Why Google+ Is the Most Important Tool for Your Nonprofit
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Google+ also has a lot of its own features. Instead of being limited to 140 characters like Twitter or 400ish like Facebook, you can make posts as long as you want in Google+. Using simple symbols such as asterisks (*) and underscores (_), you can make your posts easier to read, and you can add formatting, such as bold and italic. It also has some of the best videoconferencing software in existence in its tool called Hangouts.
In this chapter, you’ll learn why Google+ is the most important online tool next to your website and how to convince your boss or board.
Why Should I Care?
When you first heard about Google’s latest attempt at a social network, you probably thought one of two things: “What, again?” (Remember its previous attempts with Wave and Buzz?) or “Really?! How in the world am I going to fit anything else into my schedule?”
Chances are good you thought both of these.
Let’s face the facts: You already have a full-time job without social media. You have staff who need supervision and a board that supervises you. You have the mission of your nonprofit to carry out. And you have donors you’re supposed to be meeting with. Who has time for yet another social media platform?
Normally, I would agree with you. Social media platforms come and go at a dizzying pace. One of the nice things about being in a nonprofit is that we do not have to be bleeding edge to be cutting edge. We do not have to be up to date with the latest fad. We can let businesses and other people test them out before actually engaging in them ourselves.
But this is Google, and Google seems to have learned from its mistakes.
Look at it this way: If a donor were giving 50% of your annual fundraising, you would probably be more inclined to listen to any suggestions from that donor. If you check your Analytics, you likely would find that Google sends at least 50% of your web traffic to your site. So, isn’t it in your best interest to at least look into what it is doing?