What Content to Post in Each Channel?

Posted on February 12, 2010 by Norman Reiss

With the emergence of social media options such as Twitter, Facebook, and now Google Buzz to join the web site and email marketing, nonprofit organizations now have a cornucopia of communications options to stay in touch with constituents. But which channels are best to use, and what messaging should go in each? To address this dilemma, Tech Soup recently featured Aspiration’s Allen Gunn in Integrating Social Media Into Your Website. A few highlights:

Consider where your constituents are most likely to be, and start publishing on those channels first
Even if you’re not ready to use them, set up accounts with consistent names on multiple social media sites – don’t forget about media sharing portals YouTube and Flickr
Provide information about other channels on email newsletters, blog posts etc.
Add channel links to organization email signatures
When deciding which channel(s) to use, consider whether you’ll be primarily sending, e.g.event announcements,late-breaking news or alerts, donation asks, scheduled communications or infrequent updates

To help prepare an overall communications plan, Aspiration provides a useful publishing matrix. Gunner also recommended utilizing a social media dashboard using tools such as iGoogle and NetVibes (see Aspiration’s public dashboard) so you can keep track of how others are talking about your organization online.

So what content to use for what service? We’re still learning, but my recommendations are:

Web content and email marketing still come first. If using other channels, make sure the messaging and images are consistent.
Update blog content at least weekly; include links to information you’ve already published on Twitter or Facebook
Post in Twitter or Facebook several times daily, including retweets of others’ posts that will be of value to your followers. Facebook generally has a more ‘personal’ touch, but always remember to stay focused on your organization / brand.
Google Buzz? Too early to tell. This seems like more of an effort to keep users in Gmail and as a response to other services than as a new value added product.
Make it easy for constituents to find your other channels by referencing them on your web site. For example, see the ‘Connect / Join / Follow Us’ links at Environmental Defense Fund , Witness, and Aspiration.
Listen before you speak. You may have heard this advice when speaking with colleagues or with your spouse; the same applies online
Make sure you have something of value to say. If you’ve followed #6 by reviewing colleagues’ blogs / public content, you’ll have plenty of ideas to choose from. But don’t just repeat – add your own spin.

Preparing for Philanthropy’s Black Friday

Posted on December 2, 2009 by Norman Reiss

Most nonprofits get the bulk of their donations during December. So what can we do to get the word out this month?

Heavyweight Salvation Army has stepped up its digital marketing efforts, switching its radio budget to online communications. There is now an online version of the red kettle, which have already appeared at many locations I pass daily. They’ve also embraced newer tools, such as an Iphone application and have established a strong presence on Facebook and Twitter. After long relying on direct mail for new donor acquisition, Salvation Army is now focusing on online community building and on attracting younger donors through online strategies.

Convio estimates that more than 111 million constituents will donate over $4 billion online this holiday season. At last month’s Convio Summit and Blackbaud Conference (oddly held during the same week in different parts of the country), the theme was the same – web giving continues to increase, even while overall donations have dropped a bit during the recession. In his overview of online fundraising, Steve MacLaughlin suggested that we segment our audiences by generation – and communicate with them differently. He also suggested we build relationships with constituents by asking for small actions first before asking for financial help.

How do you keep up with the many communication channels now available, e.g. email, RSS, Facebook, Twitter etc. In her recent presentation at the Blackbaud event, Nten’s Holly Ross suggested we use filters to find what’s most relevant and not try to “keep up with everything.” The volume of information available through social media can be overwhelming, but we have to find a way to keep abreast of conversations that are already taking place about our organizations and our causes. Looking for a tool to integrate email with social media? Take a look at Threadsy.

What’s the fundraising outlook for 2010? According to Mal Warwick Associates, we should try to get donors to give more frequently, even if they can’t make the large contributions they’ve given us in the past. In addition, we should continue to use a multichannel approach because “the number of donors who choose to respond by writing a check will only continue to dwindle.”

Wishing everyone a prosperous end of year fundraising season.

