Social Media for Small Organizations: Why a little dab won’t do ya

Okay, so you’re small. That doesn’t mean you have to think and act small.

When it comes to social media you have to go big.  Because it’s what being social is all about.  If you only do a little bit, well… you’re not really being social, are you?  Even worse, what if you never respond to folks who tweet back to you? Or only occasionally reply when folks comment on your blog?  Or seldom respond when folks post on your FB page?  Aren’t you then actually being anti-social?

So let’s put on a BIG state of mind. To make big doable — and I promise we can! — we have to break it down.  Because dabbling…

So… please don’t just dabble. If you’re gonna do it (and you really must  if you want to be in the game in the 21^st century), PLEASE allocate some resources to the endeavor (I’m trying to be polite here, yet you can see I’m screaming the “please”).  You don’t have to go crazy about this, and it doesn’t need to be a full-time person.  But you do need to give this some forethought and have a plan.

The more you plan, the better you can enact a strategy on a shoestring budget. I know you’re thinking that you don’t have time to plan and you can’t afford that luxury.  Really, you can’t afford not to indulge in that luxury.

Just putting up a Facebook page and establishing an account on Twitter won’t do it. That’s like buying a lawn mower and never mowing the lawn.  You’ve got the equipment, but it’s doing nothing for you. And the mower doesn’t mow without some human power. The mower (and social media) must be used, and used regularly. The mower also won’t do a great job if you take it out in a snowstorm.  The human using the mower must also exercise some brain power.

Human power – combined with brain power — is the ticket to success. It’s imperative to work smart when you’re on a limited budget. Do a bit of research.  For example, find out the best times of the day and week to post for your constituents (talk to colleagues to see what works for them; then test for your own audience). Then, let’s say you decide you’ve got time/staff to post a few times/week at a set time.  If you’re posting at the right time (no snowstorm), then you’ve not wasted your resources.

Don’t forget to spend the resources you have in the right places.  Do you know which social media your audiences favor?  Ask them.  Do a survey (consider email, survey monkey or even snail mail or phone calls). What you learn may surprise you. I hear a lot of folks saying their constituents are older and don’t use social media.  Well, that may be true.  But the largest growing segment of social media users are seniors. I also hear a lot of folks saying they do Facebook, and that’s enough because it’s the biggest. Maybe.  But if 50% of your constituents are on LinkedIn, and only 25% are on Facebook, what does that tell you?

Besides being in the right places at the right time, you must be there with the right stuff. For my own blog, I’ve found that subject matter trumps time of day/day of week any time. I’ve mentioned the importance of having a content strategy* many times, and it’s probably the most important way to keep your social media program on track.  In other words, if you have a plan, and dive that plan, you’ll get somewhere deep. Not shallow.  Not dabbly. Deep.   

Finally, there’s a common misperception that social media is free. It’s not. It takes staff time:  to develop and/or curate the content; to post and monitor/respond to feedback, and to evaluate/measure results. The entire purpose of social media for businesses (for profit and nonprofit) is to engage more deeply with stakeholders.  Engaging means being in active dialogue. It can’t just be an occasional broadcast.  Broadcasts don’t build relationships or loyalty. Listening does this, and listening takes time, patience and practice.

Social media is an essential job function for any business in the 21^st century.  Allocate some resources to it. In a wonderful article from the Bridgespan Group, Tweeting for a Better World, we’re treated to some great strategies for putting a plan in place as well as a chart giving an indication of the number of hours of staff time that should be allocated to the plan.

Cartoon: Hugh Macleod, gapingvoid

*For recent Clairification posts on the importance of content marketing for organizations, see: