Connections : social networking

Creating a Social Networking Strategy (Part 1)

Steve MacLaughlin — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:15:00 GMT

This is a follow-up to Creating a Social Networking Strategy (Part 0) that originally appeared on this blog and also as a guest post on Beth Kanter's blog. One of the key takeaways from Part 0 is that once you stop just playing around with social media then you need to start putting together a strategy.

The first place to start is a proven and solid framework for your strategy. That bad news is that most people don't like "strategery" stuff. The good news is that a lot of the heavy lifting has already been done for you.

Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff's book Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies outlines a great strategy that nonprofit organizations can use. Josh was the keynote speaker at the 2009 Target User Forum. You can read an interview and write-up of his presentation on this blog.

In the book, Charlene and Josh recommend using the P.O.S.T. method for putting together your social networking strategy. P.O.S.T. stands for People, Objectives, Strategies, Technologies. And they are meant to be done in precisely that order.

People: Who are you trying to engage? Be specific and prioritize them. The answer can't be everyone.
Objectives: What are you trying to achieve? Is it about listening, talking, or energizing? How will you measure it?
Strategies: What will it look like when you're done? Start with the end in mind and how relationships will change.
Technologies: What are the tools you plan to use? Don't pick the tools first.

It sounds simple, but it works. Give it a try. Resist the temptation to jump right to the tools. Make sure you understand why you're doing this, how you plan to measure success, and identify your internal champions before you take advice from one of the 857 social media experts out there.

Social media and social networks are fundamentally a communications and relationship building channel. It's just on such a mass scale and full of plenty of sound, fury, and hype that we momentarily think the normal rules don't apply. They still do.

One of the first things that I recommend to nonprofits, after working through a quick P.O.S.T. exercise, is to establish your listening post. Before you dive into the conversation it's a good idea to know what people are talking about. Doing this also helps to acclimatize the people in your organization to how much is already going one in the social media ecosystem.

There may or may not be a lot of chatter about your organization, but there will certainly be activity related to your mission, cause, purpose, etc. It is important to tap into this because people are more interested in what you're actually doing instead of reading your mission statement. Read Frank Barry's blog posts "Set up Your Social Media Listening Dashboard in 30 Minutes or Less" and "I’m Listening, Now What? 5 Tips to Make Your Listening Worth It" to get started listening.

Use your listening posts to help guide your P.O.S.T. strategy. You are very likely to find insights into what topics, trends, and sites are closely aligned with your organization. As you work through developing your P.O.S.T. approach to using social media and networks you're likely to find a few scenarios that bring into question your strategy. Don't panic! There are always exceptions and special cases that come up.

Part 2 of Creating a Social Networking Strategy will cover a very popular question: How many staff members does this all take? Look for that post in the near future.

Blackbaud's Social Media for Nonprofits Web Seminar Series

Steve MacLaughlin — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:04:00 GMT

Blackbaud has been doing another web seminar series. This one is all about Social Media for Nonprofits. This series will give you all the tools you need to fill your social media toolkit!

Internet experts Jeff Patrick, president of Common Knowledge, and Frank Barry, managing consultant for Blackbaud Internet Solutions are putting on this series of sessions. They already covered Twitter for Nonprofits, Facebook for Nonprofits, and Blogging for Nonprofits. But don't worry, you can still view the sessions online. Upcoming web seminars include:

Social Networking for Fundraising Professionals
This session is for communications, marketing, and fundraising professionals looking to understand how to integrate social networks into their strategy. We'll cover what is social networking, social media, and Web 2.0, why is social networking valuable for nonprofits, and how it can be used for fundraising.
October 22 at 11:00 a.m. PDT

Building a Brand with Social Networks: Marketing and Communications Strategies
This web seminar is for communications and marketing professionals - Manager, Director, Vice President and C-Level roles - looking to understand how to integrate social networks into your organization's communications and marketing strategy.
November 3 at 11:00 a.m. PDT

Social Networking Strategy for Nonprofits
This session will help you understand social networks, evaluate projects and opportunities within your organization, and participate in the process of constructing your social networking strategy.
November 12 at 11:00 a.m. PDT

Mark the dates down. Sign-ups for these sessions will be available very soon.

