Chad Norman's Webby Things : Social Media

50 Social Media Tactics for Nonprofits

Chad Norman — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:48:00 GMT

During Blackbaud's 2009 Conference for Nonprofits, Melanie Mathos and I lead a two-part social media workshop. Part I of this pairing was a new session we developed called 50 Social Media Tactics Nonprofits Use to Meet Their Mission. It was a real blast delivering this content, and people seemed to react well to it.

The idea behind the session was to provide tactics and tools nonprofits can use to meet their social media objectives. The presentation is full of examples that can easily (and sometimes not so easily) be implemented once you have a social media plan. I've been to so many sessions in the last couple years that focus on high level social media strategy, discuss why these networks are important, or cover how organizations can begin a social media program. 50 Social Media Tactics assumes you already have a plan, and are simply looking for tactics to plug into that plan that can help meet its objectives.

Below is the Slideshare of our presentation...I hope you're find it useful. What other tactics does your organization use? What important tactics are missing from our list? What social media tactic have you used sucsessfully? Let me know in the comments.

7 Webby Sessions Not to Miss at BBCon

Chad Norman — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:59:00 GMT

I can't believe our 10th Conference for Nonprofits is just a few days away! There's still so much to get ready, but I'm really getting psyched to see all the peeps coming into town. And while networking is a key benefit of BBCon, it's really the sessions that everyone is excited about. With over 130 topics to choose from, there's definitely something for everyone. But if you're a webby geek like me, there are some amazing Internet sessions you won't want to miss. My picks for this year are...

Branding Your Nonprofit Online - This session is based on case studies, and will help you realize the impact branding has on online communication. Social media rock star Danielle Brigida (National Wildlife Federation) will be co-presenting and providing some great insights from NWF.
Making Event Participants More Successful with Social Media Tools - If you are rocking Blackbaud Sphere, this is the session for you! Mark Davis (Blackbaud), Donna Wilkins (Charity Dynamics) and Jodie Kolkowski (American Heart Association) are going to cover how to incorporate Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube into your online events.
Online Metrics Demystified: Understanding Your Hits, Clicks, and Errors - If online metrics really freak you out, be sure to check out Steve MacLaughlin's session to soothe your soul. He covers all the metrics you should be looking at, and will help you understand why they are important.
Tools and Techniques to Make Your Web Content More Interactive and Shareable - Frank Barry (Blackbaud) is a genius, and this session will explore all the third-party tools you can use to make your web content dynamic and sharable. Don't miss this!
Live and Interactive: Does Your Website Meet Your Organizational Objectives? - If you're wondering if your website is meeting your mission, be sure to attend Raheel Gauba's session. He'll be doing live, 10-minute brainstorms on the actual sites of attendees - maybe yours!

I'll also be talking about webby things throughout the event, so come find me! My sessions include:

50 Social Media Tactics You Can Use Today - I'll be presenting this rapid-fire session with Melanie Mathos (Blackbaud), and it will cover 50 things you do using social media. We're assuming you have a strategy and goals already, so we're hoping this session will give you the ideas to push ahead.
Social Media Workshop - This 40-seat workshop will allow attendees to actually do some of the things we discussed in the 50 Social Media Tactics session. We'll setup a Google Dashboard, add a blog to a Facebook profile, and find some good people to follow in Twitter.
New Frontiers in Marketing and Fundraising - This is a cool panel discussion that is focused on emerging technologies. We'll be covering how video, SMS, and podcasting can be using to enhance your engagement and fundraising.

There you have it. Be sure to check out all the Conference sessions - there's a lot of great stuff to see. Follow @BBCon on Twitter for updates and I'll see you in Charleston!

Find Your Local Social Media Club

Chad Norman — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:50:00 GMT

There's no such thing as a social media expert - it's impossible to know it all. Every day we learn new tricks from each other, and a robust network is needed to make this happen. I've often cited Twitter as the "best professional development platform out there", but social nets like Facebook, LinkedIn, FriendFeed, Delicious, StumbleUpon, and Slideshare certainly bring in the knowledge too. But sometimes networking with atoms instead of pixels can add value, and that's where Social Media Club comes in...

