Social Media: A Bubble About to Burst

Are your nonprofit staffers addicted to social media? Do they feel that one day Twitter and Facebook are going to bring in the big bucks and build a huge base of activists that will come to your organization’s rescue when you need their help the most? Perhaps when you're working on passing one of the most important legislative bills in your organization’s history? Well, I wish you lots of luck and good fortune.

Don’t get me wrong, some wonderful initiatives have been leveraged via social media. The inspiring Tweetsgiving, developed by Epic Change, raised over $55K over the last three Thanksgiving holidays to build schools in Tanzania. Twestival raised $1.2 million within 14 months for 137 nonprofits.  The American Red Cross reached millions of people on Twitter and Facebook after the tragic earthquake hit Haiti and raised a historic amount of money via a "text to donate" campaign. But these examples are rarities. That’s why they are often highlighted in case studies – because they stand out from the rest of the nonprofit sector, which has seen a limited return on their social media investments in the last four years.

Nonprofits have also had some degree of success targeting politicians publicly on Twitter and Facebook and "tweet bombing" them around legislation. There’s value in putting politicians in the hot seat. It makes for a good news hook and can help fire up a campaign, but how much has organizing around social media truly moved the needle around key legislative battles? That’s the important question to ask.

For the past couple of years, I have encouraged Frogloop readers to integrate social media as PART of their communications and outreach to raise awareness and foster discussions. I still stand by that position. But the growing obsession with social media – in particular thinking Twitter and Facebook is a silver bullet for list growth, website visits, and donations –  is misinformed and just bad strategy. 

"I think people are becoming obsessed with social media because in an era of difficult fundraising, it's perceived as a quick buck – which couldn't be further from the truth.  I also think it's systemic – nonprofits want to appear "innovative" to funders & the media who too often believe innovation is a more relevant criteria than impact," said Stacey Monk, Co-Founder of Epic Change.

One reason some nonprofits gravitate towards social media is they think that it’s a free way to reach millions of people. But, social media is not free. It can be extremely staff-intensive (which equals money), especially since nonprofits are not selling products like Dell Computers, but rather trying to create social change locally or across the world. No easy feat.

As you know, many of the nonprofits that started 80 years ago such as the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association still exist today because they have not reached their ultimate goals – curing these terrible diseases that kill at least 590,000 Americans every year. It’s going to take more donors, funded research, and people lobbying for legislation across ALL channels (email, direct mail, phone, up close and personal, broad and targeted earned media, and social media) to make progress. But social media alone will not win us victories.

In the past four years, we have witnessed social media transition from a social space to a medium that often feels like a competitive public relations arena filled with “influencers” who have so-called Klout and strategists who have made money on empty promises. 

"To be honest, it's so crowded and very few people are listening to the open stream anymore.  That was quite different when we originally launched TweetsGiving," said Monk.

So the next time someone tells your nonprofit that social media is the bees knees, ask them to show you social media's ROI – aka its direct impact on nonprofits. Ask them to show you the increase in memberships and donations across the nonprofit sector and the evidence that more people are calling or meeting with their members of Congress to lobby for legislation. Ask for proof that the needle is being moved.

Social media as a fundraising, list building, and organizing tool has been inflated for four years. How much longer can nonprofits afford to significantly over-invest in it, before the bubble bursts? #JustSayin

Comments

[tomjf]

Hi Allyson, thanks for the great post. I completely agree with you that there are many dimensions of social media which may not be delivering for nonprofits as promised. When it comes to the hard-fought work of passing legislation, it usually takes much more than just a good social media strategy, as you point out. Social media is just one part of this equation, a chance to reach, engage and inspire new people. But if you don't then have a real way to utilize this engagement, beyond asking for money, you won't go far. But I don't think this is the whole story either. There's mention of innovation being a value separate to impact but it's not the only value a genuine social media presence conveys to funders and others. There's also openness, accessibility and responsiveness. If you are not part of social media I would automatically question how open and accessible, as well as innovative, you are. And this would make me much less likely to get involved. And if people aren't being involved, if you're not about inspiring people to do better through your communication, I'm skeptical about what sort of impact you are going to have.

So I think we all agree that social media is insufficient, but that doesn't mean it's not necessary.

[ephraim]

thank you! thank you! thank you!

have had this argument with numerous nonprofit leaders...
will be forwarding them the article

[Allyson Kapin]

Thanks Tom. Very thoughtful response and I agree with a lot of what you said, though I don't think having a presence on social media shows innovation (not saying you said that) but some funders (not all) do make those connections as Stacey mentioned because they have been taken in by the hype too. I would love to see more social media educators or realists in the space working with nonprofits and foundations to address some of these issues.

