Social Media Savvy

Whether you’re verging on social media addiction, like me, or you’ve got little use for it overall, like my husband, the fact remains that it’s a fast and efficient way to reach a lot of the people you know in one shot. I mean, I can even reach my mom on Facebook these days!

When it comes to an event like the March for Babies, that can come in really handy. Obviously, lots of us use social networking to help with our fundraising. You can link to your fundraising page right from Facebook, Twitter, your blog or Tumblr, etc. Although we don't want to rely solely on social media for fundraising due to the glut of fundraising events people post about, it is still such a great way to be in touch about our event on a more general level that when I approach fundraising, I have more confidence in people's familiarity with it.

But there are other uses for social media, too. Sometimes, after we’ve had a  baby, and if that baby’s been in the NICU, we haven’t had the time for fitness we’d like to have. If that’s the case, maybe a three mile walk is something we need to kind of psych ourselves up for. And that’s another time that social media can come in handy. You can post status updates, tweets, or blogs about how you’re doing getting ready for the walk, and it’s a great way to garner encouragement from friends and family.

So many of us who walk have a particular mission connection. Our reason for doing the walk in the first place. And it’s possible that not everyone you know knows your mission connection. Now, clearly, not everyone wants to put their story on social media. BUT. If you do, it can be a great way to tell your story, and there is no better way to inspire others to get involved in some way than telling them why YOU got involved. You don’t know how influential you can be until you try it.

Another thing I’ve found super handy is using different KINDS of social media. Not everyone I’m connected to on LinkedIn is someone I’m “friends” with on Facebook. So, using LinkedIn to contact former colleagues opens up a whole other branch of my network, which is particularly handy for fundraising.

Additionally, I follow March of Dimes and March for Babies on Facebook and Twitter. This enables me to very easily keep apprised of the latest developments, and to share those developments with my friends and family really easily. It’s another way to show them how important this organization is to me, what a big part of my life it’s become, and WHY I do what I do. This, in turn, has inspired people I know to get involved, to donate, to learn. And that is an amazing thing.

And of course, if you've got questions about how best to use social media as it relates to your March for Babies experience, I or any of the Mission Moms are here to help!

Written by: Lindsay Atherton, Mission Mom and Guestblogger