http://www.spiral16.com What are the basic best practices for nonprofits on Twitter and Facebook? If you haven’t started a Facebook or Twitter profile for your nonprofit, chances are your goal is probably very simple. You want to engage people, make connections, and be able to leverage that following for fundraising. Here are some fundamentals for accomplishing that goal on the two biggest and most-used social networks for nonprofits. If you are a beginner and you haven’t even put a profile together before, these tips for nonprofits will be very useful. The last half of the presentation covers storytelling (especially through photos) and some steps to make sure you are connecting with people online to drive advocacy and community.

1. Twitter/Facebook
Basics & Storytelling
Eric Melin #EWBUSA2012
@SceneStealrEric
@EWBUSASunflower
@Spiral16

2. Spiral16 Overview
Spiral16 provides a robust software platform with
customized services for Internet tracking, analysis, and
reporting.
Spiral16 gives companies the key insights they need
from the web and social media to make smarter
decisions and gain a competitive edge.
11/3/2012 #EWBUSA2012 2

3. Nonprofit Opportunity
• Online fundraising continues to
grow with 73% of organizations
raising more in 2011 than 2010
• Online giving continues to grow
fastest for small organizations
• Advocacy continues to play a
key role in online engagement
- 2012 Convio Online Marketing Nonprofit Benchmark Index™ Study
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4. Goals on Social Media
If you haven’t started a Facebook or Twitter profile for
your nonprofit, chances are your goal is probably very
simple.
You want to:
• Engage people
• Make connections
And then…
Leverage followings
for fundraising and advocacy
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5. Where Do You Start?

6. Fundamentals of Twitter
Name Twitter account according to org conventions, but…
Make it easy to remember.
1. Upload a square logo
2. Upload an appealing
header
image that
doesn’t contain
your logo.
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7. Fundamentals of Twitter
Be honest and real.
Use your own voice.
Stay positive.
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8. Fundamentals of Twitter
Tweet interesting news
from across the web.
If it’s not directly related
to your cause, find a
way to do that.
Know your audience
and the outlying topics
they’d be interested in.
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9. Fundamentals of Twitter
60% of your content
should be from other
sources.
30% should be
conversation.
10% should be your
own content.
When sharing links,
remember to @ people
and give them credit.
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10. Fundamentals of Twitter
Follow and engage
strategically.
Twitter has a great
suggestion tool now, but
you can also use
advanced search to find
people talking about
pertinent subjects.
https://twitter.com/
search-advanced
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11. Fundamentals of Twitter
Live-tweet your events
and others’.
Meeting people in the
real world and following
them on Twitter can
cement relationships.
P.S. Don’t “protect” your
account!
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12. Fundamentals of Twitter
Spread out your tweets.
Don’t do a bunch in a row.
Decide a frequency and stick with
it.
Schedule tweets using free tools
like HootSuite or TweetDeck.
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13. Support others and
they’ll support you.
Respond
Engage
Retweet
Follow
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14. Support others and
they’ll support you.
Respond
Engage
Retweet
Follow
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15. Fundamentals of Twitter
What is a retweet and how can I do it?
An RT is a simple way to share others’ content.
You can do that manually by placing an RT before
somebody’s tweet or within the Twitter system.
RT within Twitter – hit button
Manual RT – type RT, copy/paste
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16. Fundamentals of Twitter
If you RT within Twitter, you can’t add your own
comment, so I prefer the manual RT method.
When adding a comment/question, do it before the RT.
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17. Fundamentals of Twitter
What are hashtags?
Think of a hashtag as a live
chatroom on a specific subject.
Click to discover discussions on
topics you’re interested in and
find people to follow who are
also interested in those topics.
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18. Fundamentals of Twitter
Expand your reach.
When you use a
hashtag in your
tweet, it goes out to
anyone following it …
not just your
followers.
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19. Fundamentals of Twitter
Add a Twitter
plugin to your
website.
It promotes your
content and
encourages
follows!
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20. Fundamentals of Facebook
Upload logo as profile photo first, than an eye-catching
photo for cover.
The cover image will have to be larger and hi-res.
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21. Fundamentals of Facebook
Select a custom URL for your page so it’s easy for people
to find it.
http://www.facebook.com/username
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22. Fundamentals of Facebook
Decide how many administrators from your organization
you will need and add them.
Admins can suggest to friends that they like a page, which
is a great way to get started building an audience.
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23. Fundamentals of Facebook
Tell your story!
You must engage fans and members of your group to
like, comment, share.
This is the only way your posts will ever be seen by others.
Interaction boosts the likelihood that others will see you
in their News Feed.
To boost engagement, ask questions of your audience and
respond to them when they leave comments. Make them
feel welcome and supported and they’ll keep coming
back.
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24. Fundamentals of Facebook
Use photos and videos!
People are more likely to comprehend a message quickly
through a photo and way more likely to like, comment or
share a photo than a link or text-only post.
Videos take a bit more
investment in time, but
they often include
images and are also
attractive to share.
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25. Fundamentals of Facebook
Create Facebook
Events
Invite people. Discuss
the event.
Invited people can see
posts on that page,
which may help them
make up their mind.
Invite people
strategically.
Don’t spam.
25

