conclusion

This study started off researching how social media platforms can be used to increase the donor database of people in their 20’s and 30’s for SGH because they felt that their database was mostly consisting of an aging population of women. What was found through an extensive literature review was that rather than setting out to only find donors through various social media platforms, missing was the element of relationship building between SGH and the Ottawa community. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr were found to be best for SGH in order to engage people to become involved with the organization in a number of ways. Examples of such involvement include donations, volunteering and attending events, or through engaging with the online content such as participating in conversations around the text, video and photography content posted by SGH, or by other users in the community. Again it needs to be stressed that in order for SGH to successfully use social media to its greatest ability it is vital to provide a constantly updated and relevant source of information in order to establish a link between the community, the organization and its beneficiaries. The provision of this information will require a dedicated amount of attention from the SGH communications personnel who have been tasked with the social media project. They must remain aware of current developments in their charitable field and in the institutional and social environments they operate in. They should ensure that this information is valuable to online stakeholders and can be easily accessed and used by their online community. With this said, the question of how much time SGH is willing to invest is yet to be answered. This sort of effort cannot go anywhere unless you know how much time and effort you can put into it, and then stick to that time. This study does not include a hands-on guide of how to go about creating these engaging online spaces. The actual construction and maintenance of these platforms is dependent on the SGH level of available resources and commitment, as well as information about their upcoming and ongoing programs that only the organization has access to. What we could not answer in this study was how to bring people to the social media platforms that we suggest are vital to a successful online community.