Category Archives: Social Engagement

Why You Can’t Get a High School Intern to Do Your Social Media

I know your budget is tight and I understand you’re struggling to pay for your existing staff, but you can no longer afford to ignore the number one way people find out about you – social and mobile.  Digital is the future, it’s increasingly important and increasingly multi-layered, and the time to start building your online community is now. Before it’s too late. Before you’re left behind.

Does Your Nonprofit Need a Social Media Manager? This is a question I’m asked a lot, and my recent post on Maximize Social Business addresses it. I think it’s a kind of funny question for 2013, given the fact that we’re in a digital world, social media is frickin’ huge and people today expect professional online communications and fundraising campaigns.

Warning: If Your Nonprofit’s Not on Pinterest You’re Outdated

Wouldn’t you know I’d leave the trenches just when things got Pinteresting? I missed out, but I’m here to tell you… YOU don’t have to!

If we know anything about human beings, we know these two things: (1) they love a story, and (2) a picture is worth 1,000 words.  A new guide to visual storytelling practices reveals that when information is presented orally, people tested 72 hours later remember only about 10%. That jumps to 65% when pictures are added! Pinterest is a dream come true for nonprofits wanting to engage constituents with their mission.

Breaking News about Your Nonprofit’s Social Media Strategy: It Doesn't Measure Up

XTRA! XTRA: NEWS YOU CAN’T USE

This just in: “Many nonprofits post on Twitter throughout the day to keep constituents up to date.”  Woo-hoo! I’m jumping for joy! Over the moon! Popping champagne corks! I’m….

Wait just a dog-gone minute…  Is this really a news story? What does this really tell me? How does this help me? Well, perhaps if I read the story I’ll…

Learn more.

What story?  Oh… this is a real headline, sent to me by my friend Jimmy (a really smart marketing guy who works in the business sector), for an article that appeared in eMarketer which claims to provide “the world’s top brands, agencies and media companies with the most complete view of digital marketing available.”  Yet really all the article does is report on a study by Vertical Response showing that nonprofits were more likely to be present on social media channels than small businesses surveyed in a similar study.

So, great.  We’ve got some data on how nonprofits are behaving digitally.  They’re putting up Facebook pages and starting Twitter accounts. Whoop-de-do.

What we do not have is a fully fleshed out narrative that tells us why nonprofits are behaving this way, who they’re targeting with their social conversations or what they’re getting out of it. We have no knowledge of their engagement plan or their engagement metrics. As I told my friend Jimmy, the fact that nonprofits are doing incrementally more on social media doesn’t really tell much of a story.

What Texting Your Kid and Nonprofit Social Media Have in Common

It’s perplexing to still hear folks ask “Do we really need social media?”  Do you need to text and respond to your kid’s texts?  Well… only if you want to be in touch! That question is so 2008.  In 2013 it’s more like “my way or the highway.”

Here’s the problem if you’re a small nonprofit:

You’re resource challenged.  You don’t have enough staff to do everything that needs to be done as it is.  Now you’re supposed to add social media?!  Well, which channels?  You can’t do it all, for goodness sakes. There must be one best channel.  Maybe you can just squeeze that in.

SMIT for May: Why you Need to Reinvent Yourself

Listen up.

Whatever you did in the past is relevant, but it doesn’t mean it’s exactly what you should be doing today.  Relevant means pertaining to or connected to. Your history is always connected with you in some manner.  But it’s not always germane (central) or apropos (to the point and opportune).

If you say…

That’s not the way we do things.

We tried that; it doesn’t work.

We don’t need research; we know what our audience cares about.

… stop.

Are You a Troglodyte Fundraiser? 3 Ways to Leave the Cave

In case you don’t know, troglodytes are hermits who live in caves. There are 3 ways I’ve found that folks in the development profession fit this description.  Are you a cave dweller? If so, here’s how to get out more.

1. Get out from behind your desk.
2. Begin to embrace social media.
3. Think outside the cave.  

What's 'Like' Got to Do with It? 5 Ways to Inspire Nonprofit Engagement Through Social Media

Stop counting likes and follows. If your work plan has “increase FB likes from X to Y or increase Twitter follows from Y to Z” as an objective, delete, delete, delete!  Your objective must relate to your “why;” it can’t just be a “what.”

Who cares how many “friends” you have if none of them are engaging with you?  Liking is passive.  Engaging is active. What do you want folks to feel/think/do?  You simply won’t get there by wishing and hoping.  You get there by inspiring.

The ‘Breakfast in Bed’ Theory of Nonprofit Social Media and Fundraising

Nonprofits wanting gifts should give them.  Relationships work that way. Give and get.

This principle of reciprocity applies in spades to social media. Generosity begets generosity.

What you don’t want to do with social media is:

• Use it simply to broadcast stuff about you; you won’t get much in return. Self-centered is the opposite of donor-centered.
• Ask for likes and comments; then ignore them. You won’t build lasting relationships. You’ll get one-time transactions.
• Give folks stuff that’s irrelevant to them. That’s not a gift; don’t expect them to reciprocate.

April Fools SMIT: 7 Tips to Stop Social Media from Peeing on your Nonprofit’s Floor

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…

April Fools Day is Coming: Is Your Nonprofit’s Social Media Ready?

If any of the following apply to you, your nonprofit is not ready for the 21^st 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 1^st). Let’s get in the spirit!

Do you: