Tweetsgiving is 48-hour event to encourage people to express their gratitude using online tools and at face-to-face meet-ups. This two-day event, scheduled for November 24-26, will also invite people to donate to Epic Change.
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Tweetsgiving is 48-hour event to encourage people to express their gratitude using online tools and at face-to-face meet-ups. This two-day event, scheduled for November 24-26, will also invite people to donate to Epic Change.
Last year, Epic Change launched this first ever Twitter-based Thanksgiving fundraiser by asking people on Twitter to compose a 140 character message of giving thanks and donating, as well as sharing it with friends on Twitter. Epic Change raised over $10,000 to build a classroom in Arusha, Tanzania. You can read more about their work here.
This year they hope to spread gratitude further and raise enough to help build an additional classroom, orphanage/boarding facility, cafeteria and library at Epic Change’s partner school in Tanzania, and to finding and funding future Epic Fellows like the school’s founder, Mama Lucy.
The theme of Tweetsgiving is gratitude, playing off the US national holiday of gratitude, Thanksgiving. According to recent research, gratitude is a powerful emotion that encourages positive behavior, the giving and receiving of thanks (and gifts.) It is the belief that one has received good fortune due to some one or event outside one's control. Also, other researchers have found that gratitude can lead to happiness.
Tweetsgiving offers a number of ways to express your gratitude online and offline, including different events around the globe. I'm looking forward to attending the fundraiser in Silicon Valley where there will be fundraising raffle for signed books by these authors:
Other goodies will also be raffled off to raise money for Epic Change at the event.
I have a lot to be grateful for this year, the year our family made a big move across the country and survived! I'm also grateful for all the learning through my work as visiting scholar at the Packard Foundation and for the opportunity to work with Allison Fine as co-author on a book about nonprofits and social media. And finally, I'm grateful to be part of the BlogHer community for five years.
What are you grateful for this Thanksgiving season?
Beth Kanter, BlogHer CE, Nonprofits and Social Media, writes Beth's Blog.
]]>Getting Started with Social Media for Your Nonprofit of Do-Good Project: Raising Money on Social Networkshttp://www.blogher.com/getting-started-social-media-your-nonprofit-do-good-project-raising-money-social-networks2009-11-15T22:36:01-06:002009-11-15T22:36:01-06:00Beth Kanter Photo by Borman818
This is the final post of a series that Britt Bravo and I have been working on for those just getting starting designing and implementing a "Do Good" project online. Each post includes 10 starter tips on a different aspect of a do good project. So far, we've covered:
This is the final post of a series that Britt Bravo and I have been working on for those just getting starting designing and implementing a "Do Good" project online. Each post includes 10 starter tips on a different aspect of a do good project. So far, we've covered:
The holiday giving season is right around the corner. Many nonprofits and individuals will be launching year-end fundraising campaigns to support charitable work. If you're thinking about using social media tools as part of your strategy, here's some tips.
1. Use More Than One Channel: You will have far more successful if your campaign uses other channels to get the ask out there. This includes email, web site, direct mail, and even face-to-face solicitations. Don't forget about hosting house parties and events. All those techniques are tried and true and work in concert with social media tools.
2.Engage Your Donors As Partners: Don't treat your donors like ATM machines. Ask them for feedback about your program or the charity. Get them involved in other ways then just writing a check.
3. Tell Your Story: Storytelling makes the your fundraising project come alive and see real and urgent for current and potential supporters. Stories put a human face on abstract ideas. And they’re fun to hear and share with other people. What is most important is telling your personal story about why you care about the cause.
4.Have Credibility. Don’t just appear and ask for money. People need to trust you or be able to see that others trust you. You need to have a presence and be engaging people long before you launch your campaign.
5.Simple Compelling Asks. Successful online fundraising efforts are built around very easy to understand asks. Successful social networking fundraising pitches can be boiled down to this formula – “Your Donation Will Help Us Get To This Result.” Hone and practice your social fundraising elevator pitch - can you boil it down to a compelling tweet?
6. Build In Urgency. Intensive fundraising efforts need to have clear, short deadlines. It is better to set a short time with a low dollar expectation than to make the effort too long and too high.
7. Raise small amounts from many people. To date donations via social networks has had low average gift amounts, in part, because these donations are made by younger people who have not reached their peak earning years. Giving asks of $5 or $10 are quite common. Some creative asks translate that amount into the cost of what someone might be giving up .. a latte or two, a pizza, or other small item.
8.Donor Recognition: This is part of saying thank you and helps build a loyal donor communication around your do good project. It is particularly important to in the early phases of an effort to show that real people are contributing. Organizations that are strategic in highlighting donors who are also key influencers will see better results.
