As a marketing-savvy nonprofit professional, you know you need to create compelling content each and every day for your various online profiles – Facebook, Twitter, Google+, blog, email newsletter, etc.

You don’t want to simply rehash the same information on every platform, because what fun would that be for your followers and fans?

But how do you consistently find interesting and compelling content to post and write about?

It’s a lot simpler than you think.

Here are 5 content ideas for nonprofits that think they have nothing to write/post/tweet about:

1.   Share breaking news related to your cause, even if it features another (horror!) nonprofit organization. Sending out a “congratulations” or a “good luck” post to another organization doing complimentary work is a great way to build community, earn trust and create great karma!

2.   Take 10 minutes each morning and scan the headlines and the blogosphere. What are the trending topics  The Harlem Shake? Grumpy Cat? The State of the Union address? The Oscars? Find a creative way to relate the day’s hot topic to your organization or your cause.

3.   Post at least one success story per week (but call it something more original than “success story”). Share a photo or a short video (the Vine app is perfect for this) to make it stand out and to get more engagement.

4.   Do you get Google Alerts and New York Times Alerts? You should. Don’t just get set them up for your organization’s name. Set up daily alerts for your competitors, your industry and your cause.

5.   Ask questions that encourage your fans to share personal stories related to your organization. (“My favorite volunteer experience was when_______”. “The most important challenge facing this community is _________.”) Do not get discouraged if the first few do not get any response – try and try again.

Remember, your online community, your fans and followers are telling you every day what content they like and what content they will ignore. No response to a post or a tweet is a response in itself.

Every day, listen and learn from your online community. What types of content get the mostengagement? Make a plan to do more of that. Test and measure, and test and measure again.

How do you get inspired to create content? Leave a comment in the section below! 

photo credit: Marc Amos via photopin cc

Each year nonprofit software provider Blackbaud Inc. analyzes $8 billion worth of U.S. charitable gifts to 3,000 nonprofits and releases their Charitable and Online Giving Index.

This tool is very helpful for nonprofits to identify trends in the sector, as well as compare their progress to other organizations based on size, revenue and area of focus.

In the 2012 Index, Blackbaud provides some grim and some hopeful statistics.

I found the most important findings to be:

1) Small nonprofits fared the best in fundraising in 2012. Think you need a multi-million dollar budget and a development staff of 10 to raise money? Think again.

Organizations raising less than $1 million experienced a 7.3% jump in donations in 2012.

This is compared to a tiny 2.7% increase for mid-sized/medium nonprofits ($1 million to $10 million) and just 0.3% for the biggest nonprofits ($10 million and up).

2) Giving overall in the U.S. was barely up 2%.

This is abysmal, but not entirely surprising, given the state of the economy and the stalemate in Washington.

3) Online giving was up almost 11%!

Online giving is the fastest growing method by which donors are giving. It is important to pay attention to this trend.

However, online gifts only represent about 7% of total donations. Do not lose sight of the fact that 93% of all fundraising happens through more traditional offline channels.

(The Index does not specify if their Online Giving data includes money raised via crowd-funding and online fundraising sites such as Fundly, Fundraise.com, IndieGoGo, Kickstarter, etc. Blackbaud says: “We include giving from all sources of fundraising activities: direct mail, telemarketing, face-to-face fundraising, email, online, mobile giving, small- and large-scale events, and major and deferred giving.”)

What this means for you

Stop whining that you are too small. This study shows that smaller organizations can do and have done better fundraising than organizations that raise $10 million and up.

Develop a hyper-local focus. Even though the globe is becoming more interconnected and you now have the ability to give to any cause in any part of the world, most donors choose to give locally. Donors are looking within and trying to change their communities.

Put your fundraising campaign and language into bite-size chunks. Donors want to give to smaller projects with a tangible impact that they can see, hear and feel. They want to give to smaller and leaner nonprofits that are stewarding their donations responsibly and doing “more with less”.

Focus on donor ROI. Focus some time on online giving, but focus much more time on traditional channels. The data doesn’t lie. This is where the money is.

The conclusion of the study is not rosy:

 “Overall giving is not likely to increase significantly until there is sustained growth in new donors, nonprofits rebuild their multi-year donor base, and overall donor retention improves.”

I completely agree.

How are you using the findings of this index? Please leave your thoughts in the Comments section! 

photo credit: woodleywonderworks via photopin cc

Does this sound like you?

You dutifully post every day on two or more social media profiles for your organization.

You try to follow the 80/20 rule (no more than 20% of all posts directly promoting something for your organization) but sometimes get caught up in posting boring news clippings and event listings.  

You frequently post inspirational quotes, cute photos of cats and fun memes (that do not relate to the work that you do).

Your engagement is way down and you seem to be posting and tweeting to a symphony of crickets.

What else can you post and tweet that will set you apart from the social media noise?

Here are three simple suggestions:

Show your human side. Post photos of your office, your volunteers, your clients, your waiting room if appropriate. Facebook is about FACES after all, right? Empowering People for Inclusive Communities (EPIC) frequently shares photos of their young leaders and those who support them, with a short description about why they are “epic”. TIP: Make sure you use descriptive captions for the photos. (Respecting confidentiality and privacy just goes without saying.)

The nonprofit EPIC highlights different people and the things that make them “epic”.

Create micro-videos. Download Twitter’s Vine video app if you have access to an iPhone or iPad. Nonprofit Nate lists 21 ways that nonprofits can use Vine – including telling 6 second stories of a typical day in the life of a client, providing a simple call to action and showing the impact that you have on the world. @DiabetesUK is already using it to thank donors individually! Very cool. TIP: Vine can be automatically synced with other social media sites for quick and easy sharing.

Think about what your fans want to hear, rather than what you want to tell them. The Beverly Farmers’ Market  only operates in the spring (with a short indoor market in early winter), so they share information on other area Farmers’ Markets, to the delight of their fans. This is a fantastic example of providing information based on what their FANS want, rather than the message they want to push out. TIP: Make sure to tag the Facebook pages you are referencing and link to their website.

Let me repeat– share content, photos and information that your fans want to read, share and comment on, as opposed to the message you want or think you need to get out.

Make that your mantra, and your success on social media is assured!

How do you get and show love to your fans and followers? Please share your thoughts in the Comments section below!

photo credit: erika.tricroche via photopin cc

I didn’t Google “Pediatric Dentist Beverly”. I didn’t use the business Yellow Pages (which I depressingly still get delivered to my door, in an obscene amount of plastic wrap, all of which goes directly into the recycle bin.)

I turned to the network I have built on Facebook. I found my answer based on the recommendations and advice of my friends and family.

I suspect that more and more Facebook users are like me.

Facebook suspects this too, which is why they created and announced Facebook Graph Search last week.

Facebook Graph Search is definitely intended to give Google a run for its money.

Instead of searching the “faceless web” of Google, Bing and others and sorting through a million and one results that might not be relevant, Facebook is betting that its users will search inside the social network for things they like, stuff to do and items to purchase.

While I didn’t use the Search function to find a pediatric dentist (I posted a question in a status update), I can immediately see how this function will be useful in culling search results based on my interests and those that I truest and care about.

So, what is Facebook Graph Search?

• The point of Facebook Graph Search is to you, the Facebook user, to use all the data collected from your personal network to aid in your search for a specific thing.

Jared Newman of Time’s Tech blog puts it this way:

 “Think of it like Google for everything that your friends know; instead of searching the Web for somewhere to eat or something to do, you could just search through the collective wisdom of your network.”

• Rather than searches based on keywords, you can use a plain English search term and get very specific result. The examples that Facebook gave at the press conference to announce Graph Search are “people who like tennis and live nearby,” “tourist attractions in Italy visited by my friends,” “movies liked by people who are film directors” and “friends of friends who have been to Yosemite National Park.”

