Using Social Media for Fundraising and Communication with Supporters Lindsay Boyle – Communications & Research Coordinator Claire Chapman – Information & Membership Officer One East Midlands

Social Media Social media is about social interaction – about conversation and the sharing of resources and ideas. Social media covers a range of tools including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogging.

Overview Introductions Benefits of social media Potential drawbacks Overview of types of social media Group work

Introductions Do you use social media either personally or professionally? What would you like to achieve through social media? Discuss with a neighbour and feedback

Statistics Social networking accounts for 23% of UK web time (April 2010, Nielsen) 75% of year olds and 31% of year olds posted messages on social networking sites in 2010 (Office for National Statistics) There are over 500 million Facebook users worldwide (December 2010, Facebook) The biggest age range of people using Facebook are but the fastest growing group is the over 55s. 50 million tweets are posted per day worldwide (February 2010, Twitter) In Focus: Integrating Social Media, NCVO

Benefits Increase your reach Viral marketing Send positive messages about your organisation Make links with other professionals to share information / learning Increase fundraising Increase volunteers / supporters Others?

Drawbacks Time (start-up / commitment) Money Loss of control Others?

Facebook The most popular social network site, allowing people to share news, messages and photos. Pages allow organisations to communicate broadly with people who support them. Groups provide a closed space for small groups of people to communicate about shared interests.

Twitter Twitter enables its users to send and read posts of up to 140 characters, known as ‘tweets.’ Information published on Twitter sites can be re-tweeted by your followers. Twitter is great at spreading messages and this can happen very quickly. CLINKS on (687 followers)

LinkedIn A social networking site for professional networking. Individual users can gain knowledge and contacts to achieve their professional goals and control their professional identity online. LinkedIn company pages act as an organisation’s online profile, allowing members to research companies they are interested in, follow them to stay updated and see what kind of people work there. LinkedIn groups allow people interested in a given topic to discuss it and share content.

Blog A weblog (blog) is a online journal – thought and opinions which visitors can comment on. Blogs have also become an increasingly prominent tool for campaigning and political lobbying and many more

YouTube YouTube enables users to upload and view videos. Two billion views a day, 24 hours of video uploaded every minute and the average user spending 15 minutes a day on the site. Videos can be edited directly in YouTube with no software downloads required. Videos can be shared automatically through your social media networks, and code is provided to embed your videos on your website.

Google+ New social media site launched by Google at end of September 2011 Similar to and in competition with Facebook, but will enable users to separate their friends into groups (e.g. colleagues, old school friends etc) Also allows online private video conferencing for up to nine friends at a time including YouTube video sharing Photos can be automatically updated from some mobiles and be edited on the site Recommend following development and reviews of site over the next few months

Online Giving Online giving through a reputable website is secure and convenient, allowing individuals to donate from bank account via their computer or mobile 24 hours a day, 7 days a week Most have a fee so may not be suitable if your fundraising target is small. Most will also deal with Gift Aid admin (currently 20%) £10million government Innovation in Giving Fund to support new ways to increase giving and volunteering through technology and many more

Group Work How could social media benefit your organisation’s communication strategy? What type of social media do you think would most fulfil that goal? What are your next steps going to be in taking this forward?

One East Midlands Social Media (search groups for One East Midlands)

For further social media information and support from One East Midlands visit or telephone