Chad Norman's Webby Things : The Baudcast

Podcasting, Podcasting, Podcasting

Chad Norman — Wed, 13 May 2009 12:18:00 GMT

OK, I've been home long enough to say I'm recovered from the 2009 NTC, but I'll certainly never be the same. This event has the potential to change the life and org of every single attendee that shows up, and that's why it will continue to be the premier nonprofit tech event for years to come. Yes, I'm in love.

Last week on The Baudcast, I assembled an all-star cast of NTC troops to break down the event and share some lessons learned. Anna Richter, the Program Coordinator at NTEN, joined us and was able to share some amazing inside knowledge. Danielle Brigida (NWF) and David Neff (American Cancer Society) broke down a couple of their sessions, and Peter Campbell (Earth Justice) waved the IT flag high. Rounded out by the Blackbaud crew, the show was a fun way to look back at this event. Be sure to check it out (iTunes or direct).

It was podcasting that brought me to NTC in the first place. I had the honor of co-presenting a session with the Nonprofit Podfather himself, Corey Pudhorodsky of the 501c3Cast (his NTC event and session notes are here). The session was packed, with people sitting in the hall to learn more about this fascinating medium. Though it was an A-Z overview of how to get started, I think many people left with specific actionable items they could use to start a podcast. The excitement was definitely there, and I can't wait to see some of these show ideas come to fruition.

Below are the slides to Nonprofit Radio: How to Make Podcasts That Support Your Brand and Engage Supporters. If you have any questions about podcasting, just shoot me an email, DM me on Twitter, or leave a comment below.

Nonprofit Radio - Make Podcasts that Engage Supporters

View more presentations from Chad Norman.

Happy podcasting!

Online Giving Smackdown :: A Very Special Baudcast

Chad Norman — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:18:00 GMT

When Target Analytics released its 2008 donorCentrics Internet Giving Benchmarking Analysis, the sector responded with keen interest. The study is packed with insightful nuggets, but one trend is capturing everyone's attention (including The New York Times): First time online donors are often migrating to other channels, like direct mail. Yikes!

Will online giving, with it's higher average gift and youthful appeal, prove not to be the silver bullet everyone thought? The blogosphere and Twitter lit up looking for an answer, but I really liked this post on The Agitator: is online fundraising Too Important for Techies?

We decided to dig into the issue on episode 24 of The Baudcast (iTunes | direct), so key players were invited on the show for an epic online giving battle (or at least a lively conversation). Joining me was Roger Craver (founder of The Agitator and Craver, Mathews, Smith & Company), Hildy Gottlieb (president of The Community Driven Institute and author of The Pollyanna Principles), and Rob Harris (co-author of the 2008 donorCentrics Internet Giving Benchmarking report). I had a great Blackbaud crew on hand as well: Steve MacLaughlin, Allison Van Diest, and Melanie Mathos.

The conversation was GREAT to say the least, as both Roger and Hildy blew us away with their understanding of multi-channel integrated campaigns. Steve posted some quotes from the show over on Connections, and we were all live tweeting comments during the call. Near the end of the conversation, I asked the panel what nonprofits could do tomorrow to better integrate and support online fundraising efforts...here are the responses:

Have a strategy that goes beyond fundraising. A good strategy should start with what your organization wants to accomplish, who you want to reach, and where those people are - then decide on the channels and tools.
Find other organizations that are doing multi-channel communications well, and copy them.
Listen carefully to what people are saying on blogs and social networking sites. Then use these feedback mechanisms to solicit information from your audience. Testing should used online as much as it is with direct mail - because it works.
Invest in good copy. Not just a good writer, but looking at your audience and what drives them. Then craft a message based on that.
Use your online channel to improve stewardship and increase the value of your donors.
Leadership is needed at an organization to break down the silos between the direct mail, email, and phone-a-thon teams. An integrated campaign is a successful campaign.

There you have it. Hear the rest on The Baudcast: (iTunes | direct)

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.