Social Media Author Helps Area Nonprofit Find Volunteers and Raise Awareness

Rochester Hills, Mich. – October 2nd, 2010 – Dial Help upgraded its social media presence this summer with help from Great Lakes Center for Youth Development (GLCYD) and “Web 2.0 for Nonprofit Organizations” author Dana Cadman. Thanks to an award form GLCYD, the staff at Dial Help received the training and assistance they needed to optimize their blog and Facebook account, and begin using other social media tools, like Twitter.

“We are really excited about these new tools to connect with people,” says Rebecca Crane, Executive Director for Dial Help. “People primarily contact us by phone, but with our new instant messaging system and these social media tools, people can ‘talk’ with us whenever they are on the Internet.” Dial Help is one of Michigan’s oldest suicide prevention hotline, but it also provides prevention and counseling services for sexual abuse, relationship violence, bullying, and substance abuse.

Dial Help was already on the social media curve before receiving the GLCYD award. It’s web site – www.DialHelp.org – is implemented as a WordPress blog. Dial Help regularly posts awareness and prevention information there. It also invites guest bloggers from other Upper Peninsula social service agencies to submit posts. “Our goal is to provide all of the resources we can to those in need,” says Crane, “and one way for us to do that is to also tap into the expertise that other organizations have.”

In addition to the web site / blog, Dial Help is using Facebook and Twitter to reach out to younger audiences, primarily high school and college students. The goal is to engage them where they already have accounts, then direct them to the resources available at DialHelp.org.

While setting up Facebook pages and blogs costs nothing, creating these accounts takes time that the Dial Help staff is short on. Also, coordinating the content of all these social media platforms takes planning. That’s where Cadman was able to assist.

Cadman provided step-by-step instructions for creating accounts and installing third-party applications. He also provided consulting about how to use LinkedIn to engage board members and find grants. While not usually thought of as social media, Cadman also showed Dial Help staff how to use Google Sites to greatly streamline board and committee work. “We value all the time our board members and committee volunteers put into our organization – this will really streamline things for them and for us,” says Crane. A frequent speaker at GLCYD’s annual Nonpofit Management Conference, Cadman will present this year on the benefits of using Google Sites.

In addition to authoring “Web 2.0 for Nonprofit Organizations”, Mr. Cadman is an active member of the Troy Nonprofit Network and regularly speaks at their annual conference. Cadman first became involved with nonprofit organizations when he and his wife, Julie, started ARC of Hope, a foster care and adoption resource center.

To learn more about Dial Help, visit their web site at www.DialHelp.org. To learn more about the Great Lakes Center for Youth Development, visit www.GLCYD.org. To learn more about Cadman Communications, visit www.CadmanCC.com.