Ways in Which Not-for-Profit Organizations Can Raise Their Profile by Using Social Media - Assignment Example

Not-For-Profit Organisations Insert Name of the Student Insert Name of the Instructor Insert Name of the Course Insert Code of the Course Insert Submission Date Q. Discuss ways in which not-for-profit organisations can raise their profile by using social media The available mediums in social media that not for profit organisations can use are Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace categorised under network builders, Google hangout and Wikis categorised under collaboration tools, You Tube, and blogs categorised under conversation starters (Kanter and Allison 2010). One needs to start by creating an interactive website and a good email support system before venturing into the social media sites. This is because once the viewers see the content on the social sites they will want to get more information from the organisation’s website. Secondly, venture into the most appropriate social site for your brand. It is recommendable to hire a content manager as social media marketing consumes a lot of time and the nature of the content posted is vital. The content needs to be original and interesting to the viewer to arouse curiosity and subsequent visits. Then one needs to find a way to link the user content from one site to another. For example, if a blog post was the initial posting, use Facebook and Twitter to repost it to more viewers (Omidvar 2011). The content should have the auditor’s name and the stories should integrate donor and staff stories with supporting videos and pictures to give it a more personal touch. Share stories that are not directly linked to your organisation but which share some degree of commonness with your values. This keeps the viewers interested and encourages interaction with other organisations. Share your viewers’ stories on your site as well. Make them feel that you support their cause as well. Engage your viewers in a discussion when you get feedback. It is advisable to engage the viewers by personification, for example addressing them by their names. Remember to thank the visitors to your site and tell them of what to expect next. It creates a feeling of eagerness and suspense. All these actions enhance loyalty with your supporters. They change from being supporters to true friends and they can freely share your cause with their friends and families creating the necessary social support needed in a not for profit organisation (Miller 2012). The organisation majorly depends on volunteers and the more friends and loyal supporters for your cause the higher the chance of volunteers. It is also important to follow up your loyal supporters through personal calls or emails and thank them personally. One can also ask them to grace occasions by your organisation such as end of year parties free of charge. Post pictures and videos of such events and inform the viewers that you hosted some lucky supporters. Lastly, one should also use internet-marketing metrics to gauge performance of the marketing strategy. Such metrics include time-trending data that shows weekly, monthly, and yearly trends of your site, comparative data that shows how your site fairs compared to competitors, and use such data to improve (Treadaway and Smith 2012). Q. What characteristics would you look for in potential business candidates? What would you advise? A study by Maes, Weldy and Icenogle (1997) found out that communication is the most sought after skill in business graduates. Communication can be broken down to organisational business communication, interpersonal communication and leadership business communication (Sanjay 2012). Interpersonal communication is both verbal and written between colleagues at the place of work. This is important so that the candidate can be able to interact with the other business staff, learn quickly from them, and be part of organisational growth. After donor identification, the challenge is in enhancing his loyalty to the organisation. These skills are important to keep him through personalised communication. Good financial Writing skills are an added advantage because they will be useful in preparing financial reports and proposals. However, Lanier in Shrivastava (2012) asserts that most of the business graduates lack business writing skills. Organisational business communication involves communication between the individual and the outside environment, which in this case are the donors. The candidates ought to be a good orator with the ability to listen, and give feedback effectively. This is because the organisation is a not for profit and they have to be able to convince potential donors to give their resources without expecting monetary returns. This also involves good negotiating skills. To complete a successful deal between the organisation and the donors takes several meetings. The candidate should be able to ensure that they remain interested all through the several meetings. He needs to be convincing enough that they are contributing to a worthy cause and not making a loss. Organisational communication also requires one to be good at technology. The candidate will need to use power point presentations often during presentations. Therefore, the IT skills need to be at par with his orator skills (Psenicka, Vendemia and Kos 1997). Leadership business communication on the other hand is vital because the candidate will be required to handle volunteers besides his normal duties. Effective communication enables a business leader to take up a leadership role. An individual is able to persuade, motivate, counsel, and motivate the volunteers. According to Bowman in Shrivastava (2012), a business is one who is able to get things done through people because of effective communication. In addition, the candidates should have good managerial skills. The candidate should show excellent financial management skills coupled with strategic management, as he will