Yet there seems to be a general hesitation to adopt social media within the nonprofit landscape. Perhaps because social media strategy is so “entrepreneurial,” so “for-profit.” Indeed. Funnily, no one is more masterful at it than those clever, nonprofit rockstars over at NPR.

Case in point. The most listened to time on public radio stations across the country is during a fund-drive. Think about that. They remove what we love (programming) for an entire week or more and we keep listening! What’s more is they ask us for money! And because we’re fans, we give it to them. Again and again, year after year — long before Twitter even existed.

Enter Web 2.0. Now, more than any other time in history, accessing fans — connecting with them in real and meaningful ways, and then using this connection to achieve your goals has never been easier. Not just for NPR… but for anyone. Which is why it’s also never been more difficult.

For one, the scale of competition has increased exponentially, dividing all of us into two teams — broadcasters and fans — many of us straddling both to the point where literally everyone is vying for attention/fans; from Coca-Cola to suburban mothers to the CIA (yes, really! FB login required). In short, social media is everywhere, and has emerged not just as a way to reconnect with old college buddies but as a defining litmus test of sorts — a public measure of viability and integrity for both individuals and businesses. To be sure, if you’re not involved, you’re not relevant.

But it’s not enough to simply participate. Because oversaturation is rampant, we all must fight harder to stand out… to cut through the social media noise. Which means you also have to do it well.

Remember: social media runs on sharing. You could say that sharing is the very thing which makes it social. And people are naturally inclined to share. In fact, they are most likely to share content which creates civic value (vs. content which creates mere entertainment value). After all, civic value is emotion-based. Again… nonprofits = civic value in spades.

What’s more is, according to a recent Pew study (via Air Force Director of Public Affairs Capt. Nathan Broshear) 61% of people believe in someone like themselves, meaning: personal, relatable experience — a “story” — enhances emotional value. So ask yourself: what’s my story, what’s my emotional connection to the work? Because nothing is more powerful than this connection and one’s ability to relate it to others. After all, humans connect with other humans… not mission statements, not websites, not initiatives, not strategies….

The trick then, is to get comfortable communicating in a way that marries personal experience with company goals (note: “personal” not “private”). Take White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs for example, a few of his latest tweets:

1. Company-Centric:
Find out if you can save $$$ on your taxes thanks to recovery plan #arra – pass it along! http://bit.ly/av84Lk

2. Company-Rooted/Entertainment:
Hope folks got to see Obama and CBS analyst/former All-American college hoops player Clark Kellogg in a game of POTUS http://bit.ly/aYox4Q

3. Personal:
WOW…said I couldn’t wait to see @jasonheyward play for the Braves – hits home run in FIRST major league at bat…just unreal

What’s common throughout the above is Sec. Gibbs’ ease with the platform’s vernacular (the platform in this case being Twitter’s 140-characters-or-less parameter); short, concise, relatable, conversational — the overarching language characteristics of so-called digital natives. Not button-down formal but jeans-and-T-shirt casual, which, in Gibbs’ case, also equals likable. Share-ometer = high; translation: invaluable word-of-mouth publicity.

Think of it like this: your content only has life if it’s shared, only if you have an audience, only if you have fans who are listening. And Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, WordPress, etc… all of those companies are in the business of sharing. Their success literally relies on us, every time we share their product. Which is why they’ve made it ridiculously easy to do exactly that. Remember: sharing is an innate human tendency. People want to tell others about the emotional value you’ve brought into their life. Your job is to make it as easy as possible for them to do so, in part by participating within the social media platforms where your fans already exist.

Time to show ‘em how it’s really done.