It is no secret that non-profits are well-behind the for-profit world in utilizing social media to promote its cause. But recently, there have been a good number of blogs, books, and case studies that shine a light on this underutilized relationship. We all know the overwhelming majority of non-profits lack the necessary funds to hire an individual strictly for web work, much less an outside marketing firm to develop a fully integrated web solution. If they have a functioning website, it is often updated and maintained by a volunteer or a staff member who has 100 other things to do in the day and updating the web calendar or posting pictures on a blog aren’t high on their list.
Non-profits need a platform which allows them to easily add content without needing to know about a widget or a whatsit, and maybe most importantly be FREE! (We will save the dicussion of the “you have to spend money to get money,” for later!)
That is why Tumblr makes so much sense! It has a very intuitive UI and is about as fool proof as possible when it lays out posts. If a staff member would like to add a picture to their latest blog post, they can do so without worrying about how the picture is going to be formatted in the post. If they want to add a video, you just need to click the video post and voila! All the social media functionality is already built in so you can easily link your Tumblr blog to Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin. There are many free and premium themes available as well, so hiring a web designer won’t be a necessity if you have someone knowledgeable of html in the organization. Even if an organization needs to hire a designer to do some customization for the blog the bill will be more around $1000 than $5000.
So, if you support or work for a non-profit organization that currently does not have or utilize a blog, do them a favor and get them on Tumblr!