9. Real Time Reporting. Social networks allow for the creation of cyber versions of the United Way giving thermometers posted in the town square. The difference is that the online thermometers can be updated instantly and constantly. America’s Giving Challenge used a leader board that let organizations know which causes were in the lead based on the number of friends and funds it had raised on a particular day and overall.
10. Saying Thank You In Meaningful Ways. Donor thank yous are the life blood of fundraising, no matter how small the gift. Sending a thank you post card in the snail mail has real impact.
]]>10 Tips for Connecting Offline and Online Action for Your Do Good Projecthttp://www.blogher.com/10-tips-connecting-offline-and-online-action-your-do-good-project2009-11-08T21:41:13-06:002009-11-08T21:41:13-06:00Beth Kanter
Britt Bravo and I have been working a series of posts for those just getting starting designing and implementing a "Do Good" project online. Each post includes 10 starter tips on a different aspect of a do good project. So far, we've covered:
Britt Bravo and I have been working a series of posts for those just getting starting designing and implementing a "Do Good" project online. Each post includes 10 starter tips on a different aspect of a do good project. So far, we've covered:
A couple of months ago, a post on Foreign Policy about "slacktivism" triggered a flurry about the concept of Slacktivism. If you don't know, is the pejorative term describing, in the words of Barbara Mikkelson, "...the desire people have to do something good without getting out of their chair."
There are different views on what exactly that term means and what the implications are. I come down on the side that you need to ask what the impact of your project will be offline, design your messaging and call to action to support that objective - whether it is a behavior change or an advocacy call to action. As Allison Fine recommends, get more intentional about your offline results.
When you get to thinking of tactics, remember that your social media strategy works in harmony with other channels - whether it be email, PSAs, or offline, low tech tactics like letter writing campaigns. Here's ten tips or ideas for ways that you can connect online and offline actions.
1. Create and implement the right "meet up" event. These are events where people who connected online around a cause or movement, meet in the real world. One of the best examples, is Twestival, where in Feb. 2009, over 200 cities organized "Tweet ups" where twitter users met offline for a party and to donate to charity:water.
It is important to think through the best model for your offline event based on your community's orientation - socializing, donating, learning/sharing, or taking action. The Wiser Earth Blog suggests asking these questions:
How would you blend the best elements of the event models with your ideas for face-to-face events?
How can you partner with and/or support already-existing local events (combining forces for good!)?
How do you frame events so various organization representatives within a particular sector feel welcome to attend and participant?
How can you best use social media to promote and weave stronger connections between event attendees?
2. Encourage Others To Self-Organize Offline Events. Netsquared has done a terrific job for the past couple of years with its meetups, Net Tuesday, where people meet and learn about social media for social change. To encourage self-organizing events, you need to invite people give them some guidelines, and get out of the way.
3. Take Joint Action. Maybe your do good project is about raising awareness for a cause, or encouraging people to take action - like sign a petition. Some examples include: Genocide Intervention Network and 350.org
4. Offer A Wide Range of Offline Actions: Give people a wide range (in terms of difficulty or time commitment) of activities to do offline. That way you can meet the activist "where they're at" and they can easily help you. For example, a recent campaign for a food bank that used social media suggested a couple of offline actions - from donating canned goods to volunteer a Saturday afternoon packing up food boxes.
5. Don't Forget About Paper: A really simple way to connect online/offline is to add your Do Good project's Facebook Fan Page url or Twitter id to your business cards. When you're doing networking offline, and about to exchange cards - tell people to join your Face Fan Page or follow you on Twitter.
6. T-Shirts and Stickers: T-shirts are like offline bill boards. You can have t-shirts printed up and give them out as prizes. Or use a site like Cafe Press and have people purchase T-shirts as part of a fundraiser. Don't forget about laptop stickers, particularly if you have a geeky group of supporters.
7. House Parties: What better way to spread the word by asking your most passionate supporters to host a house party for you! Tweetsgiving, which raised $10,000 on Twitter last year by having people retweet messages of gratitude, is asking its supporters to host Tweetsgiving house parties.
8. Hold A Sign Meme: The hold a sign meme started on flickr several years ago. You ask your supporters to write a message on a sign, photograph themselves with it, and share it online. It's also been done on Facebook Fan Pages. This is something you can easily add to an offline event and it creates content at the same time.
9. Recruit Social Media Volunteers: Recruit some social media savvy volunteers who can take or create videos about your cause or project and put online.
10. Start with your offline supporters: Maybe you already have a core group offline that is passionately interested in your cause and connected with other groups online. Activate them offline to go online and promote your cause.
]]>10 Tips for an Effective Nonprofit or Do-Good Facebook Fan Pagehttp://www.blogher.com/10-tips-effective-nonprofit-or-do-good-facebook-fan-page2009-10-12T02:24:23-05:002009-11-08T20:44:50-06:00Beth Kanter
A Facebook Fan Page gives your nonprofit or Do-Good causes a friendly url like http://www.facebook.com/your.organization.name; people can find you via google, and there's no limit to the number of people who can tell you how passionate they are about your organization. And, what's even better, it doesn't take all that much time and effort to have a successful Facebook Fan Page.
