Nonprofits looking to start using social media as a marketing tool will find a wealth of sound advice online, but putting the pieces together into a solid strategy? That's the real challenge. No one simple strategy will work for every nonprofit group. (In fact, trying to give step-by-step ''one size fits all'' directions for using social media is ...

It seems like a dozen different social-media sites start up every day, so it can be a challenge to know where to put your online outreach efforts. Twitter is one real-time networking platform that’s clearly floated to the top of the social-media pool, however, and it's a great place for any nonprofit to dive in. If you’ve been using Twitter ...

The original intention of sites such as Twitter may have been purely social, but like many Web 2.0 tools, it has evolved in the hands of its users. This time last year, the Canadian Marketing Association saw Twitter as a new toy for the tech savvy Millennial, “an easy, non committal way to keep tabs and staying emotionally close to our ...

We’ve talked before about how nonprofits are using Facebook to connect with their supporters online, figuring out ways to work around the “closed door” model of the popular social-networking site. For example, setting up a nonprofit Facebook Page  that can be viewed by anyone on the Web  is often more effective than just having a ...

Facebook is fast becoming a popular way to publicize an organization’s event, invite guests, and track who plans to attend. Facebook Events may be just what your group needs — but could you be shutting out some of the people who might support your event, by relying solely on Facebook to manage it? The fact is, for non-members of the site, ...

We all know that the Internet is a very public space -- but do we always act that way?  The separate compartments of social networking sites, once isolated in their own little boxes, have created an illusion of privacy where none may exist -- and now those boxes are opening wide. Consider this: Rapleaf alone has created over 50 million ...

The ''Web 2.0 Nonprofit Success Stories'' submitted to the NPC Carnival this week led to a selection of nonprofit organizations that are widely varied in terms of size, budget, and reach. Each group is using the Internet and Web 2.0 tools in a different way to meet its goals, but some common themes emerge; most notably, perhaps, the power of ...

Wild Apricot is pleased to be hosting the Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants on Monday, 5 May 2008, and the theme will be ''Web 2.0 Nonprofit Success Stories''  Tell us how you're using the Internet -- and specifically Web 2.0 tools and technologies -- to overcome challenges and meet your organization's goals. Share your excitement, your ...

Social media and social networking are hot buzzwords in the world of online marketing, but what do they mean in practical terms? Is social media marketing just a passing fad, or could it be a worthwhile strategy for your organization? In a survey done by Collactive of close to 200 organizations, those with a successful social media strategy ...

Tagging helps to organize and share our online information with others. By attaching one or more keywords to a Flickr photograph, for example, we group it together with others that have the same tag. Hashtags serve a similar purpose on Twitter, the social micro-blogging service. The aim is to bring some order to Twitter users' published ...