• Graph Search results are not like Google, which provides external links to information. Graph Search results keep you inside the social network – links to pages for people, places and things that match. It’s supposed to be faster, more personal and more customized (and, of course, designed to keep you on Facebook longer).

• Right now Graph Search only searches shared photos, likes and check-ins, not actual status updates. This does not include Instagram photos or data from Facebook’s Open Graph (other applications that link with it, like Spotify). But mining data from status updates and connected applications is assuredly coming.

What does it mean for Facebook users?   

• Graph Search is betting that you will like more things on Facebook and check-in to more places in order to be more helpful to your friends.

As an example, Tom Stocky, one of the creators of Graph Search, said at the press conference:

“You might be inclined to ‘like’ what you like so when your friends search, they’ll find it. I probably would never have liked my dentist on Facebook before, but now I do because it’s a way of letting my friends know.”

• What cannot be found inside Facebook by using Graph Search will be provided as external links through Bing (a Google competitor).

• Facebook is not using it to make money – yet. There are no promotional links or ads on it (like the paid search results at the top and on the side of a Google search).

What about privacy?

• There are clear privacy implications with a comprehensive search function such as Graph Search. But for me, I only use Facebook for things I want to share. Like the saying goes – “If you don’t want others to see it, don’t put it on Facebook.”

• I suggest listening to Zuck himself and “take some time to review your stuff”. If it’s on Facebook, even if you are listed as Private, it may be able to be found. Be careful and wise about what you share on the internet.

• Check your privacy settings and fine tune your friend list and permission. Go through and cull your Friends list. Mark those closest to you as Close Friends so their likes, photos and check-ins will weigh the most heavily in your Facebook Graph Search results.

• Get familiar with the Facebook Privacy changes that you might not know about. Did you know that in December Facebook eliminated the ability of to hide your profile from being found in Facebook’s old search)?

How can I get Graph Search?

Graph Search in beta right now, being rolled out to a limited number of A-Listers.

If you want to sign up to get on the waitlist (as I have), go to: facebook.com/graphsearch

Conclusion

The announcement that Facebook is developing a new, more comprehensive search function should not be shocking to anyone.

It makes perfect sense from a business standpoint. Facebook wants you to stay on their site, not navigate away when you are looking for something.

In September 2012, Facebook’s stock price shot up after Zuckerberg addressed the TechCrunch Disruptconference and candidly discussed his notion of search:

“Search is interesting. We do on the order of 1 billion queries a day and we’re basically not even trying. Today with search the vast majority of it is people trying to find people, but there’s also a meaningful portion of queries where people are trying to find Pages, brand Pages, other business Pages — so there’s a bunch of that that actually does link to commercial behavior, and I think there’s a big opportunity there and we just need to go do that.”

Read more:

Facebook’s Bold, Compelling and Scary Engine of Discovery: The Inside Story of Graph Search – Wired Magazine

How The New Facebook Search Is Different & Unique From Google Search – Search Engine Land

Are you excited about Facebook Graph Search? Scared? Curious? Disgusted? Leave your thoughts in the Comments section or on my Facebook page. Thanks for reading!

photo credit: fiddle oak via photopin cc

“We have a mailing list of about 2,500 people and we are well-known in the community. But no one likes our Facebook Page!”

 “We do such great work! Why don’t we have more followers?”

 “We’ve been on Facebook for a year but our audience has hardly grown. How can we grow our online community?”

Do any of these problems sound familiar to you?

There are many reasons why your nonprofit Facebook Page is a ghost town. Here are the 7 most common:

1.     You are ignoring those closest to you.

Have you asked your friends, family and colleagues to join your Page? They are a good source of fans who will be interested in what you are doing (hopefully).

2.     You haven’t asked your staff and volunteers to Like the page.

I don’t mean sending out a short email that they will immediately delete. I mean asking them either through Facebook, at a staff/volunteer meeting or individually (best way).

Having staff and volunteers liking the page has a lot of weight. As they interact with the Page, their Facebook friends will see the content and it will extend its reach and hopefully help you net new fans.

3.     You are not advertising your Facebook page everywhere you can.

Make sure you are promoting your profiles using all channels that you have to communicate with the outside world.

Use any channel that you would use to communicate with clients and customers:

• Add the social media buttons to the main page of your website. Pro Tip: Have all the buttons the same size, visible on each page of your website and make sure all the links work!
• Add the social media buttons to your email newsletter template or e-blast.
• Put the social media URLs (example: www.facebook.com/jcsocialmarketing) on all print materials including brochures, annual reports, invitations, thank you letters, letterhead and business cards.
• Post a flyer/sign letting people know that you are on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. in your store front, at the cash register, lobby, waiting room, etc.

4.     You send out a canned email that just says “Like us on Facebook!”  

Are you effectively promoting your social media presence through your email newsletter? Many don’t.

Most email newsletters I have received that announce a nonprofit’s social media presence simply say “We’re on Facebook!” and provide a link.

In 2013, there are thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of nonprofits on Facebook. Why should anyone like your Page?

• Send out a brief, bulleted email explaining what they will get if they connect with you. What can they expect by liking you on Facebook?
• Tell them what information they will find on your Page (resources, news, events, helpful tips).
• Will they be the first to be notified of events and happenings? The first to hear breaking news on the topics they care about?
• Let them know that you are creating an online community for people to share experiences with a community of people who care about the same cause. Ideally list the benefits and information in bullet form in the email, with a link to all of your social media profiles.

5.     You don’t link to Facebook on your website.

I still can’t believe how many nonprofits have a Facebook Page but don’t link to it on their website. How am I supposed to find you?

6.     You don’t differentiate between social media sites.

Why should I like you on Facebook if you post the exact same content to your blog, to Twitter and to Google+?

7.     There is nothing interesting on your Page.

Are you telling stories of your organization’s impact? Is there a good mixture of photos, text, links and other content? Does your nonprofit have a voice?

Remember the key rule of success in social media:

Just being there will not get their attention - it’s the value that you provide that will.

Do you have ideas of how to get fans on your Facebook Page? Anything I missed? Please leave your thoughts in the comments section. Thanks for reading! 

photo credit: Svenstorm via photopin cc

Creating a plan and a strategy for your social media efforts is certainly important.

But the reality remains – for many small-shop nonprofits, this kind of large-scale, long-term planning can be intimidating.

So what can you do on a smaller scale?

You may need to raise the entirety of your annual budget each year. You may be focused on a capital campaign. You may have a shelter to run and mouths to feed.

While social media tactics are certainly proving themselves as effective fundraising tools, connecting the dots directly between social media usage and fundraising remains elusive for many nonprofits.

I hate seeing nonprofits bury their heads in the sand and avoid the “dreaded social media conversation” just because they find strategic planning overwhelming.

If you can’t afford to invest in the time and resources necessary to help you create a social media strategy with goals, objectives and actionable tasks, start small. (In the long term, you will want to invest in a plan. But don’t let it prevent you from jumping into the pool.)

The immediacy of social media and the short news cycle lends itself perfectly to small, bite-size requests. These requests have the added benefit to f providing instant gratification to you and to the donor.

Take the example of the Naperville Area Humane Society in Illinois. They were running out of kitty litter one day at their no-kill animal shelter, so they tweeted about it. To this day, weeks later, they still receive bags of kitty litter, which they can stockpile or give away to families who adopt the cats they house.

Other examples of thinking small:

Homeless shelters can post on Facebook that they need travel items to make Welcome packages for people in the shelter.

Food banks can tweet about immediate needs of perishable items.

A local liquor store where I live collected new teddy bears to send to victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings – they posted a short notification on Facebook and received over 100 bears in one day!

