In the wake of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, the Red Cross has raised over $140 million largely through text message and online donations.

This recent disaster has cast a new light on social media tools for nonprofits. Their benefit is simple: Social media provides a compounding effect on your message.

The element of trust is critical to nonprofits. People trust messages from friends and colleagues more than from organizations. A recent Aberdeen study on the value of online communities states that 77 percent of people trust friends, family, and other consumers above retailers and manufacturers.

To get started, the first step is formulating a social media plan. Begin with a clear objective in mind.

Most social media users have two or more online profiles; savvy nonprofits have multiple social media profiles, in order to connect with their audiences. Pick the right social networks. Don't just pick sites based on the size of the network. Other communities may be smaller but more effective for your organization. It may pay to start small, with one to three social networks, like Facebook and Twitter, before building your own online community.

Ensure first-time community visitors get an immediate positive response. The most important factor that determines if someone returns to your community after posting is whether or not he gets a reply. Make sure visitors always feel welcome in your community.

Seed your online community with relevant content that members can’t find elsewhere. Update your pages with new content. Don't let your site become static.

Make sure you set your goals with measurements. Tracking your progress is a critical step and one that is too often ignored. There are also a number of monitoring tools that can be used to track and analyze topic or keyword mentions across Twitter and other large social network providers. And for even deeper analysis, there are tools like Telligent Analytics than measure engagement both inside and outside of your community. You can use tools like Telligent’s to track Web analytics and measure engagement sentiment, and influence within your site and across the Web.

Think of social networking as an investment in the future. Your community members are your donors and supporters of tomorrow. Social media tools can be immensely powerful for nonprofit organizations. Learn to use social media now, or you might be left behind for good.