You’ve got social media covered. Facebook? Please—you were an early adopter. And Twitter? You could do 140 characters or less in your sleep. But you’re just scratching the surface with those two mainstream social media sites.
At the 2014 AFP International Conference on Fundraising in San Antonio, Lisa Chmiola and David Tinker helped us through some of the lesser known social media sites that can help your nonprofit with efficiency and productivity.
1. About.me
Your mission is all about helping other people. But this is a social media platform designed to be all about you. Don’t worry, it’ll help people understand the real ‘you.’ Basically, About.me houses all of your social media accounts and links in one place. You can set up an individual page, or one for your organization.
How it works for nonprofits: This is a chance for you to link all of your social media profiles into one and give your constituents a real understanding of what makes your organization tick. Sort of like your website should do, give your organization a public face on the web.
2. Crowdtilt
This is a crowdfunding site that your organization can use to fundraise. When the campaign “tilts” (reaches the goal) then everybody’s cards are charged and you’ll get the funds. Plus, you get each donor’s name, email, contribution amount and contribution date.
Nonprofits pay a 2.5% transaction fee, and in return receive social media widgets and donor receipts. Plus, you could have donors pay the 2.5% transaction fee if you’re upfront with them.
How it works for nonprofits: This would be a great site to use when suggesting a platform for third-party events, or even for small crowdfunding projects for your organization. You won’t want to use it for everything, but this works especially well for small projects.
3. Delicious
It’s the worst when you want to remember a site and then can’t find it later. Or, maybe you bookmarked it and still can’t sort through your tabs. That’s where Delicious comes in. It’s a social bookmarking tool that comes with annotated notes, tags and links so you can save, organize and discover new content.
How it works for nonprofits: This makes your content gathering easy. Find sites that provide information directly related to your nonprofit’s cause and then use Delicious to quickly find content to post. It’s an easy way to organize your nonprofit’s life.
4. Foursquare
This is a geolocation social media tool where people can use their smartphones to “check-in” to a location (aka your organization). Businesses offer discounts and ads for people that check-in each time they’re on site.
How it works for nonprofits: Not sure how Foursquare fits into your organization? Just take the American Red Cross as an example. They use Foursquare to create partner badges. When people check in X number of times, they receive a badge from the application. Plus, it’s like free advertising for your organization when constituents check-in. Their friends can see where they’ve been.
5. IFTTT (If This, Then That)
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. You learned that in science class. But now, it applies to social media. If you do one thing (the trigger) then this will happen (the action). For example, if you always want to save photos that you take with Instagram to your Dropbox folder, IFTTT will automatically do that for you. If Instagram, then Dropbox. And there are 87 social media channels that you can hook up to IFTTT.
How it works for nonprofits: What we all want and need as nonprofit professionals is efficiency. And we need ways to make our jobs easier so that we can focus on the mission. This site helps us eliminate some of the steps and streamline the process.
6. Paper.li
“Create your online newspaper in minutes.” Paper.li allows you to find different sources and customize a newspaper. It’s a news aggregator that pulls from your social media feed to create an e-newspaper that you can send out. Free and pro versions are offered.
How it works for nonprofits: This helps you be a voice for whatever cause you’re advocating. Find key influencers out in the world who are advocating for the same message as you and link to them in your Paper.li. Build relationships.
7. Pinterest
Pinterest is a content sharing service that allows users to virtually “pin” photos, videos and other content onto virtual “boards.” Other users can then chose to repin that content, allowing your content to circulate the site. As of June 2013, there were 70 million users, and 30 percent of those were active.
How it works for nonprofits: Use Pinterest to drive traffic back to your organization’s website. Be visual and share compelling imagery so users will want to pin your content. It’ll help expand your organization’s online presence and reach.
8. Slideshare
Once you’re done with the presentation, what do you do with it? Most of the time, people want to see the presentation after you’ve completed it. That’s where Slideshare comes into play. Slideshare allows users to upload various document formats, including PDFs, videos & webinars to a site where people can locate them easily and efficiently. Plus, Slideshare partners with several resources including LinkedIn, Twitter and FreeConference.com. You can upload the presentations either publicly or privately.
How it works for nonprofits: Get important information to your volunteers after a training session. Share your latest presentation with donors and board members. Still looking for ideas? This is how the National Wildlife Federation uses Slideshare to connect with constituents.
9. Snapchat
It’s all this craze with the younger population. Snapchat is an instant messaging app for photos. Send a “snap” to your friends and it disappears after up to 10 seconds. You can also add the snaps to your story, where people can view it for longer without it disappearing.
How it works for nonprofits: Use the storytelling feature to come up with ways to showcase the work your volunteers are doing. Thank them, be fun and be inviting. It could help you build your reputation and gain more emphatic followers of your nonprofit brand.
10. Storify
This is the site you want by your side after a major social media event. Storify creates stories from social media feeds and can be useful for a conference or reporting.
How it works for nonprofits: Recap your last Twitter chat or Storify information from the latest nonprofit conference. Check out how UNICEF is using Storify to get some ideas for your NPO.
11. Tumblr
Tumblr is a microblogging site owned by Yahoo!. There are already more than 160 million blogs, and more than 70 billion posts. What’s your nonprofit waiting for?
How it works for nonprofits: In the age where content marketing is everything, use this as a platform to publish your work to the universe. Also, gain traction and a following through discovering other blogs that relate to your mission. Check out the San Francisco Ballet Tumblr site, or the Philadelphia Museum of Art to see how nonprofit organizations are using the site.
12. Vine
Vine is the first video sharing app, owned by Twitter. It allows users to capture a 6-second clip and loops the content.
How it works for nonprofits: This is another great opportunity to interact with users by creating clips that show off your organization’s personality. Check out how these nonprofits are making the most of Vine.
13. Zillow
Zillow is a social media site for home buyers, renters and real estate in general.
How it works for nonprofits: Chmiola and Tinker suggest using this real estate site for prospect research.
That caps the list that Chmiola and Tinker put together of unique social media sites that your nonprofit could be utilizing. What other lesser known sites has your organization found to be valuable?
