Social media has grown into a huge part of our business and personal culture over the past couple of years. Organizations and companies are using “microblogs" and other social media sites like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, etc., as an attempt to advertise and relay their message out to the public.

These are now being used more than the 'traditional' (and more expensive) marketing techniques like newspapers, magazines, and television. For large scale companies that make sizable sums of money and have a number of employees at their disposal, this is a great way to advertise material products to the public.

But does it work just as well to gain supporters for ideas and events offered by organizations that don't make as much money or have as many employees like nonprofits (NPOs)? Past studies have shown that nonprofits have had a difficult time using social media sites as the “strategic, interactive stakeholder engagement tools" that they could be, if worked with strategically. They are having problems communicating effectively through these social media pages, building acquisition and earning the money they need to remain established as a successful nonprofit organization.

Why is that? How are these nonprofits using social media devices and why is that impeding their relationships with the public? How can that be fixed?

The underlying issues that nonprofits are having gaining relationships with the public are all interconnected, and begin with the nonprofit simply not having the money to hire social marketing professionals.

It is difficult for NPOs, especially smaller ones, to be aware of all the organizing, planning, communicating and research work that goes into establishing social marketing sites. Problems with this type of marketing arise at the beginning of that nonprofits existence; they are attempting to market their ideas without an organized infrastructure or the resources to hire a professional who knows what kinds of posts gain the public's attention. The media specialist should be trained and educated on what the goal of the nonprofit is and from there, know how to reach the organization's target audience's emotions and be able to generate a response.

NPOs have been relying solely on social media marketing when they need to keep utilizing other marketing techniques as well, in order to keep their current supporters and expand to gain new ones. They should be taking advantage of the networking opportunities that are available to them, whether that be through other organizations or individual leaders in the community in order to build mutually helpful relationships.

Their social marketing sites need to be analyzed, and the effectiveness measured, in order to be the most successful. “Social media is wonderful, and there are many effective ways for [the organization] to use it to accomplish their mission", but it needs to be worked with strategically in order to provide these benefits (Campbell).