It’s Not Just the Organization Web Site Anymore / Thoughts on the ‘Death’ of Email

Posted on October 10, 2009 by Norman Reiss

Managing an organization’s web presence no longer focuses only on the main web site, which many constituents may never visit. An online presence consists of:

main web site
organizational blogs
Facebook cause / page
twitter posts
email marketing messages
AND what constituents are saying about organization in their own blogs, Facebook pages, twitter posts etc.

When I seek to learn more about a nonprofit that I’m not already familiar with, I use the main web site only as a starting point. It’s usually much easier to get a feel for a nonprofit’s culture and philosophies by reading its blogs (if it has them!) and social networking sites.

But as many of my colleagues have noted, it’s vitally important to listen to what others are saying about your organization. This will tell you much more than if you only rely on your web analytics to learn which pages on your web site are attracting the most traffic. Even if you aren’t able to generate regular content on Facebook, Twitter etc., participating in conversations will show you how effective your outreach is and whether you need to tweak your marketing efforts.

Social networking may not be for everyone (yet), but keeping abreast of what others are saying should be part of every nonprofit’s strategy. If you are able to maintain a presence on Facebook and Twitter, make sure the messaging is appropriate for each forum. Simply replicating the same content everywhere isn’t the right approach.

Addendum 10/12/09 on the growing importance of social networking – Why email no longer rules in online communications. Blue State Digital disagrees. I concur – it’s always best to use a combination of approaches and email clearly still deserves a prominent place at the table.

Addendum 10/29/09 – Many new thoughts on while email may be changing, email is not dead

Are Nonprofits Effectively Using New Social Media Tools?

Posted on September 16, 2009 by Norman Reiss

This week has featured a flurry of comments about whether nonprofits are taking advantage of new social media tools such as Twitter. Seth Godin says no but the Chronicle of Philanthropy gives several examples to show how some nonprofits are doing things right. See also social media guru Beth Kanter’s attempt to reconcile the two sides.

My take: smaller organizations such as Charity:Water will continue to take the lead on showing larger nonprofits how to raise funds and engage constituents in a variety of new ways. Larger organizations are still trying to deal with what Clay Shirky‘s observation during his year’s Nonprofit Technology Conference: nonprofits have already lost control of their branding and messaging .

Here’s a newly released report on How Nonprofits are Using Web-based Technologies to Reach Their Goals. Not surprisingly, many organizations are still experimenting to discover what works. On the for profit side, some companies are using outside firms to manage their Twitter and Facebook presence; my take – social media works best if it’s coming directly from organization staff.

Report from Social Good Conference

Posted on August 29, 2009 by Norman Reiss

Yesterday’s Social Good Conference was the final event of the Summer of Social Good, benefiting four nonprofit organizations which were featured at yesterday’s event: Livestrong, Humane Society, Oxfam America and WWF. The program offered many examples of how we can use online tools to further our missions, particularly social media.

Facebook’s Randi Zuckenberg suggested that to fully take advantage of Facebook’s latest capabilities such as their Insights Tool, nonprofits setup a page, not just a group. She also suggested creating videos to feature on the page. It’s not so important how many fans your page has rather how many of them are engaged with your cause. Read more at Wall Street Journal.

Global Giving and Causecast offered brief presentations to show many ways constituents can be encouraged to support causes beyond making direct donations.

What have been the most successful online fundraising campaigns: Twestival ($250,000), America’s Giving Challenge ($340,000) and Causes Birthday Wishes ($ 2 million in 6 months!).

Andy Ridley offered a stirring review of the success of the worldwide Earth Hour initiave, reminding us to ‘let people make their own messages’ to promote your cause.

Oxfam America extensively uses social media because “it’s the best way to reach supporters quickly” and “allows for instant response / feedback.” Bob Ferguson offered these suggestions on how to help Oxfam:

follow us on Twitter and retweet our posts
join our Facebook fan page and repost
sign up for our e-advocacy list
volunteer
tell others about Oxfam

Humane Society has made a strong commitment to ephilanthropy and was an early adopter of social media. They have 25 (!) staff in online communications, 6 which focus on social media. Everyone in the organization “gets it” – their CEO is tech savvy and blogs regularly. They’ve raised over $400,000 in Facebook Causes (still doubt that this platform can be a significant contributor to fundraising revenue?). While brand monitoring “can be very time consuming,” Twitter offers the best way to keep in touch with what others are saying about your organization. Take advantage of tools such as Tweetdeck and Google Alerts.

