10 Nonprofit Social Media Resolutions for 2014 (part 2 of 2)

Part 1 of this two-part series is here.

It’s not too late to create resolutions for the New Year!

As a busy nonprofit professional, you have to wear many hats and extinguish multiple fires each day.

With technology changing so rapidly and social media moving so quickly, how will you know what to prioritize in 2014?

Here are the last 5 of my top 10 nonprofit social media resolutions for 2014 (the first 5 are here):

6)     Less is more. I am a huge proponent of the “less is more” philosophy on social media channels. Post when you have something interesting to share.

Don’t add to the noise. Always ask yourself before posting: Is this relevant? Is this timely? Is this helpful?

7)     Experiment. Instead of relying on the old standards of Facebook and Twitter, why not explore Pinterest, Instagram, Vine?

A recent Pew study found that 42% of online adults are active on more than just one social networking site. The study also found that Instagram users check in to the site daily!

While Facebook does remain the dominant social networking site (71% of adults online use it), recently it has been found that the reach for brand pages is dramatically down on the site.

In 2014, unless you are budgeting for Facebook Ads, you may want to consider diversifying onto other social media platforms to ensure you are continually building and reaching your online community.

8)     Budget for social media tools. While establishing a basic presence on the big social networks is technically free, useful social media management tools can cost something.

I suggest using HootSuite Pro to manage all of your social media accounts in one place. There is a free option for up to 5 social media accounts. (NOTE: I don’t get paid to recommend this; I simply use it and love it!)

9)     Use your calendar. I cannot stress the importance of actively scheduling chunks of time for social media management within your calendar, like an appointment or meeting.

Have you ever thought, “I’m just going to send this one tweet…” and then an hour goes by? Avoid falling down the internet rabbit hole.

Schedule dedicated time to manage your social media accounts in your calendar.

10)  Commit to engage. Commit in 2014 to actively and in a timely fashion answer questions, respond to comments and acknowledge online community members who share your posts and tweets.

Have a reasonable and manageable response policy in place to keep everyone on the same page and held accountable.  Keep in mind that most active social media users expect a response within an hour or less.

And a special bonus resolution:

11)  Create a culture of improvement. How will you know that you are successful without measurement and analysis? While the words “big data” may seem scary to you, in 2014, Boards and Executive Directors are certainly going to be savvier, wondering about the impact all this work on social media channels is having.

If you can explain to supervisors that you are moving the needle, even a little bit, this will help your social media efforts gain credibility.

Measurement is also vital to examine your efforts and find out what is working so you can do more of it (and what’s not working so you can improve it or cut it out).

Make sure to budget and include time for measurement, analysis and reporting in your calendar also.

On Tuesday I posted part 1 of my top 10 Nonprofit Social Media Resolutions. Please let me know how you are planning on managing your organization’s social media strategy in 2014!