101 Social Media Tactics for Nonprofits: A Field Guide [Hardcover]

Melanie Mathos (Author), Chad Norman (Author), Beth Kanter (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 7, 2012

The ultimate social media field guide for nonprofits—with 101 ways to engage supporters, share your mission, and inspire action using the social web

101 Social Media Tactics for Nonprofits features 101 actionable tactics that nonprofits can start using today, and most of the featured resources are free. Broken down into five key areas, this unique guide explains the steps and tools needed to implement each tactic, and provides many real-life examples of how nonprofits are using the tactics.

With this book as your guide, you'll learn how leading nonprofit professionals around the world are leveraging social media to engage constituents, communicate their cause, and deliver on their mission.

• Presents immediately useful ideas for relevant impact on your organization's social presence so you can engage with supporters in new and inventive ways
• Features 101 beginner to intermediate-level tactics with real-life examples
• Offers a workable format to help nonprofits discover new ways of deploying their strategy
• Includes nonprofit social media influencers from leading nonprofits around the world including National Wildlife Federation, March of Dimes, and The Humane Society

Nonprofits know they need to start engaging with supporters through social media channels. This field guide to social media tactics for nonprofits will feature 101 beginner to intermediate-level tactics with real-life examples to help nonprofits discover new ways of deploying their strategy and meeting their social media objectives.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

There are a lot of books about social media strategy, engagement, and listening—but this isn't one of them! Destined to be the most dog-eared book on your desk, 101 Social Media Tactics for Nonprofits features 101 take-action plans that anyone managing or supporting a social media program for nonprofits can start using today—and most of the featured resources are free!

Authors Melanie Mathos and Chad Norman—both seasoned nonprofit social-medialites—divide each of the 101 digital-age tactics into five key categories: setup, communicate, engage, fundraise, and measure. Tactics include quick, easy-to-follow steps and tools you'll need to implement them. Plus, many of the 101 entries include "A Closer Look" highlighting how leading nonprofit professionals around the world—including Oxfam, charity: water, Red Cross, Greenpeace, March of Dimes, and many others—are leveraging social media to engage constituents, communicate their cause, and deliver on their mission.

Ready to get connected with a bigger, more interactive audience? Here are just some of the 101 social media tactics you can get started with right now:

Brand your YouTube channel

Claim your venue on foursquare

Connect with the top tweeters in your area

Make your tweets retweetable

Use TwitPic to share photos and videos

Create a Facebook welcome tab

Ask your Facebook fans a question

Get creative with avatars

Organize a petition on Twitter

Raise money with Causes

Submit your photos to Flickr groups

Display RSS feeds on your web site

Create a Wikipedia entry

Make a buzzworthy video

Livestream your events

Add a tweet button to your web site or blog

Create a Facebook donation tab

Hold a tweetathon

Track referrals from social sites

Measure new visitors from social channels

Create a program from scratch. Add a new twist to an existing one. Engage with supporters in new and inventive ways. Discover how just a couple of quick clicks of the mouse can make an immediate impact on your organization's social presence with the tips and tools found in 101 Social Media Tactics for Nonprofits.

From the Back Cover

Praise for 101 Social Media Tactics For Nonprofits

"I often hear from the country's largest and best-known nonprofits on how they're using technology to push the needle forward on their important work. With this social media guide, all organizations—no matter what size—have the tools in hand to help the world, one click at a time."
—CHRISTIE GARTON, USA TODAY Features Editorand "Kindness" blogger

"101 Social Media Tactics for Nonprofits delivers the pragmatic how-to advice that nonprofits always seem to ask for at conferences. Melanie and Chad deserve praise for helping nonprofits navigate and find resource-limited solutions with really useful information."
—GEOFF LIVINGSTON, author, Welcome to the Fifth Estate

"Chock-full of actionable ideas! By now you already know that social media are important tools for nonprofits. To turn the promise into action, this valuable book is your guide to the actual tactics that work."
—DAVID MEERMAN SCOTT, bestsellng author, The New Rules of Marketing and PR