be handling a lot of money. Good strategic management is important in identifying worthy projects that the organisation can invest in without making losses as mismanagement of funds creates a negative image for the organisation. He will therefore be required to demonstrate a high level of managerial skills (Miller, Wesley, and Williams 2012). Advised to the management is to consider all the above skills in a potential candidate. Such a candidate will be very efficient and will boost the overall performance of the organisation. Q. Ethical issues facing not-for-profit organisations today. The not for profit organisations are facing ethical issues such as accountability, compensation concerns, fraud, conflicts of interest, investment policies, and many others. According to Evans, Richmond, and John Shields (2013), not for profit organisations have an implied contract with the public to carry out their operations with a high level of accountability. These institutions act for the public interest and they should give clear details of their performance without coercion and be in a position to explain under performance. Initially, not-for-profit organisations operated on a private basis but governments have increased their influence to such institutions for example in mandating them to carry out service contracts. The public is therefore questioning whether the institutions have lost their accountability to the public and directed it to the governments. These organisations also receive high tax incentives despite handling a lot of money. In 2006 for example, The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation and Warren Buffet donated 30 billion dollars to not for profit organisations (Rhode and Packel 2009). However, there is not much information to the public about how the money was utilised. Such actions raise concerns among the public about who is responsible to check the activities of such organisations. There are also concerns about the amount of money that the managers of such organisations earn. Often there arises controversy over how the CEO’s of these organisations receive heavy salary packages with additional benefits of higher value yet their board members remain uncompensated (Linda 2013). Majority feel that CEO of such organisation act in the interest of the public and therefore should get moderate salaries that represent their noble concerns. Paul Le Clerc the CEO of New York Public Library received a salary increase to the amount of $800,000 (Rhode and Packel 2009). This caused a public outcry over the raise because the librarians who worked under him were receiving meagre income and others were non-paid volunteers. Some also argued that the raise would buy many books instead to fill the under resourced libraries around the country. Issues of conflict of interest arise when board members award their acquaintances lucrative contracts. Even though the contracts might be genuine, it raises concern over whether board members should get preference in awarding contracts (Linda 2013). The Nature Conservancy in America for example, bought conservancy land for $2.1 million. They then barred economic developments such as mining but allowed the construction of a luxurious private house. Subsequently, former regional chapter chairperson bought the house for $500,000. The family then donated $1.6 million for conservation deemed as cover up. They consequently took a federal tax write-off. The Stanford Institute for Research on Women and Gender had to refuse a financial gift from the Playboy foundation. Playboy is associated with prostitution and therefore the Institute had to refuse the offer regardless of the amount (Rhode and Packel 2009). This presents the financial integrity concerns these organisations face to maintain their ethical responsibility. References Evans Bryan, Richmond, and Shields. 2013. “Structuring Neoliberal Governance: The Nonprofit Sector, Emerging New Modes of Control and the Marketisation of Service Delivery.” Report. http://ac.els-cdn.com/S1449403505700503/1-s2.0-S1449403505700503-main.pdf?_tid=e9f3130e-c8cc-11e2-bea8-00000aacb35d&acdnat=1369879500_132d82f3ec006ef6990095964a333626. Kanter, Beth and Allison Fine. 2010. The Networked Nonprofit: Connecting with Social Media to Drive Change. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Linda Ray. 2013. “Top Five Ethical Issues for a Nonprofit Organization.” http://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/top-five-ethical-issues-nonprofit-organization-5979.html Maes, Jeanne, D, Teresa G. Weldy and Marjorie L. Icenogle. 1997. “A Managerial Perspective: Oral Communication Competency Is Most Important for Business Students in the Workplace.” Journal of Business Communication 34(1): 67-80. Miller, Kivi, Leroux. 2010. The Nonprofit Marketing Guide: High-Impact, Low-Cost Ways to Build Support for Your Good Cause. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Omidvar, Ratna. 2011. Five Good Ideas: Practical Strategies for Non-Profit Success. Toronto: Coach House Books. Psenicka, Clement, William Vendemia and Anthony Kos. 1997. “The Impact of Grade Threat on the Effectiveness of Peer Evaluations of Business Presentations: An Empirical Study.” International Journal of Management 30(1): 168-174. Rhode, Deborah, L, and Amanda K. Packel. 2009. “Ethics and Nonprofits. Stanford Social Innovation Review.” http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/ethics_and_nonprofits. Shrivastava, Sanjay. 2012. “Identifying the Major Components of Business Communication and Their Relevance: A Conceptual Framework.” IUP Journal of Soft Skills 6(4): 2012. Toyah, L., miller, Curtis L. Wesley, and Denise E. Williams. 2012. “Educating the Minds of Caring Hearts: Comparing the Views of Practitioners and Educators on the Importance of Social Entrepreneurship Competencies.” Academy of Management Learning & Education 11(3): 349-370. Treadaway, Chris and Mari Smith. 2012. Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Read More