Social media for your cause

Wikipedia's definition of social media: Social media includes web-based and mobile technologies used to turn communication into interactive dialogue.

Before I even begin with this post I must let you know that I am in no way a pro at social media. I have a basic understanding of it and have used it for many purposes including my day job (as a professional fundraiser) and promoting causes and groups that are near and dear to me.

Social media enables you to make your world larger than it is. From wherever you are. It has enabled me to create this blog and build bridges with communities of people all over the world, some who agree with my posts and some that don't. It allows me to connect with other activists, other vegans, other fundraisers, other passionate people, most of whom I would have never been able to connect with.

It's easy to start. If you have a Facebook page you can create a page that is all about your group or cause. I have a page for The Gay Vegans Cruelty Free World and for Coloradans for Marriage Equality. They each serve a different purpose but many times I will post one of my blog posts on both pages. Facebook pages include very large animal rights or human rights groups as well as very small shelters around the country. Some groups are for a specific area and others for anyone who is interested in their cause.

And it's certainly not just about Facebook. There are a ton of ways to engage with social media and I'll cover other ways later.

Engage the world and check it out. I realize many of you reading this might already use social media a lot, yet for those who don't I highly recommend.

More to come, including our experience on Twitter (we love it) and learning about new social media opportunities (like Pinterest, which we just started).

Thanks for reading!