Grassroots.org

By Aidan Hijleh

A burgeoning number of grassroots organizations around the country have adopted social networking to improve the state of society as a whole. Social media represents a paradigm where the interaction between your organization and its supporters take on a new dynamism and personal relevance. The most successful grassroots organizations have learned to leverage this innovative form of engaging constituents in a wide-ranging conversation to boost their visibility, image, and bottom line fundraising results. The recently released 2010 Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report by the Common Knowledge Agency sheds considerable light on some of the tactics being used to achieve online success by these savvy grassroots organizations.

Facebook rules the roost

Facebook is the number one social network so it is easy to understand why it also is the number one location for grassroots organization to have their presences. Over 85% of all nonprofits are on Facebook… which can lead you to wonder what the other 15% are thinking. Twitter is second with 60% and LinkedIn follows with 33%. The efficiencies in communicating with a widespread constituency through social media have evolved to the point where grassroots organizations all over the world are making it a lynchpin of their entire outreach, fundraising and advocacy activities. International organizations rely on Facebook even more than national ones, with 97% having a presence on the main social network.

Twitter is up 627% in one year!

Twitter is quickly turning from a little social media birdie to a giant pterosaur when it comes to grassroots organizations. The 140 character broadcast site saw the greatest increase of average community size with a breathtaking increase of 627% in just one year from 286 followers to 1,792! The success of many grassroots organizations is proving that you don't have to be Ashton Kutcher or Lady Gaga to amass a huge following on Twitter. Grassroots organizations have taken a leading role in nurturing their constituent communities through Twitter and it is a trend which seems to be accelerating.

Twitter provides the balance of information distribution which best suits many grassroots organizations: The short blurb format leads itself to frequent but curt updates and references which keep the organization foremost in the minds of its supporters without threatening to cross the line into overload; the egalitarian nature of Tweets facilitate communications from any level of constituent right to the head office of the organization and back again; and the exchange of information which Twitter facilitates can be a primary source of new leads, donors, supporters, volunteers, and even provide valuable data on how the organization and its goals are being viewed by the general public.

12% still deny social media

Even with this stunning growth, there are still some grassroots organizations that lag behind in staking their claim to social networking gold. It may be hard to believe, but 12% of these non-participants said that they didn't believe having a social media presence was a good use of resources. Why do they continue to deny the overwhelming success that many other similar organizations are experiencing? Well. there are some people who still insist the Earth is flat!

Email marketing is the main promotional choice

It seems that the conventional wisdom of not too long ago called for blogging to be one of the main vectors to engage the constituents of any grassroots organization, but that advice has since gone by the wayside. Surprisingly, the study proved that blogging is actually the second least utilized method by grassroots organizations at just 29%, beaten at the bottom of the trough only by direct mail at 22%. Twitter promotion works for 52% of organizations and various events are responsible for 54%. Grassroots organizations rely on email marketing more than any other outgoing channel to drive traffic to their Fan Pages since they have found that the synergy between the email and social media channel approaches supporters in a manner that is most convenient for them since research has shown that most users of mobile web enabled devices check their emails more than once a day!

Grassroots organization directors who are keeping up to date with the current state of online promotions are achieving the greatest success in advocacy, outreach, and fundraising. Follow their lead and you can join their club!

Aidan Hijleh is a freelance copywriter and serves as the Non-Profit Partnership Liaison for Benchmark Email. Aidan advocates free email marketing services to assist with the flourishing of grassroots organizations.