Earlier this month at the Nonprofit Technology Conference in Austin, I attended Lauren Girardin’s session, Don’t Panic! How to Embrace Emerging Social Media with Infinite Majesty and Calm. Lauren is an exceptional marketing and communications consultant, writer, and trainer and her session was so packed with practical advice and tips, I asked her to come share some key points for Nonprofit MarCommunity readers.

In this video interview, I asked Lauren to answer a few questions:

  • What qualifies as emerging versus established social media? What are some examples?
  • What questions do you think nonprofits should consider instead of the usual, “Should our nonprofit be on X social network?”
  • What advice do you have for nonprofits when it comes to getting started or experimenting with emerging social media?
  • Can you share any helpful related resources?

 

Lauren shared five smart questions to ask when evaluating a new social network (mentioned in the video and in the slideshare presentation below) and she suggested many useful resources for nonprofits.

Here are the resources, from Lauren:

Tools that make it easy to squat on your preferred user name on many social media channels: Namechk.com and Knowem.com

Social media translation tools:

  • KnowYourMeme.com: Documents internet phenomena like viral videos, memes, catchphrases, web celebs, and more.
  • UrbanDictionary.com: Look up meanings of words and phrases that aren’t in the standard dictionary like slang, acronyms, and other culture jargon.
  • TinEye.com & Google Image Search: Reverse image search. Find the original creator so you can confirm information and give attribution.
  • Snopes.com: Look up almost anything that might be rumor, urban legend, folkore, gossip, misstatements—or the rare bit of truth.

Lauren has also generously shared the slides from her Nonprofit Technology Conference session.

Want to connect with Lauren? You can find her on Twitter, Slideshare, and Pinterest.

Marlene Oliveira

Marlene Oliveira

Communications advisor and copywriter at moflow
Marlene Oliveira is communications consultant and copywriter at moflow and founder of the Nonprofit MarCommunity blog. Having worked in the nonprofit sector since 1999, Marlene specializes in working with capacity building and grant-making organizations, advising on communications strategy, and writing stories and other content.
Marlene Oliveira

@mo_flow

Marlene Oliveira