Stick it on Facebook

Figured I'd go back and look at some of the functionality we've added to BBNC which may have been overlooked in the razzmatazz of other releases.  I found one piece that I know I've not been pushing and haven't seen others pushing much in the UK either...so for the UK audience can we talk about estickers?

 This function is a fabulous way to get your organisation known online by giving your supporters a tool that they can easily use to tell their firends about your cause and then you can track who has drummed up the most support quickly and easily!  Sounds simple and nice so why haven't we talked about it before...well it was launched in the behemoth that was NetCommunity version 5.5 and I'm afraid it got a little lost for us simple UK guys.

The Dogs Trust and the Pink Ribbon Campaign are using estickers in their fundraising efforts on Facebook and when you make a donation they give you a free esticker that you can place onto your facebook page to tell your friends that you have donated.  It shows you care and encourages your like minded friends to do the same.  Dogs Trust and Pink ribbon are not using Blackbaud software to do this but we're offering similar functionality in NetCommunity and have been for quite a while so I wanted to give it some kudos.  Those of you who have Netcommunity now will not doubt have seen this piece and wondered what it was for.

Well you will wonder if you are like me and refuse to read a user manual and find out what it's for (it's more fun testing and trying...)!  This check box adds some options below a formatted text and images part in BBNC that will allow you to copy and paste the HTML of that part straight into Myspace, Facebook, Your own web page etc etc.  It gives you an online sticker that can be used by your supporters like the one on the right here (I admit I'm no designer!).

Importantly though at the bottom of the sticker here you can see that the code is available for others to copy and paste into their Myspace page, Facebook or even into their own websites.  These can be used in all sorts of areas including in email signatures etc.  Just like in the 80's where charities gave out badges by the million we achieve the same thing but encompass a much bigger audience for a lot cheaper!  Spreading awareness and brand thru volunteers and supporters.

So OK we then put this online and give people the ability to stick it onto their pages.  Then just use the inbuilt Google Analytics functionality in order to track who clicks through from where and we're tracking the links from potentially hundreds of referers online.  Make sure you thank the people who are referring the most people to your website! 

I'd recommend a small idiots guide to adding the code into the most used places like Facebook etc as a link on the page also and keep it simple.

There!  A nice piece of functionality which really helps and has been cruelly overlooked.  Please don't comment on how poor my attempt at an esticker is and just think of the potential.