Mashable recently featured five case studies of Non-Profit Organizations who were effectively using social media tools and sites to stimulate engagement with their causes and campaigns. For an NGO to effectively leverage social media, it really has to think much further than setting up the obligatory Facebook page, or a Twitter account that only re-tweets other sources.

An important thing to remember about social media is that it is not intended for one-way broadcasting. Social media allows conversations to take place on equal footing. You get to know your audience by offering yourself up to be interacted and communicated with. This is a pretty challenging concept to those comfortable with traditional broadcast print and media channels. Imagine how welcome you’d be at a party if you brought a bullhorn and kept blasting out your sales pitch. Far too often, that’s what many inexperienced brands and NGOs do with their social media strategy. Have a look at the techniques these five NGOs are employing with the social media tools at their disposal, and you will see things like interactivity, personality and rewarding participation as common themes. These NGOs are using social media as part of an overall CRM strategy to spread the word about their causes and get people engaged, talking about and participating in their campaigns.

Read the full Mashable article here. Should you have questions or comments on how social media tools can help your own campaigns, please give us a shout in the comments below or through our contact link at the top right of the page.