This is our second guest post in our new guest post series. Jason Kapler, Senior Marketing Programs Manager at Convio, is the writer of today’s guest post.

Three Social Media Takeaways for Nonprofits All Businesses

The holiday season for many businesses is a time of reflection and celebration as the calendar year draws to an end. Conversely, for retailers and nonprofit organizations, the holiday season is crunch time and performance can make or break a year.

With 74% of U.S. adults planning to make donations this holiday season I thought I’d take a look at how leading nonprofits are using Facebook to enhance their online fundraising programs.

Customers & Donors are looking for Guidance

By promoting gift giving during the holiday season, organizations like The Humane Society or World Wildlife Fund (WWF) inspire supporters to make donations in the form of gifts.

While the concept of encouraging gift giving is not original (we’ve all seen the Zales, Lexus, Old Navy, and Target TV commercials), the reason why we see it every holiday season is because it works! People seek guidance when it comes to identifying ways to show love and appreciation through gifts. WWF and The Humane Society succeed during the giving season by taking an existing fundraising program and make it available on Facebook.

Wait, what? You don’t need to create some kind of marketing campaign tailored for social media that exploits the inherent advantages of the internet or social sharing? Simply put, no. These leading nonprofits are providing the same online experience just in a new place, in this case Facebook, where an increasingly growing segment of their supporters congregates online. In both examples shown, these organizations are providing an end-to-end ecommerce transaction without ever leaving Facebook webpages. Pretty cool!

Key Takeaways:

• Be where your prospects and customers are online. For WWF, Facebook connects them to over 400,000 identified supporters allowing them to increase participation in fundraising and advocacy campaigns that sustain WWF’s mission.
• Social Media is a tool and not a destination. Social Media is a channel organizations can use to complement their existing marketing and communications. The Humane Society has taken a successful fundraising program they have promoted through direct mail and their website, and replicated it on Facebook.
• Social Media Success Doesn’t Require Reinventing the Wheel. For marketers and fundraisers end-of-year is a time to use the holidays as a theme or hook. Sure you can create unique offerings and appeals if you have time, budget and energy. But you can also be successful by repackaging information you regularly distribute throughout the year. Stretching the value proposition of your marketing assets to include seasonal elements is a fun way to get attention and inspire people to take action.

Interested in learning more about holiday giving or how leading nonprofits use social media? Download the Convio 2010 Holiday Giving Guide and Social Media for Nonprofit Guide to learn more. Learn techniques, tips and for leveraging social media technologies and insights into the most charitable time of year.

Happy Holidays and here’s to your marketing programs becoming a success! Have any ideas that you’d like to share about holiday marketing, nonprofit marketing, or fundraising campaigns in general? Share your thoughts below in the comment section.