This month’s SMIT (Single Most Important Thing I have to tell you) is that if you don’t take care of your social media it’s going to pee on your floor, tear up your furniture and chew up your shoes. No fooling. Social media is like a puppy. Everyone wants to play with the cute, cuddly…
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If any of the following apply to you, your nonprofit is not ready for the 21st century. The cure? Read Monday’s post to get serious and avoid being pranked — or spanked! — for failing to embrace the fact that we’re all social businesses now. Truly, it’s time to get serious (just not today; for now, have a little fun, a super good week-end and… get determined after April 1st). Let’s get in the spirit!
Do you:
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First you get in the game. This should go without saying, but I still hear too many executive directors saying they don’t want to play. Folks: you gotta play to win. And it’s not the lottery. Your chances of winning are really good. It’s a game of skill, not luck.
Then you acknowledge that everyone is getting into the game. So you won’t get noticed just because you’re on the field. An October survey of U.S. nonprofits by VerticalResponse found that more than three out of five nonprofits reported spending more time on social media than they did a year ago. Nearly two out of five reported devoting six or more hours per week to social media. Ninety-six percent of nonprofits said they were on Facebook; 80% of these organizations reported posting on the site multiple times per week. Twitter also gets significant attention from nonprofits. The site was used by nearly three-quarters of nonprofits, and the organizations were more likely to post several times a day on Twitter (19.5%) vs. Facebook (13.8%).
Just because you’re flitting and twitting around doesn’t mean you’re getting anywhere fast. It reminds me a bit of the big pile-up on the football field. An amorphous mass.
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Philanthropy; Not Fundraising
People. Purpose. Passion. Plan. Four “P”s in a row. I know… you’re thinking, cute. Yawn. But wait. Before your eyes glaze over, stop a moment and think about these 4 “P”s.
They’re central to your success in inspiring philanthropy. Because even though I’ve written, and truly believe, that there are fundamental ways fundraising has changed significantly over the past five years, there are also things that haven’t changed at all. You simply must translate these fundamentals to the digital world:
It’s human nature to love to listen to – and tell – a story. So let’s figure out how to make that happen for your organization – and for your donors.
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Philanthropy; Not Fundraising
This month’s SMIT (Single Most Important Thing I have to tell you) is to never lose sight of the “Why.” And total props to Hugh MacLeod (whose brilliant cartoon is shared here) for the reminder. It’s a simple concept; not so simple to comply.
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Philanthropy; Not Fundraising
I’ve often wondered why we’re the only sector that defines ourselves by what we’re NOT. Nonprofit. Why not what we ARE? Social benefit. Rather than focusing so much on how to scrimp and save and be as cost-efficient as possible, shouldn’t we be focusing on how to spend and grow and be as big and effective as possible?
Nonprofits are stuck in a vicious cycle that jeopardizes their ability to raise the resources they need to succeed. Three “town criers” have recently shed light on the growing problem. Though they come at the problem from different perspectives, it is arguable that they’re headed in the same direction. Let’s take a look at the underlying reasons for the sector’s inability to build sustainable capacity.
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In my last post I channeled Bob Dylan, calling for a change in the way we do fundraising. Because the times truly are a changin’…
Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command, your old road is rapidly agin’…
When I grew up in fundraising I had a shoe box as my database. I wrote grant proposals on yellow legal pads. When we got our first FAX machine I complained that now folks expected us to mail and FAX them (so double the work). When email came on the scene I complained that now folks wanted us to mail and FAX and email (so triple the work). But it was still the same old road of outbound marketing. At least I understood what it was all about.
Now we’re on a new road entirely. Because folks are coming to us. They’re telling us what they want. They’re defining our brand. And they’re doing so in real time via a multitude of online channels and using a multitude of Web-connected devices. Opportunity is knocking.
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Once upon a time I knew what I was doing. I attended The Fundraising School, discovered a host of tried-and-true techniques, mastered the art and science of fundraising transactions and went forth to apply the tools at my disposal. Money was raised.
Fast forward several decades, to sometime about five years ago. I had a dawning realization. I no longer knew what I was doing. I had somehow entered “wing and a prayer” territory. The culprit? Revolutionary and disruptive technology that, simply put, has ended “business as usual.”
What can you think of that has been done the same way for 50 years? For too many nonprofits the answer is fundraising and marketing (aka “development”). And it’s beyond time for a change. In fact, a sea change. It turns out Bob Dylan got it right.
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Just building it isn’t enough. Whatever it may be. A blog. A Facebook page. A Twitter profile. You name it.
Sorry.
They won’t call. They won’t write. They won’t wax on rhapsodically about your finer qualities. The most they might do is notice you out of the corner of their eye; then move on.
It’s on you.
To get real value from social media you must build it, get folks to come, get folks to talk and get folks to recommend you to others.
Here’s the kicker: You’re not 100% in control. Yeah, I know it kind of sucks. Us control freaks just have to get over it. Folks are going to be learning about you through others, and you won’t know about it. They’ll talk about you, and you won’t know what they’re saying.
Let me tell you a tale of two siblings, Outbound and Inbound.
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In Part I: Share, Part II: Shareable and Part III: Talk of this S.S.S.T. Series we covered the importance of sharing your blog, making it shareable by others and getting folks to talk about you with their online networks. But there’s one important component of your super-sonic blog promotion strategy that we’ve missed. Here it is:
SEARCH
Let’s begin with why it’s important to talk about search. Because you want more readers for your blog, right? Well, the people who are your friends, plus the people who are their friends, are not all the people in the world. They’re not even all the people who may be interested in what you do! Search is how most people find you. Search is the most common online activity after email, and that fact cuts across generations.
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