Social Media Club was formed in 2006 by two San Francisco locals as a way to learn and network by discussing this growing technology channel. Since then, over 70 chapters have sprung up around the world (95 more are forming), and 501c3 status is on the way thanks to the hard work of a group of 5 directors and 40+ industry advisers. As the organization grows, its focus will remain on 4 key initiatives: media literacy, sharing lessons learned, encouraging adoption of industry standards, and promoting ethical behavior.

If you're looking to expand your knowledge about social media, or share what you already know, see if there is a Social Media Club chapter near you. If not, ping your network for interest and start one. There is a ton of information on their website, wiki, and Facebook group that can help get your inspired, which is exactly what happened to me.

Last fall, six of us here in Charleston formed our local chapter. After starting with casual meetings, we kicked off the first big event with a panel called "Social Media in the Media". This was a huge success, and the community responded favorably. This week, we held our second panel discussion, Social Media 101, which had an even bigger turnout, participation level, and some great conversations. Despite only having these two major events, many of us have already learned new things, made new connections, and been forced to actually put down our laptops and iPhones to interact with our peers - all good stuff.

So if you're sitting around wondering how your organization or business can better use social media, and you're tired of reading blogs, articles, and Twitter updates, seek out Social Media Club. And once you do, remember there is only one rule about Social Media Club: ALWAYS talk about Social Media Club. Spread the word!

View more presentations from Chad Norman.

6 Dogooding Webby Things Your Nonprofit Should Check Out

Chad Norman — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:19:00 GMT

The Internet, nonprofits, and cause-based action have been natural partners since day one, not unlike peanut butter and jelly...and, um, more jelly. So it's no surprise that the successes nonprofits have seen with social media are constantly being cited, something I observed at SXSW. This happens because social technology works, and new methods of interacting with supporters are emerging every week. Here are six great webby things that every dogooder should check out:

Act.ly
A tactful use of a petition can work wonders for a cause, and Act.ly is an easy way to integrate this activity into your Twitter strategy. Act.ly allows petitions to be created that target Twitter users (politicians, businesses, organizations, etc.). The platform provides a way for your supporters to sign the petition, send a tweet about the effort, see others that have joined the cause, and embed a badge on their own sites. Check out how the League of Conservation Voters is using the platform to urge Oprah to discuss President Obama's clean energy plan, and then integrating the petition into their home page. www.act.ly

Facebook Fan Box
Having a Facebook Fan page is a great way to engage supporters, and many organizations are integrating these pages into their overall communications strategy. The Facebook Fan Box is an embeddable widget you can place on your website, blog, and other web properties to integrate the Facebook experience. Visitors can use the Fan Box to become a fan, view status updates, see who is supporting your cause, and read what they are saying. The Lance Armstrong Foundation uses the widget to connect connect fans with Lance himself, and drive visitors to this valuable social channel. www.facebook.com

IdealistNews
Using social news sites like Digg, Yahoo Buzz, Mixx, and Reddit can bring new visitors to your cause, but only if your stories don't get lost in the vast pool of content. Idealist.org has partnered with Reddit to create IdealistNews, a nonprofit-focused social news platform. Once your organization's news stories and blog posts have been submitted, users have the opportunity to vote them up. The more votes, the more likely people are to hear your message. www.idealist.org

Actions for Facebook
For advocacy-based organizations, providing easy ways to communicate with politicians is critical to success. Grassroots Enterprises has released Actions for Facebook, and powerful online advocacy application for Facebook. The tool makes it easy to turn your fans into activists by helping them send letters to state and federal officials, find appropriate local activities, and invite friends to participate. Features like widgets, unique URLs, and data collection make it easy to integrate into your communication strategy. www.grassroots.com

eBay Giving Works
While this isn't exactly new, I like that eBay helps users create positive change with every purchase. eBay Giving Works allows buyers to find sellers that support good causes, give direct donations via PayPal, and enables sellers to donate proceeds to nonprofits. All you have to do is sign-up your org to participate in the program. www.ebay.com

Good.ly
If your organization is using Twitter, then you're probably familiar with URL shortening tools like bit.ly, ow.ly, and TinyURL.com. Good.ly has taken the short URL business into the nonprofit sector by generating donations from users. When purchases are made from Good.ly click-throughs, a portion of the referral fee goes to one of three featured charities. While this may not be a financial windfall for the nonprofits, it is still a great application of technology for social good. www.good.ly

I also want to give a shout out to a few other webby things I've been digging lately. Check out Geoff Livingston's List of Change for a dynamic list of the most popular nonprofit blogs. Socialbright is a great resource that can help your nonprofit use social media, as is Social by Social. And of course there is the Summer of Social Good, Mashable's push to promote dogooding through social media.

