Britt Bravo has been helping nonprofits, socially responsible businesses, and arts activists achieve their potential for 17 years. A prolific blogger, she posts at Have Fun * Do Good, BlogHer, NetSquared, AND produces the Big Vision Podcast, the Arts and Healing Podcast, and the NetSquared Podcast. Whew! Here Britt shares some advice on how your organization can make the most of social web tools.

When did you decide that you didn't just want to volunteer, but to make doing good work your career?

Socially responsible work has always been important to me.  I think it comes from how I was raised.  While I was growing up, my dad always worked for nonprofits, and my mom did teaching or counseling.  They were also both active in social justice work through their church, and raised me to value volunteer work and philanthropy.

What are some of the common concerns clients have when they come to you for career advice?

The biggest issue I see is fear.  It takes many forms: fear of failure, fear of change, and fear of making the wrong choice.  Fear of making the wrong choice is a big one that is often related to not wanting to let go of possibilities.

In terms of day-to-day operations, what are some of the biggest changes that the Internet has introduced in the way the organizations you work with operate?

I work with nonprofits around how they can use social web tools (i.e. blogs, podcasts, social networking) in their work.  One of the biggest challenges organizations struggle with when using these tools is not only figuring out how to choose which tools will help them meet their strategic goals, but also how to embrace the giving over of control to their supporters that comes with using some of these tools.  Organizations are often afraid to allow people to create, share, and remix content related to their website and their work.

In terms of day-to-day operations, it is necessary to allocate staff time not only to creating media on a regular basis (i.e. online videos, blog posts), but also to listening and responding to what other people are creating and saying about their organization online.

What new opportunities might groups overlook when they build an online presence?

I’ve encountered a lot of nonprofits that want to build a social network from scratch for their supporters. The biggest challenge with social networks is getting a critical mass of users to make it active and humming.  Unless your organization has a large base of supporters who you’re sure want to join an online social network; a budget to hire someone to not only build the network, but to manage and maintain it; and a timeline that allows for a more than a few months to reach a critical mass, I would recommend starting with an existing social network.

What challenges might they not anticipate?

The idea that “if you build it they will come” doesn’t often work -- unless you have a budget for someone to create content, listen to what others are saying about you online, do outreach, and maintain your online presence and community.  I’ve had a lot of organizations say to me that they are afraid to use social web tools because, “It is going to take all of our time.”  It isn’t going to take all of your time, but you do need to plan for it to take some of it.

Is there a minimum frequency you should post on a blog or a podcast to build an audience?

I get asked this a lot.  I usually answer, “regularly.”  Think about when you subscribe to a magazine, or watch a TV series.  Would you keep watching or subscribing if your magazine was delivered one month, and then didn’t show up again for another three months?  Or if your TV show was on Tuesday at 8pm one week, Wednesday at noon the next, and didn’t show up at all the following week?  There is no hard and fast rule, but at a minimum I would say one to two posts per week, and one to two podcasts per month.

The Have Fun * Do Good site is clean, bright, and reassuring. What do you advise your clients to consider when they are designing a blog or website?

I think the most important things to remember when designing a web site are:

1. People make a decision about whether they want to spend time on your site in a matter of seconds. Seth Godin’s post, “Eye Tracking Rules” has a lot of good tips for how to grab users’ attention.
   
   
2. Don’t make people work to find the information they are looking for.  If I want to contact you, I shouldn’t have to search through your site map.   When designing your site, think about not only what you want visitors to see and read, but also what they are looking for.

What are the main technical issues that could cause trouble for your clients, and what do you recommend to help them address those issues?

A lot of nonprofits have beautiful web sites built for them, but they can’t update them themselves.  They end up paying a lot of money to have someone outside the organization update it, or having a volunteer update it when they can, or not updating it at all.  

Similarly, I have seen a number of nonprofits use interns to set up their blogs, but when the intern leaves, no one else knows how to post on it, or wants to.  Whatever web presence an organization builds for itself, they need to choose tools that are user-friendly, make sure that more than one staff member understands how to use the tools, and archive instructions (including passwords and logins!) somewhere that more than one person knows about so that tech expertise isn’t lost when there is staff turnover.