Social Media Explained — 140 Characters at a Time

Steve MacLaughlin — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:05:00 GMT

Social Media is another powerful communication channel just like person-to-person, telephone, direct mail, email, web, and text messaging.

Social Media is different from traditional broadcast media, like newspapers, television, and film, because it allows user-generated dialog.

Social Media is closely associated with Web 2.0 and emphasizes multi-way communication and interaction instead of earlier one-way Web tools.

Social Media uses highly accessible and scalable forms of web-based technologies that allow people to create, publish, reach, and interact.

Social Media takes many forms like social content where weblogs allow individuals and groups to publish content that is open for comment.

Social Media can use video networks like YouTube, photo sharing like Flickr, and distribute content using Really Simple Syndication (RSS).

Social Media facilitates collaborative content publishing like Wikipedia, social news sites like Digg, and virtual worlds like Second Life.

Social Media has its largest presence on popular social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn where people connect online.

Social Media is also services such as Twitter where your messages are only 140 characters long — just like the sentences in this blog post.

Social Media allows nonprofits to use a mix of these tools to help create and build relationships with new and existing constituents online.

Social Media requires that nonprofits engage in active listening, creative experimentation, and metrics measurement to find what's working.

Social Media makes some nonprofits nervous because it requires them to give up some control over how their messages are spread and shared.

Social Media requires that you let go of the illusion of control over your message to leverage new tools and reach constituents in new ways.

Social Media has a lot of so-called experts and gurus, but the best way to really understand and grasp it is to start using it yourself.

Social Media is no substitute for having a good Internet strategy, integrated website, effective email marketing program, and solid metrics.

Seth Godin and the Problem with Non-Profits

Steve MacLaughlin — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:31:00 GMT

Marketing maven Seth Godin often discusses the nonprofit sector in his books, blog entries, and speeches. He created a nice little uproar yesterday in the nonprofit social media world with a blog post called "The problem with non" that said:

"Did you start or join this non-profit because of the non part? I doubt it. It's because you want to make change. The way the world is just isn't right or good enough for you... there's an emergency or an injustice or an opportunity and you want to make change.

These organizations exist solely to make change. That's why you joined, isn't it?

The problem facing your group, ironically, is the resistance to the very thing you are setting out to do. Non-profits, in my experience, abhor change."

This quickly got a lot of tweets on Twitter and follow-up blog posts by various people. The Chronicle of Philanthropy fired back with a blog entry titled "Followers and Friends Not the Only Measure of Nonprofit Success Online" and CauseWired author Tom Watson chimed in with a post called "Why Seth Godin is Wrong." Frank Barry over on the NetWits Think Tank blog added some additional thoughts to the conversation. Even Beth Kanter did a quick recap of the day's events in her "Deer in the Headlights" article.

Seth Godin has written 11 books, most of which have been best sellers, and his blog is considered one of the best by AdvertisingAge. He didn't become a change agent by endorsing the status quo. And he has a reputation for getting passionate people ignited. He called one of his books "All Marketers are Liars" — that's going to get a reaction.

This reminds me of when Jakob Nielsen said "Flash: 99% Bad" back in 2000. It irritated a lot of web people. It got a lot of web people talking. And there are some parts of his article that are still true today. Nielsen wasn't bashing Flash — he was talking about the importance of usabilty principles. Godin isn't saying that all nonprofits must use Twitter — he's talking about the importance of change management in the nonprofit sector.

Seth Godin knows how to get a reaction. He's made a career out of talking about how to start conversations, getting attention, and being remarkable. His blog post yesterday, like many others, is a Purple Cow. He got people fired up. He got people talking about the types of changes nonprofits are making. The comments and tweets are full of people talking about organizations that are embracing social media and other tools. Mission accomplished.

