Clean Up Your Nonprofit Facebook Presence!

Recently, it seems that I’ve been getting a lot of questions about the right way for nonprofits to be on Facebook.

When Facebook began to gain popularity in the nonprofit world, everyone started creating groups and personal accounts for their organizations.

Later, Facebook rolled out Facebook Pages, but many nonprofits have yet to convert over to the official Page type.

You owe it to your constituents to clean up your Facebook presence, and get on board with all of the benefits that a true Page can give your organization and its fans.

1.  Get rid of your “Groups”

Facebook groups were created to be an extension of your personal actions as a group administrator, not to represent an organization.

Alternatively, Pages create content that comes from the Page itself, so that content doesn’t have to be linked to you personally. Now that Facebook has enabled the “use Facebook as page” option,  an administrator can post on other people’s walls and interact as the “Page” (i.e. Organization) itself.

Pages also allow for embeddable branded content solutions including simple donations and video, such as offered by Forte Interactive. Oh, and don’t forget all of the Facebook Insights (Analytics) tools that are now available to Pages. You can track your audience demographics, engagement and more!

Migrate from a Facebook Group to a Facebook Page

• Pick a date that the group will officially be shut down
• Notify the group’s members by sending a message that the group will be moved to the Fan page by [exact date]
• Because of the way Facebook Groups work, you are directly messaging people through the group.  Only message them 2-3 times MAX from the date you start to the actual close date otherwise you will risk losing people due to excessive messages.
• On the last day change the group information to point to your new fan page. You do not need to delete the group, but if any new members try to join, direct them to your fan page.

Note: It is completely normal to see 10% of the group not “like” (move over) to your page – as many group members may not be active users.

2.  One Nonprofit mission? Try one Nonprofit Page.

Multiple pages are best when: covering separate subject areas, communicating to vastly different demographics or creating clear separation between brands or sub-organizations.  Consolidating pages will help cut down on social media administration time, and provide a focal point for constituent engagement.

When closing down a page:

• Pick a date that the page will officially be deleted
• Notify the page’s fans by posting on the wall why the page will be closed down (consolidation) and when [exact date]
• Because of the way Facebook page feeds work, you will have to do this anywhere from 3-4 times evenly from the date you start to the actual close date, because people will only see the message if they are actively looking at their news feed. The countdown message works the best (ex. 3 days til we move over to our other page!)
• On the last day, delete the page (and don’t look back!)

3. Nonprofits are organizations, not individuals

If your organization is masquerading around as a “person” on Facebook – make sure to follow the same rules as migrating from a Group in tip #1. Also, if you are concerned about your privacy – Facebook has improved its privacy settings and administrative roles, so there is absolutely no reason to create a fictitious Facebook account in order to manage your organization’s page.

So clean up your Nonprofit’s Facebook account and enjoy the world of good, clean social engagement! Oh, and don’t make the same mistakes with the next social network (*cough* Google+ *cough*) because they’ll find you!