Social media is time consuming. Is it really worth the effort? It depends. If used in the right way, it can be a great tool to recruit volunteers and donors.

If you are a small or medium-sized nonprofit with a limited marketing budget, you know social media is the way to go. However, social media marketing has more to it than just setting up a page and collecting fans. In order to make the most out of social media for your nonprofit, consider these 5 things.

1. Have an official presence for your nonprofit on social media.

Although social media is free and widely used in the industry, you might be focusing on other aspects of marketing and leaving social media out of the picture. As social media is becoming part of everyday activity, understand that it’s important to set up an official page on Facebook at the very least. I put an emphasis on official because anyone is able to create fan pages and groups on Facebook. It is important to delegate someone who understands the organization and its culture as your social media voice. The longer you wait to do this, the higher the chances that somebody who does not know your nonprofit very well is already creating pages and groups for it. Multiple pages and groups may seem like good awareness at first glance. However, too many groups and pages might confuse your donors as to which page to follow or group to join. You are also letting someone else draw an image for your organization, which might not be the same as what your board envisions.

If your donors are more active on Twitter, don’t miss out on the opportunity of reaching them there. If your potential donors are professionals, then setting up a company page or a group on LinkedIn is crucial. If you have videos or pictures, then you know you have YouTube and Flickr to help you organize and share them. There is still a few months’ wait until Google+ sends out organization invitations. Until then, it might be beneficial to create an individual account and familiarize yourself with it.

2. Generate good content and have regular activity.

The sooner you create an official presence, the easier it is to control the type of message that you want to send to your donors. When there are multiple groups and pages already established, it is challenging to get a consistent message out. If you decide to start a brand new page, it is even harder to get everyone to switch to the new page. In any case, provide good content and establish your credibility. Reflect your organization’s culture in your posts. Just setting up a page or an account is not enough; regular activity is a must, and for this reason you should not join every single social media channel without thinking about the amount of time and effort it takes to maintain them.

3. Listen to what your stakeholders have to say.

The image of your brand will determine the success level of your organization. What people are saying about your nonprofit through social media is extremely valuable information. Any organization that ignores these conversations will miss out on possible opportunities for improvement. Whether you are a for-profit or nonprofit organization, you need to listen to your stakeholders.

4. Use social media for market research.

The challenge with social media is sorting out the humongous amount of information and channeling it into the right directions to get the most out of it. If the communication is more organized, you will be able to get usable data. Use hashtags and discussion boards to keep track of different subjects. Ask the right questions and collect the information that you need. Social media is not just a great medium to create the right kind of buzz for your organization, it is also a great tool for feedback and market research. When you come across a wise person or organization, follow them! You might be able to gain valuable insight. Plus, it also shows that you support them and this helps to establish relationships.

5. Integrate social media with your overall marketing.

There are numerous tools and applications that can help you gain measurable results on social media. Use social media to increase traffic to your website by creating welcome pages that are linked to your website. Increase subscribers to your newsletter, generate buzz for your fundraising events and simply collect donations by adding a donate button to your page.

Social media can do a lot for your organization if you let it. Utilize social media to get your message through to general public and to help them understand your organization and what it stands for. Use story-telling to create magic and turn them into activists and donors. Build meaningful relationships and create an online community.

Moheeta Tamrakar, is a social media associate at Red Rooster Group. Red Rooster Group helps nonprofits build better brands. Moheeta helps the clients build communities on social media in order to cultivate donors. You can contact her at moheeta@redroostergroup.com.