After-school programs can ask for school supplies, office supplies, arts and crafts supplies. Child care centers can tweet to ask for donations of gently-used toys or duplicate presents. (These kinds of asks may be especially effective AFTER the busy holiday season, when people are cleaning out their toy chests, offices and closets to make room for the new.)

Your nonprofit may be running low on dish soap or paper towels and you have a large program tonight or a big support group meeting – let people know.

People love the instant gratification of satisfying an immediate need, and if they are already at the grocery store and see your tweet or Facebook post, they may be inclined to purchases items in the moment.

Make sure to acknowledge these gifts and donations as you would any other gift.

Tweets, Facebook acknowledgements, hand written thank you notes, phone calls and emails all work extremely well to showcase the impact and to encourage deeper relationships with these supporters.

Getting community members to make a spur of the moment donation of goods and other items will open them up to a continuing relationship with your organization. Make sure to collect their email and connect with them on the social networking platforms that you use.

Who knows – just from thinking “small”, your next big donation may be around the corner!

Do you use social media to ask for items to fill immediate needs? Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below or on my Facebook page. Thanks for reading! 

photo credit: Scott* via photopin cc

However, from what I have been observing of late, the purpose of most social media marketing campaigns seems to be collecting the most Likes on Facebook, the most Twitter followers, the most connections on LinkedIn, the most rePins on Pinterest, etc.

More, more, more seems to continue to be the way to go.

This is an incorrect strategy.

In my experience, quality beats quantity any day of the week, in any contest.

Yes, you can pay special online services to gain 10,000 followers on Twitter. You can hold exciting online contests to lure people into clicking “Like” on your Facebook Page.

Purchased followers and fans may boost your numbers and look impressive to your boss, but they do nothing for your bottom line.

At the end of the contest or the purchase, how many of these fans will ever look at your website, read your blog, make a donation or purchase your product?

My guess is – very, very few if any.

Instead of focusing on growing your social media numbers, how about focusing on retaining and engaging the fans/followers that you do have?

A recent study showed donor retention in the last few years has been an abysmal. 7 out of 10 donors are leaving our organizations and not donating again!

Yes, you read that right. That’s an attrition rate of 7 out of 10 donors. What if we lost Facebook fans at that rate? Or Twitter followers? We would certainly sit up and pay attention.

My suggestion – Focus on donor recognition and rewards for 2013! Nonprofits need to shift our focus. Instead of always thinking about the information we want to relay and making all our marketing campaigns about US, why not make it about our donors – the ones who sustain us, the ones who we rely on to keep our lights on.

This year of “Thank You” applies to all donors, stakeholders, volunteers, staff members, members, and the like.

After all, current and past supporters form the best foundation from which to grow and sustain your organization in 2013. Make sure the loyal know that they are appreciated!

Social media happens to be a fantastic way to publicly recognize and thank donors. Here are 10 ideas about recognizing and rewarding your donors using these tools.

 Plan

1. Schedule the time. Like any other task on your To Do list, you need to schedule adequate time to get it accomplished. Will it be 15 minutes at the start of each day? Will it be every Thursday (Thankful Thursdays)?

2. Organize resources. Will you have a specific budget for thanking donors? You don’t need to make elaborate, expensive print materials or tchotchkes, but you could explore paid advertising on social media platforms. Read John Haydon’s postabout targeting donors with Facebook Ads.

3. Assign staff and volunteers. Who will be responsible for carrying out the work? I suggest forming a specific Recognition Committee of Board members, staff and volunteers, supervised by the Executive Director or Development Director.

Acknowledge

4. Show the love. When was the last time you posted “We have the absolute best Facebook fans on the planet“? Try it! Even something simple like this should get interaction. Try posting it on all your social networks and see the love grow!

5. Respond and reply promptly. Answer all questions and Wall Posts, mentions on Twitter and all public blog comments in a very timely fashion (within 3-4 hours). This shows that your organization is responsive and that you are paying attention to what your fans are saying.

6. Say The Words – Thank You! Organize a “Thank You” campaign and promote it everywhere.

• Heather Mansfield of the blog Nonprofit Tech 2.0 lays out ideas for creating “Thank You” videos for your 2012 fundraising campaigns.
• Participate in Diane Darling’s “The Thank You Project”, where you hand write at least four personalized thank you notes per week.
• Blog about your Thank You campaign, post on Facebook and Twitter, share your Thank You process on LinkedIn.

Reward

7. Exclusive Discounts and Offers. Nonprofits can team up with local or national businesses to offer exclusive discounts – for example, when the local business hits 500 fans on Facebook, they will donate a certain amount to the nonprofit and offer a discount of 15% to all of the nonprofit’s Facebook fans. This way, the nonprofit and business will mutually benefit through cooperative marketing, and the fans will benefit by being able to help give back in a fairly effortless way.

8. Pick a Fan of the Week. This is a simple, easy-to-use Facebook application to add to your nonprofit’s Page. It automatically highlights the person who interacts with your Page the most within a given week. Make this honor extra special and offer to highlight that Fan’s business or favorite cause for one week on your page, create a gallery of Fans of the Week on your website or make a special phone call to the Fan of the Week (if you have their information) to thank them for their engagement. You can also send them items such as a t-shirt, pen, coffee mug or other memento (with your logo on it of course)!

9. Help Fans Give Back. Many companies reward Facebook Fans by helping them give back, tying charitable donations to the growth of their fan base. Hosiery and leg wear company No Nonsense recently kicked off a program in which it is donating one million pairs of socks to needy children and families across the country. The campaign, called “Socks for America,” allows consumers to donate a pair of socks in their name to a person in need simply by becoming a fan on No Nonsense’sFacebook Page.

10. Showcase Them! With their permission of course, showcase your donors using social media – their photos, why they give, a brief interview, a quote, a testimonial. So simple and yet so powerful. They are individuals after all. If you receive funding from a corporation or foundation showcase the program officer or person responsible for managing the donation.

photo credit: comedy nose via photopin cc

This post originally appeared on the GiftWorks Guest Blog.

In the fast-paced, minute-to-minute, rapidly-changing world of social media, taking the time to see the bigger picture becomes especially important.

Nonprofit professionals should take a moment to take stock of their social media marketing efforts in 2012 and ask themselves the following questions:

• How did we succeed in the past year?
• What channels did we use effectively?
• What were the challenges?
• What could we have done differently?
• What changes could we make going into 2013?

Another one of my favorite year-end aspects is planning for the New Year. I use the New Year as an opportunity to start fresh, to try new things, to take risks, and to get renewed energy and motivation.

In the spirit of planning for next year, I wrote down 13 Nonprofit Social Media New Year’s Resolutions for 2013. I hope you find them helpful as you create your kick-butt social media strategy for 2013.

