Over the last few months, at my urging, C3 has been inching its way into social media. When I introduced Twitter to the staff a few months ago in a webinar, about halfway through there was silence on the line. Turns out my staff was too busy tweeting to listen to me talk about Twitter anymore.

Now we have an official Twitter account, a few Facebook causes, a Facebook application for our Cover Your Butt mobile integration and a Facebook fan page.

Keep in mind that our organization speaks to a smaller population than your average disease support/awareness group since we specifically focus on advocacy and patient education. And never mind the fact that the average age of the colon cancer patient tends to be well outside the typical Facebook target group.

C3 is making it up as we go like most. We’re challenged by the “ick” perception of our cause (no cute kids or puppies as our visual, that’s for sure). We’re pushed forward by the fact that colorectal cancer is still the #2 cause of cancer death in this country and it can be stopped with awareness and action. We are the organization that is all about action.

Yesterday, I heard that MindComet is holding a contest through the end of July (known as “CommuniCause”), asking folks to vote for a nonprofit that they can award $25,000 in consulting services. They’ll choose among the top 10 vote getters.

We sprung into action, using our small existing Twitter and Facebook networks to spread the word. We want this.

Here’s the thing: C3 is doing great work, with a tiny staff and budget, but we’re scaling slowly. We have less than 200 followers on Twitter, less than 100 fans on Facebook and less than 3500 members in our causes. Do we ever need a social media makeover!! We need to bring it all together. We need to make it viral and sticky (even though our message is icky). We need to dedicate more time to it than our resources allow.

3 of us on C3’s staff of 7 started promoting the contest yesterday through C3’s and our personal networks (@bennybas, @carleab and me).

As of right now we are ranked #12 #11 (so close!) #8!! (yah! top 10!) from a starting point in the high 300s! Hello!!

What excites me about this contest is not just the prize. It’s also a light bulb moment for our staffers who heard me screaming about social media for the past year, but didn’t see first-hand from the inside how effective it can really be. Our network may be small, but we’ve got incredible folks on our side.

So please…let’s show the world that social media isn’t just for the kids and it can benefit “icky” causes too:

1. Vote for C3. Just click this link which will auto-fill our org name. One vote per email address.
2. Use your networks to spread the word. Use the tools here to tweet and share the link. If colon cancer affected your life, think of all the butts we can cover and save with $25,000 worth of help to spread the word. This contest is going for another 6 weeks and even if we make the top 10 now, we have to stay there for a while and competition will be tough.
3. Let @CommuniCause know that C3 should be the organization selected should we make the top 10. We know that social media works wonders for causes around cute animals and precious children. I don’t mean to sell any other issue short. Every single cause in the top 10 deserves to be there. Social media can also make a difference in fighting a disgusting no-one-wants-to-talk-about-it disease that kills 50,000 Americans a year…most of them our parents and grandparents. Ask them to show us how it’s done.