Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites could be the key to promoting social causes Mari Fagel/MNS
WASHINGTON — It’s National Volunteer Week, a time to recognize those who are making a difference. Yet often times those individuals and organizations struggle to promote their cause. The key to bringing awareness to their organizations and to mobilizing people to volunteer could be social media. Experts say using Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and other social networking sites is essential to spreading the word about volunteer events.
This week, HandsOn Network and the Points of Light Institute hosted a summit to train nonprofits to use social media.
“Now with these tools we have easier access to the volunteer programs,” said Decker Ngonganj, vice president of programs at Mobilize.org, “We have easier access to when this event is or when this meeting is.”
Yet, it’s not enough just to be present on these sites. Nonprofits must also put thought into the content they post in order to attract volunteers.
“There is a misnomer out there that the tools in and of themselves are miracle workers,” said Heather Mansfield, a blogger for Non-Profit Tech 2.0. “It really depends on the person behind the Facebook page, behind the Twitter account. Not everyone understands, ‘I got those photos that I took on my digital camera last night or on my mobile phone, I’m going to put it into a Flickr slideshow and then I’m going to post them on Facebook.’”