Image by Thomaspajot for Big Stock
Target audience: Nonprofits, NGOs, cause organizations, social enterprises, businesses, brands, marketing professionals, social media managers, individuals.
This is the first part of a two-part series on Facebook apps and resources available to nonprofits.
Guest post by Kim Bale
It’s important to diversify the platforms that nonprofits use to reach supporters, but we know that social media isn’t one size fits all. If you find that your community engages more with your organization on Facebook than it does on Twitter, then put your energy into raising your organization’s profile on Facebook rather than trying to spread yourself too thin.
These five Facebook applications will help boost your social media presence even further and expand your social network. Sign in as the Page administrator, search for the app on Facebook, then follow the steps to install it.
Causes App
1 The Causes Facebook Application allows nonprofits to fundraise via Facebook in a number of ways. Fans can “like” Pages, watch videos, play games or complete a number of other small tasks, and donations will be made to their chosen charities. Followers can also opt to donate directly to campaigns they care about via the Causes Application without ever leaving Facebook. With 2.3 million active monthly users, this free application raises awareness for a cause while donating real money to verified nonprofit organizations.
YouTube App
2 The YouTube application boasts 500,000 active monthly users and gives you complete control of which YouTube videos are displayed on your Facebook Page. Users can watch, share and comment on your videos from the comfort of their Facebook account. Sharing recruitment videos, event coverage and campaign collateral with your fans doesn’t get easier than this.
Involver Twitter App
3 Involver, one of the Web’s most popular social marketing platforms, offers more than 24 applications geared toward Facebook, Twitter and the iPhone to create a distinctive user experience. Each Facebook account is entitled to two of their Basic applications free of charge, which can be swapped out at any time. To access more than two at a time, they offer a professional upgrade. The Twitter application will stream your Twitter feed directly to your Facebook Page, allowing you the freedom to customize its look and feel. Instantly two of your most important handles are accessible from one website, expanding your followers and encouraging conversation across platforms.
Involver Static HTML App
4 With an online presence spanning the spectrum from your website to YouTube, it can be tough to maintain brand identity while engaging with fans across various virtual mediums. With Involver’s Static HTML App, you can customize the look and feel of your Facebook Fan Page to maintain consistency with your existing Web presence. Involver makes it easy to upload images and content to Facebook’s iFrame and render static HTML code in just a few simple steps.
Social RSS App
5 The Social RSS application allows you to feed blog posts directly from your blog to Facebook, giving your fans easier access to important updates and milestones. You have the option of feeding from multiple blogs, personalizing the name of your Facebook tab and linking back to your original post. This application is all about increasing readership and converting Facebook fans to informed activists for your cause.
Any other Facebook Applications we should know about? Drop us a line in the comments section!
Related
• 13 top Facebook apps for your nonprofit (Socialbrite)
• 4 resources to create custom Facebook tabs with iFrames (Socialbrite)
• Facebook tutorials (Socialbrite)Kim Bale was recently the community outreach specialist for The Extraordinaries. Follow her on Twitter at @balekimb.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported.