13 Nonprofit Social Media New Year’s Resolutions for 2013

1. I will participate. Resolve to participate to the fullest extent possible. Remember, social media is just like exercise – you get the results out based on the effort that you put in.
2. I will be helpful. Stop only pushing out information and asking for things. Be helpful, courteous, resourceful and valuable to your online community.
3. I will ask questions. That’s what social media is all about right? The give and take – asking for feedback, advice, opinions from your community is important.
4. I will get training. Acquiring the skills necessary to effectively use all the social media tools at your disposal is crucial. Don’t think this can be done overnight. Any social media expert you know has spent countless hours reading (and writing) blogs, taking webinars and attending conferences and trainings.
5. I will read. A lot. This goes with #5. Find a few blogs to follow on a regular basis (here are somegreat ones) but do not let yourself get overwhelmed. Read a book a month on social media and nonprofits (there are a ton out there). Take notes.
6. I will be accessible. Answer questions, acknowledge comments and likes, engage with your fans and followers. Address blog comments. Show that there is a person behind the Facebook page, Twitter account and Pinterest board.
7. I will invest in good visuals. Visuals are one of the most important weapons in your emotional arsenal – show your impact through pictures! They really are worth a 1000 words. Invest in great eye-catching graphics, develop interesting infographics and take compelling photos of your nonprofit in action. With the staggering rise of Pinterest and Instagram, the photo is king, and the power of the visual is only increasing.
8. I will allow creative freedom. If your nonprofit needs a cohesive social media policy for employees and volunteers (and what nonprofit doesn’t need this?), establish one. But don’t stifle people’s freedom to express themselves on social media sites – simply establish guidelines, provide training and support and answer questions. You cannot prevent your employees and volunteers and clients and donors from using social media. But you can assist them in making good decisions that will benefit your organization.
9. I will plan. That includes making a calendar of posts, a spread sheet for blog post ideas, a folder of potential images to pin on Pinterest, a task list with important events, deadlines and tasks. It also includes delegating the work if you do not have a full time social media person.
10. I will measure. Determine the goals, establish benchmarks, and then measure. For more on measuring the results gained from your social media campaigns, check out Beth Kanter’s blog.
11. I will celebrate. Celebrate accomplishments, benchmarks, funds raised, successes. Celebrate your volunteers and your donors who give of their time, expertise and money. Most of all, celebrate the impact that you are having on the world.
12. I will not get discouraged. It is easy to get overwhelmed and discouraged. There is always a new social media site to discover and read about. There is always a new blog to post, a new tweet to send, and new video to post to YouTube. Social media work cannot be crossed off the To Do list – it’s not something to finish and walk away from. Look at it like a garden – cultivate, weed, shed light, water – and watch it grow!
13. I will have fun. Nuff said!

You have my sincere best wishes for a happy, healthy and productive 2013!

What are your resolutions for using social media in 2013? Please leave me your thoughts in the Comments section or on my Facebook page. Thanks for reading! 

photo credit: Lenabem-Anna via photopin cc

According to The Hill’s Twitter Room, Congressmen and women are now jumping on the Instagram bandwagon.

Instagram account for Rep. Steny Hoyer, Maryland

Since being acquired by Facebook in April, the popular photo-sharing site has grown in leaps and bounds.

According to a September comScore report, Instagram now has more active daily visitors on mobile than Twitter!

Many nonprofit organizations that have a visual element (i.e., all of them) still have not heard of Instagram, which is a shame.

The site remains popular due to the absence of ads (but no lack of spam unfortunately) and the pure quality of the site.

Members of Congress use Instagram to:

• Connect directly with their constituents
• Show their personality
• Photographing interesting meetings – for example, House Speaker John Boehner showing Myanmar’s opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi the view from his balcony
• Post photos of Washington DC and Capital Hill
• Showcase photos and events from the Congress person’s home district

Couldn’t your nonprofit use Instagram to do many of these things?

Worth thinking about!

Does your nonprofit use Instagram? If not, why not? If so, post your link in the Comments or on myFacebook Page and we’ll check you out. Thanks for reading! 

In response to the new Facebook guidelines I hereby declare that my copyright is attached to all of my personal details, illustrations, comics, paintings, professional photos and videos, etc. (as a result of the Berner Convention).

For commercial use of the above, my written consent is needed at all times!

(Anyone reading this can copy this text and paste it on their Facebook Wall. This will place them under protection of copyright laws.) By the present communiqué, I notify Facebook that it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, disseminate, or take any other action against me on the basis of this profile and/or its contents. The aforementioned prohibited actions also apply to employees, students, agents and/or any staff under Facebook’s direction or control. The content of this profile is private and confidential information. The violation of my privacy is punished by law (UCC 1 1-308-308 1-103 and the Rome Statute).

Facebook is now an open capital entity. All members are recommended to publish a notice like this, or if you prefer, you may copy and paste this version. If you do not publish a statement at least once, you will be tacitly allowing the use of elements such as your photos as well as the information contained in your profile status updates.

According to Snopes, it’s a myth and doesn’t mean anything.

Even a quick Google shows that the “Berner Convention” isn’t real (it’s the Berne Convention), and that the “Rome Statute” is international law and has to do with the International Criminal Court’s ability “to prosecute genocide, war crimes, crimes of aggression and crimes against humanity in situations when the sovereign states themselves are unable or unwilling to prosecute said crimes”. (What that has to do with Facebook, I still don’t understand.)

There is no way to get around Facebook’s privacy policies (which have changed recently) other than to read them, understand them and accept them.

The other option is to delete your account and sever ties with Facebook. But no one really wants to do that, do they?

What do you think of this post and others like it? Anything I missed? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the Comments section and on my Facebook page. Thanks for reading! 

photo credit: MoneyBlogNewz via photopin cc

In this post Cuban captured a common sentiment that is circulating the web.

Facebook is ruining Facebook.  

How is Facebook ruining itself? By taking itself too seriously. By over thinking its purpose. By capitulating to marketers and brands.

In Cuban’s mind (and many others), people use Facebook to combat boredom, to see what’s going on with their friends and family, to be distracted and even to get out of awkward situations.

On this front, I believe that he’s absolutely right. This gets to the heart of the Facebook experience that all too often, marketers lose sight of.

People are NOT on Facebook to buy stuff. They are NOT on Facebook with the express purpose of signing up for your email newsletter, donating to your cause or signing your petition. However, they may do so while they are there (in growing numbers). But this is not their intent when they sign on.

One billion people have signed up for Facebook for their own personal, self-serving reasons. Facebook is a unique online experience in that it can be completely customized; it’s you in your own little bubble, seeing what you want when you want.

In that spirit, I want to offer my own opinions on this debate:

1)     Facebook is making brands and nonprofits look desperate.

We are told that photos get the most engagement (then we are told that they don’t); we are told to ask questions but then we look like we are trying too hard; we are told that sharing great content is the only way to succeed but then so much of what we think is great is posted to a symphony of crickets.

So what do we do? We post photos of cute cats just to get a few Likes.

Check out my favorite satirical Facebook brand page for a few examples of marketers getting desperate for engagement, any engagement. To me, this seems to be a cruel cycle – when you actually have something interesting to share it is less likely to be noticed because of all the noise.

2)     EdgeRank is detrimental to authenticity and genuine engagement.

With EdgeRank controlling what gets seen in our News Feed, marketers are frantic for some sort of interaction on each post.

For this reason, marketers are more likely to stick to a formula and not deviate in any way. Brands are less and less likely to go off topic and to take risks if they know they will be penalized.

In this punitive environment, we want to stick with sure things and not try new things.

3)     What about content that doesn’t lend itself to “Likes” or “Comments”?

I have always had a problem with the “Like” button (although I use it prolifically). It seems so superficial and passive.

What about nonprofits who have less-than-likeable causes? What about domestic violence shelters posting horrific statistics about women and children being abused? Who would want to “Like” that statistic or share it?

Yet, for many nonprofits, sharing shocking images and statistics is a huge part of their strategy to raise awareness and get people talking.

Are we all simply posting happy, positive content just to get more engagement, even if it doesn’t tell the whole story?

4)     People who use Facebook as an information source are ignored in all this.

A study released in February by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that about only about half of Facebook users comment, like or share content in their News Feed in the average month.

Many people who use Facebook are what I call “skulkers” – they skulk, but don’t contribute to the conversations.

So how are these people counted? If you never interact with content in your News Feed other than reading it, how can your individual EdgeRank score be calculated?

Cuban uses the example of the Mavericks’ Facebook Page posting scores at the end of every quarter. The fans may not click the Like button (for instance, if they are losing) and they probably won’t want to comment on the score or share it since its so fleeting.

But these fans still want to see those scores in their News Feed. How can EdgeRank take that into account?

5)     The majority of people are not Facebook super-users and do not fully customize their News Feeds.

