Social Media is a term you didn’t hear very often several years ago, today, however, it’s all people are talking about.

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogger, Myspace, YouTube, Ustream and so many other social media sites are ripping at the seams with activity.

Whether you are a nonprofit or for profit, social media is important.

At Thursday’s Young Nonprofit Professional Network panel discussion, two of Houston’s most knowledgeable communications professionals on social media—Fifth Ring Houston PR Leader, Ed Davis and Principle of The Black Sheep Agency, Aimee Woodall--were set to take questions from 30+ nonprofit communicators in an sterile, classroom setting. However, due to a monster thunderstorm, most of the attendees failed to show.

With all manner of poise and grace, Ian Ord, Director of Business Development for Fifth Ring, quickly saw the lower turn out as an opportunity to take the event across the street to a local eatery, feed those who came and engage in a more intimate discussion on social media.

With the panel and its dozen attendees relocated, Ed and Aimee began the conversation by jumping into the top question on everyone’s mind: “How can I get my followers to be more engaged with my organization using social media?”

“You need to reach out to your followers, or those you want to follow you. The more you do, the more people will talk back,” advised Woodall “ Engagement does not happen over night. It is easier for people to make comments if you have met them face-to-face. “

Davis followed up with the suggestion of building “offline” relationships. Take the opportunity to meet people at social events, volunteering opportunities or any business function. Make the “offline” connection with them and then direct them to your social media channel, which will then help enhance your “online” connection.

Another suggestion Woodall recommended was to follow them on their social media sites and make comments to their posts, this will also help build your creditability with those you want to engage.

Here are a few other tips the panel shared on social media:

•  Carefully select your social media outlet depending on your message. See examples below:

o   Twitter is best used for “blind” outreach. This is a faster paced outlet

o   Facebook is great your reaching out to your loyal followers.

o   LinkedIn is for professional’s only

•  Pay attention to what your followers are interested in, explore all different subjects to see who is commenting on what and tailor your message to their interests.

•  Ask yourself, “who are you trying to target?” Once you know your target audience, listen and understand what they are saying before you engage.