by Jayne Cravens
via coyotecommunications.com & coyoteboard.com (same web site)

Every online community evolves, and Facebook is no exception: what Facebook is now is not what it was five years go, not what it was 10 years ago, and not what it was when it originally launched. What started off as an online dating site and rating system for "looks" for college students is now the most popular online community in the USA, and in many other countries as well - and also the number one spreader of misinformation and hate speech. In the USA, it's the favorite platform of people over 60, while young people ignore it in growing numbers. In some communities, it is the only way people know when church services are or if there is an event at their local cultural center.

Facebook won't be the most popular online platform forever (remember back in the 1990s when commercials said "Find us on America Online!" instead of web addresses?), but its popularity means it, and the other platform owned by Meta, Instagram, have to be considered as an outreach tool by a nonprofit organization, non-governmental organization, school, government program or other mission-based organization. If those you want to reach are on Facebook, you have to use Facebook.

HOWEVER, Facebook use is NOT a substitute for a web site. Your organization or program still needs a web site.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of nonprofits creating a page on Facebook and posting event announcements to that page, once. That's it. That's how they use Facebook. That's not now to use Facebook effectively (or your web site, for that matter). If that's how your organization or government program is using Facebook, you are missing out on most of the benefits you could gain from such. If your organization's Facebook page is pretty much just announcements of gift shop hours, event announcements, requests for donations, etc., your Facebook profile is NOT worth following! Facebook is an ENGAGEMENT tool - it should entice people to comment, ask questions and share information.

In addition, your organization or program must also consider the ethical ramifications of using Facebook, a site that has amplified hate speech, spread misinformation and undermined democracies by creating mistrust regarding elections.

Even if your organization decides not to use Facebook to engage - you are appalled by their lack of ethics or you are are overly fearful of a PR misstep or whatever - your program needs to claim its space on Facebook before someone else creates a page with your program's same name. You can create that page and make one post: please follow us on BlueSky. Or, please sign up for our email newsletter. 

What your organization absolutely must do on Facebook if you choose to be on it.

Create a fan page.
This is NOT your individual Facebook profile, the one with your first and last name; you create a fan page from your profile - or some other staff member does so. Whomever will administer the page for your organization logs in to Facebook with his or her own profile and then goes to this page to begin setting up the fan page. It's easy to add and remove other employees or volunteers as administrators (in case whomever creates the page leaves your organization or you want multiple people posting information). Always make sure the page has at least two administrators, in case one of them leaves your organization.

With a fan page, endless numbers of people can "like" your page, receive information about your organization (or individual program - you can create fan pages for just your volunteer involvement, for instance), and comment on what's going on. It allows people to interact with your organization, but without you having to friend absolutely everyone interested in your organization. Here's my own Facebook fan page.

Regularly ask questions as your Facebook status update.
Not regularly inviting feedback is the #1 mistake made by nonprofits using Facebook. Instead, regularly ask a question that will get your followers commenting. For instance:

• Link to an article in the news that relates to your organization's mission and ask in your status update, "What do you think of this?"
• Ask for people who attended your event last night to comment on their experience.
• Ask people what they would like to see in an upcoming publication you are putting together, a video you will soon start filming, etc.

Use your Facebook page to educate about your cause, not just your organization
If your organization is a historical society, don't just post about your organization - post articles sometimes from other organizations that talk about the importance of preserving local history, about the importance of recognizing diverse histories of an area, etc. If you are an animal shelter, don't just post about animals you have for adoption or dire fundraising needs - post about the importance of spaying and neutering pets, or the dangers to the environment by adopting exotic animals, or the joys of adopting a senior dog, etc. If you are a theater, don't just post about your show times and show reviews - post links to articles by others about the importance of the arts in communities, how theater can deescalate community tensions, how it impacts local economies, etc.

Use the Facebook events feature.
This is one of the most under-utilized Facebook features, and it's a real shame, because this feature can help you get the word out about a public event to a MUCH larger audience, beyond only those who have already "liked" you. By putting public events on the Facebook events feature, you allow anyone attending that event to show all of their friends that they are attending. You also allow anyone to share that information with anyone else on Facebook. The only caution: you have to make it clear if this is an event that requires RSVPs, whether or not you will accept RSVPs sent via Facebook; most organizations put a note in the description that says, "By RSVPing to this event here on Facebook, your attendance is NOT confirmed; please do such-and-such to officially register." You may have to put a reminder in the comments section as well.

