April 26 – Barrie, ON (presented in collaboration with Barrie Public
Library)

91. for more great resources…

92. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

93. Questions?
THANK YOU!
karag@canadahelps.org
@CanadaHelps
www.mycharityconnects.org
Generously supported
by PwC Canada: