Weekly Tips for Growing Your Community: Keeping Time

 In conversation with nonprofits, big and small, well-established or just getting off the ground, there seems to be a key ingredient that all are missing.  Time.  Staff time.  The flexibility to initiate and pull off the creative ideas that are bubbling up constantly from these ambitious and dogged workers, aiming to make the world a better place. 

Though we can’t grant you another day in your week to trim down your “to-do” list (you actually wouldn’t want that now would you?), we can start you off with a quick list of tangible tips to get you thinking about how your time is used and how you might hang on to more of it:

1. Tweet efficiently.  In a recent webinar I participated in a social media expert recommended spending 15 minutes a day on Twitter.  Take note of when your followers and followees tend to be most active and jump on for just a few minutes, scanning a couple interesting pieces of news and updating the latest with your organization.  It’s fun and can be addicting, but it shouldn’t be a daunting task that eats up hours of your day.  Twitter never sleeps, but you do!   
2. Make “regular” updates once.  Many organizations are hesitant to start blogs or regularly updated tips, columns, contests, etc. (which can be really effective for keeping up activity and energy on your site!) because of the fear of running out of time to keep these updates coming.  (Ahem...yes, it’s tough, we can speak firsthand about this one.)  We’ve found that sitting down once and creating an ongoing bank of ideas or even already written blogs, tips, columns etc. that any staff member can easily pull from and post to be really helpful.
3. Lean on those boosters.  It’s more than just delegating.  Learn to trust your supporters--volunteers, interns, involved parents, alumni--to not only complete basic tasks that need to be done, but to take on some of the creative initiative on their own.  The list of what these trusted supporters can do is seemingly endless...and more importantly, they’re excited and willing.  Harness that energy.
4. Make sure your organization is taking advantage of the social media tools out there.  You shouldn’t still be updating all of your external social media sites individually, when there are tools like TweetDeck and HootSuite, among many others, to help you.