December 22, 2009
Social media is great because it doesn’t have to cost your nonprofit a lot of money. Here’s an example of a video that you can use as model for your nonprofit. It was the 4th of July and I took all of the pictures of the fireworks with a basic digital camera. No tripod or anything.
Later I edited them together and added some royalty free music. This comes with the iMovie editor but you can also buy royalty free music very cheaply from a variety of sites online.
Voila, your nonprofit can have an inexpensive video that you can easily upload to YouTube. Why not do this for your next event?
Click on this picture to see the video
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Posted by Ken Okel
December 1, 2009
A lot of nonprofits could learn a thing or two from businesses that have private bathrooms. These are the places where you have to request a key so you can unlock the facilities. Usually the key is attached to some kind of large object, like a shoe, a bowling ball, or some sort of sports equipment. The idea behind this is to make sure that the person will return the key instead of accidentally walking off with it.
While it may be a slightly heavy-handed reminder, it is an effective one.
In your nonprofit, as you craft your social media strategy, you’ll need to make sure it’s clear to everyone who will be working on the project. Make sure roles and duties are clearly defined. Are there backups to help when a key player is called out of the office for an extended period of time? You want all of this to be unforgettable to those involved, much like a restroom key! Remember the biggest obstacle to social media success is not consistently doing the work.
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Posted by Ken Okel
November 9, 2009
YouTube gives you a great opportunity to bring your supporters into your world. Why not shoot a brief video (less than 5 minutes) that gives them a tour of your office.
This doesn’t have to be fancy. Introduce the viewer to the person who answers your phones. If you have a wall of awards and plaques, let people see them. Heck, you could even do a feature on the person with the messiest desk in the office.
The goal is to give people a better feel for your nonprofit. If they can identify with you, then you become more than just another organization doing good work. It’s a great way do some social marketing.
Do keep in mind that you don’t want to share any videos that give away any confidential information or anything that could compromise your building security.
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Posted by Ken Okel
October 28, 2009
As a nonprofit, in today’s economy, does it make sense to do some free market research? Social media can make it happen.
Survey Monkey is a free tool that allows you to ask questions to your supporters. You can give them quizzes, let them vote of the time of your events, and asked them what they’d like to know more about. A basic account is free and includes:
- 100 responses per survey
- 10 questions per survey
- 15 question types to choose from
- Ability to collect emails via weblink or email
If you’re concerned about people not responding to your survey, then offer some sort of prize to a selected entry. It doesn’t have to be a big thing. Just enough to move people to action.
You can put the link to the survey on your blog, your electronic newsletter, your facebook page, and even on Twitter.
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Posted by Ken Okel
October 19, 2009
In our past few posts we’ve been discussing electronic or e-newsletters. They can be a great way to quickly pass on information to your supporters. And in today’s economy, they can be a lot less expensive then mailing a printed newsletter. Plus you can also share your newsletter through a blog or even your nonprofit’s Facebook page.
The biggest mistake that nonprofits make when it comes to sending out an electronic newsletter is not keeping to a regular schedule of publication. Most of the time the agency is very excited about having an e-newsletter and sends out an issue or two. But then things like the daily grind, vacations, and unexpected work derail the process. Before long, the idea is collecting dust.
This is a major turnoff to your supporters. When they give you their email address, think of it as a contract between them your nonprofit. You’ve made a commitment to electronically send information and updates to them. You need to make sure that the project can be fulfilled by multiple people and won’t be affected by any “distractions.”
Still not convinced? Think of it like this: A man and a woman meet and have an immediate connection. The man asks for the woman’s phone number which she eagerly provides. But then the man never calls the woman, leaving her confusing and angry. No matter the reason why he didn’t call, do you think she would ever want anything to do with him again?
The same rules apply to your nonprofit and a donor. Much like the woman in my example, who’s to say that another nonprofit won’t win her friendship and financial support simply by keeping a promise to stay in touch.
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Posted by Ken Okel
October 12, 2009
Some nonprofits treat email communication with donors as if it’s fine china. They don’t use it very often and when they do, it’s usually for something big like a fundraising crunch.
You should think of email as part of an ongoing relationship between your agency and your supporters. But when it comes to the frequency of the communication, many nonprofits do too little. This can be frustrating to those who gave you their email addresses, thinking they would receive more information about your organization.
I like sending out a biweekly newsletter. So that means that in a year, your subscribers will hear from you 26 times. That may seem like a lot but I find it’s a good balance between too much communication and not enough. Also, try to send the newsletter out on the same day of the week.