Here's ten tips to make your Facebook Fan Page rock:
1. Setup: Page Name and URL Is Very Important In a couple of clicks and seconds, you can set up a Fan Page. But take a few minutes to think about the name. Keep your page name short and accurate, you can't change after you create it. You will also get the opportunity to create a custom url or what Facebook calls a username. Think carefully about that too. More here.
2. Setup: Share the Work You can add an unlimited number of administrators on Fan Page, so why go it alone? By sharing the workload, you'll be able to do more. Here's more details about how to manage your Facebook Fan Page. But be careful, don't make any of these common admin mistakes.
3. Content: Create An Inviting Welcome Page The default welcome page for your Facebook Fan Page is your wall. But why welcome people with wall when you can have a more inviting welcome mat. The easiest thing to do set the default welcome to your information page. Make the information tab complete, accurate, and honest. But, if you want a customized look and feel, there are tools, like Sprout,that allow you design an attention getting landing page on Facebook. Take a look at - it was designed in Sprout - and has a clear call to action. It doesn't require a lot of technical skill, but you need to have a good sense of design or know someone who does.
4. Content: Think Outside the Fan Page Template/Box Face it, the Facebook Fan Page layout get boring. Why look like everyone else? As mentioned above, you can use a tool like Sprout. But there are also some simple and easy ways to hack the look and feel of your profile. Here's some suggestions from All Facebook.
5. Content: Engaging Nuggets Work Best The more interactive your content is the better results you'll see. The worst thing you can do with a page is dump an RSS feed into the Fan Page, people get bored with that and they don't engage. It doesn't take a lot of time and effort to share links, photos, videos, or write a wall post that asks a question. You want to engage people so they will like or comment on your content and their activity gets shared in their stream with their friends. My strategy for my Facebook Fan Page, for example, is to share useful links about how nonprofits can use Facebook. This takes me 5-10 minutes per day.
6. Content: Play Tag With Your Friends One of the most engaging and viral ways to share content is to post photos and tag people. Now, you can only tag people who are your friends - and that's why it is useful to have a multiple administrators for your page. The best way to get photos and videos of your fans is through hosting events. For example, one organization took photos of people at offline event of people holding a sign with their message and then uploaded the photos into their Facebook Fan Page. This is not a new technique, it's called the "hold a sign meme."
7. Promote: Use Badges and Fan Box Widgets To Promote Your Page Outside of Facebook If you're a page administrator, you'll notice a "add the Fan Box Widget" link. This allows you to create a customized badge on your web site or blog that promotes your Facebook Fan Page. This is a highly effective way to recruit more fans. More from the Fan Box wiki.
8. Promote: Use Suggest To Friends Link The "Suggest to Friends" link is probably the single best way to recruit new people to your nonprofit's Facebook Fan Page. You and other administrators can do this, but you can also invite your fans to help. You can even make it a contest or award prizes.
9. Applications:Use them One of the benefits of having a Fan Page is that you can integrate Facebook applications. Your Facebook Fan Page comes with six applications, including photos, video, discussion boards, notes, links, and events. Pages get more interesting with you a variety of applications. You'll want to include Causes and the Static FBML app. There's lots more to discover in the Facebook’s Application Gallery.
10. Metrics: Use Insight to Get Insight The Facebook Fan Page comes with a metrics tool called Insight which measure engagement. At the very list, it can help you figure out what content is most engaging to your fans. Here's some resources to learn more.
Beth Kanter, Blogher CE for Nonprofits, writes Beth's Blog and her Facebook Fan Page focuses on how nonprofits can use Facebook effectively.
]]>Life on Purpose Network: Connect - Video - Donatehttp://www.blogher.com/life-purpose-network-connect-video-donate2009-10-04T21:22:27-05:002009-10-04T21:22:27-05:00Beth Kanter
Beverley Claire Pomeroy is mother of an eight-year old daughter named Sophia who was born with a disease so rare there has yet to be name for it. Every organ and system in her body is compromised, her life is very limited, and she struggles are very real for her and her family.
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Beverley Claire Pomeroy is mother of an eight-year old daughter named Sophia who was born with a disease so rare there has yet to be name for it. Every organ and system in her body is compromised, her life is very limited, and she struggles are very real for her and her family.
Her daughter has lived beyond what everyone had expected and continues to give her family lots of joy. Beverley has taken her passion for social change and her desire to find purpose in the tragedy her family faced to find a way help others.
While Beverley has been an advocate and fundraiser a charity called Canuck Place Children's Hospice which provides support for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families, she founded an organization PincGiving which provides resources, advice, video production and connections for nonprofits to raise money for their work.