When you create the event, then share it on your page. And share it more than once.

Upload a few photos every now and again.
Seeing the faces of people in action - your clients, your volunteers, your staff - gets people excited about your organization. Therefore, you need to be sharing photos regularly in your status update. However, I don't like Facebook as a place for a nonprofit to upload all of its photos to share with the world, because we don't know how long Facebook will stay the hot online social networking place (and won't it be awful if you have all of your public photos there, all neatly organized in albums, and then have to replicate that on the social networking site that replaces Facebook in a few years) and because Facebook is a closed garden - one has to be on Facebook to see the photos (and, believe it or not, not everyone is on Facebook). But while Facebook remains so popular, you should upload at least a few photos on your fan page, particularly immediately following an event. Then, in the description, provide a link to, say, your Flickr account, noting that that's where people can find all of your photos. Here's more on why to share most of photos on Flickr rather than Facebook.

Post updates DURING an event.
Have one of the administrators of your fan page post from an event they are attending, either one that is sponsored by your organization or one that your organization is a part of in some way, and invite people to come say hello to you wherever you are (Jayne here. I'm wearing a red sweater and sitting at the couch at the top of the stairs at the Portland Convention Center. Come say hi!). That feels spontaneous, and doesn't feel like a super-structured PR message - and that's what followers want! Don't overdo it - one or two updates in, say, one hour, is fine, but more than that in an hour annoys most Facebook users. You can just post from the office as well: here's our fabulous AmeriCorps member, starting her last week at our organization. We appreciate her service so much! Posting staff and volunteers in action humanizes your organization.

Stagger posts
Don't post 10 status updates within seconds of each other. Some organizations don't post more than two status update an hour. Some organizations don't post more than once a day.

Post about changes to your web site.
Your web site remains the centerpiece of your online presence - too many nonprofits and NGOs forget that. All roads lead back to your web site, because while Facebook won't always be the most popular site out there (remember MySpace?), your web will always be there, and there are still millions of people who want the kind of in-depth information that only a web site can provide. When you add a new publication on your web site, when you post something new to your blog - that's all worth noting on your Facebook page.

Don't post a web address with no explanation.
You want to share a web page or newspaper article. Great. But put in an explanation about WHY you are sharing such.

Invite all staff and volunteers to "like"the page & "like" updates.
If members of your board aren't liking every post to your organization's Facebook page, why should anyone else? That said, don't require employees or volunteers to like the page nor to like status updates - by doing that, someone is "liking" from their own Facebook account, an account that is personal and that a person may not want to associate with your page, because they don't want to "friend" staff or volunteers on Facebook (a perfectly acceptable stance for anyone to have regarding their social media activities).

What you organization should also consider doing on Facebook

Post photos from an event or activity.
Post a few photos from an event or activity as that event or activity is happening! Still a good idea for all photos to be put somewhere more permanent and open, like Flickr, but posting some (or a link to such wherever those photos are being posted) shows how active your organization is. It feels informal and unplanned - and that's what followers like!

Polls.
Take a poll among your Facebook followers. What do they think is the most serious challenge facing the successful meeting of your organization's mission? What do they think of the theme ideas for your Fall fund raising event? Which historical figure do they think would have loved your organization most? Be serious or be irreverent. A poll a month is a great idea - ask your followers to generate ideas for polls you could offer.

Do not automatically have Facebook status updates post to other platforms
Never have Facebook status updates automatically post to other platforms, not unless you have cropped attached photos and limited the characters in your post so that it will conform to another platform's requirements.  

Counter Misinformation & Promote Community
It doesn't matter what the mission of your nonprofit is: you should be posting the times and locations of mass vaccination clinics to help clients, employees and volunteers get vaccinated against COVID-19, you should be posting information on how to register to vote, you should be posting about a crisis that is affecting your community. This isn't about getting political; this is being a good neighbor and responsible community member. This is not mission drift: whether your program promotes getting dogs and cats spayed or neutered, promotes local history, produces live theater, whatever, your program needs to acknowledge big events directly affecting your community and be responsible members of the community. For instance, share a status update from your local county health department with the message, "Important information for our clients and volunteers." Or if a tornado has wiped out half your town, you should be posting about where to find food, shelter, etc.

