Social Networking Sites FAQ What are Social Networking Sites? Are these sites moderated? How can Social Networking Sites help me with Alumni Outreach and Fundraising? But what about the Alumni Portal? Isn’t that meant to build community? So, which Social Networking Site should MY camp use? What else do I need to know? What else can I use to build community online? How can I do all this with limited resources? Where else can I turn for advice and to keep up to date? A short list of good online resources:
What are Social Networking Sites? Social Networking Sites are areas on the internet where people can create personal pages, communicate, and join groups of similar interests to build community online. The most popular social networking sites are Facebook and MySpace, although there are many more. Anyone can create a personal (or Group) page on these sites. Most are free. Facebook is considered to have the more highly educated user base as well as third party applications that facilitate group fundraising. However, MySpace is more free-form and allows more customization, such as camp banners on individual profile pages. Note that Gather.com and Care2.com are other social networking sites that cater to other demographics. Gather.com tends to have a more mature audience. Care2.com is usually a place for people who are already very socially aware and interested in giving of their time and money. These social networking sites have a much smaller audience than Facebook or MySpace. These are only recommended if a camp has a large number of alumni already utilizing these sites. TOP Are these sites moderated? Most social networking sites like the one listed above are not moderated. There is no way to control the content that is posted on these sites. Groups can be private to allow only specific people to join and post on a group page, but the information is still public to anyone with internet access. However, there are other managed social networking sites that allow organizations to create a “gated” community for their constituents. One of the more popular examples of this type of site is Ning.com. Ning.com offers users the basic functionality that Facebook and MySpace offer. Each user can create their own page, congregate in groups, and communicate. There are even additional applications for including personal Flickr photo
streams and links to Facebook profiles. The major difference is that the camp’s Ning.com site will not be viewable by the public. Only those who are accepted into the network can view the content of the site. TOP How can Social Networking Sites help me with Alumni Outreach and Fundraising? Many of your constituents - alumni and donors, campers and parents – are already out on these social networking sites. In fact, there are probably non-sanctioned groups relating to your camp already somewhere online. The key is to find them and continue to communicate and build relationships with them. They are already there – camps simply need to find them and build community and content that will interest them regarding the camps. Some of these social networking sites even have applications for fundraising. For example, the Causes application on Facebook allows users to create a Cause associated with any 501(c)3 organization. Once created, any Facebook user can add the application to show on their Facebook page. Users can also donate money directly through the application to your camp and recruit other interested parties to join the Cause. Other similar applications exist and are constantly being created. Organizations that have had success building community on social networking sites offer some tips/best practices: Make sure the content on your Social Network is up to date. Monitor what people are talking about and use the group as a forum to express the camp’s stance on certain issues. They will usually appreciate the communication. Respond to everyone! What makes these sites so powerful is the ability to make the communication person-to-person and two-way. Make is as personal as possible. If using Causes on Facebook, create campaign-specific causes rather than a cause for the camp in general. People will often relate and share a specific campaign they are passionate about, such as a scholarship or bunk remodel.
Most importantly, keep in mind that these are just tools that can be leveraged to help camps reach their fundraising and alumni outreach goals. Camps should build the use of these tools into the usual development process, including fundraising campaigns, alumni outreach, event promotion, etc. TOP But what about the Alumni Portal? Isn’t that meant to build community? The Alumni Portal was created in 2005, before the explosion of these social networking sites. The interactive functionality available online now will never be matched by the Alumni Portal. Instead, the Alumni Portal will continue to be a key tool to allow alumni
to update their own information directly in DonorPerfect Online to keep the data up to date. It also offers Event Registration and Online Giving options that are directly integrated with DonorPerfect Online. There are also some users who will feel more comfortable with the less public, less up to date community-building features on the Alumni Portal, such as the Messageboards, Alumni Directory, and Refer-a-friend features. In addition, we are constantly considering other functionality that will improve the experience of the users of the Alumni Portal and leverage the existence of these social networking sites and their large groups of camp constituent members. For example, running contests within the Messageboards or offering more personalization to the Alumni Portal experience. Other ideas are always welcome to the Technology Program team. The Alumni Portal is still the optimal way of keeping constituent data up to date in DonorPerfect Online. The key is to communicate actionable news to camp constituents on social networking sites, through eNewsletters, and through