Moving beyond helping one organization, she hopes to create an army of people who can help nonprofits. She has recently launched the "Life on Purpose Network," an online media distribution platform with donation capability or what she calls "Cause Driven Videos." The idea is video, donate, and connect. On her blog, The Backyard Philanthropist, Beverley offered some principles success online social fundraising:
Highly personalize / donor controlled
Treat donors as serious program partners
Give donors VIP pass into organization’s work
Maintain a disciplined narrative arc with ‘complete’ story lines.
Plan a high ration of cultivation to appeals. versus appeals to cultivation.
Provide multiple opportunities for two way communication
Give donors things they value to encourage word of mouth
Use video
Develop ‘quasi-directed’ giving program
Beth Kanter, BlogHer CE for Nonprofits, writes Beth's Blog
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]]>How Bethany Deines and Betsy Wood Apply Trust Agent Principles on behalf of the Children's Medical Center of Dayton, Ohiohttp://www.blogher.com/how-bethany-deines-and-betsy-wood-apply-trust-agent-principles-behalf-childrens-medical-center-dayto2009-09-28T00:15:51-05:002009-09-28T00:15:51-05:00Beth Kanter Bethany Deines and Betsy Woods ]]> Bethany Deines and Betsy Woods
Last month, shortly after Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith was published, there was discussion on nonprofit blogs about how to apply some of the principles to a nonprofit context. Kivi's Nonprofit Marketing Blog wrote a review of the book and offered a summary of the four principles in the book that she thought nonprofits could apply.
Frank Barry chimed in with a follow up post illustrating trust agent characteristics with nonprofit examples. I republished the post on my blog and offered a free copy to a nonprofit who left the best comment about how their organization is applying these principles. Bethany Deines and Besty Woods from the The Children's Medical Center of Dayton, Ohio were the lucky winners.
Here's an interview with them about how they using social media part of their hospital's patient relations and communications strategies.
1.) What is the objective your social media strategy?
Our objective is to engage and educate our stakeholders – influential moms (18-49+), donors, employees, volunteers, new moms, community leaders, etc – through an affordable medium that reaches a broad audience. Our social media strategy is an integral part of our overall marketing and public relations strategy. We always have to be thinking of new ways to connect to our stakeholders, communicate with them, then listen and respond. We are also looking for methods that are interactive and help us form trusting relationships with those various constituencies.
We (marketing and development) already knew the power of viral marketing through Twitter, FB and You Tube, but we had to back it up w/ research to prove it to our directors and senior management team.
We started using You Tube, FB and Twitter – saw the positive impact it had in getting our message out and then told senior management about it. They LOVED the idea and many of them joined social networks to see first hand what we were doing. Our organization has a culture of being able to try new things in low risk experiments. What we do is tell the story about how and why it’s working. That gets us further support to continue our efforts.
2.) How does your strategy support or enhance other communications/fundraising channels?
We post content (safety tips, flu tips, event information, etc.) that already exists on our website or are media stories from local media outlets on our social media channels like Facebook. Our ultimate goal is to drive traffic back to our website. Social media is just another avenue to tell our story and get the word out about what we do and educate the public (both locally and nationally). Social media brings attention to our fundraising campaigns to an audience we might not be able to reach otherwise. We very successfully used Twitter and Facebook during our Telethon to post updates. This increased our online giving significantly.
3.) How do you measure success?
Finding hard data in the ROI of social media is difficult. We measure success by the number of fans and followers we have but also by the quality of fans and followers (# of people that share our message, comment on a story, etc.). We also share comments from followers with other people on staff and often include quotes or mentions in our e-newsletters. We regularly share what people are saying about our organization with senior management or individual departments mentioned.
4.) Does your hospital have a social media policy?
Yes, we do. The only concern was potentially violating HIPPA laws. However, we were already mindful of HIPPA laws and have existing protocols and policies - so we just made sure we followed those in our social media use. I also researched other social media policies and read up on what others were including and advising people to do – again, Twitter was a GREAT resource for this to learn about what others were doing in the non-health care world. The risk manager had a concern that someone would write something negative about us. We had a discussion about how using social media was another form of providing excellent customer service and listening. Often times we find if someone says something negative about us, many fans/followers immediately respond about why the negative comment isn’t true and do our job for us.
5.) How do you build relationships and engage with your audience with social media?
We don't like to stream content on our Facebook Page or Twitter feed. There are two marketing staff members and one person in the development office who share the responsibility of interacting with our fans on Facebook and our followers on Twitter. We are known for putting a human face on our social media. Many fans and followers have told us that they recommend us to others based on our interaction with them on social networks. Social media can generate good word of mouth - if you take the time to build relationships.