Note that, if your organization wants to use Facebook successfully and engage in the aforementioned activities, you have to allow multiple people to engage in social media activities - not just the person in charge of fundraising, not just the marketing director, but also the person that supports and manages volunteers!

The section on organizations that I believe "get" FaceBook needs to be reworked, so expect additions soon.

• Kentucky State Parks - posts about upcoming special events at different parks, or special deals, like women-only retreats. Every post makes me want to go! I'm "friends" with a lot of state parks, and in comparison, all the others are oh-so-boring in what they share on FaceBook (if they share anything at all). Are you listening, Oregon?
  


• PeaceCorps - posts mostly about what PeaceCorps members are doing in the field and special recognition or events where members are honored. I imagine thousands of former PeaceCorps members, as well as current members, swell with pride with every post, being reminded of what a fantastic institution they are a part of, and are further energized to become advocates for PeaceCorps with friends and colleagues.


• Tillamook Forest Center (Oregon) - A great balance of posts that invite comment, invite participation offline, educate about what the organization does and educate about the environment.

Here's a blog I wrote about what nonprofits I think do a great job with Facebook a while back.

But what about using Facebook groups? No. And I say why in the next section.

Ethics of using Facebook

As reported in the Wall Street Journal's Facebook Files series, there are numerous and repeated incidents of the company’s own researchers and leaders identifying the ill effects of their products,  such as Instagram’s negative impact on teen mental health and a Facebook algorithm change that elevated divisive and false content, thereby creating distrust in elections, entire groups of people, etc., but the company not taking any meaningful steps to fix them. Facebook's business model has accelerated the spread of misinformation and hate speech. So, by using Facebook, are nonprofits endorsing those activities?

By using Facebook, you are exposing yourself to data mining at a level never before seen, with companies buying up all the information you freely share on Facebook through your posts and likes, as well as what you have put into your profile (your birthday, family connections, etc.) and using it to target you for products, services and, of course, misinformation.

On the other hand, Facebook is, by far, the most widely-used social media platform and makes it oh-so-easy to share information with current and potential clients, constituents, volunteers, other supporter and the general public. A nonprofit or government agency that stops using Facebook may be cutting itself off from people who need its information, as well as from current and potential supporters. So, should your nonprofit, as a matter of safety and ethics, delete its Facebook page and any Facebook group it manages and stop using the platform altogether?

For me, it comes down to this: if you stop using Facebook, are you cutting your information off from people who really need it? For me, that's what it comes down to.

One thing I will say yet again: do NOT use Facebook groups. Don't use them for clients, don't use them for volunteers, don't use them for event attendees. The reasons:

• For most people, Facebook is for friends, family, and fun. It’s also for political activities. Therefore, many people don’t want to interact "officially" with a nonprofit they are associated with via Facebook - and they do not want to get friend requests from other clients, parents or volunteers.
• Facebook is a closed garden. You have to be on Facebook to read Facebook groups. Not everyone is on Facebook.
• Groups are so inflexible in terms of features. The features of 1990s-era YahooGroups were so much better.
• I don’t trust Facebook not to use information shared in groups to target ads or to sell that info to others.

What are the free alternatives to Facebook?

• LinkedIn Groups. This is particularly nice since members are able to see each other’s professional, public profiles. The downside: the interface, IMO, is lousy.
• Reddit. You can set up a custom community, or subreddit on this platform, limit memberships, limit viewership, moderate posts and more. You can, however, face some of the same problems as Facebook, in terms of a lot of people using Reddit for “fun” and not wanting other clients, parents, volunteers or team members to see their profile here.
• Slack (again, the free version is limited, but in terms of how many projects you can have, not in terms of features)
• Discord is a VoIP, instant messaging and digital distribution platform. “Get any community running with moderation tools and custom member access.”
• Basecamp (again, the free version is limited, but in terms of how many projects you can have, not in terms of features)
• GoogleGroups. If you have gmail, you can create a Googlegroup.
  
• Groups.io (though the features of the free version are quite limited; the paid versions offer many more features)

 
Other Resources:

• Daily, Mandatory, Minimal Tasks for Nonprofits on Facebook & BlueSky
  There are a lot of nonprofits using Facebook and BlueSky or other social media just to post to press releases. And if that's how your nonprofit, NGO or government agency is using social media, then your organization is missing out on most of the benefits you could gain from such. Facebook, BlueSky and other social media are all about engagement. Social media is NOT one-way communication; you want people and organizations to read your information, but you also want them to respond to it. And they want YOU to respond to what THEY are saying. I broke these must-do tasks down into the most simple, basic list as possible - these tasks take minutes, not hours, a day.