"Markets are conversations." I read that somewhere, once. Seth Godin did nothing more than shout "fire" in a crowded nonprofit chat room. Those taking most offense to his comments probably aren't the ones he's concerned about. And keep in mind that this isn't the first time Godin has said something similar about the nonprofit sector. Thanks for the conversation starter Seth.

NetWits Summer Camp - Day 4 - Social Media Demystified

Steve MacLaughlin — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:02:00 GMT

NetWits Summer Camp is all about social media today. There's so much to cover and so much to talk about. But I think that it's important to tie social media into how it fits within a broader online strategy.

The social media landscape is constantly changing. Nonprofits need to understand the fundamentals, what it's good at, and what it's not so good at. Here is a brief recap of today's session:

Web 1.0 vs. Web 2.0
Listen, Experiment, and Engage
Nonprofit Social Media in Action
The Momentum of Permission
Where We Go from Here

NetWits Summer Camp wraps up tomorrow with session about online metrics. I'll pull together some of the key metrics and benchmarks from across the web, email, online fundraising, and social media.

More NetWits Summer Camp Sessions Added

Steve MacLaughlin — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 21:28:00 GMT

We must be on to something. In just two days, Blackbaud is close to completely filling up NetWits Summer Camp, our free five-day series of web seminars about how nonprofits can better use the Internet.

So we've gone ahead and added five more sessions during the week of August 24th to 28th. Visit the NetWits Summer Camp homepage to sign up for sessions about your website, email marketing, online fundraising, social media, and related metrics.

Websites Demystified
Monday, August 24 at 1 p.m. ET - SESSION FULL
Monday, August 24 at 3 p.m. ET - SESSION FULL

Email Demystified
Tuesday, August 25 at 1 p.m. ET - SESSION FULL
Tuesday, August 25 at 3 p.m. ET - SESSION FULL

Online Fundraising Demystified
Wednesday, August 26 at 1 p.m. ET - SESSION FULL
Wednesday, August 26 at 3 p.m. ET - SESSION FULL

Social Media Demystified
Thursday, August 27 at 1 p.m. ET - SESSION FULL
Thursday, August 27 at 3 p.m. ET - SESSION FULL

Online Metrics Demystified
Friday, August 28 at 1 p.m. ET - SESSION FULL
Friday, August 28 at 3 p.m. ET - SESSION FULL

Hope to see you there...

Sign Up for NetWits Summer Camp

Steve MacLaughlin — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:07:00 GMT

Today, Blackbaud is announcing that registration for NetWits Summer Camp is now open. NetWits Summer Camp is a free five-day series of web seminars covering what every nonprofit needs to know about its website, email marketing, online fundraising, social media, and related metrics. The “Camp” will be held August 24 to 28 from 1 to 2 p.m. EDT.

The event series is an extension of Blackbaud’s popular blog NetWits Think Tank which focuses on technology, fundraising, social media and industry trends. NetWits Summer Camp will provide participants a broad knowledge of critical nonprofit technology concepts and how to best implement those technologies within their organization.

Websites Demystified
A website is one of the main cornerstones of your online initiatives, but are you making the most of it? This session will cover how your website fits into a nonprofit’s communication, interaction, and engagement efforts. Topics to be covered include website architecture and design, usability, content management, personalization, and how nonprofits can improve their online presence.
Monday, August 24 at 1 p.m. ET — Register Today! - SESSION FULL

Email Demystified
A successful email marketing program combined with an effective website form the core of your Internet efforts. This session will focus on the different types of email communication, ways to build your email lists, and best practices for getting the most out of your email marketing program. Topics to be covered include list building, segmentation strategies, design do’s and don’ts, understanding spam, and how to improve your email results.
Tuesday, August 25 at 1 p.m. ET — Register Today! - SESSION FULL