Cuban writes: “Doesn’t Facebook realize that is far easier for a user to opt-out of a feed by un-Liking a brand/person/page that has done a poor job of communication than it is to mess with all the account settings or for them to try to tweak their algorithm all the time to try to guess what people want?”

Facebook recognizes the fact that many users do not take the time to opt-out. People like tons of pages and then forget what they liked. They Like pages to enter contests and raffles and never engage with the page after that.

Users often don’t know how to Hide or go back to the page and un-Like it. It seems simple enough to prolific Facebook users, but to many average people, they don’t take that step – they just Hide or ignore the content posted by the page.

So, what are the answers?

• Facebook is not a silver bullet. Never will be, never has been. As I have said before, it is a tool in your marketing tool belt, just like a telephone, a laptop and an internet connection. It is not the marketing tool belt itself.
• Diversify across a few platforms – don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
• Even though Facebook may be trying to help by throwing marketers some bones – Page Feed and Get Notifications – these are not a panacea. (John Haydon writes about this as does Jon Loomer.)
• Most importantly: No amount of social media marketing will make up for a crappy product or service. (Ask Seth Godin how he feels about this topic.)

What are your thoughts on this debate? Please add to the conversation by posting in the Comments section or on my Facebook page. Thanks for reading!  

Daily Deal sites have been getting slammed in the press, in the stock market and from businesses who claim they are destroying certain industries.

The pros of using a Daily Deal site to grow your business, attract new customers and create social media buzz are many. But the cons are numerous as well.

What if Daily Deal sites could be used for good – to collect donations and raise awareness for nonprofits and causes?

That’s exactly what LivingSocial and Groupon aim to do with their new philanthropic initiatives.

Today I received an email with a LivingSocial “deal“:

Donate $5 to the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, and Toys”R”Us, LivingSocial, and other corporate partners will match this year’s donations up to $1 million, doubling your contribution.

Of course, when you make your donation, you can tweet it, email it and post it on Facebook, increasing the reach and virality of the campaign. Brilliant!

Today’s offer for marks LivingSocial’s second partnership with a national nonprofit. Their first partnership was a March 2011 deal to support the American Red Cross’ disaster-relief efforts in Japan. That deal resulted in more than $2 million in donations.

Groupon has also been very busy making their charitable mark through partnerships and promotion of various causes and nonprofit organizations.

On Earth Day this year, Groupon launched Groupon Grassroots, described as ”a new way to discover local causes, rally together, and lend a helping hand. Grassroots supporters can positively impact their communities in ways not possible by themselves, including organizing volunteer coastal cleanups or planting an orchard of fruit trees.”

Some of their featured campaigns include:

• Pepsi matched up to $250,000 in donations for Feeding America, helping the organization provide 11,897 families of four with two weeks worth of food and making this one of the most successful campaigns to date.
• Chiquita Banana matched up to $25,000 in donations for The Cure Starts Now, helping the foundation give Monkey in My Chair kits to 731 pediatric cancer patients. Each kit contains a stuffed monkey stand-in that helps children undergoing cancer treatment stay connected with their classmates.
• Kaplan Early Learning Center matched up to $400 in donations for Mile High Montessori Early Learning Centers – Denver, allowing the Montessori school for low-income families to purchase 127 books and jump-start their own children’s library.

This month, the Groupon team blogged about their support for Movember, a popular international fundraiser held to “change the face of men’s health”.

Yesterday Groupon announced The Big Give, to be held in conjunction with the inaugural #GivingTuesday™ on November 27, 2012. #GivingTuesday is a national social media campaign that aims to counterbalance the gluttony and consumerism of the holidays by encouraging a national day of giving to begin the season.

As part of 2012 The Big Give, Groupon Grassroots will feature a six-week series of campaigns that started this past Monday and will run through December 26.

Throughout the six-week series, you can give $10 or more to their selected national nonprofits. Each campaign has a matching corporate partner, which doubles the impact of all contributions.

Another great gift choice for the holidays is the option to gift your donation by clicking on “Give this Groupon as a Gift” at checkout.

With millions of people signed up to get LivingSocial and Groupon daily emails and with thousands following them on social media, these campaigns are sure to make a huge impact. The ease of donating + the ease of sharing with friends on social media sites = online fundraising success!

I love seeing this innovative marriage of social media, email marketing and charitable giving.

What do you think of the daily deal sites jump into charitable giving? Will you be giving a gift or making a donation this year through these sites? Please leave your thoughts in the comments section or on my Facebook page. Thanks for reading! 

The uses, both personal and for business, are endless. Pin expensive, sparkly shoes andbags! Pin ideas for your Christmas party! Pin ideas for your child’s bedroom! Pin blog articles! Pin inspiring quotes!

On the surface, Pinterest seems pretty shallow – an extension of our rampant consumerism. It is seen by some as just another online shopping list; a voyeuristic view into the (needless?)  items we covet and desire.

UNICEF is turning Pinterest on it’s head by posting compelling images of things that people in the world really want and need – to survive.

They created a fictional profile for a 13-year-old girl named Ami Musa, from the poor, war torn African country of Sierra Leone.

Ami’s one and only board is called “Really want these” and instead of Louboutins, iPhone cases and nail art she’s dying to try, Ami’s pinned images include plain rice, faucets for clean drinking water, and chalk for school.

If you click on the photos on Ami’s pin board, you are taken to a simple donation landing page at the UNICEF website with a photo of “Ami” and the text:

Children like Ami need basics that many of us take for granted: food, education, healthcare, a clean supply of water. Your donation can help us provide these and other essentials. Thank you.

The effect is startling – it made me sit up and pay attention. I immediately got a brainstorm of how different nonprofits could use this method to promote their cause and solicit donations.

Homelessness agencies posting pictures of beds, kitchens, clothing and other comforts.

Domestic violence programs posting photos that represent happiness, safety and support.

Animal advocates posting photos of pet care items and people happy with their pets.

Food banks posting photos of the items that they most need and want in each season.

The possibilities are endless! It remains to be seen, however, if the average Pinterest user will mind this disruption as they peruse the latest fashions, technology and interior design.

What do you think? Would you click on Ami’s board? Do you see Pinterest being used for good? Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below or on my Facebook page. Thanks for reading! 

When used correctly, business and nonprofit professionals can use their email lists to grow their social media communities.

Here is a good example of a simple way to do it.

Crown Trophy, a small business in Peabody, Massachusetts, created a Facebook page, and wanted to let their customers know about it.

See the email that they sent announcing their Page:

Crown Trophy’s Facebook Announcement email

Why it works:

1)     Compelling photo. One of their employees just got married, so they included a photo of the bride and groom. It automatically makes the email warmer and more personal. (As an added bonus, the photo is actually a sample of the product they are offering you when you Like the Page!)

2)     Good title. The email headline tells you a little bit about the content of the email. It’s not called “Hello from Crown Trophy!” or “November Newsletter”.

3)     Informal language. The language is familiar. The owner of Crown Trophy, Brian Murphy, knows that his clients are loyal to him because of his friendly personality. The tone of the email is funny, self-deprecating and written like a friend talking to another friend. You know an actual person wrote this, as opposed to a marketing department, and it makes you more likely to read it.

4)     Easy to read. It’s short, clean, and there are links in the email that are easy to find.

5)     Clear call to action. There is a clear purpose to this email. It doesn’t try to do 100 things at once. Crown Trophy wants you to join them on Facebook. However, the email is not a small paragraph pleading “Like us on Facebook”! Instead, Crown Trophy provides reasons to Like them – an incentive to get a discounted phone case. They also tell you what they will be using their Facebook Page for – “new products, blowout sales, etc.”

