Social Media Policy Guidelines for Nonprofits

I was fortunate enough to serve on a committee of AFP International that brought together some social media gurus to hash out guidelines that nonprofit organizations can use to craft their own social media policies. These guidelines focus on social media from a fundraiser’s point of view but they are easy to tweak to your own needs and a great starting point if you are starting from scratch.

The official version of the social media guidelines document is online and available for downloading in either a one-page summary or a full version with detailed guidelines and examples. I highly recommend reviewing the document to see how it can benefit your agency.

With the release of these guidelines I wanted to share 7 reasons why you should have a social media policy.

7. It should fit seamlessly into your agency’s technology, human resource and marketing policies.

6. Your staff are given guidelines on how to interact with customers in a user-friendly way.

5. You are better able to engage your customers, volunteers, donors, and the community at large.

4. Social media policies provide details on how to interact with your customers

3. Do you really want the summer college intern speaking on your behalf in an official capacity?

2. If you read this blog regularly, you know that social media is how people interact online with each other in real time, how they share information, pictures and videos.

1. It’s just good common sense.

Do you already have a social media policy that you’d like to share? What are some examples of social media policies that you like? Please feel free to share in the comments.