Online Fundraising Demystified
The Internet continues to be the fastest growing area for fundraising in the nonprofit sector. Using a website, email, and other channels can help improve overall fundraising results for your organization. This session cover how nonprofits are taking their online fundraising efforts to the next level and beyond the simple “donate now” button. Topics to be covered include online donation form do’s and don’ts, building a targeted online giving campaign, and how peer-to-peer fundraising plays an important role in all of this.
Wednesday, August 26 at 1 p.m. ET — Register Today! - SESSION FULL

Social Media Demystified
There is a lot of talk about social media these days, but how does it fit into an overall online strategy? This session will focus on how nonprofits are using Web 2.0 tools like Facebook. YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, and many more to help engage and communicate with constituents. Topics to be covered include an overview of the social media and networking landscape, examples of nonprofits using these tools, and how to begin developing a social media strategy for your nonprofit.
Thursday, August 27 at 1 p.m. ET — Register Today! - SESSION FULL

Online Metrics Demystified
The combined use of a website, email, online fundraising, and social media brings with it a lot of powerful metrics to measure your results. This session will cover what are the key online metrics to measure, what they mean, and how to manage them on an ongoing basis. Topics to be covered include metrics for the web, email, online fundraising, and social media, industry benchmarks and trends in online metrics, and how to pull them all together to measure your online success.
Friday, August 28 at 1 p.m. ET — Register Today! - SESSION FULL

I hope you'll be able to join all or most of these sessions. Space is limited so be sure to sign up soon.

Twitter by the Numbers

Steve MacLaughlin — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:23:00 GMT

There have been a lot of statistics coming out lately about Twitter. I'm sure there will be more headlines about Twitter given today's little outage. What follows is a sampling of some various statistics that have been published lately.

Here are some stats from Sysomos about Twitter usage:

53% of Twitter users are women and 47% are men
72.5% of all users joining during the first five months of 2009
85.3% of all Twitter users post less than one update/day
21% of users have never posted a Tweet
93.6% of users have less than 100 followers, while 92.4% follow less than 100 people
5% of Twitter users account for 75% of all activity
48% of the most active users have more than 100 followers, compared with 6.3% for overall Twitter users
More than 50% of all updates are published using tools, mobile and Web-based, other than Twitter.com
TweetDeck is the most popular non-Twitter.com tool with 19.7% market share

Here are some stats from Nielsen about Twitter usage:

10.7% of all active Internet users used Twitter in June 2009
16% of Twitter users are under 25 years old
64% of Twitter users are 26 to 54 years old

It should be noted that Nielsen was only looking at Twitter.com users. That leaves out mobile phone and other application users from their statistics.

Seth Godin on Social Networking

Steve MacLaughlin — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:12:00 GMT

Seth Godin and Tom Peters have taught me a lot over the years. They both recently participated in an American Express OPEN Forum event. Here's a great video clip where Seth talks about social networking.

"Networking is always important when it's real. And it's always a useless distraction when it's fake." - Seth Godin

Social Media is a Big Waste of Time

Steve MacLaughlin — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:03:00 GMT

That's right, I said it. You've all been thinking it. Admit it. A lot of time is spent these days talking about social media and working on social media. But is it all just a big waste of time?

Social media is a big waste of your organization's time if...

You haven't clearly defined the audience you're trying to engage
You don't have a clear goals for what you want them to do
You aren't measuring what people are doing or responding to
You haven't defined success and what the value of it is
You are only doing this because someone else told you to

Time is probably the most precious resource in the universe. They aren't making any more of it. And organizations are always trying to find ways to do more with less.

If you aren't being focused, goal oriented, measurement minded, and doing it for the right valuable reasons, then your time might be best spent on other endeavors.

NetWits Think Tank Blog

Steve MacLaughlin — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:37:00 GMT

The NetWits Think Tank blog has been churning out some great content lately. There's a growing group of contributors from Blackbaud behind this blog. It's a very good mix of subjects, experts, and advice about thriving in the digital world. Here are a couple of my recent favorites:

Design for Good: 4 Nonprofit Design Principles - Part 1 of 2 by Raheel Gauba - Any article that includes the phrase "Every Pixel has a Purpose" has to be good, right?