You do not need to be computer or tech savvy to create and send an email like this. This email probably took just a few minutes to write as well as add links and photos. You can also use it to promote any number of other social media accounts, not just Facebook.

Don’t have an email list? Well, that’s a topic for another blog post. In the interim, visit Constant Contact’s Learning Center or visit SocialTriggers for tips on building your email list.

How would you or did you announce your Facebook Page? Any other ideas that I missed? Please leave your thoughts in the Comments or on my Facebook page. Thanks for reading!

photo credit: Horia Varlan via photopin cc

This reality check is going to be brought on by two new features Facebook is trying out.

Feature 1 – Get Notifications

Yesterday Inside Facebook reported on a new feature Facebook is rolling out. This new feature will let Facebook users get direct notifications from their favorite Facebook pages, as opposed to relying on the erratic nature of the News Feed.

The feature is called Get Notifications and it’s only for pages. It works just like the “Close Friends” option for personal profiles, that lets you receive a direct notification every time a close friend posts a photo or changes their status.

When you Like a Facebook page, you can then opt-in to Get Notifications from this page every time they publish a new post. See the photo below from Inside Facebook.

From Inside Facebook

Feature 2 – Pages Feed

Jon Loomer and Lisa Jenkins wrote about another feature Facebook is experimenting with – a Pages Feed.

Lisa Jenkins reported on her blog that she saw something new in the Pages section of her Profile, just above the Like Pages link. It said “Pages Feed” (see image below) and when she clicked on it, she was direct to a special News Feed of all the updates from the Facebook pages that she has liked – no friend updates included.

From LisaDJenkins.com

These experimental features prove (at least to me) two important things.

1)     Facebook is listening. Yes, everyone hates EdgeRank. I believe that Facebook is trying to help its users (and its page owners) by responding to the outcry over the recent EdgeRank changes.

2)     Facebook loves businesses. As a public company, Facebook has an obligation to create revenue for its stakeholders. It needs to make money. Why would it want to alienate the millions of businesses that rely on it to connect with the customers, generate leads and raise awareness?

The reality check for Facebook Page Managers

I have not been able to see either of these new features so I can’t vouch for how they work and if they are user-friendly, but if they become standard practice across Facebook, they will have serious implications for Page Managers.

1)     You can’t complain about EdgeRank anymore.

After all, Facebook is now providing you with supposedly (not yet proven) full-proof ways to reach 100% of the fans that want to connect with you.

The fans will have a choice to receive all of your status updates either as a direct notification or in their Pages Feed.

2)     You will have to spend extra time and resources to convince your fan base to use these features (and to show them how).

I believe that these new Facebook features won’t be explored or used the way they are intended.

Jon Loomer put it perfectly in his recent blog post about the topic:

No one will use the Pages Feed… Facebook provides tools that could make everyone’s lives easier. Whether it’s privacy settings or friend lists or Interests Lists. Very few people use them. The rest complain about how much Facebook sucks because of X (problem that could have been solved by using one of these things).

We have the options and the tools to control the News Feed, our friend updates and the way we see content on Facebook. But the majority of us just don’t care enough to do the work.

3)     You will have to get your fans to care about you and your page – again.

We spend so much time and energy getting people to Like our page, we forget to convince them to stay and engage with us after they do.

The vast percentage of the one billion people currently using Facebook today are not going to take an extra step – either by clicking the Get Notifications button or checking the Pages Feed – to hear every single update from every single brand page they like.

It’s survival of the fittest (which is what EdgeRank was designed to do).  Those pages who get the most fans to opt-in for direct notifications will undoubtedly perform better than those that don’t.

Be careful what you wish for

Page Managers – Facebook heard you, loud and clear. You said that your fans hate EdgeRank and that they are not seeing your posts. You claimed that they were upset about this.

With these new features – asking your fans to directly opt-in to direct notifications and by providing a streamlined News Feed jus for pages – Facebook is calling your bluff.

If these features are widely implemented, page managers will not be able to hide behind Facebook anymore and blame the company and its complicated algorithms for lack of interaction, lack of engagement, lack of interest.

Having great content and providing value to your Facebook fans (and your entire online community) is more important than ever.

Only this time, if you are not reaching your fans in the way you would like, you will know that it’s your own fault, and not Facebook’s.

What do you think of these proposed changes? Post your Comment below or on my Facebook Page. Thanks for reading! 

photo credit: Durotriges via photopin cc

(And seriously… where is Carl???)

OK, I’m not talking about THAT Zombie Apocalypse.

I’m talking about the clever infographic developed by Confused.com that depicts several types of very familiar Social Media Zombies… all of which roam freely among us!

I have certainly been bitten by several of these – most notably the Check-In Zombie and the Inner-Dialogue Zombie.

Which ones are the most frightening and the most familiar to you?

A recent report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 32% of people aged 50 to 64 use at least one social networking site on a regular basis. We are seeing a big increase in these numbers from only one year ago, and the numbers are increasing every day.

The first piece of advice I give to companies and organizations marketing to seniors, boomers and caregivers is: Don’t underestimate the older generation – they are online too!

How are Baby Booomers using social media, and for what reasons?

• To stay connected. Baby Boomers use social media to connect with the things and the people they are interested in. This includes family, friends and colleagues; political issues; organizations they support; hobbies; travel; you name it.

• To conduct a job search. In 2012, retirement is not a reality for everyone. People are not assured a comfortable standard of living anymore when they reach 65. Baby Boomers use social media sites to help find jobs, to seek referrals, to post resumes and to conduct research on potential employers.

• For entertainment. It’s not all looking up photos of the grandkids – Baby Boomers go on YouTube and watch funny videos just like you do!

• For support and for fun. ActiveEmptyNesters.com, a social networking website designed specifically for the baby boomer generation, launched in 2011. Ronald Mercier, the site’s creator and founder, has made it his mission “to help his generation stay involved in, and educated on, the rapidly changing technology of today’s modern world.” Baby Boomers want to be connected to other Baby Boomers, and they are finding ways to do so.

• To stay current. Baby Boomers don’t want to get left in the dust. They want to be relevant, to know what’s going on in the world, and to experience news and events in real time.

How to reach Baby Boomers online?

• Get on social media. Join LinkedIn Groups, Facebook Groups and Facebook pages that include large concentrations of your target market.

• Create relevant content. The best bets for getting boomers and caregivers interested in your content is to create blogs or videos that relate to their life or work-style. Publish a white paper that people can only access by signing up for your email newsletter or by liking your page on Facebook. Create an infographic that can be shared across social networks. Be creative.

• Encourage interaction. if you’re looking for feedback and contributions from the Boomers themselves – like comments or criticisms – make that process extremely simple. Do not introduce overly complex sign up forms or opt-in processes. Instead, encourage low-effort contributions such as star ratings, the Facebook like button and easy to find social media sharing buttons.

• Use niche social networks. Marketers can also look into reaching boomers through social networks now – specifically those favored by this generation like Classmates Online, Eons, BOOMj.com, TeeBeeDee, and even the AARP’s online community.

My advice? Ignore the Baby Boomers at your own peril. Any savvy digital marketing plan should build in ways to connect with older generations, not just the young.

NOTE: This originally appeared as a guest blog on the MDS blog.

Back in June I debunked the #1 Facebook myth that was circulating on the social network.

Lately I’ve seen another one – a cut-and-pasted status update on many Facebook business pages, warning that their fans will not be able to see their content due to Facebook hiding their posts.

Here is what it says:

Facebook is hiding us from you! Do you like reading our posts? Do you like receiving our posts?

To keep seeing us, please comment regularly, just say YES in the comments for different posts. Or, in the future, if you are going to share – please say ‘Sharing’ – it may help to keep the posts in your newsfeed.

