Chad Norman's Webby Things : Podcasts

8 Things I Learned from Episode 22 of The Baudcast

Chad Norman — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:27:00 GMT

One of my favorite things about producing The Baudcast (iTunes | direct) is that I get to learn directly from nonprofit industry experts, share with all of you, and then apply that knowledge at my own organization. Last week's show centered around storytelling, and specifically how to use the web as the vehicle - something we could all use a little help with.

Amy Sample Ward (Global Community Builder, NetSquared) and Danielle Brigida (Associate Operations Coordinator, National Wildlife Federation) just completed hosting sessions at TechSoup Global and NTEN's webinar series on Social Media and Storytelling, so I asked them to come on the show and share some of what they covered. They had some amazing insights, and I definitely took away some things I could do/use right away.

Find the people in your organization that have the voice to tell your story. Staff, board members, field workers, volunteers, or even those who receive help from your organization are all great resources to speak on your behalf. Seek them out, give them the tools, and let them tell your story for you.
Let activists use social media to help lighten your work load. Letting others tell your story for you has a great side effect: More time for your staff to focus on fundraising, event planning, etc. If you get others to tell the story of your mission, you'll have more time to focus on it.
Create a supporter toolkit. If you want people to tell your story, but your Marketing team is a little nervous about brand control, give your supporters a storytelling toolkit. Include your key messages, logos, photos, links, etc. so that they can help you tell your story in a way that supports your brand.
Create a separate YouTube account for you blog. This is a great piece of advice if you are want to include shorter, edgier, and funnier videos on your blog, but don't want them to show up on your main YouTube channel. Great idea Danielle!
Be authentic. This is always good advice, for anyone! Tell your story in a natural voice, not something that has been vetted by the public relations team. Avoiding the Marketese will add authenticity to your content.
Don't forget to listen! Use Google Alerts, TweetScan, BackType, search.twitter.com, and other services to generate RSS feeds that track mentions of your organization. Forgetting that we have 2 ears and only 1 mouth will get you into as much trouble on the social web as it will in the real world.
Twitter can become the FIRST social media service you use. Amy suggested that if you aren't currently using social media at all, you might as well start with Twitter. Using the service will help you learn a lot about your own audience's use of the social web, and put you in a better position to develop an overall strategy around blogging, Facebook, YouTube, and other social media tools.
Using video and photos instead of words to tell you story. A picture really is worth a thousand words, so let the photos and videos fly! Using services like YouTube, Flickr, 12Seconds, UStream, TwitPic, and others will help you add visuals to your compelling stories, which will encourage visitors to engage with and share your content more easily.

Thanks to Amy, Danielle, Steve, and Melanie for being on the show last week - I hope you all had as much fun as I did. If you'd like to subscribe to The Baudcast, please visit the iTunes Music Store or Blackbaud.com.

A Trifecta of The Baudcast for Your Ear Holes

Chad Norman — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 19:07:00 GMT

If you dig nonprofits, technology, and learning, then I've got a show for you! The Baudcast is a biweekly technology podcast featuring Blackbaud employees and industry experts chatting about current tools and trends. The last three shows really showcase a good range of topics, so I thought I'd offer this quick roundup:

Episode 18 — Online Fundraising Events
Raising money at online events is more popular than ever thanks to social networking and internet marketing. In this episode, the panel discusses online event fundraising, friends asking friends, online giving trends, automated thank-you emails, event metrics and ROI, independent fundraising events, event widgets, and more. Participants include Chad Norman, Melanie Mathos, Jamie Holaday, and Mark Davis.

Episode 17 — Social Media Metrics
Hey, we all need help understanding the impact of our social media efforts. This tech issue-shortened episode has some great ideas to get you started. The panel looks at tracking conversations, reputation monitoring, personal verses organizational social graphs, measuring commenters, capturing incoming links, tracking tools, RSS filtering, and more. The all-star panel includes Chad Norman, Steve MacLaughlin, Melanie Mathos, Danielle Brigida (National Wildlife Federation), Jonathon Colman (The Nature Conservancy), and Holly Ross (The Nonprofit Technology Network).

Episode 16 — Social Media for Environmental Organizations
The Baudcast goes green on this episode by featuring techies from five environmentally-focused nonprofits. Green organizations have always done social networking right, so here's your chance to learn from the experts as they discuss social web promotion, market testing, social media ROI, social news stickiness, NWF's Good Neighbor Program, friends asking friends, allocating staff time to social networks, social networking role models, (lil) Green Patch, Facebook apps for small nonprofits, and more. Participants include Chad Norman (Go Green Charleston), Melanie Mathos (Fields to Families), Michael Sola (Chesapeake Bay Foundation), Danielle Brigida (National Wildlife Federation), and Jonathon Colman (The Nature Conservancy).

I hope you enjoy listening to the show as much as I enjoy making it. Networking, sharing, and learning is so crucial in our market, and I truly hope The Baudcast is helping do its part to make this world a better place.

The easiest way to keep up with the show is by subscribing via the iTunes Music Store, and episodes are always available at Blackbaud.com. As always, if you have any feedback regarding the show, drop me a line at TheBaudcast@blackbaud.com.

Also, we'll be recording a special edition from Blackbaud's 2008 Conference for Nonprofits right here in Charleston. We'll be set up in the Marketplace, and we're hoping some brave attendees will drop in for a chat. It should be a lot of fun, so be sure to check it out in a couple weeks.

