Five Nonprofits That Have Found Their Facebook Voice
[tweetmeme] Ninety percent of your nonprofit’s success on Facebook is dependent upon the Admin who manages your Facebook Page. If she or he doesn’t have the personality or passion to elicit Comments and Thumbs Ups in response to their Status Updates, then the ROI from your Facebook Page will be minimal. Community building on Facebook and other social networking sites is an art and finding your Facebook voice takes time and experimentation. Good Facebook Admins will learn through trial and error what their Fans want to hear, see, and ultimately feel from their favorite nonprofits on Facebook. It’s a skill that nonprofit communicators have been learning and perfecting (some more than others) in recent years as the Social Web began to dominate our online lives.
If your nonprofit rarely earns Comments or Thumbs Ups in response to your Status Updates, then it’s time to start experimenting with different content and making a commitment to finding your Facebook voice. At the very least, you should have a goal of two Comments or Thumbs Up per Status Update per 1,000 Fans. Otherwise, your Fan’s absolute silence is a clear indication that they are not paying that much attention, or worse your Status Updates are losing exposure in the News Feeds. If you are struggling with finding your Facebook voice, Like the five nonprofits listed below and learn from their example:
Wildlife SOS :: facebook.com/wildlifesosindia
Surfrider Foundation :: facebook.com/surfrider
Operation Homefront :: facebook.com/operationhomefront
National Peace Corp Association :: facebook.com/peacecorpsconnect
350.org :: facebook.com/350.org
Related Link:
Webinar: How Nonprofits Can Successfully Use Facebook and Facebook Apps [Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced]
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Nonprofit Tech 2.0 Blog :: A Social Media Guide for Nonprofits 
I’ve definitely struggled with how to find my voice on Facebook (for some reason it is harder for me to be myself than on Twitter) so I love any advice that helps make our page more exciting! Thanks for this post!
You Danielle?! That just goes to show that some of the best struggle with it. I know I do. I think Facebook is the toughest. Success stories, quotes, stats, photos, videos. 🙂
Thank you for the recognition!
Of course. You even made it into the book. 🙂
https://nonprofitorgs.wordpress.com/2010/12/10/nonprofits-mentioned-in-the-book/
Really? I had no idea. Can’t wait to see what you have to say about us!
We are honored to be recognized and have learned much from you, Heather!!!
Basically, we do whatever Heather says to do 😉
Yes….do as she says….success will follow! 🙂
Heather, thanks for highlighting Wildlife SOS. Our facebook presence is a group effort, and we’re lucky to have such amazing rescue work to share with everyone.
Great examples! Any advice for a small non-profit struggling with business profiles on facebook. Should I link it with my personal account? Any ideas of how the upcoming changes will affect facebook? Thanks in advance for your great suggestions!
@Meghan. All Pages are linked to personal accounts, at least they should be…. but many have set up their Pages incorrectly. If you can, take my webinars on Facebook.
See:
https://nonprofitorgs.wordpress.com/2010/12/17/7-things-nonprofits-need-to-know-about-the-new-facebook-pages/
I believe you have helped me improve our new FB page significantly. We’ll get to work on it right away. If we see traffic and comments pick up in the next few weeks, we’ll come back here to post our thanks. If not, we’ll keep reading your material in hopes of finding other ways to improve. We’re new at this. It’s kinda fun and plenty frustrating.
BTW – we’re not a nonprofit. We are a company that serves nonprofit clients.
Thank you SO much for featuring Surfrider Foundation. Engaging with our networks and conducting two way dialog is very important to us. This has made my day!
That’s great to know Facebook is supporting Non Profit and this 5 are best selection. We at Silver Innings and Silver Inning Foundation and through my personal profile have benefited most due to FB page for creating awareness and sensitizing civil society with regards to Senior Citizens. And believe the Networking si going great.
Thanks facebook for wonderful support.
Great article. Another organization that I think does a great job is Kiva.org. They have long been ahead of the curve and offered easy ways for companies to engage their members in giving and sharing information, updates and success stories via the social web. Also a great way for small non-profits to build their social presence is by supporting and getting involved with organizations like Kiva and the ones mentioned above. They need the support of like minded individuals and other organizations to grow and to have a strong social presence.
Really wanted my Facebook page to be more of a proactive type. Thanks for the share. Nice post.
Great examples! As the person behind the Modest Needs Facebook account, I was glad to see these superb choices.
Our likes and members and commenters are growing each day, so thanks for helping us further:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Modest-Needs-Foundation/46172034338
Wouldn’t it also depend on the demographics of your fans? If they are causally active on Facebook compared to a group of people who are constantly engaged to the activities of their newsfeed, wouldn’t that make a difference?