What's Keeping You Away At Night Part 2: Not Enough Hours in the Day for Social Media?

One of the trends I asked about as part of the interviews I completed recently with a number of Canadian executive directors was social media (surprise, surprise).  Here is what they had to say on the subject:

Whether or not they are currently using it, everyone I spoke to is keeping an eye on the rapid evolution of social media.  

While there is a wide range in the level of awareness and understanding people have about social media, all of my interviewees seemed to get that it’s important...I guess it's kind of hard not to with all the attention its been getting over the past couple of years.

They know it is changing the face of communications. Most also believe that it has huge potential when it comes to helping them with their advocacy efforts, as well as in helping them to engage and educate different stakeholder groups...BUT...

...There's a big bottom line:

These folks are busy. Really busy. Most are also under-resourced.  While many ED’s would like to, very few have the time to work out how to best use social media to help their association achieve its goals, let alone develop, implement and measure the success of an actual social media strategy.

So while many of these organizations "do" Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, it's because "everybody is doing it" and not because they have a plan to use the different tools to forward the mandate of their organization.  

When I asked if what they were currently doing in the social media arena was working, most admitted that they "don't know."  The feeling among many is that as they get additional resources, using social media effectively will become more of a priority but for the time being, most have bigger fish to fry.

Does this scenario ring true for your organization? If not, how has your NFP created and implemented a measurable social media strategy with limited time and resources?

Update on Friday, September 17, 2010 at 9:35AM by Carol-Anne Moutinho

Social media nonprofit expert, Beth Kanter never fails to disappoint. Here is her very timely post with some practical approaches to solving the problem so many association staff have of not having enough hours in the day for social media.  There's even a case study in here! What do you think?