It’s all about listening on social media and responding as a ‘real, live’ person. So many organizations have “ghost” tweeters or people that just send out a blast of information but you never hear anything in response. We (development and marketing) respond to questions, comments and thank people for their kind words or sharing their story. Social media is two-way communication. It’s not just putting messaging out there and hope it sticks. Messages should be relevant, timely and interesting to your audiences.
There’s a local mom from the Beavercreek, Ohio area on Twitter and she has followed us for a few months. She replied to a posting I put up about our new urgent care in Springboro and said how wonderful it was and how much she loved Dayton Children’s. I of course responded with a thank you and asked her where she lived and how many kids she had and what her experience had been at Dayton Children’s. She’s one of those “influencer moms” that you want – has a mommy blog, active on Facebook and Twitter and will tell everyone if her experience was great or horrible. We ended up meeting her and did an interview on video we produced for our "A Minute for Kids campaign." She has become a HUGE advocate for Dayton Children’s and will tell everyone she knows about us.
6.) If you were to offer some lessons learned to others just started off with social media, what would be your advice?
Sign up for Facebook and Twitter now and just start listening to people. Follow other similar organizations, find out what they are doing (what’s working, what’s not), talk to other marketing professionals, research and read articles on social media. Be willing to change and have a new outlook on marketing, public relations and fundraising. Be willing to try something new and don’t be afraid of failure. We, Dayton Children’s, knew we HAD to be involved with social media and just started doing it - that’s how you learn. Don’t be afraid of people that will say negative things about your organization – use social media as another tool to improve customer service. Negative comments is a matter of when, not if. It WILL happen, but if you respond and fix the problem, you will have obtained a very loyal fan/follower/customer, etc. Be willing to invest a certain amount of time daily in posting information. You can’t create a Facebook page, YouTube channel or Twitter account and them let it sit idle. Conversely, you can’t go overboard either and post so frequently that your audience begins to tune you out.
Beth Kanter, BlogHer CE for Nonprofits, writes Beth's Blog.
]]>Tell Your Senators How Much You Love the Climate (And Win Some Awesome Prizes Too!)http://www.blogher.com/tell-your-senators-how-much-you-love-climate-and-win-some-awesome-prizes-too2009-09-20T22:07:31-05:002009-09-20T22:07:31-05:00Beth Kanter
Live Earth has just launched an awareness campaign, Love, The Climate, to engage the public in environmental activism and contact their senators about supporting the Climate Bill.
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Live Earth has just launched an awareness campaign, Love, The Climate, to engage the public in environmental activism and contact their senators about supporting the Climate Bill.
What's different about the tone of this campaign is that it using happiness, love, and optimism as the core drivers. Live Earth is soliciting positive and supportive user generated content
expressing appreciation and love for senators’ positions on the
environment, green jobs, clean energy, and/or the Climate Bill.
They are urging us to encourage and motivate them to support a greener future. Live Earth is giving us a permission to be funny, enthusiastic and creative by contributing a video or photo expressing our love for the climate.
With the goal of generating an unexpected outpouring of positive feedback, the “Love, The Climate” campaign encourages people to thank those who are making a difference, and show those who haven't yet seen the light how much more love they'll receive when they change their minds. They are also offering some cool prizes and incentives, including these Climate Love Packs (Wow, that grand prize is a Schwinn 2010 World NX7 Commuter bike.)
Here are the different ways that you can participate:
Leave a voicemail thanking a senator for improving the world and letting everyone know how much you love the climate. Call 347.422.6392 now to leave your message on the Live Earth message line (this is not a toll-free number) or go to Live Earth's site and they’ll call you! Live Earth will highlight the best voicemails on their website and forward the best ones to the senators to whom they’re addressed.
Add to the “Love, The Climate” Facebook Page with a note, a message, a photo, or a link to content that shows how fantastic the climate will be after senators have taken action by passing the Climate Bill.
Make a video for the climate demonstrating to senators how amazing life has become in a future where the environment is protected. Sing them a song, read a love sonnet, speak for the trees in costume, let the whales do the talking! Submit your video here. Live Earth will promote the most creative entries, and forward the best videos to the senators to whom they’re addressed. Check out the announcement video here. Need some inspiration? See Shira Lazar’s inspired contribution here.
All participants who register for the campaign through September 25, 2009 will be entered into random drawings to win one of the “Climate Love Packs” or the grand prize of a Schwinn 2010 World NX7. In order to be eligible for the prize drawings, you must submit an entry form to Live Earth
Beth Kanter, BlogHer CE for Nonprofits, writes Beth's Blog.