other communication avenues such as blogs to direct them to the Alumni Portal when there is something new for them to do or read there. While there, remind them gently to update their information! TOP So, which Social Networking Site should MY camp use? Every camp will need to determine the optimal use of these sites. In general, we recommend that camps have SOME presence on at least one of the more popular social networking sites. Note that maintaining a presence on each social networking site requires effort – some research suggests one hour/day/site – so blanketing the internet with camp group pages may not be the way to go. Instead, selecting one or two nonmanaged social networking sites on which to create a presence is probably a good starting point. If you decide to start with one site, the key is to find where your constituents are already and start there. Look for non-sanctioned group sites for your camp. Ask your alumni and parents if they have profiles on any of these sites. If you still aren’t sure where to start, go with Facebook initially. Here are some step-by-step instructions for getting started with Facebook: http://www.wildapricot.com/blogs/newsblog/archive/2007/05/23/put-your-non-profit-onfacebook.aspx In addition, managing one or two managed social networking sites may be warranted as well. As mentioned above, some camps have had a lot of success using Ning.com for this purpose. There are other managed social networking sites (such as b-linked), but Ning.com seems to be the most popular and therefore can be expected to have the most staying power. The major question outstanding regarding managed social networking sites is whether to manage just one Ning.com site for all camp constituents or create two Ning.com sites:
one for campers/staff/parents and another for alumni/donors. Each camp will have to determine the appropriate plan of action in this regard. One Ning.com site is easier to manage, but doesn’t allow more focused “messaging” to the constituent bases. Two Ning.com sites creates additional maintenance effort and doesn’t allow alumni to hear about current camper experiences, but the camp can really customize their messages to each constituent group. The best advice? Trial and error. You won’t know exactly what will work for your camp until you try something. There is no harm in modifying your internet strategy as you go. The tools that are out there now may not even be the “popular” destinations in a year or two. So camps will need to be ready to react and change anyway. And don’t forget to communicate actionable news on all of these sites to direct alumni back to the Alumni Portal to keep their information up to date! TOP What else do I need to know? Along with all of the opportunities these online communities offer, there are also some challenges. The obvious challenge is how to manage the camp image online when anyone can post their thoughts, pictures, and videos about the camp on their own personal page for all the world to see. Note that this issue exists regardless of whether the camp has an official presence online; there is no ignoring this challenge. There are two ways that camps can face this challenge. First, camps should develop policies and procedures that specify what campers, parents, and staff can and can’t post online about the camp, especially during camp season. Some camps have a no computer/no cellphone policy. Others specify in their contracts that if a camper or staff member posts something negative about the camp or another camper/staff member online, they will not be invited back the following year. There are a variety of policies that can be communicated to all members of the camp community to try to limit the amount of negative content about the camp available online. Bob Ditter, who consults with the American Camping Association, has prepared a number of policy templates that he is willing to share with any camp that gives him attribution. These templates can also be modified for your camp’s particular needs. You can find these policy templates at his website: http://www.bobditter.com/resources/ Second, the camp should regularly scan the internet for such offending content and work to get it removed. This is a time-consuming task that may best be delegated to an interested volunteer. The best policies and procedures will fail if offending content is not discovered and action is not taken.
TOP What else can I use to build community online? The options for reaching out and including your alumni and other key constituents in the camp community online is constantly changing. Always be on the lookout for new tools and techniques. One tool that you can use today to help in this area is Blogging/RSS Feeds. A Blog allows people at the camp to create an ongoing online dialogue with anyone interested in the happenings at the camp – alumni, donors, parents, campers, etc. The Blog can be set up quickly and inexpensively (even free!). Updating the Blog can be done as easily as sending an email. Blogging experts site the following as the types of information that can best be communicated via blogs: Publicly advocating a point of view (i.e., the camp’s official stance on recent news) Showcasing a well-known figure (i.e., camp leaders) Showing authentic workings of the organization – a goldmine for camps! (i.e., Shabbat services, new programs at the camp, blogs by current campers about how the camp has affected them, etc.) Highlighting the people served by the organization (i.e., Profiles of former scholarship recipients; profiles of a set of former bunkmates – where are they now?) Sharing a specific short-term project (i.e., a building project at the camp, a fundraising campaign, a prayer request for someone associated with the camp, etc.) Quickly responding to critics