Power to Your Peeps! Why Real-time Fundraising with Twitter Works

Chad Norman — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:22:00 GMT

I dig speaking at nonprofit conferences and events, and one of my favorite topics to cover is the real-time use of social media. It's the perfect mix of emerging technologies, social media, communities, and the web - some of my favorite things.

The conversations inevitably get stymied around Twitter - which is no surprise, as every nonprofit is trying to figure out what the tool means for them. A channel for promoting your mission? A monitor for listening to chatter about your cause? A way to connect your org to your community? It's all of those things, but it's also something else: a real-time fundraising tool!

Raising money on Twitter is happening all the time. Beth Kanter stood on stage at Gnomedex and used Twitter to help raise $2,657 in 90 minutes. Last November, Tweetsgiving used Twitter to raise over $10,000 in 48 hours for a school in Tanzania. And just last month, I used Twitter to raise $350 in a couple hours to help send the NTEN staff out for a relaxing excursion. These examples show just some of the ways Twitter can enable real-time fundraising. Clearly it works...but why?

Tara Hunt calls it Whuffie. Chris Brogan calls it the Trust Economy. I call it the Deep Network. Real-time fundraising works because of social capital...because we tend to trust the people in our network. When an org sends an email, the open rate can be low - but when a person sends an email to friends, the open rate is 90%! This is because of trust, and works the same way with Twitter or any other people-based network. When we build up large, diverse networks consisting of supporters, friends, and peers, we are creating a bank of trust to draw upon when needed. When it comes time to ask your network for something, they will not need the time to interpret your motivation - because they know you and your org. And some will be ready to act...right then!

So use Twitter for listening, communicating, and promoting, but don't overlook the platform as a vehicle for real-time action. Build your network around mutual trust, a sense of community, and personal attention. If you've taken the time to cultivate a trusting, loyal, and engaged following, you should be able to turn that social capital into financial capital - and in a hurry if need be. After all, when you're among friends, it's never hard to ask!

Lights. Camera. Help. Brings DoGooding to the Big Screen

Chad Norman — Tue, 05 May 2009 12:43:00 GMT

While in San Francisco last week at The Nonprofit Technology Conference, I ran into one of my favorite dogooders: David Neff. Never short on energy and enthusiasm, David was even more pumped than usual. And why not?...he was just about to launch a great new nonprofit!

Lights. Camera. Help. is the premiere film festival exclusively for nonprofit and grassroots organizations, and they officially opened their submission process last Friday. A film festival for nonprofits like this is the first of its kind in the nation, and will provide a valuable platform for organizations and grassroots movements to be recognized for their work.

Anything that promotes the use of video is OK in my book, as almost nothing can engage and go viral like a thought-provoking film. Nonprofits have been using services like YouTube and DoGooder.tv for a while now, so recognizing orgs for their hard work feels like a natural next step. If you've got a great feature, short film, PSA, or other video content, submit it for entrance into the festival by June 30.

Aaaaaaaannnnnnnnd, scene.

How Much Are Your Webby Things Worth?

Chad Norman — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:29:00 GMT

The cost of keeping your cause on the web, whether it's online fundraising, social networking, or raising awareness, is hard to quantify. It's even harder to determine wheather these efforts are actually helping your organization, or just wasting valuable time. Blackbaud wants to help you find out!

Today is your last chance to participate in the "What is the monetary value of being online?" survey, which is part of the State of the Nonprofit Industry (SONI) program. Not only will you be helping the nonprofit industry, but you'll be entered to win one of three $100 Visa gift cards. You'll also receive a copy of the final report, and that's it - because not only will your information be kept confidential, it won't be used for sales purposes. The SONI team really just wants to help us all understand the value of being online!

Take the Internet value survey - What is the monetary value of being online?