WWF explained their social media strategy as a way to build community, not just do fundraising. They’ve also worked with MobileCommons to build a mobile subscriber list and were recently featured in the Facebook Gift Center. They’ve also built relationships using eBay Giving Works and SocialVibe.

LiveStrong described their recent Global Cancer Summit, which was promoted primarily in Facebook and Twitter, and attracted 4500 online attendees. Their goal: “make those online feel like they are at the Summit and are participating and learning.”

Beth Kanter has long offered a wonderful blog on social media; her in person presentation was equally stimulating. Beth suggested we use three R’s to connect with our constituents: relationship building (don’t just connect when asking for money), rewards and reciprocity. She also used her personal connection with Cambodian children to demonstrate the power of establishing an emotional connection with story telling. Read Beth’s comments on conference.

Drew Olanoff, recently diagnosed with cancer, offered a stirring description of how he’s created Blame Drew’s Cancer to promote Livestrong.

All for Good‘s Jonathan Greenblatt described how his organization is using open source to transform volunteerism and to engage all Americans in service.

My take aways from the day:

Organizations like HumaneSociety are succeeding online because everyone in the nonprofit is involved, not just a ‘department’ which has been charged with the role of promoting and monitoring their online brand
It’s important to support organizations that have charitable goals. My wife has a large shoes collection, but we’ve never known about Tom’s Shoes.
While online connections are important, so are face to face conversations. Some attendees I tried to speak with at the conference seemed so involved with their computers / phones that I felt that any attempt to speak to them would not be welcome.
We need to all find a way to make volunteering part of our lives. I’ve slipped a bit and will do my best to rectify this by year-end
Use social media tools to engage with constituents, not just build a large list. The organizations profiled above have set a wonderful example of us to follow.

The end of the event featured a surprise ‘announcement’: Mashable’ COO Adam Schwartz, who hosted the event, proposed marriage to Sharon Feder on stage. We all cheered and she said yes.

Does Your Nonprofit Operate as Constituents View Us – As One Organization?

Posted on April 22, 2009 by Norman Reiss

Many of us in the nonprofit sector aren’t as effective as we could be in interacting with our constituents because departments of our organizations aren’t working together. Often each department will have its own agenda, and offline and online strategies are handled by different areas.

In No Constituent is an Island, Steve MacLaughlin suggests that we stop thinking about offline and online and simply treat them as different channels. Steve offers some interesting analogies, such as how we would react if we deposited a check at our bank but its online system had no record of it, or if you bought tickets online but when you arrived at the event, the box office could not access your purchase information.

Social media guru Beth Kanter offers a similar perspective in Silos Culture Inside the Walls of Nonprofits Prevent Effective Social Media Use. She describes the experience of a nonprofit staff member who tried to promote a social media policy within their organization, but encountered departmental turf battles. The volunteers who had asked to start using Facebook to promote the nonprofit eventually started on their own; the organization only became involved later. Social media brings up even more challenges since some of us still think it deserves a place with other tools we use to interact with our supporters.

With the increasing popularity of social media, some are asking if email is on the way out, e.g. Will eMail Fundraising Die. But just as direct mail is still effective, so is email. These tools work best when part of an integrated strategy. To accomplish this, our nonprofits have to change how we’ve traditionally worked. One way to do this is to have frequent cross-deparatment projects and meetings – not long, drawn out lectures but quick updates so each area is aware of what other parts of the organization are working on. This is why project management is so important at nonprofits to help staff across departments and locations to learn to work collaboratively.

