Great article. Social networks work best when integrated correctly with an overall online program as a way to make compelling information viral; but no one is going to share a message/content that is irrelevant or uninteresting to them – they probably won’t even read the whole thing. I know I don’t.

It seems as though a possible suggestion for improvement would be:

Step 1: Segment who gets what messages by their actions and donor history or program/project affinity

Step 2: Create good, unique, compelling content based on those segments individual interest, and ensure fundamentals of donation options, email capture and call to action are clear and consistent

Step 3: Integrate social media sharing elements into the content so it can be shared easily on social networks.

If more resources and time were spent on steps one and two, step three is fairly basic and a natural progression which (hopefully) will result in more quality “followers on Twitter” or “Fans on Facebook”

You seem very knowledgeable and captivating in your writing style. Perhaps you could give some pointers on how to take advantage of how to be a better online fundraiser. Maybe you could throw a few bones to the highly skilled, several hours of free time, unemployed individuals out there to be encouraged to donate their services. For the sake of whuffie. Pay it forward. It all comes back to you in the end….

We recommend fours key areas nonprofit managers should be more aware of and thoughtful about when looking at developing online success:

•Organizing their resources carefully
•Planning the priorities for these resources
•Assigning ownership and accountability
•Acquiring or developing the skills required for online success

Seems to me those are some of the same fundamentals behind successful direct mail campaigns, just a different channel requiring different expertise. If you follow those fundamentals one will know if and when social media might be the right investment and be able to measure the impact of those channels for branding, awareness and fundraising – a well designed and resourced use of social media might support more return on the other channels as well. But the approach has to be right.

As marketers, it’s often more natural and stimulating to spend time thinking about new tactics, a new technology or a new creative concept versus thinking about staffing and structure. However, this research clearly indicates that if you do not spend time thinking about your staff size, skill mix and organizational structure, your results can be adversely impacted.

As a sector, we need to be more thoughtful about how to organize our precious resources and continue to share what’s working and what’s not.