The survey ends today at 5:00 p.m. ET, and the results will be released very soon. In the mean time, be sure to check out these other studies:

Things I Liked from SXSW Interactive

Chad Norman — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:58:00 GMT

If you're reading this, there's a good chance that you're a social media hipster doofus internet geek just like me. If that's the case, go ahead and make your plans for next year's SXSW Interactive Festival, because it's the one event you simply cannot afford to miss.

I realize that I may have lost some geek cred by not live blogging the entire event, but that was never part of my plan. I wanted to focus on building relationships with my fellow nonprofit geeks, actually pay attention to some sessions in an effort to learn a thing or two, and keep my Twitter feed updated with nuggets I could use later. After a day in the office, here are some things I liked:

The Social Media Nonprofit ROI Poetry Slam
Nonprofit Social Media rawk star Beth Kanter moderated the Social Media Nonprofit ROI Poetry Slam, which brought together experts from around the sector. The four participants included Danielle Brigida from the National Wildlife Federation, David Neff from the American Cancer Society, Carie Lewis from the Humane Society of the US, and Wendy Harman from The American Red Cross - we couldn't have been in better hands. Each person used a poem to tell the story of how social media was used at their nonprofit, and what the results were. The format was a creative way tell stories, but the best info came of of the insightful questions from the judges and audience. Things like: Charity Water did well with the Twestival because they were willing to let go of control, the Humane Society made $650,000 from a $5,000 Facebook app, and you have to know what to do with executive sponsorship once you get it (view all my tweets from this session). We all learned a lot, but everyone recognized that the disconnect between social media and donations is still large, but getting smaller every day. Be sure to check out Beth's reflections on the session, which includes slides, pics, links, and videos.

The Beacon Lounge
People kept telling me that out of the 11,000 attendees at the event, 1,000 were from nonprofits. I was a little shocked at first, but after a few days I realized this presence was real. Michael Cervino and Beaconfire hosted The Beacon Lounge, a place where SXSW attendees could chill out, do some good, and help nonprofits. Organizations like Operation Smile, OptInNow.org, and The Capital Foodbank of Texas got a lot of attention from this techie crowd, and we (Blackbaud) were pleased to help out Feeding America by sponsoring lunch on Monday. The lounge also became a rally point for all of us NPTech geeks who often needed a place to read email, get a drink, or just meet some new people. It was a great vibe, and really helped bring awareness to the nonprofit movement at this massive event. I'm excited that Beaconfire will be back next year for more of the same!

Gary Vaynerchuk
OK, I'm not going to beat around the bush - I love Gary Vaynerchuk. I would walk 1000 miles over lava-covered glass shards just to hear him speak. I watch his video blog at WineLibrary.TV, even though I hate wine. I send his short presentation from Web 2.0 Expo NY to friends at least once a month. None of that prepared me for the mind-bending, though-provoking talk he gave at SXSW. Already dubbed this year's unofficial keynote, his presentation blew the room away. Gary put his honesty, energy, and intelligence out there for everyone, which is what he is all about: being yourself and doing what you love. Some of my favorite quotes from the session include: 1) "If you live for the weekends and vacations, your $hlt is broken." 2) "Content is king, but marketing is queen - and the queen rules the house." 3) "I think about legacy over currency every second I breathe." 4) "Delegate everything, except what you love." There's a bunch of great quotes here (someone needs to make "v-shirts" with these quotes on them!), but do yourself a favor and watch/listen to the whole presentation. Get inspired, plan, act, repeat. Watch out for Gary at next year's SXSW, and in the mean time you can follow him on Twitter.

Delivering Happiness
Tony Hsieh's opening remarks about Zappos' success and company culture is something every HR and Customer Service leader should listen to. Zappos takes a very common sense approach towards dealing with both employees and customers: deliver happiness. Zappos is willing to take a 25% hit on revenue just to provide an amazing customer service experience (24-hour service, free shipping, special treatment, etc.) They believe that every customer service dollar should be looked at as a marketing expense. When more and more companies are scaling back phone support in lieu of online self-help, Zappos has grown to $1 billion in revenue by taking the opposite approach. And the same goes for their employees, who are offered $2000 during training to walk away - not to get rid of the bad apples, but to make the good apples more engaged because they "turned down the money". Half of the interview is about culture fit, with questions like, "On a scale of 1 to 10, how weird are you?" Tony advised that companies often hire based on talent rather than fit, which is fine once in a while...but over time it poisons the whole staff, creating a dysfunctional, poor-performing company.

