We have had a lot of conversations, both internal and external, about all of the new social networking tools and how they can be used by nonprofits. There is a tendency in the nonprofit world to focus a lot of talk on the latest and greatest thing and to feel some kinds of social pressure to be doing "it" - whatever it is.

Those who focus on online fundraising - such as our partners at Donordigital, the online fundraising guru Madeline Stanionis and the good folks at M&R - are quick to remind us to focus on goals and measurements. What are you looking to do? And does this activity get us toward that end? And can you prove it through measurement? Though it may be a buzz kill, we have to remember that resources are not unlimited. That MySpace page or blog might be "free" but your time isn't. And though it might be what everyone is talking about, it might not make sense for you, and not now.

I just returned from the Communications Network conference where Victor D'Allant (a fabulous mench) made just this point in one of the sessions. He mentioned that Social Edge, the networking site for social entrepreneurs, is going to launch a podcast, years after he was told he "needed" one, because he finally has some content where podcasting is the best option.

At AED (the biggest nonprofit you never heard of), Natalie Halpern made a moving film about AIDS orphans in Africa. It's a 20-minute piece and Natalie has been able to get screenings of the film at events and some festivals. They are thinking about social networking because if the goal is to get people to see the film (or shorter stories made from the film) then social networks might be a good way to find them. It is easy - but time consuming - to identify pages on MySpace and other social networks that mention the issues an organization cares about. Where it makes sense, we at See3 help our clients find the influencers - the people with lots of friends and lots of activity on their pages -and invite them in, get them engaged and watch as they influence their personal network in our direction.

There are some people who believe that this is the entire future of marketing. These folks think that top-down marketing, where we tell you what to think by directing advertising at you, isn't working any more. They say that the only way to get noticed is to do something remarkable (or entertaining or moving) and then grease the wheels that allow regular people to tell each other about it. I think this overstates the case a little, but this is for sure the way things are moving.

In the here and now though, there are times when it's a no-brainer to use social networking tools. We created three direct-response video pieces for Amnesty International USA. They are using YouTube to host the video. They have embedded the video onto their tell-a-friend pages, and are using their Kintera tools and the YouTube community to push the video beyond those already on their house list. (As of this writing we have close to 16,000 views on the first video released.)

(SHAMELESS PLUG: We are building DoGooderTV to become THE place for nonprofit video because the DoGooder community will be there for the specific purpose of engaging on issues. The good clips will be syndicated across the web, grabbing much more attention that you can get buried among bloopers and TV shows.)

The social networking world can sure seem overwhelming. Nonprofit professionals are just starting to wrap their arms around blogging and RSS and, let's hope video (which is used by orders of magnitude more people than blogging and RSS). My advice for the overwhelmed is to relax and make decisions based on the likely return on your investment of time and money. There are things you can do quickly and easily and there are activities that will take more investment. There are proven strategies and new ideas. Balance, in work as in life, is always good advice.

Source: http://blog.see3.net/?p=62