Constituents don’t view us as different departments but as one organization. It’s time we started to treat ourselves the same way.

ePhilanthropy Tips from Around the Web

Posted on April 8, 2009 by Norman Reiss

Do You Really Need an Online Community – Also, do you setup your own community using a tool like Ning, or do you establish a presence on existing communities such as Facebook? It’s important to consider your organization’s objectives, not just to keep up with other nonprofits are doing.

10 Best Web Content Practices – Are you taking the time to review content before it goes live, or are you just pushing updates through quickly so your site is ‘fresh’?

Tips for Entering Your Nonprofit Into the Social Media Environment – There’s much talk about social media, but many of us are still trying to figure out the best way to integrate these tools into our other online strategies. For more ideas on this topic, listen to Common Knowledge webinars.

A Few Good Tools for Online Distributed Fundraising – Idealware’s articles are always helpful, and this look at how to host third party fundraising is no exception. Make sure your organization is making it simple for your supporters to raise funds through their own activities (not only the events your nonprofit plans).

Five Things We’re Forgetting When We Take Our Fundraising Online – Network for Good explains how offline fundraising concepts still apply when you move onlne.

How Much eMail is Too Much – Are you overdoing a good thing? Here’s a look at one organization that took a hard look at its email marketing frequency.

Congratulations to Holly Ross at Nten for selling out the Nonprofit Technology Conference for the first time ever – and kudos again for establishing a scholarship fund to help many of us to attend. Happy Passover and Easter to everyone.

NYC Nonprofit Boot Camp – Social Networking for Nonprofits?

Posted on August 29, 2008 by Norman Reiss

More from Craigslist Foundation’s recent NYC Nonprofit Boot Camp; Big Duck‘s Farra Trompeter offered an engaging session on social networking – is this a tool that nonprofits should be taking full advantage of now?

If your organization does take the plunge, expect that it will require a 2-3 hour investment daily. A recent feature at Philanthropy Journal confirms this, also describing who is best suited to fit this role:

Knows and enjoys social media
Is tech savvy (but doesn’t have to be a geek)
Knows your organization and is committed to its mission
Has a personable, outgoing writing style

Is your main goal is to raise funds or to attract and interest current / prospective constituents? So far, few nonprofits have successfully been able to prove that the potential return is definitely worth the dedication of resources to social networking activities.

Farra recommended these first steps in Facebook:

find out whether other organizations with compatible missions are already there, and what they are doing
create fan page
create cause

Some nonprofits have been also to receive donations through text messaging, although this also is a relatively new initiative. Twitter is already used by nonprofits such as Red Cross and ASPCA to distribute information.

Starting and maintaining a presence on social networking sites confirms the trend that your constituents may never find your organization’s web site, so why not go to where they already are?

Using Social Networking Sites to Attract Constituents

Posted on August 23, 2007 by Norman Reiss

At the quarterly Not-for-Profit Webmaster Round Table meeting this week, I initiated a discussion on social networking, stimulated by Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal article, A New Generation Reinvents Philanthropy. In addition to the popular MySpace and Facebook sites, the article mentioned many new ways in which our supporters are finding to raise money for their favorite causes.

David Milner, who has run the webmaster group for several years, raised an interesting question. If pages are created on these new sites and successfully generate interest in the organization, this will hopefully increase traffic to the nonprofit’s main web site. But if the nonprofit maintains the MySpace and Facebook sites while neglecting its own web site, how will this come across to the constituent? I also asked – how does the nonprofit decide which content to put on these sites while making sure there is consistency with its own web site?

The social networking sites present an interesting opportunity for us to engage a new audience. It is likely that visitors will seek out an organization on these new networks before visiting an organization’s main web site. So we’ll need to make sure that our nonprofits have a presence on these new sites while also keeping our own web sites fresh. This will be a challenge, but it’s easier to go where our constituents are than hope that they’ll find our organization web sites.

In addition to MySpace Impact and Facebook’s Causes, other sites mentioned in the article that are attracting interest especially among younger constituents include Change.org, DoSomething, Firstgiving, GiveMeaning, Kiva and SixDegrees.

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Does Your Nonprofit Operate as Constituents View Us – As One Organization?