Social Media Tools

The group I would love to represent is a non-profit in Orange County, California called Orangewood Children Foundation.  “In 1981, a concerned group of private citizens and community leaders established the Orangewood Children's Foundation” (Orangewood Children’s Foundation, 2012).  Situated in Orange, California, the Orangewood Children's Home is Orange County's first and only crisis sanctuary for deserted and sexually, physically or emotionally battered adolescents. The home offers protection each year for approximately 1,000 children who “have been removed from their caretakers by police officers or child protective services workers and placed into protective custody” (Orangewood Children’s Foundation, 2012).

Orangewood is a foundation that spotlights and emphasizes the continuing necessities of children in the foster care system, creating “a wide range of activities, scholarships, support and programs to give every child every chance to succeed” (Orangewood Children’s Foundation, 2012). These benefits are visible to the supporters of the charity, as well as the children themselves. The lack of stability and consistency has a negative impact for years to come and by providing a place safe for children to have a “transformational learning environment by offering consistency, stability, support, and a community in which to belong, thrive, and grow into responsible, independent adults,” (Orangewood Children’s Foundation, 2012) Orangewood is showing what the public can do for these children.

The best group to target would be a group that is compassionate and understands the importance of having a good home structure and educational background for kids. This demographic are men and women in their late 30’s to mid 50’s who are new parents, or established parents in the Orange County area. They understand the importance of giving children a loving home, and providing them with structure to succeed. More specifically, I would target women in the age range of late 30’s to mid 50’s.

The best message I could advocate would be the main mission of Orangewood. This goal is to “offer hope, healing, education and assistance, and the importance of breaking the generational cycle of child abuse” Orangewood Children’s Foundation, 2012).  This message would be well received through Pinterest, Facebook, and a mainstream blog.

Pinsterest is basically a vision board or scrapbook that you put together while surfing the Internet. According to the website, “Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. Pinterest allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.” Pinterest is very popular among women, mainly “between the ages of 25 and 44” (Haydon, 2013), who have extra time in the day to surf pictures for all kinds of ideas ranging from educational, to do it yourself projects, and fashion. Pinterest is not just for pictures, more recently; the increase of videos on Pinterest has doubled. A non-profit could create specific boards for each theme they want to bring to light. The board could have videos with messages from volunteers, as well as from the children who are in the program. They can post fundraiser information, and also show the arts and crafts side of Orangewood and how they can participate in these arts and crafts to build awareness for the non-profit.  Orangewood could also create “an online fundraising catalog” (Haydon, 2013). By adding a “$” symbol and the amount of an item in the pin description, the viewers pin will automatically go into the gifts tab located at the top of the homepage (Haydon, 2013).  This helps the target demographic see pictures and videos about child abuse, gives them a place to donate, and also allows them to re-pin information specific to the non-profit program.

Facebook can be a valuable tool for non-profits worldwide. “Facebook has directly catered to non-profits present on the social network with a resource page, facebook.com/nonprofits, specifically to help them use the site” (Calderon, 2010). By creating a page instead of a group, a non-profit organization can publish directly into the news stream where you can engage your fans with a variety of different media, such as videos, polls and status updates. Pages also allow non-profits to analyze how fans are interacting with the organization’s page with the Insights Dashboard, giving instantaneous feedback to help adjust methods should you need to do so. “You can also do things like buy advertising on Facebook for your Page to increase your number of fans” (Calderon, 2010). The idea is generate content that’s Facebook-specific and builds a community there.

Blogging is a great way for an non-profit to be heard and present information for the target market they are trying to reach. Blogs “are a tool that allows for a conversation between the reader and the writer, and for information to reach people quickly all over the world” (Case, 2013). The non-profit can write blogs, but it would also be great if the non-profit had guest bloggers such as volunteers in the community, or the children in the program to share experiences. Upcoming events, or past events can be discussed in creative and fun ways. The non-profit can include photos and videos from the events to engage the readers, as well as information on how the reader can support the charity. Blogging has become a huge phenomenon, and I think that it would be a great way to target the lower end of the demographic Orangewood reaches out to. When a non-profit fundraises, there is often hesitation because the supporter isn’t sure about the organization and needs to build a rapport with the organization before donating. By blogging, Orangewood can establish a trust and help the contributor see that there are real people, like them, working there. “A blog can give them a glimpse behind the scenes, and provide a transparency and authenticity that an annual report or brochure may not” (Case, 2013).

Calderon, S. (12, February 2010). 10 Tips for Non-Profits on Facebook. Retrieved on July 22, 2013 from http://www.insidefacebook.com/2010/02/12/10-tips-for-non-profits-on-facebook/

Case, J & S. (2013). 10 Ways Nonprofits Can Use Blogs and Bloggers to Support Their Cause. Retrieved on July 22, 2013 from http://casefoundation.org/spotlight/10-ways-nonprofits-can-use-blogs-and-bloggers-support-their-cause

Hayden, J. (2013). 12 ways to use Pinterest for your nonprofit. Retrieved on July 22, 2013 from http://www.johnhaydon.com/2012/01/12-ways-use-pinterest-for-your-nonprofit/

Orangewood Children’ Foundation. (2012). Our Programs and Services. Retrieved on July 22, 2013 from http://www.orangewoodfoundation.org/programs.asp