The Commons

Feeling a bit dizzy? You’re not alone. The rush to social media is a neck-snapping blur, powered in part by the economic downturn. In fact, it seems ages ago that a certain law school warned its students not to avoid indulging in street drugs, kidnapping, or other patently illegal acts, but to avoid…blogging. (True story, and the ending—in which the insistent blogger teams up with the newly converted dean to create an official social media policy—is so 2009.)

In this brave and whirling new world, intriguing new things are happening. Here are two:

• Named one of the “2009 Hot Nonprofit Websites,” by the Non-Profit Times, Planet Cancer is a community for young adults with cancer. Among its many “hot” features: a fundraising widget that can be posted on personal pages in Facebook and other communities.

• Davidson College has integrated Twitter into their admissions process by publishing 140-character quotes from actual applications. While the response hasn’t yet reached Lance Armstrong (449,000 followers) or even Kogi BBQ-to-go standards (2,348 followers)—the idea reflects just kind of brand-sensitive thinking that a Twitter account deserves.

It’s tempting to rush in and duplicate these efforts. But it may be wiser to take a moment and hit pause instead. Why? Because any social media effort will benefit from an unblinking look at what your institution needs to do across all media. In fact, nonprofits are in danger of being oversold on social media, especially if they lack the foundational presence of a well-designed and updated institutional website.

With a clear-headed look at the full array of communication tools and opportunities, you’ll likely end up with a combo platter of effective tactics, including social media. With planning, you’ll avoid the generic student blogs, apologetic admissions blogs, dull Facebook Group pages, lazy Twitter accounts, and 1980s-style YouTube videos that tie up labor and threaten to undermine your intentions. (You might also end up retiring the labor-intensive, never-read press releases or the “Did You Know?” online features.) With planning, it’s also likely your office will change the way it works. After all, social media requires labor. Lots of smart, skilled, and brand-savvy labor. Lots of attentive and ongoing labor. That means lots of people or a realignment of work.

In the meantime, how’s that dizziness? And how is your office changing?

- Lee Reilly, Vice President, Interactive

Tags: blogging, economic downturn, higher education, nonprofit marketing, social media, technology, trends