26. Fundamentals of Facebook
Engage other groups/orgs and always tag them
(which means “like” them first).
If you want people to spread your content, spread theirs.
If your goals are similarly aligned, your supporters will
enjoy hearing about other orgs as well.
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27. How to Engage?
People will forget what you said.
People will forget what you did.
But people will never forget how
you made them feel.
- Maya Angelou
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28. Stories Convey Passion
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29. Stories Are
Inspirational
Stories Connect
People to Your Cause
Stories Raise More
Money and More
Awareness
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30. Storytelling Tips
Nonprofit stories have the unique ability to allow people
to feel and want to be a part of something bigger.
• Think about the stories that surround your mission.
• Share inspiring stories at meetings.
• Create an organizational story bank to record them.
• Be patient. The best stories aren’t always the ones that
jump out at you. Sometimes the real stories are the
ones you only notice after interacting with people
several times.
http://www.socialbrite.org/
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31. Telling a Story With Pictures
May/June 2012
Site Assessment
Trip to
Guatemala
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32. Challenge: Explaining What We Do
What works better? This:
About
Our PASSION is to make a difference! Engineers Without Borders-
USA: Sunflower State Professionals is a non-profit humanitarian
organization of Kansas professionals established to support
community-driven development programs worldwide.
Mission
EWB-USA supports community-driven development programs
worldwide by collaborating with local partners to design and
implement sustainable engineering projects, while creating
transformative experiences and responsible leaders.
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33. Challenge: Explaining What We Do
Or This:
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34. Reach = # of people who have seen post
Engaged Users = # of people who have clicked on post
Talking About This = # of people who shared, liked, commented
Virality = % of people who have created a story from post
Late April/Early May Daily Averages:
Reach: 78
Engaged Users: 3.7
Talking About This: 1.8
Virality: 3.1%
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35. Human Interest w/ Captions
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36. Tapping Into Curiosity
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37. How Culture is Different
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38. 11/3/2012 #EWBUSA2012 38

39. Daily Averages for Guatemala Photo Album:
Reach: 355 (+277 people)
Engaged Users: 116 (+112.3 people)
Talking About This: 26 (+24.2 people)
Virality: 7.2% (+4.1%)
Photos introduce then reinforce the message of the group and
… humanize both the organization and the Ch’orti’ Maya.
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40. Before & After Photo Album Stats
700
Matasano photo album begins
600
500
Daily People Talking About This
400
Daily Page Engaged Users
300
Daily Total Reach
200
Daily Viral Reach
100
0
5/2/12
5/7/12
6/1/12
6/6/12
4/22/12
4/27/12
5/12/12
5/17/12
5/22/12
5/27/12
6/11/12
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41. steps to tell great stories

42. 1. Connect the string of facts to find the
story.
2. Push beyond the facts. Tell a simple
truth of your organization and/or
humanity. Get creative.
3. Think of the difference you make as a
movie—with a beginning, middle and
end.
4. What is catalytic? What brings people
together?
- Dan Portnoy, The Non-Profit Narrative
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43. Effective Storytelling
“The Force” Volkswagen commercial
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44. Using the 4 Steps
1. Facts: Passat demo – nice house, family, children of the
70s. Benefit: remote start.
2. Push beyond the facts: Passat makes people feel good
about themselves, can create special moments with your
family.
3. Beginning: Kid with imagination. Middle: Kid struggles to
feed imagination. End: Kid succeeds and is stunned!
4. Truth about being human: Imagination rewarded:
Moments like this bring people closer together.
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45. Social Media Case Study
Storytelling & Call to Action
The Goal: The Hurdle: A two-step
Win the contest registration process & single-
to open for vote limit.
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46. Social Media Case Study
Storytelling & Call to Action
Goal: Get more online votes than the other four bands.
Strategy: Mobilize friends and family to spread the word on
Facebook/Twitter
Assets: Links to our music, blogs on my site, band site
Problems: Voters have to register as a FoxFanatic first and
confirm through their email. Then they could only vote once.
Not easy to explain, too many steps, not easy-to-share
instructions.
Bottom Line: We needed to tell a story that would resonate
enough to make strangers want to register, vote, and share.
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47. 4 Steps
1. Facts: The Dead Girls are big KISS fans and would
make an excellent opener.
2. Push beyond the facts: They are all huge KISS
fans, have been since they were kids. Help make a
dream come true.
3. Beginning: 7-year-old kid dresses up as KISS.
Middle: KISS inspires him to play music, which he
does for almost 20 years. End: Give the story a
happy ending.
4. Truth about being human: As cheesy as it
sounds, you can make a dream come true.
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48. How to Make Story Resonate?
It’s a good story, but how
do you tell it?
Saying
“Please vote for us!”
With pictures of the band
an mp3s of the music
ain’t gonna
do it.
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49. Visuals Make the Story
Eden Prairie, MN at Granny’s House
We had yet to hear KISS'
music, but I knew them
from the KISS cards I had
gotten at the grocery
store.
So we lip-synced and
mimed our "instruments"
to the only 45 record I
had--Glen Campbell's
"Rhinestone Cowboy."
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50. Tapped Into Nostalgia
and Basic Human Emotions
We knew the Space
Ace, Catman, and
Demon, but no one
wanted to be Paul Stanley
cuz he only had a star on
his face and we didn't
know his name (It was
Starchild!).
Our cousin Julie had to
take his role, it was
decided, and we called
his character
"Poopyman."
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51. Put a Face on the Campaign
(Or a Blank Slate Anyone Could Identify With)
Placemats for
drums, crayons for sticks,
Lite Brite logo:
Ready to rock!
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52. The Result? Dreams Do Come True
/
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53. Eric Melin #EWBUSA2012
@SceneStealrEric
@EWBUSASunflower
@Spiral16