Overwhelmed by the task of developing a social media strategy for your non-profit organization? Don’t know whether you ought to “friend” or “like” or tweet” to get the best mileage for your message in the social networks? Jumpstart the planning process with Jay Baer’s smart one-page Social Media Strategy Worksheet.  

Does this business-oriented worksheet apply just as well to non-profits?  Absolutely. 

For “client,” read “your organization.”

For “sales,” you can sub in “donations” or “memberships” or “event registrations”… whatever concrete goals you want to achieve through your interactions with people through social media – Twitter, Facebook, blogs, forums, or wherever you choose to engage. The other two points (“awaremess” and “loyalty”) are obviously right on target for non-profits, as is.

The “pitch” – 120 characters – will be a handy brief description of your organization and/or its mission. And the length of your pitch does matter!  For one thing, 120 characters is just about ideal for Twitter retweets, About Us boxes on blog sidebars, handshake-length introductions at networking events, brochures, and even the back of your business card. Even more important, however, is that a strict word-count limit will force you and your board to get to the core of your mission statement and keep focus on your organization’s one thing, its raison d'être.

How does the audience use social media?

Now, that’s an interesting question. In Baer’s 7-step plan, you’ll pick no more than two of five categories drawn from Forrester’s Social Technographics™ Ladder.   Make that six, now – the “Ladder” model  was updated earlier this year to include a sixth category of people/behaviors patterns to add to your worksheet: Conversationalists.

If you’re filling out the worksheet as a group exercise, you might want to start out the session with a review of Forrester’s explanation of the various groups who form the ladder’s rungs, just to be sure you’re all on the same page when it comes to identifying how your audience uses social media.

What’s your current relationship with the audience?

Are you trying to reach out to your existing members and donors? Or to prospective members and donors? Maybe, if awareness is your non-profit's main point in social media marketing, the target audience will be people who have no relationship (yet) with your organization. Figuring out all this in advance will help you to know where to look for your audience online, and also how to shape your messages in terms of both content and tone.

Print a few copies of the worksheet to hand around at your next board meeting, get each person to fill it in independently, then compare results to see where everyone’s perceptions overlap – and where the gaps are!

“Before you begin,” however, Jay Baer cautions,

Commit to worrying about social media tools last, not first. Why? Because tools will change. They always do.... If you fall in love with tools, you’ll constantly be changing directions, with no real plan to guide your way.

Makes sense to you?

If your non-profit has already developed a social media strategy, please tell us about it in the comments. What advice would you give to other small non-profits for creating their own social media plans?