Social Media Strategy: 12for12k Challenge with Danny Brown by Frank Barry - Learn more about the 12for12k Challenge and how social media is being used to raise fund and build awareness.

Tangible Love by Courtney Sakre - This one is about how to make better connections with donors and go beyond the typical "donate here" approach to online giving.

Recipe for Search Engine Visibility by Dominic Taverniti - This one covers some basics behind better SEO and SEM tactics for nonprofits.

Digital Leap Conference in London

Steve MacLaughlin — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 11:29:00 GMT

Today is the Digital Leap conference in London. It's all about fundraising, social networking, and online charity success in the UK and Europe.

Digital Leap is being held at the ICO Conference Centre in central London. There are a great set of speakers at the event including:

Ted Hart, CEO, Hart Philanthropic Services Group
Alan Clayton, Director of Innovation, The Good Agency
Richie Jones, Founder and Creative Technology Director, Yucca UK
Robert McAllen, Programme Manager, Blackbaud Europe
Jason Potts, Director, Think Consulting Solutions
Reuben Turner, Creative Director, The Good Agency
Beth Granter, Social Media Marketer, Twentyfirst Will McInnes, Managing Director, NixonMcInnes

Be sure to check out the Digital Leap blog and follow the conference on Twitter.

Blackbaud's 2009 Conference for Nonprofits (Ottawa) - Day 1

Steve MacLaughlin — Thu, 14 May 2009 11:30:00 GMT

I'm in the Canadian capital city of Ottawa this week for Blackbaud’s 2009 Conference for Nonprofits. Blackbaud has a large number of Canadian clients and this conference is a popular annual event.

This is my third visit to Canada this year and I'm looking forward to the sessions and presentations this week. Today, I'm doing three sessions on a variety of topics:

You've Got Email! Now What?: I am stepping in for a colleague and doing this session that's all about email best practices.

The Changing Nature of Online Fundraising: This is a session I've been doing for the past few months and covers major trends impacting how nonprofits use the Internet. Some brand new stats, stories, and recommendations for attendees.

Online Metrics Demystified: Understanding How to Measure Your Success Speaker: This is a brand new session and it will focuses on the key online metrics and how to leverage them to improve your results. I'm spending a lot of time thinking and writing about metrics for an upcoming book. So this session give me the chance to try out some concepts and get feedback on what's important to nonprofits.

This should be a very packed day, but I'll be on Twitter and you can follow the conference by looking for the #bbcon tag.

Recent Required Reading

Steve MacLaughlin — Mon, 11 May 2009 15:02:00 GMT

There is a lot going on in the nonprofit world these days. Here are some excellent blog posts to keep you in the know.

Study Provides A Baseline for Nonprofit Use of Social Networks
Beth Kanter does a review of the Nonprofit Social Network Survey Report produced by ThePort Network, Inc, NTEN, and Common Knowledge. The survey examines the use of social networking as a marketing and fundraising tool.

My recent visit with Heifer International
Blackbaud's Raheel Gauba recounts his recent visit to this client in pictures and words. He talks about the work Heifer does as well as their green friendly working environment.

Blogger Outreach. Tread Lightly
Jocelyn Harmon talks about the mistakes made by so many organizations trying to get bloggers to pick up their story. What might work in traditional public relations or mainstream media does not work with social media. Want to get personal attention? Build a personal relationship.

Help a Nonprofit This Mother's Day
Blackbaud's Anthony Sicola covers some nonprofit websites and how they used ecards and tribute giving pages for a Mother's Day focused campaign. He gives plenty of examples and links to check out.

6-Minute Guide to Winning Fundraising Campaigns
Katya Andresen and Rebecca Ruby Higman discuss how the “if you build it, they will come" approach to online giving simply doesn't work anymore. They cover some recommendations for setting goals and using technology to engage donors in better ways.