Other sessions really stood out to me, like Tara Hunt's "Making Wuffie". Be on the look out for her upcoming book...it's going to be good. I also went to a great online community panel and learned things like, "Your community will not grow into the vision you had for it...you have to grow and adapt with it." The rest of the time I spent stumbling into texting walkers, networking at events, searching for food on 6th street, and learning from my friends. It was great being in a bubble-world with others like me, and I'm already looking forward to 2010.

All the rest of my photos are up on Flickr. But if you don't feel like clicking though the photostream, check out the video made from them on animoto.com . See you at next year's SXSW!

Nonprofits and SXSW Collide

Chad Norman — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:45:00 GMT

The nonprofit presence at the 2009 SXSW Interactive Festival has exponentially increased, and I'm really looking forward to all the amazing sessions and panels waiting for all of us do-gooders. And while I'll certainly be attending sessions without a nonprofit focus, here's a few events that are on my NPO radar...

I'm most looking forward to the Social Media Nonprofit ROI Poetry Slam, featuring Beth Kanter, Danielle Brigida, Holly Ross, Wendy Harman, Carie Lewis, David Neff, and Katie Paine. Using a poetry slam format, each panelist will present for 5 minutes on how they are using social media at their organizations. Check out this preview of Danielle Brigida's nonprofit interpretation of The Raven to whet your whistle.

If your organization wants to tap into the giant pool of mobile phone users, check out The Mobile Web for Good: Hype or Reality? The session called Nonprofts: Be the Web You Wish to See looks good if you are working on an internet strategy. Why Nonprofit is the Right Choice for your Startup covers how going the nonprofit route with your tech startup might give you a competitive advantage. Jessica Kizorek will do a book reading called The Digital Future of Philanthropy: Engaging Donors with Online Video. PBS will be hosting an Interactive Social Media and Online Video Studio to record interviews with the many visionaries that will be on site.

Beaconfire Consulting will be sponsoring The Beacon Lounge - the coolest place for nonprofit tech geeks to hang out at SXSW. Blackbaud will be sponsoring a lunch in The Beacon to benefit Feeding America (Saturday, March 14th from 12-2), so stop by and say hi! There will also be a special event at Stubb's BBQ called Social Media for Social Good that I'm hoping to attend, not to mention the NP Tech Bash on Monday.

What other sessions do you think do-gooders should attend?

7 Webby Things I Have a Crush On

Chad Norman — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:31:00 GMT

If you're a web geek like me, you probably spend every day getting inundated with new tools, services, products, processes, posts, feeds, people, etc - it's mind bending! Finding a useful tool in all that noise sometimes comes down to luck - some weeks nothing will stick, while other weeks it's like having breakthrough after breakthrough. Here are a few helpful webby things that have crossed my screen over the last couple weeks.

BackTweets.com
If your organization is using Twitter to measure engagement, two of the main components worth tracking are retweeting and incoming links to your website. With all the Twitter-friendly URLs being used (tinyurl.com, SnipURL.com, is.gd, etc), search.twitter.com does a poor job of finding people linking to your site. BackTweets solves that by digging into all those short URLs, and returning results showing exactly who is linking to your website. Very cool! www.backtweets.com

Blackbaud iPhone Browser Simulator
A couple weeks ago, Blackbaud CTO Shaun Sullivan released iBBDemo - a demo and test platform for iPhone web content that runs from within Windows. Initially developed to demo iPhone content during presentations, this app is a great tool for any developer working on the platform. Check out Blackbaud Labs for a free download.

The Social Media Elevator Pitch
Whether you're in the nonprofit or for profit world, selling your social media strategy to your internal stakeholders can be a common source of pain. Beth Kanter wrote a great blog post featuring Wendy Harman, the "professional listener" for The American Red Cross, discussing her social media elevator pitch. Social media is still very new, and many executives want to learn why it's important, but need the message to be clear and concise. Check out the post for some great ideas you can use to get your pitch ready.

monitter.com
I'm a huge fan of the real-time social web, and so you can imagine my excitement when a friend turned me onto monitter.com (Thanks, Lindsey!). Monitter is a Twitter aggregator that displays keyword-based tweets in a real-time stream. www.monitter.com

Gmail fixes attachment annoyance
Oh my, some times it's the simple things. Gmail will finally allow you to select and add multiple attachments at one time. Oh yes, that's right. This is one of those features that was painfully missing, and it should make anyone's Gmailing a little more efficient.