Is Your iPod Hungry? Feed it The Baudcast!

Chad Norman — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:10:00 GMT

I don't know about you, but my iPod has an insatiable appetite for new podcasts. Not a 12,000-calorie Michael Phelps-sized appetite, but it certainly appreciates being fed useful podcasts rather than old Led Zeppelin records. OK, it likes the old Zeppelin records too...

There are bunch of nonprofit podcasts out there to feed your mind and save your commute. I subscribe to Nonprofit Jungle: Guide to Smart Communications, Nonprofit Management & Fundraising, and the CPNS-QUT-Nonprofit Podcast. Sometimes nonprofit podcasts come in other shapes and sizes, like Marc Pitman's Ask Without Fear! Radio Show. It's live the first time, but after that you can download and take each episode with you wherever you go.

Here at Blackbaud, we're filled to the brim with amazing employees and customers that have served the sector for years. We use our flagship podcast, The Baudcast, as a means of capturing this thought leadership and delivering it to the world. Every two weeks, The Baudcast brings together a panel of experts to discuss recent news, trends, and happenings in the nonprofit space. It's a fun show that I'm proud to produce, host, and edit. If you haven't checked it out yet, it's available for download at Blackbaud.com or the Itunes Music Store.

Here is a rundown of the last four episodes:

The Baudcast, Episode 13
A fundraising-focused show featuring direct mail, list trading, data modeling, personalized touches, planned giving, attracting millennial donors, social networking, 2008 Conference for Nonprofits, NetWits Live @Portland, The United Way, and more. Participants include Chad Norman, Melanie Milonas, Jamie Holaday, Marc Pitman, and Ken Meifert (National Baseball Hall of Fame).
The Baudcast, Episode 12
This episode's panel discusses Blackbaud NetCommunity 5.5, efficiency through integration, multi-channel messaging, BBNC API, BBNC Idea Bank, social networking, Blackbaud Delivers, NetWits Live @Portland, Socialthing, VoteTheBay.org, and more. Participants include Chad Norman, Steve MacLaughlin, Melanie Milonas, Garrett Keating (United States Naval Academy Alumni Association and Foundation), and Michael Sola (Chesapeake Bay Foundation).
The Baudcast, Episode 11
A lively discussion on the Target Index of National Fundraising Q1 2008 findings, CAN-SPAM rule changes, the NTEN We Are Media project, PCI compliance, eTapestry in Spanish, the Kintera acquisition, the iPhone 3G, and more. Participants include Chad Norman, Steve MacLaughlin, Melanie Milonas, Jamie Holaday, and Chris Harris..
The Baudcast, Episode 10
This episode's panel discusses the 2008 Giving USA data, generation Y working at nonprofits, the 2008 Blackbaud Higher Ed Forum, Firefox 3.0, BBNC Idea Bank, Blackbaud Interviews podcast, Reward Your Passion grants, Blackbaud customer fan video, and more. Participants include Chad Norman, Steve MacLaughlin, Melanie Milonas, and Jamie Holaday.

We're already setup for a ripping good time discussing social networking on episode 14 next week - I'm looking forward to it. I often send out tweets asking for questions while we are taping (follow me on Twitter), so be on the lookout. I also hope to begin broadcasting the show live on Stickam this fall.

So, keep your iPod happy and healthy by downloading some nonprofit podcasts today!

Two New Episodes of The Baudcast

Chad Norman — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:37:00 GMT

One of the most interesting webby things I get to do here at Blackbaud is produce, host, and edit all of our podcasts. Podcasting is a great way for any organization to create inexpensive social media that is informational, portable, and shareable. We have three different brands of podcasts here at Blackbaud, but the one nearest and dearest to my heart is The Baudcast.

Started over a year ago, The Baudcast is a bi-weekly nonprofit technology podcast. The show originally had a magazine format, with segments and interviews edited together in post-production. Recently, we've switched to a more engaging panel format, which allows us to bring in experts from around the company and industry for informal chats. With two shows featuring this new format under our belt, we have committed to record every two weeks. This will give us a chance to be more relevant and timely with our content, as well as bring in fresh faces from around the industry.

Feel free to download the last two shows, and if you have any interest in participating on the panel, just let me know.

The Baudcast, Episode 9
This episode's panel discusses the Kintera acquisition announcement, the Internet Symposium, BBNC mashups, the Causes data report, mobile giving, the 3G iPhone, Socialthing!, NTEN Office Hours, and more. Chad Norman, Steve MacLaughlin, Melanie Milonas, Allison Van Diest, and Garrett Keating from The U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association & Foundation. Download The Baudcast, Episode 9 (21 MB, 31 minutes)

The Baudcast, Episode 8
This episode's panel discusses Blackbaud NetCommunity 5.5, social networking noise, the European SONI, Marc Pitman interview, and more. Chad Norman, Steve MacLaughlin, Melanie Milonas, and Allison Van Diest. Download The Baudcast, Episode 8 (15 MB, 21 minutes)

Following the example set by podcasting guru Leo Laporte, I am using a mix of in-room microphones and Skype to record the panelists. I am still working out the kinks in the technology - for instance, in episode 9 there is a problem with Steve's microphone - but things are always getting better. I will get a "how-to" post up here soon so you can start podcasting at your organization!