]]>Mozilla Service Week: Use Your Geek Skills for Good in Your Communityhttp://www.blogher.com/mozilla-service-week-use-your-geek-skills-good-your-community2009-09-13T22:44:39-05:002009-09-13T22:44:39-05:00Beth Kanter
I've been participating in service days where I can share my technology skills with local organization. My favorite is the annual NTEN Day of Service for the NTC which I've been doing for the past ten years! Mozilla Service Week starts on Monday, September 14! The idea behind service is simple: Everyone should know how to use the Internet, have easy access to it, and have a great experience when they’re online. Mozilla is reaching out to geeks far and wide to give a helping hand to nonprofit organizations and people all over the world to experience the joy of using the Web!
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I've been participating in service days where I can share my technology skills with local organization. My favorite is the annual NTEN Day of Service for the NTC which I've been doing for the past ten years! Mozilla Service Week starts on Monday, September 14! The idea behind service is simple: Everyone should know how to use the Internet, have easy access to it, and have a great experience when they’re online. Mozilla is reaching out to geeks far and wide to give a helping hand to nonprofit organizations and people all over the world to experience the joy of using the Web!
Here's some ways to participate:
1. Choose from a list of service opportunities: Search Mozilla's partner sites (Idealist & betterplace.org) for a volunteer opportunity near you or anywhere around the world!
2. Take part in OneWebDay on September 22nd, which aims to celebrate and preserve the Web as an important commons accessible to everyone. This year’s theme is “Digital Inclusion” and there will be local service events that you can join! More information here.
3. Create your own opportunity: Reach out to a local school, organization or people near you to find out what sort of technology help they need.
4. Do a Internet Health Check: If you need an idea of how to help a local community, the good folks at Mozilla has lots of great ideas that are simple activities that can help make the Web better. The Internet Health Check offers a couple of easy steps on how to keep people safe on the Web.
Mozilla Service Week has large bandwagon of nonprofit technology and technology companies providing support. Major names in non-profit technology, service and social entrepreneurship spaces have joined on as as “Friends” of the program to help promote Mozilla Service Week to the various communities that they serve which include schools, NPOs, NGOs and more. This includes Aspiration, The Extraordinaries, NTEN, PopTech, and many others.
With President Obama declaring September 11th for the first time as a federally recognized National Day of Service and Remembrance, thousands of organizations around the nation are mobilizing Americans to engage in service and perform good deeds in observance of the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks throughout the fall. This site, MyGoodDeed is encouraging people to pause and share their plans for a personal good deed. You can even add a good deed widget for your site.
ServiceNation, a national campaign to increase service opportunities and elevate the importance of service in America, has received a $500,000 grant from Facebook as part of its expanded partnership. Facebook’s grant will encourage users of the social network to learn more about service opportunities through ServiceNation’s Facebook Page and connect with MyNation, a new, online social-networking community on ServiceNation.org being launched in preparation for the first National Day of Service on September 11, 2009.
What are your plans for giving service to your local community this fall? What have you done already?
Beth Kanter, Blogher CE for Nonprofits, writes Beth's Blog.
]]>Socially Responsible Schwaghttp://www.blogher.com/socially-responsible-schwag2009-09-07T00:12:01-05:002009-09-07T00:12:01-05:00Beth Kanter Ann Wizer, XSProject Founder
What's a conference without schwag? You know those bags tattooed with the sponsors' logos and filled with stickers, t-shirts, coupons, samples, and other goodies. I typically donate my schwag to a good cause or if there is a schwag recycling room, I participate. But Socap 09 has taken the concept of socially conscious schwag to new heights.
What's a conference without schwag? You know those bags tattooed with the sponsors' logos and filled with stickers, t-shirts, coupons, samples, and other goodies. I typically donate my schwag to a good cause or if there is a schwag recycling room, I participate. But Socap 09 has taken the concept of socially conscious schwag to new heights.
Ann Wizer is an artist who uses design and education to protect the environment and reduce poverty. The conference bag is one of of her "out-of-studio experiments" to involve poor communities in the development of simple solutions to problems of un-managed consumer waste. She buys non-recyclable waste from trash pickers and creates small scale products like the above bag.
In a brief interview with Ann, she shared some of her philosophy and passion. "I want to design well made recycled bags. We are at such a point with consumer waste and poverty - that we need to do something. The shoppers won't go to the landfill, so I needed to get the designers there."
Socap 09 Conference brings together a mix of the world's top social innovators, investors, donors, entrepreneurs, and thought-leaders, today's leading catalysts of change from across the globe. As Kevin Jones, Socap's co-founder, said in his welcome address:
The conference bag is created with waste, with junk that no one will buy. It is the trash from the buildings. The sheets of vinyl are durable and vinyl sheets are great for bags. This excess has created a bag for the SoCap conference. Ann is an activist and an artist. While she can produce bags, she cannot do it in the sufficient volume that could make this a sustainable venture. We'll devote a panel that will crowd source wisdom for Ann about turning the bag into a business.
