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The nonprofit industry was just starting to get used to blogs as a way of learning quickly the ropes of the Internet. Now they need to know how to use Facebook and specifically anything web 2.0 as a marketing tool. But how does it all fit together? How does one spend so much time on the Internet and be successful in nonprofit fundraising? These are all viable questions that nonprofit executives and staff are asking themselves everyday about social media.

Define Social Media

Lets start at the beginning to explain what social media is and how it affects marketing. The definition of social according to Webster as it relates to humans, is the interaction of the individual and the group. Media is defined as a means of storing or communicating information. Social media, when put together, is an individual communicating with a group through a devise that stores or communicates that interaction to other groups and individuals. Therefore spreading the marketing or communication message quickly to many in the group to be sent to the next group. This is close to being electronic multi-level marketing except it is strictly a message. It can link to a website or blog, not to mention a landing page for a sales message and pitch

How Social Networking Works

The individual has a group whom he transfers a message to, then the group transfers to their respective groups. Why do these people resend this message to their groups? Well it’s all about content. Supplying website content of value to these groups of people incentives them to resent it to their groups. The incentive prize? To have a message sent through these channels so that it can be viewed and get people to act. Buy a product, visit a blog or website, or download some free content with contact information.

Why Social Media?

Brian Clark in his post on the blog “Copyblogger” says, “Smart marketers participate in social media because that’s where the people are.” As marketers we have to be where the customer resides and in these times it is being defined as social media. The new target market is reached with pinpoint accuracy using a variety of sites, which spread the word differently among large groups or channels of the target market. Social networking sites are becoming just as important as the blogs, newsletters and emails we marketers have used in the past.

Why Does Social Networking Work?

The secret to social media success is to write great website content. If the content is truly great the people or customers will reward that site by purchasing or donating as the case may be. If on the other hand the content is boring or irrelevant nothing happens. The magic is in the website content and the individual’s ability to interact well in social networking. This creates traffic that desires or needs to support the group.

How Do Nonprofits Target a Market?

Nonprofits need to know how to use Facebook. A social media site for individuals who form groups based around common interest. Posting articles from the blog as a link on Facebook encourages prospects to interact with other prospects that are interested in nonprofit fundraising. Nonprofit groups in our Tweeter account follow and friends at Facebook lend support on that site. There are other sites that have different operations such as Digg, Stumbleupon, or maybe del.cious that can be incorporated into the social media strategy helping to grow organically the traget group.