Common Adwords Mistakes
Beaconfire's Brett Gerstein gives some advice about improving your Google Adwords campaigns. He covers the importance of keyword selection and how to avoid some common mistakes.

4 Keys to Building a Successful Nonprofit Web Site
Blackbaud's Frank Berry blogs about what it takes to build a successful website. He gives some tips on the best way to get the most reach and results from your online content.

Creating a Social Networking Strategy (Part 0)

Steve MacLaughlin — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:15:00 GMT

For a while now I've been talking with a lot of nonprofits about using social media and social networking in their organizations. I thought it would be useful to blog about how to create a strategy for using these channels.

Before starting to create a strategy it makes sense to set a baseline. Where are we today? What's going on? Haven't we seen this before? Why does any of this matter? This is Part 0. Phase 0. Let's go...

Déjà Vu All Over Again
Web 2.0 in 2009 reminds me of Web 1.0 in 1999. Lots of talk. Lots of uncertainty. Lots of buzzword bingo. Lots of new vendors. Lots of tools. Few experts. Few owners. Few results. Many of the same questions are being asked. Will people give online? Will people give through Facebook? How can we use email? How can we use Twitter? Who owns the website? Who owns the blog? I've seen this movie before and you probably have too. Don't use the same thinking, structures, or processes as you did with Web 1.0. Don't repeat the same mistakes. This is evolutionary ― not revolutionary.

Silo Syndrome
And just like with Web 1.0, many organizations are initially focusing on using social media as a communication and awareness tool. I recently had a chance to discuss social media strategies with members of our Target Analytics Customer Advisory Board. Many of them expressed concerns that there is not an organization-wide strategy for using social media, and that in the absence of ownership there are more data and interaction silos being created. Don't fall into the silo syndrome trap. Learn from the mistakes of the past. Ask questions about the total relationship with the supporter now. Is that MySpace friend an activist? Is that LinkedIn connection a donor? Is that Twitter follower also on the direct mail list? And don't invest in solutions that only create more islands.

The Illusion of Control
Web 1.0 was about controlling the one-way message. Web 2.0 is about engaging in two-way messages. The only remaining control is the illusion of control. You can avoid having a conversation. You can even pretend the conversations aren't happening elsewhere. Good luck with that approach. I'm sure it will work out just fine. This is just as true as when I first blogged it. If you want to succeed using Web 2.0, then you need to give up some control. Control of the message. Control of the messengers. Control of the control. Lose control. Find success.

Friendraising Not Fundraising
If the reason why you want to use social networks is just to raise money, then stop now. It doesn't work that way. An article in the Washington Post notes that "fewer than 1% of those who have joined a cause have actually donated money through [the Facebook Causes] application." The premise of the article misses the point and ignores a fundamental principle of fundraising ― you need to build to build relationships with people before you try and raise money from them. Later in this series I'll go into some reasons why the thinking and practice around these kinds of applications are flawed. Focus on friendraising first. If you do a good job, then the fundraising will follow.

Hope from the Hype
So why does social networking matter? It's not merely just another communication channel. It's the most human channel. In the book People to People Fundraising, I talked about the "Changing Nature of Community" and how "never before have people been able to transcend the physical boundaries of location, language, or other limitations to connect with one another in such powerful ways." Communities matter. Social networking matters. The other important aspect is that social media represents a cost effective way to engage potential new supporters in large numbers compared to traditional channels. And it is the lingua franca for dealing with Generation Y and younger-minded supporters. There is still a lot of hyper-hype, but the opportunity and potential is very real.

The First Step
Get a champion in the organization. They don't need to understand the latest techno widget or the nuances of StumbleUpon vs. Digg. They don't have to be social media butterflies, but they need to have influence and support in the organization. Your champion is going to make some of the choices and challenges ahead of you a lot easier to overcome. Who's your champion? Find one now before Part 1 begins.