N2Y4 Mobile Challenge
Mobile technology is becoming a common partner to social action, and organizations like NetSquared are doing amazing work to see that innovation thrives. The N2Y4 Mobile Challenge brings together mobile tech junkies and social activists for collaboration and competition. And with a target audience of 2.2 billion, a little innovation can go a long way...

Change the Web Challenge
The work Social Actions is doing is changing the way the world acts. The Change the Web Challenge reaches out to the development community to create innovative tools that help people share opportunities with those ready to act. Check out the stuff that's already running on the Social Actions API. If you're interested in the $10,000 prize, you've got until April 3rd to submit your entry.

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.

Beef Up that Twitter Bio to Get More Followers

Chad Norman — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:00:00 GMT

If you are using Twitter to connect with and engage your constituents, you're not alone. The popular micro-messaging service has become an inexpensive, valuable, and effective way to reach an audience, and can really help communicate and personalize your message. Of course, this is an opt-in service, so to develop it into an effective channel you must attract followers to your Twitter profile.

Sharing your Twitter account via your website, blogs, newsletters, and other electronic content is a great way to get started. The network effect will get you additional followers, as people retweet your updates or find you in the follower lists of other Twitter users. You also want to make sure your background, avatar, and color scheme reinforce your organization's brand. And then there's the Bio field - the one place in your profile where you can add text that tells the world who you are. Having a great Bio full of related keywords is one of the best ways to draw in potential followers.

With this in mind, I took a look at my organization's Bio field. Back when I setup our Twitter account, I had used our simple tagline in the Bio field: "Living green. Here." Clearly that is very non-descriptive, and devoid of any keywords that might interest people. So back on February 2, I changed it to read: "Go Green Charleston is a local guide to sustainable living. Environmental news, education, and events." I immediately began to see an increase in new followers, and it hasn't slowed down. @GreenCharleston had 373 followers on February 2, and only 18 days later we have almost doubled that. In the chart below, generated at TwitterCounter.com, you can see the follower growth rate of @GreenCharleston compared to my personal account @ChadNorman. Can you see where I changed our Bio field?

While this has helped more individuals find us, most of the new followers are organizations and businesses with similar missions. Adding these types of followers may or may not help you get the word out, but it can't hurt if your mission has a wide appeal - or if you want to have conversations and listen to a diverse audience. Measuring engagement is important when determining the success of your social media strategy, so having similar organizations retweeting or replying to your Twitter updates is a positive outcome. So be sure to mind your Bio feild when setting up your profile, as it can clearly make an impact on how sticky your Twitter account is to potential followers.

5 Nonprofit Storytelling Lessons from a Master of Hip-Hop

Chad Norman — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:40:00 GMT

So much of social media and relationship marketing revolves around storytelling, and this is especially true for nonprofits. Using the internet and social media as a vehicle to tell stories is an approachable, inexpensive, and effective way to engage your audience (Check out NTEN's social media and storytelling web seminars series for the juicy details.)

Last week I was listening to some old school hip-hop - you know, Eric B and Rakim, Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, etc. These artists are all great examples of how media can be used for social change - as a vehicle for storytelling. At this phase in the evolution of hip-hop, artists were still explaining to listeners WHY they were picking up a microphone - meaning, they were trying to tell us about themselves...about their organization, and what they were trying to accomplish.

KRS1 was the brains behind Boogie Down Productions, and he was a master storyteller. He devoted a few songs on every album that told us about himself, his mission, and why he was speaking out. I think that's something all nonprofits can learn from. It's like selling yourself from the inside out. KRS1 would go on to become an expert at using music as a vehicle for social change (a whole other blog post), but early on it was all about telling his own story. And he did it well.

Here are 5 quotes from the Boogie Down Productions classic "My Philosophy" that provide lessons in storytelling that all nonprofits can benefit from:

"You're a philosopher? Yes, I think very deeply."
Do you know you stuff? Oh yeah you do - and your audience wants to learn from you. Go deep, be honest, and be passionate. Tell your story from the roots up. Nobody knows your mission better than you, so every time you write, blog, podcast, and speak, tell your story proudly and your philosophy will get across.

