If you’re not into Facebook, then someone encouraging you and your organisation to get involved in all that online social media nonsense may sound a bit pointless. But, think about it, if you put a little effort into getting on to Facebook and encouraging your current membership to do so, you could find a whole new realm of contacts, volunteers and sponsors opening up to your non-profit, volunteer group or charity. Even if just one new person signs up, volunteers, donates, hires, or spreads the word about your efforts it can be worth it. These things tend to snowball once you get more active.

For example, I created a page on Facebook for Science Writers, more a virtual watercooler than anything else. Started out with just a handful of people becoming fans of the page, but with a little encouragement those members spread the word to others in their circle via Facebook and Twitter etc. Within a couple of weeks we’d gone from a handful to a couple of hundred. Over the following year it’s grown enormously. Now there are almost 2000 people who “like” the page, share their thoughts on science writing, put up job tips, and awards and much more.

A Facebook presence can act as an online hub for those members of your group who do spend time on the site. It all takes time and effort, but it can pay well if you get new people involved or donations coming in. Moreover, when there’s a need to call on resources you have an additional focus beyond the email and flyer to pull in people from way beyond your physical location in the form of ex-pats, old friends, distant family members etc.

Things I would suggest:

1. You need to encourage a handful of people to post news snippets about happenings, updates to your org, post photos and video from events and developments and to do so on an ad hoc, but fairly frequent basis.
2. You need to encourage those people and others to “like” and share those updates with their circle on Facebook and then to encourage their friends and contacts to share and share again.
3. You need to encourage your committee and volunteers to comment on the Facebook page and to follow item (ii) when they can.
4. You need to encourage helpers, staff, volunteers and offline friends to get on to Facebook if they’re not already members and to send them to item (ii).
5. You need to ensure that everyone in your org knows about the Facebook page and why you’re using it and to put the Facebook ID/address on all headed paper, memos, and emails and for it to be prominent.

That’s all their is to it…