• For Schools: You Should Be Using Social Media. Here's How
  There are a lot of web sites saying what the benefits are for schools to use social media. But there's few that give specifics on what a public school should be sharing via Facebook, BlueSky, Mastodon, etc. This advice talks not only about exactly what your school should be posting to social media, but the consequences of not doing so, as well how to handle tough questions and criticism. It also links to legal advice. 
  
  
• For Local City & County Governments: You Should Be Using Social Media. Here's How
  To not be using social media to deliver information and to engage means you are denying critical information to much of your community and promoting an image of secrecy and lack of transparency. In fact, the lack of use of social media can be seen as your city council or county government trying to hide something, and even lead to rumors that are much harder to dispel than they would have been to prevent. This advice talks not only about exactly what your school should be posting to social media, but also how to handle tough questions and criticism. 
  
  
• The Difference in Email, Social Media & Online Communities: A Graphic Explanation.
  It can be difficult for people to understand the difference in email, in social media and in online communities, especially since email can be used to create an online community, or social media can be used to create an online community (Facebook Groups, for instance). And they all are people sending messages to people - so what, really, is the difference? This is my attempt to graphically show the difference, but I'll still have to use words to more fully explain what I mean. All three of these avenues for online communication can intersect. But one online avenue of online communication may be a better avenue for a communication goal than another - this resource examines that as well.
  


• How to handle online criticism of your organization

• The Nonprofit & NGO Guide to Using Reddit
  As of July 2019, Reddit ranked as the No. 5 most visited website in the USA and No. 13 in the world. Reddit is a community of communities, and its communities are called subreddits. A subreddit can have a focus on a geographic area, a book, a celebrity, a particular time in history, a specific hobby - anything. Statistics suggest that 74% of Reddit users are male. Users tend to be significantly younger than other online communities like Facebook with less than 1% of users being 65 or over. If you want to reach a younger demographic regarding your volunteering opportunities, your awareness messages, your data that shows your value to the community and more, you need to build posts to Reddit into your marketing strategy, no matter what your nonprofit's size or focus. This resource tells you how to do it.
  
  
• Nonprofit Organizations and Online Social Networking (OSN): Advice and Commentary

• Snapchat’s Potential Power for Social Good – with REAL examples

• Stages of Maturity in Nonprofit Orgs Using Online Services.

• How Not-for-Profit and Public Sector Agencies REALLY Use Online Technologies
  This provides real-life examples of what agencies are using the Internet for, and links to other resources offering even more advice and examples. Includes information about online solicitations and fund-raising.

• Basic Press Outreach for Mission-Based Organizations
  Like fund-raising, press relations is an ongoing cultivation process. Your agency strategy for press coverage needs to go beyond trying to land one big story -- you want the press to know that you are THE agency to contact whenever they are doing a story on a subject that relates to your mission. These are basic, low-cost/no cost things you can do to generate positive attention from the media.

• What are good blog topics for mission-based organizations?
  The word "blog" is short for "web log", and means keeping a journal or diary online. Blogging is NOT a new concept -- people have been doing it long before it had a snazzy media label. The appeal of blogging for an online audience is that it's more personal and less formal than other information on a web site. Readers who want to connect with an organization on a more personal level, or who are more intensely interested in an organization than the perhaps general public as a whole, love blogs. Blogs can come from your Executive Director, other staff members, volunteers, and even those you serve. Content options are many, and this list reviews some of your options

• For Nonprofits Considering Their Own Podcasts: Why It's Worth Exploring, and Content Considerations
  (includes my own podcast)

• How folklore, rumors and urban myths interfere with development and aid/relief efforts and how to prevent or address such.

• THE CLUETRAIN MANIFESTO
  "We appreciate your efforts in spreading this important sedition." A project from 1999 that is still completely relevant today (and shows why the Internet has ALWAYS been "online social networking" and there's nothing at all really all that new about sites like FaceBook). It's a challenge to companies to quit thinking that they can control the Internet and online culture and shape it to fit their outdated PR and marketing dreams, and to quit fearing its "open" nature and, instead, realize that this open system can actually be a good thing in the quest to meet customer needs and move products and messages.

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