3 Non-Profits and How they Leverage Social Media

The greatest reporter, @teresakaszuba from @CHEX5OCLOCK was curious as to how nonprofits leverage Social Media.  So, I did a little digging and found that ONLY 10% of the approximately 85,000 registered Charities in Canada are using Social Media.  WOW! So, we decided to check out some local ones, we focused on one who JUST started with Social Media, one who's been on it for 6 months and one for almost a year.

First we interviewed Jon Law, from newly formed @ECThreePtbo Electric City Culture Council of Peterborough.

They are proud and passionate to be a resource for all Cultural organizations in the area.

It's interesting although @ECThreePtbo JUST started, they're already more than half way to the Canadian average of Charity Twitter followers of 300!  They believe in supporting their community and mentioning Giants who in turn share their story.

Next we visited Heather Grosney with the @CLPeterborough.  Heather, their Communication's Director has definitely got it going on with eBlasts using Constant Contact! Let me back up a moment, she started their Social Media journey mid summer 2012 and already has more than both the Canadian average in both Twitter and Facebook followers/likes.  She has positioned her organization as the go to place for people with intellectual disabilities.  Heather reviews the information and articles she believes her target market would find useful and shares it through Social Media.    She further bridges her traditional contact list of emails with social media! Over 25% of their eBlasts are opened AND because they use a tool like Constant Contact, they can see exactly who opened their eBlasts and which links they clicked on.  Compare this to how often direct mail is opened, it's  more then 5 times more effective.   Constant Contact has a further features which allows you to create Facebook Applications, send out Registration Forms, Donation buttons and more! Click here for your own 2 month free trial with Constant Contact! 

Finally we pulled Maryam Monsef out of the #CollectiveImpact workshop at the Library for an interview.  Maryam wears multiple Twitter hats or handles.  She says you should have one for your place of work  which mirrors your marketing plan and company goals, as she does through @cfgp_ and then have separate one if you have separate passions like she does with @Red_Pashmina, and herself through @MaryamMonsef where she supports local community happenings and people.

 The summary of today's Non-Profit use of Social Media is that Social Media is the place to share your story and support your community.  Paint a picture or your story through images and video, and use social media to distribute that story.  Support others, enlist GIANTs to REtweets your Tweets!

To see the FULL video, please go to http://youtu.be/G5Vr7c7raIk

Thank you, I love working with @TeresaKaszuba and her @Chex5Oclock team!