Non Profit Communication Vehicles

Social Media seems to have taken the marketing world by storm.  Words such as “viral”, “online”, “offline”, “always on”, “champions”, “friends”, “lurkers”, “peer-to-peer”, “network”, “engagement”, and “groundswell” have all emerged from this trend victorious and redefined.  Social Media is sometimes interpreted as any type of marketing and communication executed on the internet.  This however is not true.  Social Media is simply one of many online vehicles used for such endeavors.  Yet long before there were online methods of delivering your organization’s message there were offline methods of communication.

Most people realize that there are various forms of  transportation vehicles.  They come in all shapes and sizes.  Each type has its own specific use and function.  A company or a person must learn which type is the best to move specific items.  For example, a train is great for moving large quantities of material at a steady pace over a long distance.  However, a train is relegated to land (it won’t go very far on water).   A train then would not be the vehicle of choice to cross a large body of water such as an ocean.  In this case a jet plane or a ship might be used to accomplish the transportation need.

Crossing land and crossing the ocean are relatively easy examples to follow.  But how does one decide between a train and a semi-truck, a van or a car, or a plane or a helicopter?  These decisions in transportation can be difficult because the medium is the same.  There are only idiosyncrasies that separate the modes, and so it is with delivering your nonprofit’s message.

As one can see Social Media, and Social Networking platforms, are just one presence (aspect) of communicating online with an organization’s constituency.  There is a time and  place for online marketing, and a time and a place for offline marketing.  Using these two broad channels in a directed, purposeful, and message driven way will ensure that your nonprofit maximizes its return on investment for its communications and marketing budget.

Author’s Note:  This post discusses Social Media, Social Networks and online marketing.  Many times Social Media and Social Networking are considered one in the same, however they completely different.  One provides a platform for advertising and delivering one’s message and information; and the other deals with building community.  The most popular of these platforms are obviously those which allow for both, such as Facebook.

Social Media is defined as delivering one’s adverts, information and message (the content) via a relational marketing (social network) platform.

Social Network is defined as community building platforms wherein one can connect with another based upon a relationship.

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