Comments on: Market or Promote Your Cause on Social Media? Yes, You Can!

By: Meri McCoy-Thompson

Meri McCoy-Thompson — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 21:42:08 +0000

Thanks for thinking of the six G’s! The G’s help me to think about why I like certain tweeters (generous) and don’t like others (grandstanding or greedy).

By: Brendan

Brendan — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:42:25 +0000

This was a great post – I agree with you that when it is done in a responsible and correct way, marketing through social media can be a great tool. It definitely is more than a one-sided effort but rather a collective conversation, with everyone sharing what they bring to the table.
It is also really important to make sure that you’re effectively communicating with those who have a vested interest in your company. In addition to social media, we’ve recently been incorporating teleconferencing (with http://www.vestanetworks.com/index.php) to communicate with stakeholders as we find that it is a much more affordable option than we expected.
I also think that’s a good point that Greg made – social media can often be largely irrelevant to those belonging to low-income communities. I also think, however, that they can still be very useful to non-profits as a way to promote awareness amongst the general public and possible future donors.

By: Kivi Leroux Miller

Kivi Leroux Miller — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:54:45 +0000

Great point Greg and one I’ve been talking about a little bit with some clients who serve primarily low-income communities. One option might be cell phones with texting or mobile web abilities. Granted, people would have to have both the right phone and the right plan, but something like 90% of U.S. adults now have some kind of cell phone and many of the wireless companies offer low-income plans. It might make sense for nonprofits to build very targeted mobile versions of their websites for specific groups they are trying to reach, including low-income audiences.

By: Greg Banecker

Greg Banecker — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:00:05 +0000

I agree. Social media can be an extrememly cheap and effective way to reach plenty of people. But as non-profits, we are often times serving lower-income and under priveleged populations who may not be twitterring or facebooking or whatevering, in fact, they may not even have regular access to the internet. Is there a way to harness social media to work for these people?