Facebook has changed its algorithms about who sees what posts. Since September 20th fewer posts (25% according to Ogilvy) show up on your newsfeeds. Even if you like a page there is no guarantee new posts will show up. Please comment, share and like. It will increase the chance of you receiving new posts.

Good news: It’s also a myth.

Bad news: It’s not entirely untrue. It’s just nothing new.

Breaking down this myth:

“Facebook is hiding us from you! Do you like reading our posts? Do you like receiving our posts?”

Facebook is not intentionally “hiding” posts from any pages. I’ve written about Edgerank before(Facebook’s algorithm that determines what gets seen in your news feed) and I’ve written about ways to conquer it to reach more of your fans.

“To keep seeing us, please comment regularly, just say YES in the comments for different posts.”

In theory this would be effective. If all the fans that saw a post wrote the “yes” in the comments, that would certainly fool Edgerank into thinking that the post is more important than it actually is. However, this is not genuine interaction, and I’m sure your page fans have better things to do than write “yes” on all of your posts.

“Or, in the future, if you are going to share – please say ‘Sharing’ – it may help to keep the posts in your newsfeed.”

Sharing content has the most weight of any single action on a Facebook post. You do not need to then write the word “Sharing” into the comments.

“Facebook has changed its algorithms about who sees what posts. Since September 20th fewer posts (25% according to Ogilvy) show up on your newsfeeds.”

The truth is that Facebook is always changing. It’s said that the social network is often tinkering with Edgerank and other algorithms on a weekly basis. Expect more changes, and expect to dedicate time and resources to go with the flow.

“Even if you like a page there is no guarantee new posts will show up.”

Facebook users are not on Facebook 24/7. Granted, Facebook claimed it’s one billionth monthly user this month, but that’s just monthly users. Every Facebook user does not log in every day (or even every week). Since Facebook users have an average of 130 friends, follow multiple business pages and do not spend every minute of every day on Facebook, any given post by a brand page is only seen by a small minority of their page’s fans. The accepted statistic, given by Gokul Rajaram, Facebook’s director of product management for ads, is that most posts are only seen by 15-20% of a page’s fans. That’s just reality.

“Please comment, share and like. It will increase the chance of you receiving new posts.”

This has always been true – and it’s something that page owners should be actively cultivating by creating engaging, interesting, relevant content.

KEY TAKEAWAY: The more that your fans engage with an individual page post – by liking it, commenting on it, and sharing it – the most likely it will stay at the top of news feeds and be seen by more people.

For ways to get more Facebook engagement, read my blog posts on the subject or Google “increase Facebook engagement”. Let me know what you find and how it goes!

Anything to add? Anything I missed? Leave your thoughts in the Comments section or on my Facebook Wall. Thanks for reading!  

photo credit: woodleywonderworks via photopin cc

The Giving Common Challenge is a 36-hour event that started at 8:00 am EDT today and runs through 8:00 pm EDT on October 11, 2012.

Over 60 prizes totaling $151,000 will be awarded to qualifying organizations during the challenge period. More details on The Giving Common Challenge website.

My 5 quick and dirty tips for nonprofits participating in an online giving challenge:

1. Use your stories! Highlight your organization’s impact and the people who you serve every single day. Use photos, compelling quotes, short videos and blog posts to let the world know that you are making a difference.

2. Don’t make it all about the money. Most people don’t care that you have the opportunity to leverage their gift into a bigger donation (if they even read that far in the email). They care that their donation is going to help a cause that is important to them. Showcase the impact that you are having first and foremost!

3. Post frequently and thoughtfully on your social media sites detailing your progress and letting people know how they can help. Recruit a Social Media Street Team to help you get the word out – provide them with sample tweets and Facebook posts so they can just copy, paste and share with their social networks.

4. The same goes for your email list. Ask Board members, volunteers, staff and supporters to send out emails on your behalf throughout the day – provide them with sample text and links to make it easier on them.

5. Celebrate milestones throughout the challenge. Send and update if you won a prize or if you are close to your goal.  Updates can be one or two sentences! Share a photo with a person thinking about how your donation is going to make an impact – for example, if we get this money and win this prize, we will be able to build a new playground!

Don’t forget: After the event, make sure to acknowledge everyone who participated and thank them for their help, their time and their money.

Good luck!

MPA@UNC: Online MPA

If you would like me to share your infographic, please email me atjulia@jcsocialmarketing.com or write on my Facebook Wall. Thanks for reading! 

The folks behind the social media marketing tool Compendium analyzed the social media statistics of more than 200 B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) companies to find out what works and what doesn’t.

Compendium shared the results in this infographic, broken down into B2B vs. B2C.

Breaking it down in such a way is valuable, since there are significant differences in what works for one type of company vs. the other.

By far, the best company page on Facebook is the Condescending Corporate Brand Page.

Yes, it is what it sounds like. Their About page says: We’re a big corporate brand using Facebook. So look out for us asking you to like and share our stuff in a faintly embarrassing and awkward way.

As a social media marketing professional, it causes me to a) grimace, b) shake my head and c) throw my hands up in the air in frustration.

It also makes me laugh.

The popularity of this page (25,339 fans and counting) is astounding, but not entirely surprising.

Give the increasing popularity of Facebook as a way to reach customers and the poor way that many company pages are managed, it’s no wonder that consumers are fighting back.

The fan interaction with the page is astounding. Thousands of fans post their favorite condescending Facebook posts they have seen created by brands, and each post gets dozens of comments, shares and likes!

There are important lessons to be learned by these posts, the most important one being:

Don’t be fake and don’t be, well, condescending. People can smell it a mile away.

My favorite posts on the page:

• “We really care about your opinion, and in no way would dream of asking you dumb questions in which the answer will be completely irrelevant to us!”
• “Condescending Multiple-Choice Situation – Engage with our brand by typing in a number!”
• “Happy World MadeUpFakeCelebrationThatsGettingF*&%ingAnnoying Day everyone!”
• “Yay, woo, party poppers and stuff…we’ve have 25,000 ‘Likes’ to brag about to our main rivals despite treating you all with utter contempt as promised. Now let’s get 50,000 or we may get violent!”
• “Like this post if you have a birthday this year. Comment if you have a birthday next year. Share if you had a birthday last year.”
• “*LIKE* and *SHARE* this if you find tired photo shopped animal images as hilarious as we do!”
• “Here’s another one to add to your extensive Dog/Hat/Cake photo collection!”
• “Tell us what are you bringing for lunch today as it’s really important for our reporting metrics. Click LIKE and SHARE if you eat to stay alive too!”

Being genuine and authentic on Facebook while still encouraging engagement and interaction is very difficult – there is no doubt about that.

And getting likes, comments and shares is important to EdgeRank, thus ensuring that more fans see your content.

However, treating your fans like automatons, like children or like morons won’t work – and you may even be featured on the Condescending Corporate Brand Page for your efforts!

What is the most condescending thing that brand pages do on Facebook? Please share your thoughts in the Comments section or on my Facebook wall. Thanks for reading! 

The title of the post – The Truth About Social Media and Nonprofits: A New Perspective May Be Required – intrigued me (as a good blog headline should).

Unfortunately, the meat of the post was far from “the truth”.

Jay Jones begins by claiming that nonprofits are seemingly obsessed with social media. Everywhere you look these days; it’s another story about nonprofits and social media! (Is that a bad thing?)

He then lays out the challenges that nonprofits face when using social media tools, suggesting that “a new perspective may be required” (what this perspective is, we’ll never know).

This is where he gets it all wrong.

“The Truth” Challenge #1: “Social media is relatively new to nonprofits.”

Social media tools are not new, and they are certainly not new to nonprofits.

Blogger and LinkedIn started in 2003. Heather Mansfield started the “Nonprofit Organizations” MySpace profile in 2005. In her book Social Media for Social Good, Mansfield details how nonprofit organizations “ushered in the era of the Social Web” and were the “early adopters of social media tools”.