[Allyson Kapin]

Ephraim, thanks. Would love to hear their feedback after reading the post.

[Blase Ciabaton]

Allyson, thanks for having the courage to share this! I think this is a brave post which represents a lot of what people in the nonprofit community are thinking, but are probably afraid to say. I do think that getting involved in the conversation via social media has value, but it's not a substitute for proven fundraising methods, and other proven techniques for interacting with donors.

I get concerned when I see nonprofits reduce their direct mail fundraising campaigns because they're investing in social media. As you mention in your post, it's an easy argument to make because the investments in social media are typically time investments while investing in traditional fundraising involves investing real dollars.

I do think there's a place for injecting social media into the mix for almost all nonprofits, but like you I'm concerned that right now it's a bit over-hyped. Thanks again! Blase

[Danny Brown]

Great conversation starter, Allyson, and one that's sure to have a slew of different opinions.

From my own experience, I see it more as a lack of understanding and risk-taking as I do the medium itself. But then, this could be said of offline initiatives as well.

NP's see success stories like Tweetsgiving, Twestival, 12for12k (disclosure - I founded this program) and others and think it's an easy "in" to achieve the same success. The problem is, they're not employing anyone that understands the nuances of the space, or how to best use different platforms (if at all).

That's not so much the NP's problem as it is the funders of it. And then you get all the red tape that can often come with dealing with NP's (we supported UNICEF USA and they were a nightmare). It's too much of a quagmire at times.

There's no easy solution; but there does need to be a shift in mindsets (and employing social media folks as well as non-profit consultants) if you want to mesh the two effectively.

[Andrea Bona]

Allyson, thank you, someone had to talk about the emperor having no clothes. I believe social media is a great part of a muli-channel marketing and communications program, but as you so beautifully put it, it isn't a silver bullet.

[Allyson Kapin]

Danny, you're right - there needs to a shift in mindsets at nonprofits. I feel that social media works when it's integrated across communications, marketing, outreach, fundraising, etc. and not siloed. That's the problem with traditional fundraisng and organizing right now. You have your fundraising team working in one part of the office and your advocacy people working on the other side of the office and your social media staff in the middle of the office and they often compete with each other - instead of integrating all of their work into a well crafted and synchronized campaign. I'm not really sure social media consultants can come in and save the day. It's going to take a culture change inside nonprofits.

[Danny Brown]

Oh, agree on the "consultants saving the day" being a load of bunkum. :)

That said, get the right people in with the right social media strategy - one that complements existing programs and helps plan future ones based on online trends - and it's got to be better than the struggles that NP's are experiencing.

Of course, then you have the problem of vetting which consultants or agencies are legit, and which ones are looking to make a fast buck just because they've read The Tipping Point. ;-)

[Jason Mogus]

After all the hype, I guess the new trend is to dismiss social media as not cool anymore. Swing! I'm with ya, the hype is crazy, and there are a lot of ungrounded ideas and people sprinkling fairy dust. Even that was kind of useful to get slow-moving NPO's to pay attention, but as one senior friend in the field recently said: "you can't just be an evangelist anymore, you actually have to do something now".

So agreed social media has crappy conversions to traditional list-building and fundraising metrics NPO's live on. But NPO's are also in the culture and opinion change business, and other than traditional media - which are difficult and expensive to get into - social and digital channels are direct, and can be hugely influential in spreading new ideas, damaging bad-guy reputations, and building movements.

Social media isn't just communications, it's everything the NGO does. Measuring its impact only by dollars raised or political emails sent (and don't get me started on the value of a form email to Congress these days) misses the possibilities that growing networks and using them to disseminate ideas has. Let's keep the balance.

[Pamela Grow]

Like you, Allyson, I've been urging my readers and subscribers to integrate social media into their overall communications plans.

Why? I do think it is a wonderful tool to reach out to millions. Even better - it IS free (and what nonprofit doesn't like free?) - provided your organization has a system in place to limit the time-suck aspects of social media.

What many organizations don't "get" is that the entire process of acquiring a new donor is multi-step. Social media can provide that most important first step of creating awareness and engagement - and driving prospective donors to your organization's email list.

My mantra is: it's all about the list. Once you've got them on the hook you can begin reeling them in. And social media is a great hook.

[Barry]

Full agreement here, too. Thanks for saying it.