I was fortunate to have a press pass - so while it didn't entitle me to one of those bags, I got a front row seat in close proximity to an electrical outlet for the keynote address by Sonal Shah, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation and panel discussion with Andrew Wolk, Root Cause; Vanessa Kirsch, New Profit; and Carla Javits, REDF, moderated by Jeff Bradach, Bridgespan Group.
Sonal Shah gave an overview of the goals and strategies for the Office of Social Innovation. This was followed by a panel discussion and questions from the audience.
Don't Get Distracted: Sonal Shah warned, "Don't think about us as the 'office that does cool
stuff.' She was warning against shiny object syndrome and used a
different "s" word.
Government and feedback loops - how can they take the field's learnings and incorporate in theirs?
Measurement is the major theme as the sector grows up. There
was an emphasis on finding consistent or standardized quantitative
benchmarks.
However, there was also a plea not to make evaluation
painful, collecting huges amount of data and not using it to improve a
program.
A different spin on the concept of mistakes and failure: "Mistakes should be considered failures if they fail to correct the problem. And if the correction creates new problems."
The need for
some experimentation before a program or project rolls out or scales.
There is something beneath the language of "what works" that can kill
innovation.
That it is about effectiveness and quality, not growth
I learned a new term "Hockey Stick Returns" that colleague, Nedra defined for me. The context is that many projects don't offer this.
I
attended a panel called "The Future of Social Innovation on the Web"
This all-guy panel was facilitated by Dennis Whittle, Global Giving and
featured Premal Shah, Kiva.org; Jonathan Greenblatt, Our Good Works; Steve Newcomb, Virgance; and Ben Rattray, Change.org. I tweeted some of the key points.
After
the session, after waiting an hour for Premal Shah to be available for
a quick interview, he graciously shared his thoughts on what Web 3.0
looks like as did Dennis Whittle. I also interviewed Shara Karasic who
was in the audience. Premal talked about the need for creating magic
for the users and building in workflow software that was facilitated
relationship building through the ladder of engagement.
He asked each of the panelists to describe where they think the field is now. Ben Rattray mentioned:
The
vast majority of social good platforms have failed because they have
modeled social good platforms on commercial applications. We assumed
that if we created a generic platform that people would start their
own actions. They don't. It isn't as easy to throw up an action on
the web as it is to throw up a video. We faced challenges. The vision
is to provide a platform for collective social action. It is so easy
for people who care about an issue - it is easy to connect. There
must be catalytic organizations. If you build the platform, will
spontaneous organizing happen?" No! Synthesis of grassroots
organization to channel social change.
He asked
each of the panelists to discuss what they were most proud of in their
project's achievements. Jonathan Greenblatt of All for Good talked
about the work they were doing to bring volunteer opportunities to
Americans who want to serve. He also spoke about his accomplishments
with Ethos Water.
Premal Shah talked about the importance of the user experience to create a compelling reason to give.
"Kiva
is at the intersection of money and meaning. There is going to be a
socially responsible investment. There is a third access - it is not
about ROI or social impact. It's the user experience that drives
adoption. Never underestimate something that is fun and has short feed
back loops. If we want people to engage, it has to be easy, fun, and
addictive. Return on experience versus investment.
Dennis also asked panelists to share some of the criticisms they've received along the way.
Several themes that came out in the discussion:
The line between for-profit and nonprofit
Balance between cooperation and competition
Are there too many social entrepreneurs. If your idea isn't high quality, why not work with someone else instead?
Don't give up
I haven't spent much time in this
space, but when I walked through the door I ran into Sean
Stannard-Stockton who at met at Netsquared several years ago and
encouraged him to set up a blog. He has recently announced a new
venture, Tactical Philanthropy Advisors, an advisory firm working with wealthy individuals and families. He told me I got his first business card!
Beth Kanter, Blogher CE for Nonprofits, writes Beth's Blog.
]]>Reflections from Mashable Summer of Social Good Conferencehttp://www.blogher.com/reflections-mashable-summer-social-good-conference2009-08-30T22:13:27-05:002009-08-30T22:15:08-05:00Beth Kanter
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The event was hosted by the amazing Shira Lazar who currently hosts
Mahalo’s This Week In YouTube and is the Editor-At-Large for
CondeNast’s Jaunted.com travel blogging from around the globe. I didn't realize this, but she is
also the founder of the The Society For Geek Advancement, which aims to bring together geek culture for social good.
The most dramatic moment of the conference had nothing to do with charity fundraising. It was the surprise marriage proposal on the stage from Mashable's COO Adam Hirsch to Managing Editor Sharon Feder (she said yes)! (You can read more about that here). And while Pete Cashmore announced that he would be doing a charity event in September around his 24th birthday, I'm wondering what charity wedding registry Sharon and Adam will register with? (Kiva?)
