Engagement the Key to Social Media

Image: Dr Edwina Luck

The importance of using social media for Not for Profit organisations has been again reinforced at the National Conference on Volunteering, and organisations have been told to look within their own networks to find the help they need.

“The social media trend is amazingly huge, and it’s not going to go away,” said Dr Edwina Luck.

Dr Luck, a Senior Lecturer with the School of Advertising at QUT's Business School, took part in a panel discussion at the Gold Coast Conference.

Luck told the 400 delegates at the National Conference on Volunteering that 14.7 million Australians use social media, and Australians share 4 billion pieces of content each day on Facebook. Forty percent of social media content is accessed via phone and 53 percent of active social networkers follow a brand.

Dr Luck says social media is important because of the amount of engagement you can make with your audience.

Dr Luck says the younger generation has grown up online – they have always known the world wide web. But it isn’t just young people that are engaged with social media – Dr Luck said among social media users, “people in their 30’s and 40’s are the ones in the majority.”

Advice for Time Poor Organisations

Dr Luck summed up the concerns of many NFPs when she said, “The problem with social media is there is so much choice, and we are already time poor”.

Liz Buchanan, from the Department of Community Safety, said the best way for Not for Profit organisations to overcome this is by engaging with volunteers from their own networks who have the necessary time and skills.

Dr Luck says organisations need to find out what social media and strategies work for them. “What might be right for another organisation might not be right for yours", she said.

Don’t Just Talk at People – Listen and Share

The conference was told that that engagement is the key to success on social media. “You can’t just talk at people and expect them to answer – you have to listen as well,” said Dr Luck.

But listening alone isn’t enough, you need to share. “For every one tweet about yourself, you should share five stories that interest your group”.

Dr Luck said NFPs should “Make sure your posts provide value to your audience”.

Once your audience is engaged, you can get them to help with content and even ask them for donations, she said.

*For interested conference delegates, Debbie Haski-Levanthal from Macquarie University will be presenting a session on how organisations can use social media, with a particular focus on recruiting volunteers.

Pro Bono Australia is the official media partner of the 2011 National Conference on Volunteering, and our team of journalists are reporting live from the conference to ensure those unable to attend can follow the conference news and discussion.