For the last two decades organizations like Ashoka.com and the Skoll foundation have promoted and funded social entrepreneurs that work to eliminate social problems in developing countries.

However, as the U.S. economy toughens, and government and non-profit organizations experience budget cuts, American business owners are being asked to subscribe to the philosophy of “doing good by doing well” and proactively step in to make a difference.

Business owners that take on the challenge of using their business as a tool to create solutions to social problems often find themselves building community goodwill, attracting positive press, and gaining a competitive advantage over their competition.

Social Entrepreneurs are innovative thinkers that apply free-market business principles to the challenge of solving social problems. While their efforts are expected to generate profits, their bigger motivation is to transform communities by providing solutions to social problems.

The Annandale Apartments in Tucson, Arizona is an example of an American company applying the principles of social entrepreneurship. This company pays tenants to perform odd jobs around the apartment complex if they become unemployed due to downsizing.

It is important for social entrepreneurs to share their story in many formats in order to keep customers and other supporters engaged.

Here are 5 low-cost or no cost social media tools your organization can use to communicate its message massively and effectively.

Create a Facebook Fan page

Starting a Facebook Fan page is a great way to begin promoting your organization. By setting up a fan page you will be able to strategically promote your organization to millions in the region or demographic of your choice.

Your organization can share information about community involvement, raise money by using the Causes or Chip In application or use the Static FBML application to apply a website-like appearance and functionally in order to increase interaction with page viewers. The Fern Thai Foundation is an excellent example of a Facebook fan page with all of these capabilities.

Meetup groups

Meetup groups make it is possible to take your online activities into the real world by building local communities of people interested in similar topics. There are Meetup Groups established for dog lovers, quilters, and even social entrepreneurs.

Suppose you own a website development company and you wanted to create a stronger sense of family for low-income seniors. You could offer free or discounted internet classes to help bridge the gap between the seniors and younger family members that only use computers to communicate. Since the seniors you’re targeting are not online, it may be advantageous to create a Meetup Group for Gen Xer’s with aging parents.

By hosting this Meetup group your company could build relationships with the family members of seniors, generate revenue from holding monthly events, cultivate new customer relationships with the Gen Xer’s, and most importantly inform them of the courses available for their aging loved ones.

Blogging

Blogging is another important way to share the work your organization is doing. While blogging can take some commitment, it is important to remain consistent and use keywords to increase search engine rankings. Wordtracker.com is an excellent tool for conducting keyword research.

Some of the best online marketer’s blog daily. However, if time is at a premium for you, blogging weekly is better than blogging inconsistently or not at all. Consistent blogs tells the reader that you take your organization seriously. It also causes search engines to increase your rankings because of the new content.

Many successful internet marketers like Derek Alverez, social entrepreneur and founder of Drivetheline.com suggest that you generously share your most valuable content on your blog in order to create a long-term readership.

Use the “Share this” widget

Once you have created a loyal readership for your blog, you want to make sure that reader have the opportunity to share your content with others who may be interested. A simple way to make it easy to share your information is to install the “share this” widget on your blog.

According to wisegeek.com, a widget is a piece of self-enclosed code which can be embedded into a website or program to perform a specific function. The “share this” Widget is just that. You can create the code for your widget in a matter of seconds at Sharethis.com and embed it into your blog. This widget will allow your readers to click the icon of their favorite social networking or social book marking site and instantaneously share content from your blog with their entire social network.

Promote your social media channels everywhere

Applying social media tools to any business model can be time consuming. However, the return on engagement from the content you share can mean the difference between success and failure for your enterprise. A simple way to remind customers, partners, donors, and venders to stay in the conversation about the good work you’re doing is to include links to your social media sites on your business cards, brochures and in your e-mail footer.

Tags: fbml application, internet marketers, meetup group, social entrepreneur, Social Media