How the Leading Nonprofits Manage Social Media

A few weeks ago, craigsconnects and Rad Campaign published an infographic on how the top 50 nonprofits stack up for their use of social media.

Yesterday, Craig Newmark (craigslist.com founder) and his team published another infograph that parses this data by cause areas. They looked at how often these orgs were posting updates on different platforms, which nonprofits were being talked about the most, and whose messaging was having the most impact on their respective communities.

What types of organizations rule social media

• Environmental and Animal orgs are the most active orgs on Facebook and Twitter.
• Veterans and Military organizations are the least active.
• PETA and the NRDC are the most active orgs on both Facebook and Twitter.
• The most effective orgs on Facebook (comments, likes, shares per post) are Animal and Children orgs.
• The most mentioned orgs on Twitter are Disaster and Health orgs.

How large nonprofits are doing social media

The best part of this infograph is the quotes from orgs who shared how they manage social media. The one thing many of these orgs share is that they approach social media strategically. Some highlights:

• Wendy Harman says that the Red Cross has 30 subject matter experts who devote 30 minutes to 2 hours each day engaging on social media around their respective areas of expertise. Wendy’s special brew is disaster recovery.
• Elise LaPrade of Conservation International formed a social media team who meets each week to brainstorm content ideas and discuss various issues.
• Since the ASPCA hired a full-time social media, they’ve seen significant growth of the Facebook Page and Twitter followers. This Facebook Page photo received over 991 comments:
• The American Cancer Society encourages all staff to engage on social media. That might explain why they have so many mentions on Twitter.

One factor that successful orgs share in common is that they approach social media strategically. They don’t just wing it.

What do you think?