The tools may have changed, but nonprofits have been building communities and energizing constituencies through grassroots movements and word-of-mouth campaigns much longer than the Social Web has existed.

While the actual online tools may be confusing to some nonprofits, the act of storytelling, communicating with supporters and building an energized constituency shouldn’t be.

Those nonprofits that lack compelling missions or effective ways to communicate the impact of their work will not succeed, with or without social media.

#2 Challenge – “Using social media technology and techniques requires time and expertise.”

A person or organization can have all the money, technology, expertise and fancy equipment in the world, but that does not mean that they will have a clue as to how to succeed in the social media space.

Very few people (the tech savvy included) innately understand how to use social media to build an online brand. The best social media managers already have years of experience with online communications and fundraising.

Succeeding with social media requires authenticity, transparency, passion and interest, not a serious knowledge of technology and online marketing. It requires all the things that nonprofits should have been doing all along – identifying and knowing their audience, being transparent, showcasing their success stories, asking for partners.

Take the example of Julie Nations, Executive Director of The Ellie Fund. She might not be able to create custom Facebook tabs or build a fancy blog template, but you know what she is good at? Telling her story, communicating with supporters, conveying enthusiasm for her topic, and connecting with people. Those are the reasons why The Ellie Fund kicks serious butt in the social media space.

All the technical skills and time in the world in the world are not going to help you if you can’t be genuine and interesting, and if you can’t tell your story in a way that connects to real people.

#3 Challenge – “The idea that social media works is intuitive, but not widely proven.”

Clearly Jones has not yet read Beth Katner’s new book, Measuring The Networked Nonprofit.

Nor has he heard of Twive and Receive, #GivingTuesday, Twestival or any of the hundreds of successful online giving campaigns run by Fundly, Razoo and others.

Social media tools are just that – tools. “Social media” itself is not a strategy. These online tools, just like an annual giving mailing, a letter writing campaign, and a phone-a-thon are tools that nonprofits use to accomplish their goals and therefore, their missions.

It is true that there “aren’t as many stories” and studies on the direct ROI of social media for nonprofits – but that does not mean that they aren’t out there, waiting to be told.

Conclusion – Why Is a Change In Perspective Necessary?

Without answering the question posed in the headline (as to why a new perspective is needed), Jones concludes that nonprofits need to use social media in their CRM strategy.

I agree with this part. Nonprofits should incorporate social media tools in their donor and support cultivation strategy and not as a standalone solution that will eliminate the need for everything else.

We need to get away from the perspective that “this social media stuff” is taking away time from other things. Rather – it should be REPLACING other things – outdated, outmoded, useless things. Think of the money and time you spend printing a paper newsletter, for example.

We are all learners in the social media space. Nonprofits shouldn’t be discouraged from participating; they should be actively encouraged with open arms.

What do you think of the challenges that nonprofits face in using social media? Anything I left out? Please leave your thoughts in the Comments section or continue the conversation on my Facebook page. Thanks for reading! 

I’ve been examining this question a lot this week.

It all started on Monday, when I read an article on TechCrunch with a rather disturbing headline:“Facebook Users Report Seeing Old Private Messages Showing Up On Timelines As ‘Posted By Friends’”. (TechCrunch has since updated the article and changed the headline.)

I immediately posted this news to my Facebook Page and personal Profile, and the response was overwhelming.

I received texts, phone calls and Facebook messages from family members, friends and clients who were extremely concerned that their private messages were showing up on their Timeline.

They have every right to be concerned. Since the proliferation of Facebook into the mainstream, users have been assured that there is a way to send something privately on Facebook – private messages.

We were told that private messages were like emails – for the recipients’ eyes only!

TechCrunch, in their updated post, investigated these claims, and they found “no evidence that the allegedly exposed posts were actually private messages.”

TechCrunch’s Facebook specialist found “email receipts show allegedly exposed messages were in fact Wall posts, and the posts do not appear in users’ Facebook Messages inbox.” Phew!

Facebook also backs up this claim in this official statement:

“Every report we’ve seen, we’ve gone back and checked. We haven’t seen one report that’s been confirmed [of a private message being exposed]. A lot of the confusion is because before 2009 there were no likes and no comments on wall posts. People went back and forth with wall posts instead of having a conversation [in the comments of single wall post.]“

So basically Facebook is saying: “Guess what? All those messages you sent that you thought were private? Well, they’ve actually been public for 5 years because you didn’t know how to use Facebook properly and/or we kept changing the privacy settings so that you couldn’t figure it out. Sorry.”

If you are still concerned about these posts and want to hide them, follow these instructions: Go to the top of your Timeline. Next to your Cover photo, click on the year you want to visit (start with 2009). Look at the top right of the Friends box, click on the pencil, and click on Hide from Timeline.

So no, I’m not deleting my Facebook account. Not yet anyway.

What do you think – would this make you delete and deactivate your Facebook account? Why or why not? Please leave your thoughts in the Comments section or on my Facebook page. Thanks for reading! 

photo credit: Frederic Poirot via photopin cc

When discussing the creation of a social media marketing campaign with clients, I always start with a plan.

Planning is not very popular – people want to sign up and dive in to the social media pool.  Since I believe that planning is a vital piece of the social media puzzle, I always insist on doing it first.

During the initial planning sessions with clients, I ask them these two questions:

1. Why do you want to use social media?
2. What do you hope that social media will accomplish for you?

Without fail, their answers are always a variation of the following:

1. “To increase sales.”
2. “To increase donations.”
3. “To increase revenue – we need money!”

This is flawed thinking, and I see it as my job to educate my clients.

Think for a minute. Would you Like a brand or organization on Facebook that only wanted money from you? (I didn’t think so.)

“Donor acquisition” and “lead conversions” are respectable goals to have in a traditional marketing campaign.

What people don’t realize is that when doing “this social media thing”, the goals have to change.

There are 5 major goals to choose from when building your social media strategy:

1. To connect with your constituency. Brands and organizations that use social media effectively use it to connect with their community where they already are – online! No matter your target market and constituency, they are already there. Millions of them, every second of every day! Your customers and your donors are using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+ and more. It’s up to you to find out where they are and what they like to read when they are there.

2. To get feedback. Getting authentic feedback on a product or service is a fantastic way to leverage social media. However, you must be willing to acknowledge and use some of this feedback – otherwise, why collect it at all?I realize that this is the part that scares the most people – getting negative feedback. I see negative feedback as a “teachable moment” – how you respond to the negativity and criticism shows your character as a brand.  (For example, do not respond like this.)

3. To monitor the competition. Social media networks are perfect places to monitor the conversations around the industry, cause and competition. What are people saying about your competition that you can leverage? What problems are they having that you can solve better than the competition? What is your unique sell – what makes you unique over all others?

4. To build a raving online community. Building brand ambassadors is a skill not to be taken lightly, but when done well, it is a very effective way to increase your brand credibility and presence.

5. To establish credibility. Many brands and nonprofit organizations aim to be the go-to resource in their industry around their specific issue or cause. Social media tools are great platforms to espouse your values, your expertise and your knowledge while helping others. What problems can you solve for potential customers? What impact are you having on the world?

Each of these reasons can be expanded upon, but the point is simple:

People are not on social media to get sold to. If you use it primarily to drive sales or get donations, the results will be disappointing.

HOWEVER: If you use it to build community, raise awareness and drive the conversation, that goodwill and trust can then be leveraged into increased sales or donations.

It takes work, time and dedication. But it’s worth it.

Do you have a success story about using social media for your business? Please add your thoughts in the Comments section or on the J Campbell Social Marketing Facebook page. Thanks for reading! 

photo credit: Rosaura Ochoa via photo pin cc