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A couple of free options for managing your blog include Google’s www.blogger.com and www.wordpress.com. Typepad (www.typepad.com) is a fee-based service that is very popular. There are many other options as well. Some can be integrated directly with your current website; others are standalone and can be linked from your website. An RSS Feed can be set up from the blog so that interested parties receive updates from the blog automatically at a Feed Reader of their choice. Most blogs offer this service automatically for free. For additional feed sharing functionality, Feedburner (http://feedburner.com) can be used to offer simple one-click access to add your blog to their Feed Reader, an email subscription link, and automatically inform various webbased information aggregators and directories that your blog has been updated. All of these services will make it easier for your constituents to get access to updated information. For your readers, they can easily sign up for any of a number of free Feed Readers. These include Google Reader, My Yahoo!, and a variety of other free services. Users can set up as many “feeds” from content sites around the internet so that they can find updates in one centralized location (their Feed Reader) rather than going to each individual site
every day to check for updates. If you utilize Feedburner, they can also simply subscribe to get an email when your blog is updated. In addition, camps can create RSS feeds for other media as well. For example, you can specify a YouTube RSS feed based on the “tags” set for the videos. Videos created of camp activities, interviews with scholarship recipients, fundraising videos, alumni event videos, etc. can be loaded into YouTube. If consistent tags are included in the upload for searching, an RSS Feed can be created for users to get updated Videos on their Feed Readers as well. For example, http://youtube.com/rss/tag/+henry+jacobs+camp.rss creates a feed of all URJ Jacobs camp videos with the tags Henry, Jacobs, and Camp. Camps should be aware of new features available to deliver more and more content to their constituents, continuing to build their community. TOP How can I do all this with limited resources? No camp has an unlimited supply of time and people to create and manage social networking groups, create blogs and regularly update content in these blogs, and review the non-sanctioned messages being posted online about the camp. However, the camp does have a large constituent base of people who are already out there on Facebook and MySpace, already blogging and creating RSS feeds. Camps should find interested volunteers to help with all of this activity. At the same time, the camp should ensure that they “own” the message and policies driving their presence online. How can a camp do this? Find an alumni volunteer who is already using Facebook and/or MySpace. Ask them to periodically review the content about the camp online and report back, especially when there is negative content to deal with. This same person can also be in charge of moderating the camp’s official Facebook, MySpace, or even Ning.com sites. However, the content and messages should always come from the camp. And camp leaders should also participate in conversations online to grow the feeling of community and allow person-to-person interaction. Similarly, the camp can create a blog and act as a “gatekeeper” of the content that is posted and the comments that are included, but no one person should be responsible for creating all of the content. Instead, various camp staff members, camp leaders, alumni, and even campers may be tapped to blog about their experiences at the camp or upcoming events. The “gatekeeper” can edit the content and release it to the public, but won’t be required to post every day or week. This will not only be more reasonable from a time perspective, but will also continue to grow the feeling of community and inclusiveness, as multiple people are sharing their experiences. Finally, the camps should use each other as sources of information. There is likely a camp that is facing the same issues as you. There is probably one that has figured out a solution to a problem you are facing. Camps should use each other as resources as well.
TOP Where else can I turn for advice and to keep up to date? There are tons of blogs online full of interesting tips and case studies focused on helping non-profits navigate the world of technology, fundraising, and alumni outreach. You can get started with your own Feed Reader and add a few blogs of interest. For example, do a quick search to see if anyone is blogging about your camp already! Also, we’ve provided a few blogs here, all of which provide an RSS feed that you can add to your Feed Reader. Check out the blogs below (and the comments); they will often lead to other blogs and online resources that may be even more appropriate for your current and future needs. Most importantly, the power of these new tools is the ability for two-way communication. Be sure to listen to your constituents and consider their feedback. If you receive emails, posts online, or comments on a blog with constructive criticism or ideas for improvement, listen and respond. At the very least, let them know that you hear their concerns. When it is appropriate, you may revise your strategies in response to feedback from your constituents. TOP A short list of good online resources: Alltop NonProfit – a wealth of links to blogs and websites focused on nonprofits http://nonprofit.alltop.com/ Network for Good Learning Center - http://www.fundraising123.org/our-most-recentarticles Beth’s Blog – How Nonprofits can use Social Media http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/ NTEN (Nonprofit Technology Network) - http://nten.org/ Common Craft Show – short videos of social networking topics in plain English – www.commoncraft.com/show (Note: your firewall may prevent the videos from playing at this site. If this is the case, you can find them at http://www.youtube.com/leelefever) Wild Apricot Blog - http://www.wildapricot.com/blogs/newsblog/default.aspx