DON'T GET MAD - USE SOCIAL MEDIA

A friend of mine would like to raise funds for a very serious cause. She has a heart of gold and has been using her Facebook profile to inform her friends (she has many… like MANY) to build an awareness. Many of her friends have said they may donate, or have not responded at all. The ones who have said they would donate have not all gotten back to her. She is also trying to reach out to companies to donate money or products and has not been very successful. She's ticked and I totally understand, but 100% of your friends… not even 50% are going to remember, be interested or be aware of what you are doing. We live in a society where sometimes donor fatigue sets in, or a perceived bigger cause is grabbing their attention. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Where am I going with this you might ask?

This is an opportunity to get social with social media. Social media is an excellent way to network on a large scale with people, companies and communities quickly. However it also requires a commitment to maintain social media presence.

When you want to build awareness on a large scale, target a huge market, raise a lot of money - your personal Facebook Profile is not going to cut it. Spend your time where the majority of your community are most active. In the case of my friend, she and her community hang out on Facebook. So I advised her to start there. However, I also suggested a free website with 3-4 pages and Twitter.

She currently has a Facebook Page which I suggested some edits:

• Share more about the subject and let the audience feel emotional about it
• Provide actual dates of upcoming events and only on the page ( you want to funnel everyone to the page, like it and have a continued awareness)
• Post 2-3 times a day updates, images or articles of the same topic that will educate the audience
• Create a compelling cover and profile picture and be sure to use the same ones on Twitter
• Check out Facebook insights to find out when her audience is most active

Twitter

• Create a memorable hashtag and use it often
• Repost Facebook Page updates to Twitter
• Post at least 3 times per day
• Use the search tool to find other users with same interests and follow them
• Follow those who follow you (as long as they have similar interests)
• Share the love through retweets, engaging with replies and liking posts
• Follow the companies you may seek donations from and retweet and share their posts

So her twitter account is up and running and her memorable hashtag is #LoveofLance. What other starting points would you suggest?