Leverage social media for social change

If the purpose of the marketing process is to change behavior, then the purpose of social marketing is to influence behavioral change in a social setting.

In terms of the Internet, those social settings are any place where people with similar interests exchange ideas and information. Twitter, Facebook, social bookmarking sites like Digg.com, blog comments, community forums: all of these are part of the online social sphere.

A good social strategy essentially uses the same principles that made online social networks attractive in the first place — by solving social failures in the offline world. For a non-profit agency, social networks are important for:

• staying in touch with others in your field
• passing along the latest research or best practices
• sharing critical information in a quick digital form
• engaging in broader conversations with your peers and larger audience

When created as part of the overall marketing process, your social media strategy will combine the best in genuine communication with the technical tools to make it easy and efficient.

Key elements of an effective social marketing campaign include:

• consistent branding across all platforms
• integration and semi-automation using available social tools
• content reuse to allow wide-spread exposure for your agency's knowledge base, without the need to continually write new content

Talk to us about implementing a social strategy for your non-profit that will help you engage and share your vision for change.