"You gotta have style, and learn to be original"
The best ideas may be stolen, but they're also the most common. Put yourself or your organization out there in a unique way that people can connect with. Be creative. Your story is yours, so give it a style and flair that reflects your culture and mission.

"I just produce, create, innovate on a higher level"
There is no substitute for hard work, high standards, and constant scheming. Join every social network, community, directory, and affinity group you can to tell your story. Be prolific, type furiously, be emotional - all when appropriate, of course. Content will always be king, so if your story is creative and innovative, it will be heard by the desired audience.

"It's not about a salary, it's all about reality"
A good story can connect with anyone, regardless of economic status. A well crafted, mission-focused message can impact an unemployed college graduate just as much as a Fortune 500 CEO. People are giving because of how they feel about reality, not their salary. The ask might be different when that time comes, but everyone loves a good story.

"This is just one style, out of many"
Despite Kurt Vonnegut being my favorite author, I still search for opposing styles from other writers. Tell a good story, but don't forget to bring in new voices. Storytelling is very personal, and multiple authors will bring multiple styles. This can help you reach a wider audience. Find the storytellers in your organization, whether they are members, staff, donors, or board members, and give them the platform to tell your story.

So, are you ready to channel your inner old-school hip-hop master and start storytelling? Be sure to check out the last two sessions of NTEN's social media and storytelling web seminars series, and then visit the We Are Media Project for details on how to make it happen. Now let's hear your philosophy!

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.

The 2008 Conference for Nonprofits Goes Social

Chad Norman — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:50:00 GMT

Not surprisingly, social media is playing a huge role at the 2008 Conference for Nonprofits. The event kicks off in two weeks right here in Charleston, and I wanted to let everyone know how they can stay connected via the social web.

The Conference blog and discussion forum are back again this year, but we've also added some social channels that will help attendees, speakers, staff, press, and remote fans stay more engaged. Here's how you can use Twitter, Flickr, Delicious, and Facebook to connect, learn, and share at the Conference:

Twitter
Micromedia had proven to be a great way to keep up with people, organizations, and events, and Twitter has emerged as the go to service. Many of the attendees and Blackbaud staff members have already jumped on board, and we're hoping by promoting this new communication channel we can get a few more converts (If you've never used Twitter, check out this video). This year, we have created a official Conference feed at www.twitter.com/bbcon that we are updating with anything relevant to the event. We are also encouraging Twitter users to tag their updates with #bbcon. This ensures that each Conference-related update will appear in the real-time search results, giving everyone involved a holistic view of the event. We hope to see you out there in the Twitterverse!

Flickr
Sharing photos online is a great way to connect with people you meet at events, so we've made it easy for everyone to share via Flickr. As always, you can visit the official Blackbaud Flickr page to view our photos. We're tagging Conference-related photos with "bbcon", which enables them to show up in searches on Flickr. If you'd like your photos to show up there, be sure to tag each one with "bbcon". You can also submit your photos to the 2008 Conference for Nonprofits Pool. While there's nothing in the pool yet, we're hoping we can begin to fill it before the event kicks off.

Delicious
Social bookmarking is a great way to share online resources with people in your network. Delicious is my favorite bookmarking service, and allows me to bookmark sites I like online so I can share them with people I know (here's my profile). At events, this provides a great opportunity for speakers to share resources mentioned in their presentations, so we encourage all speakers and attendees to add the "bbcon" tag to relevant links saved on Delicious. This will give everyone at the Conference a valuable resources to reference after the event. Also, speakers can provide a simple way for attendees to access the links and resources discussed during their presentations. For instance, here are the bookmarks I've saved with the "bbcon" tag thus far. Prior to the event, I will add everything I am discussing in my session (probably 40-50 links!)

Facebook
While we are not using our Facebook page in an official capacity at the Conference, we welcome you to visit and fan us up. This is a great way to stay connected with Blackbaud staff and fellow nonprofiteers. You can also add photos, videos, and write on our wall if you're not into Flickr and Twitter.

I have also produced a one page Social Web Guide (PDF) that covers all things social at the Conference. Please take a look at it and spread the word. The more people we have using these tools, the richer the experience will be for everyone. Happy social webbing everyone!