The good folks at Wild Apricot have published an excellent interview with Carie Lewis of The Humane Society of the United States on their use of Facebook and MySpace for advocacy and fundraising. At the time of interview, HSUS had been using online social networks for about three months, so it's especially interesting for organizations that are in start-up mode and wanting to compare notes with another nonprofit. Don't miss reading through the Comments, as additional material is revealed in answer to questions.
Here are Carrie's five top lessons learned on running a campaign on Facebook:
- Participate in the causes application by creating campaign-specific causes instead of a cause for your organization. People relate better to specific issues or campaigns that they are passionate about.
- Take the time to keep your content fresh and updated; don’t just create a group and walk away.
- Monitor what people are talking about and use the group as a forum to express your organization’s stance on certain issues. They will usually respect and appreciate your authority.
- Respond to everyone, no matter what the question or issue. People love having an actual person to connect to from an organization, and two-way communication is what makes social networks so successful.
- Scour Facebook for people that are interested in your cause or issue, and then personally message them. The viral aspect of getting one person involved who has hundreds of friends can be a huge payoff.
