‘Social Media’ is a phrase we’re all hearing a lot lately. Gen Xers like, totally, get it.  Baby Boomers and those of my generation (younger than baby boomers and older than Gen Xers) are starting to warm up to it. But don’t let the word ‘social’ fool you.  It’s not just for casual contact and social applications. Social media has a place in today’s business and non-profit world. Generally speaking, social media refers to using applications like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to promote yourself, your business, or your cause. What may have started with a tidal wave of teens creating profiles on My Space to share everything there is to know about themselves with their friends and (sadly) enemies, has quickly been harnessed by business professionals as the marketing tool of the future. And this is why you should stand up and take notice if you’re responsible for fundraising within your organization.

About a year ago I read an article about Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream abandoning traditional marketing entirely in favor of social media. Instead of placing newspaper ads, they would rely solely on tweets (that’s what it’s called when you put a message out on Twitter) and other social media to promote their brand. The advertising community thought this was wholly unorthodox, but Ben & Jerry’s has always been an innovator so this bold move should have surprised no one. Most businesses and organizations aren’t ready to commit to quite that extent, but make no mistake, you should not be without a presence on these powerful sites. Why?

#1: It’s free. Free advertising and promotion!  Never, ever turn down free advertising.

#2: The reach is huge: Facebook alone has more than 500 million users, 50% of whom are “active users” who log on every day. Twitter signs up about 300,000 new users every day, according to an article in the Huffington Post.

#3:  The number of people who may see your marketing is limitless (“viral marketing”).

#4:  Allows your organization to benefit from person-to-person fundraising.

#5:  It’s fast and requires little monitoring.

Let’s take a closer look at #1 – #5.

#1 is pretty self-explanatory. All of the social media sites offer free membership. So, for no cost, you can set up a page and start promoting your cause. For the most part, the sites are pretty self-explanatory and if you’re relatively comfortable using the internet, you’ll have no problem creating your site.  Literally within minutes you can have your page up and running without the help of a professional designer. People will search for your organization on these sites whether you’re there or not, so you might as well be there! Plus, it’s really handy to be able to say ‘look for us on Facebook.’  In many ways, it’s easier than expecting someone to remember your .com or .org web address.  That’s not to say that you don’t need a website. You DO need a website. Having a social media site should be complementary to your website and help guide people to your website.

#2: The statistics are mind blowing and they’re growing so fast that it’s hard to keep up. Most of the sites have their own statistic pages so if you want to see how many users there are or more detailed information, just google ‘Facebook statistics’ for example. Note that this may take you to someone else’s site where they’ve posted their take on statistics, so make sure you’re getting information from the right place.

#3:  Viral marketing. It sounds like a bad thing, but it’s not. This is probably the one application where ‘viral’ refers to something good. It reminds me of that old Breck shampoo commercial from the 1970′s where the girl tells two friends about the shampoo and then they tell two friends and so on and so on and so. It’s like that, but on steroids. You may start with a small group of friends or followers, but they will share your information with their friends, and so on and so on and so on. You gain exponential reach, which is critical when you’re trying to increase your follower (and thus donor) base.

#4:  This is really key. It’s a known in the fundraising world that people are more likely to give when asked by someone they know. If my friend Rachel asks me to give to an organization that I’ve never before heard of, I’m far more likely to give than I would be if I just received a blind request from the same organization. I trust Rachel, therefore I trust the organization that Rachel has recommended. Chances are I’ll at least go to their website to find out more about them. Plus, Rachel knows me so she’s already done some pre-screening and probably wouldn’t send me a fundraising request from a group whose core priniciples I disagree with. A real example from Facebook is the case of Nelson Layang’s birthday wish (I learned about this at a conference). Nelson told all his friends on Facebook that in lieu of birthday presents, he wanted them to make a donation to the Women’s Cancer Resource Center. He made the request in memory of a dear friend he lost to cancer. He included a simple link to the cancer center’s donation page along with a heartfelt appeal and his friends really came through with the donations. Not because they had a link to the WCRC, but because they’re linked to Nelson and Nelson’s cause was important to them. This is the power of social media.

#5: Getting started is simple and quick. Considering that there are so many elements to running a business or organization, anything that’s going to be a major time sink is probably not going to rank high on the priority list unless it has a significant, proven return on investment. It literally takes no more than ten to fifteen minutes to set up your Facebook or LinkedIn site and posting updates can take as little as a few seconds.

It’s difficult to site statistics on social media use in fundraising because it’s just so new. But given the investment and the potential, it’s worth doing. If nothing else, having a presence on social media sites makes it easier for your organization to be found in Google. The social media sites actually update faster than Google so they help your search ranking improve and most people are still using google as the #1 search engine. The easier it is for people to find you, the more potential donors you’ll have. There’s really no down side to using social media so long as you follow basic business rules of thumb like spell checking your entries and making sure your content stays fresh. So go ahead and get started. What have you got to lose?