[Geri Stengel]

Two points you made resonate with me:that social media aren't free because they cost staff time and that social media should be integrated into a marketing plan that includes other tools. <a href="http://www.ventureneer.com/sites/default/files/nonprofits-and-social-media-it-aint-optional_0.pdf">Ventureneer\'s 2010 survey</a> also found that these are critical -- and often overlooked -- considerations.

Too often, nonprofit social media efforts fail because management doesn't realize that an investment must be made. A half-hearted, catch-as-catch-can social media program is doomed. So, too, is a social media plan that is not a collaborative, integrated effort by marketing, communications, and development. Social media do not stand alone.

That said, however, I think the impact of social media on nonprofits will increase, not falter. Nonprofits are just beginning their social media journey; they're still learning and making mistakes. Also, the upcoming generations -- the ones who will be the donors, administrators, clients, and funders of nonprofits -- are much more involved with social media, even dependent on social media.

[Kivi Leroux MIller]

I agree that social media is an important PART of an integrated strategy. Also agree to measure where it makes sense. But here are a few concerns with the recent emphasis on ROI . . .

1) Most nonprofits do a lousy job measuring ROI on their communications, period. So for a nonprofit that hasn't been measuring ROI on other channels to suddenly use that as an excuse to avoid social media seems like a bit of a red herring.

2) The real value that I see for nonprofits in social media comes from building rapport and trust, which are extremely difficult to measure but incredibly important to both advocacy and fundraising long-term. Just because our current tools don't measure something well doesn't mean that it's not important.

3) The web is a now a very social place. If you look at the most visited sites, even the ones that aren't pure social sites include a lot of social elements (e.g. testimonials and reviews on e-commerce sites). Nonprofits MUST get comfortable with the idea of the social web, even if it's only to improve visitors' experiences on their own websites.

Thanks for the always-thought-provoking posts Allyson!

[brucel]

It is definitely not the magic bullet, but it can be of tremendous value. We have seen our lists grow by 50% and our web traffic double in the past six months, which coincides with that period of time that our organization truly began to engage in social media.

[AJ]

Great post. I think the harsh truth is that social media is NOT a good platform for all non-profits; it's a wrong fit for many organizations and can represent an enormous waste of staff time and energy. I am as guilty as the next non-profit blogger of pushing social media marketing as a cure-all for fundraising ills but in reality, it's not a good fit for everyone. However, I work with a non-profit whose fundraising is based on many concerts and fundraising events throughout the year and the management and use of their Facebook page has really done wonders for their ticket sales. I think if social media IS a good fit for your organization, it can be one of the most effective tools in creating awareness and boosting fundraising and I don't know that, for relevant organizations, that bubble will burst for quite some time.

[Kristi Piehl]

I totally agree with your post! I tell my clients this all the time. Social media is a powerful tool that shouldn't be ignored, but it is not the ONLY tool. My focus is training nonprofits to use the news and take advantage of traditional media - TV, newspaper, radio, magazine. As a former TV reporter, I know what it takes to get nonprofits stories in the news. Many nonprofits are scared of the media, but it can be a fantastic way to expose a new audience to the work that a nonprofit is doing. I just blogged about this - http://media-minefield.com/?p=154.
Again - GREAT POST!

[Janna Zinzi]

Allyson, as a social media consultant, I cringed at this post initially but as I read through it, I found I completely agree with you. I think non-profits have to be very clear in their expectations around social media, particularly fundraising. This was an issue with one of my first experiences in getting the non-profit I was working for to adopt a social media plan. They knew that it wouldn't raise money but that was one of the selling points to get buy-in on upper levels. But when people and organizations understand that it takes TIME and EFFORT to build relationships online to eventually get those connections to spread the word about your cause, and/or donate, then I think everyone can see the utility of it and is invested. It's also an issue for me as a social media strategist to be clear in managing these expectations with clients because as you said, people are making lots of money on empty promises and that's unfair and in my eyes despicable, especially when targeting the already stretched thin non-profit community. Thanks for this post!

[Jeffrey Golby]

Great article - I was actually in the process of writing one similar today after someone had pitched via email to manage our SM for a small (not) fee. So instead I wrote on something else :) However, the fundamental point I think is that if your non profit sucks - if it's not relatable, has a complicated message, isn't clear with donors etc. if it is poorly run and poorly orchestrated then no amount of Social Media will help it. Content will be King long after this bubble has burst and it will be interesting who sticks around and who is wearing the invisible clothes.

[Sandy Rees]

Great post! I agree that social media is not a magic bullet for nonprofit fundraising. It's a good tool for connecting with people, and like any tool must be used appropriately. I think for time-strapped nonprofit staff, there may be lower hanging fruit on the tree.

Sandy Rees