Silicon Valley Innovators Share Social Media Tips for Fund Raisers

As colleges and other nonprofit organizations wade more deeply into social media, institutions need to show their human side and resist the urge to talk at their audiences, a group of social-media experts advised college fund raisers last week.

Employees from Intel, Yahoo!, and LinkedIn shared their tips for success at the Council for Advancement and Support of Education’s annual conference in San Francisco.

Among their advice: Don’t speak like a monolithic, faceless institution, because donors won’t respond well. Instead, look for ways to show that there are people behind the posts. Find ways to encourage your audience to communicate with each other, providing user-generated content that they can comment on and share with others. With social media, the community has the power, and it’s your job to figure out how to engage community members on their terms.

And don’t wait to try things until you have all the details worked out — start experimenting with ways to engage your audience. If something doesn’t work, simply move on to another idea.

Ian Hsu, director of Internet media outreach for Stanford University, said his job is to experiment with different approaches on Facebook and Twitter, and see what members of the community respond to best. He then shares the successes with others in the university.

One interactive experiment Mr. Hsu has seen work is something he calls Stanford Open Office Hours. He posts a video on Facebook of a university professor or director discussing her or his work, and Facebook users post questions about the topic. The faculty or staff member then answers the questions in a second video posted on Stanford’s Facebook page.

He has also seen success “re-tweeting” humorous Twitter posts that mention Stanford.

“I wouldn’t have known that, because the tools are so new,” Mr. Hsu said. “I’m trying new things out.”