"Melanie and Chad are well-known thought leaders in the nonprofit space who consistently provide effective, real-world advice to nonprofits. Their book is a thoughtful guide that gives nonprofits 101 useful ideas on using social media to engage with their current supporters and potential activists and donors. Nonprofit practitioners will find a lot of value in how they broke down the tactics into what you need and why and how to do it."
—ALLYSON KAPIN, Partner at web agency Rad Campaign; founder, Women Who Tech

"Social media may still be new, but that doesn't stop most social media books from spouting lots of useless platitudes. This book certainly does not do that! It's chock-full of real, actionable advice that makes concepts clear and, better yet, tells you exactly how to implement them. If you have a strategy and are ready to get started, this book is for you."
—HOLLY ROSS, Executive Director, Nonprofit Technology Network

"A must-read guide to social media that leaves you eager to implement. This book opens up a world of options for nonprofits as well as best practices that will save you hours. Once you have your strategy, there is no better book out there for accomplishing greatness!"
—DANIELLE BRIGIDA, Manager of Social Media,National Wildlife Federation

"Feel that? It was a sharp elbow in your side from authors Melanie Mathos and Chad Norman urging your nonprofit to get over its fears and trepidation at using social media. They do this with a commonsense, tactical approach to using social media to do everything from raising thousands of dollars to recruiting thousands of volunteers. All backed up with real-world nonprofit case studies. So what are you waiting for? This is your playbook for success."
—DAVID J. NEFF, author, The Future of Nonprofits: Innovate and Thrive in the Digital Age

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (February 7, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1118106245
• ISBN-13: 978-1118106242
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 0.8 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #87,037 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Really Practical Guide January 27, 2012

By David Zeidman

Format:Hardcover

There is so much social media waffle out there. Many websites or books give you the background and the theory. They may give you the ammunition to convince yourself and others that a social media strategy is essential but they very often fall short on implementation.

101 Social Media Tactics for Nonprofits: A Field Guide is very different. The book is a series of practical tips for implementing your social media strategy. Each tip follows the same format. It starts with a small amount of background to the reason why the tactic is useful. It then proceeds to inform you what steps you need to take to implement the idea and finally it looks at examples of how non-profits have already implemented the tactic. The book does this for all 101 tactics offering an enormous amount of useful information.

My only concern is that like most books about social media, there is a risk that some of the tactics could become obsolete or that some of the social media resources could fall out of favour. The majority of the tactics refer to the bigger sites such as Facebook and Twitter. However as newer resouces increase in popularity they will not be covered by this book. That being said I understand some new tactics are going to be released for free which will certainly address this issue.

As a whole I found the book really useful. For somebody who is new to social media this is going to be a great guide. Even to somebody like myself who has some exposure to it, there was a lot to be learned and well worth buying.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Pragmatic Guide to Online Social Communications May 2, 2012

By Geoff Livingston

Format:Hardcover

Once you figure out your story, how you will approach SEO, social media and content creation from a strategic standpoint, you still need to get the word out there. Which tactics best compliment your approach?

My friends Melanie and Chad at Blackbaud are incredibly bright and talented social media communicators. In their work, they promote the industry's largest software vendor, and help thousands of nonprofits engage on two-way conversations and fundraising online. They tackled an incredibly difficult task, providing an off-the-shelf guide to the best social media tactics for your nonprofit or fundraiser possible.

How did they do? To me, what's surprising about this book is how the vast majority of tactics are still usable a year after it was written. Social media moves quickly, and consider that in the time since the book was released we have seen the rise of Pinterest, the release of Timeline, and the acquisition of Instagram.

As I said in their praise quote, "101 Social Media Tactics for Nonprofits delivers the pragmatic how-to advice that nonprofits always seem to ask for at conferences. Melanie and Chad deserve praise for helping nonprofits navigate and find resource-limited solutions with really useful information."

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific "nuts & bolts" book for application May 29, 2012

By Pamela

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I've read any number of social media theory books. Books that tell you about the potential for social media to be a harbinger of vast social change. Books that advise nonprofits to develop a sound social media strategy.

Forget all those other books. Cut to the chase with Melanie Mathos and Chad Norman as they show you exactly what to DO to get the results you're looking for. If you work for nonprofits and you're struggling with social media, this is the book to buy. And, if you're looking for more in-depth information, check out the interview I did with Melanie: [...]