You’re not writing a novel for those newsletters. Keep them around 300-350 words. You’re sharing a few points that informs people about the work you’re doing, lets them know how their support is making a difference in the community, or showcases your expertise in articles that give people useful tips (Ex: 3 things you should know if you have an aging parent.)
Don’t fall into the trap of only using your e-newsletter only as a way to ask people for money. When this happens, people rapidly unsubscribe or delete your message without reading it.
You also want to let people know that it’s okay for them to forward the message to other people
Next time, we’ll talk about one of the biggest challenges that electronic newsletters face and how you can use social media tools to overcome this obstacle.
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Posted by Ken Okel
October 5, 2009
To get the most out of your social media strategy, your nonprofit would be wise to get some feedback on your efforts. Consider forming a small committee to review your progress. Try to find a diverse group of people who will share their opinions.
Find out what social media platforms they use and whether they follow you on places like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Have them tell you what they like and don’t like about your posts. Some questions to consider asking are:
- Are your posts too long or short?
- Does it seem like you have the right balance of informing your supporters and asking them for money?
- Would they recommend any of your sites to their friends? Why or why not?
- What aren’t you doing that they would like to see you achieve online?
Perhaps you’re not able to do something because of a lack of staff time. If someone is critical of this, see if they can volunteer to help make it happen.
While I like doing a lot of things online, I think this gathering needs to be in person. You’ll receive some great market research for the cost of a few refreshments. It’s all about making sure that you’re maximizing your social media efforts.
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Posted by Ken Okel
September 30, 2009
As a nonprofit, you understand the importance of fundraising. And in today’s economy, raising money may be harder than ever. So should you use social media primarily as a means to bring in the bucks?
In my opinion, that’s a recipe for disaster and before long no one will be following your blog, your Facebook page, or your YouTube account. Imagine if you saw a friend at a party. How would you feel if every time you talked, he was always saying the same thing (or hitting you up for cash). Before long, you’d be trying to get away from that person.
Think of social media as less of a way to bring in donations and more of a way to build the relationship between you and your agency. The stronger ties are what can lead to first time gifts and larger donations. Mostly you want to pass on information about your nonprofit, in bite sized chunks, to your supporters. Tell them about your successes, your goals, and how they can become more involved with your agency. Train your readers to expect to learn something new about you every time you post something new. This trust will assure them that you’re not just after their wallets.
You can do things like make a case for funding for a specific need and then end the message asking for cash. So at least the message is still informative. But I would say out of every 12 messages you post, only have one of them asking for money.
If you’re sharing good information and engaging your supporters, you may find that you’ll need to do less asking for gifts than you ever imagined.
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Posted by Ken Okel
September 22, 2009
If you’re still unsure whether you should move your nonprofit into the world of social media, look to those who are already doing it for inspiration. Go to sites like YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook and search for nonprofits that are similar to yours. See what they’re doing online.
Can your organization duplicate their efforts? By duplicate, I don’t mean copy or rip off. But rather, can you walk a similar path to those who are a little ahead of you?
If you’re really impressed with an agency, give them a call and see if they can outline the amount of time and effort that goes into their social networking strategy. What’s been the return on their investment in terms of engagement or an increase in donations? The answers you receive should give you a much better idea if social media is a good fit for your nonprofit.
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Posted by Ken Okel
September 20, 2009
Does your nonprofit offer a service that you want people to know about? In the past you may have relied on an expensive advertisement in the Yellow Pages to get your message out. Now, fewer and fewer people rely on the phone book, so what can you do to reach your target audience? This is important, especially if they don’t know what you do.
In today’s economy, when people want to look for things, they use search engines like Google. Social media can give your organization a bigger footprint online and make it easier for you to be found. This is a major perk of social networking. Part of this is done through something called, tags. These are words that you can add to places like a blog post or a YouTube video. There’s usually a small box where you can enter these words. You want to think about words that describe what you do as well as phrases that people might search for.
Let’s say your nonprofit at offers child care services, including after school art programs. You’d want, in a YouTube video about a display of your student’s artwork, to use tags like: child care, safe place for kids, after school programs, art, artwork for kids. You would also want to include information like your city and your organization’s name. Now if someone, Googles, something like, “art program for kids in Miami,” then you’ll appear in the search results.
You may already be doing this through your website but having additional platforms to help promote your services will likely increase your search rankings. You may also want to see who comes up ahead of you in a search. What is your competition doing, in terms of social media marketing, that you’re not?
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Posted by Ken Okel
