Social Media Workshop

In the nonprofit world, we are always grappling with how do we adjust our outreach to extend the reach of our message? While more traditional distribution methods, such as personalized outreach are still vital to success, a number of additional methods have emerged to help organizations extend the reach of each of these methods. The internet has opened new social media channels for distribution and outreach. By using a combination of new and traditional methods organizations can expand their reach to tap into a broader audience.

A few ZeroDivide staff members recently attended a workshop titled WeAreMedia: Social Media and Nonprofit Workshop with the intent of immersing ourselves into the world of social media. The folks at NTEN created a very well informed and intense workshop moderated by Beth Kanter. The course was designed to help nonprofits effectively implement a social media strategy to support an organization’s mission.

Beth is trainer, coach, and consultant to nonprofits in the area of effective technology use. She is a professional blogger and writes about the use of social media tools in the nonprofit sector for social change. Her enthusiam and expertise in how to use new web tools (blogging, tagging, wikis, photo sharing, video blogging, screencasting, social networking sites, virtual worlds, etc) was invaluable in creating an enjoyable learning experience.

There were so many “aha” moments for me throughout the two-day workshop but one that is extremely important to perform prior to engaging in any other task is the art of listening. 

Listening is knowing what is being said online about your organization and the field you work in. Why is listening important you ask? It is important because in order for you to serve your constituents, you need to know what your audience is saying about you. You need to be able to respond and address any criticism. You need to be well informed about the latest trends and developments in your field.

To do this properly, you need to employ tools. These tools can be broken down into three categories: 

Monitoring - tools help you find conversations that are important to your organization and issues. For e.g. Technorati, Google Alerts, IceRocket

RSS Readers - software that brings your favorite web and blog content and news to you and lets you read it efficiently. Examples: Bloglines, Google Reader, NetVibes

Social Bookmarking - Online services that allow you to organize, save, and share your bookmarks with other people using tags. Examples: Del.icio.us, Digg, Mag.nolia

This is by no means a complete list but simply the tip of the iceberg on how to begin to effectively use social media. What's exciting about the world of social media is its ability to eliminate the boundaries of traditional media distribution. The social media tools allow your organization to distribute your news to multiple audiences through one vehicle, enabling your news to become viral in nature and continue to give your message momentum. By combining traditional methods with the latest tools and techniques available, it can allow you to cost effectively communicate with each of your target audiences. 

I invite others who attended the workshop to share their insights and share their experience with diving deeper into the social media arena.