Randi Zuckerberg of Facebook delivered the opening keynote. It covered many examples of how people were using Facebook for online activism as well as how nonprofits were using it for fundraising. She also included some practical advice. I've heard Randi speak a couple of times, including this informative webinar hosted by NTEN. The big news for me was news about virtual gifts for charities. Facebook is piloting virtual charity gifts to users, the
proceeds will support micro-lender Kiva, Project
Red, the World Wildlife Fund and Toms Shoes. The feature may also open up more broadly after tested.
The Wall Street Journal covered her keynote, as did the Chronicle of Philanthropy. They picked up on these practical points:
Don't rely on groups in Facebook, have a Fan page to take advantage of Facebook's viralness. (You can do a lot with the look and feel of your Fan page - see the example of my landing page (or look at the welcome tab if you've already joined). This custom landing page was created by the good folks at Sprout.)
Be a little less "formal" and try a few fun updates and other content that sparks conversations. Randi suggests that having a personality is an asset.
Use video. Groups that post video on their fan pages are
typically able to create more personal messages. And those messages are
more likely to be shared with others.
Tag
liberally. Take pictures at
events and post them to their Facebook pages. When they post the
images, they should tag the people in the photos — a process that
notifies those who are friends of the people that they have been tagged
in a photo on a charity’s page. Those notifications draw more traffic
and, in turn, more supporters, to a charity’s page.
Incorporate
Facebook into your events. If you have a special event, make sure you
invite your Facebook fans to the party, too. You’ll probably attract
more people — and Facebook will tell all of their friends that they are
coming to an organization’s event.
Skeptics in the audience tweeted about the limitations of tool-centric campaigns or wondered if, at the end of day, there was any on the ground social change. Was it all hype?
The morning included a speech by Kari Dunn Saratovsky who talked about offline/online connections as well as some of the challenges that charities face such as cause fatigue and slacktivism.
Toby Daniels, from Think Social, who was called in at the last minute, did a fantastic talk. Best of all, I got to finally meet him and Scott Harrison from charity:water face-to-face. (Check out this post by Toby over at Think Social about storytelling using charity:water as an example.) There were also presentations about Global Giving and Causecast.
The nonprofits Humane Society of the United States, World Wildlife Fund, Oxfam, and LIVESTRONG each gave excellent presentations on how their organizations are using social media. I enjoyed hearing the latest update from Carie Lewis about her organization's experience in social media crisis mode and the recent controversy with Michael Vick. She was able to clearly demonstrate the value of listening and engaging. More details about the nonprofit presentations at the Nonprofit Bridge and Chronicle of Philanthropy.
Photo by David Parmet (In the green room waiting to go on the stage, in between Pete Cashmore and Geoff Livingston) See more of David's conference photos here.
Next was the "Social Media for Social Good" segment. I kicked it off with a talk titled "Be a Generous Geek" which was about the many ways small actions (online and offline) can make a difference (for example what Maria Niles shared in in her most recent post), I sprinkled with a few stories that were featured in Shel Israel's Twitterville and Chris Brogan's Trust Agents.
Next up was colleague Geoff Livingston who talked about building movements (see his slides below and read more here). Next was Scott Henderson who presented a case study about his PledgeforHunger project. Our segment ended with an amazing talk by Drew Olanoff (you can read about his work here). I'm definitely in on the blameathon on September 9th.
The event ended with a marriage proposal and a lot of geek excitement over social media for social good. There were also some voices of skeptics asking the big question on how to channel this energy and excitement at the awareness level to bring about real change both online and offline.
What I saw at this conference, was a youthful enthusiasm
for generosity, and the desire to do something, but perhaps there is a need for
sharing of best practices and techniques beyond the tools. There is a great opportunity for generations of philanthropists, organizers, and community leaders to enrich each others learning.
Beth Kanter, BlogHer CE for Nonprofits, writes Beth's Blog.
]]>SoCap09: The Ecosystem of Investors, Entrepreneurs, Donors, New Media, Policymakers, and Nonprofitshttp://www.blogher.com/socap09-ecosystem-investors-entrepreneurs-donors-new-media-policymakers-and-nonprofits2009-08-23T22:48:16-05:002009-08-23T22:48:16-05:00Beth Kanter
I love conferences that gather people from different perspectives on new media, funding, nonprofits, and social change. The Social Capital Markets Conference 2009 will not disappoint. It is the gathering of top business and government leaders interested in social change from a systems perspective. It takes place on September 1-3, at San Francisco’s Fort Mason Center.
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I love conferences that gather people from different perspectives on new media, funding, nonprofits, and social change. The Social Capital Markets Conference 2009 will not disappoint. It is the gathering of top business and government leaders interested in social change from a systems perspective. It takes place on September 1-3, at San Francisco’s Fort Mason Center.
SOCAP09 is an innovative, participant-driven event convening more than 100 visionary speakers and thought leaders to engage with the broader social enterprise community in charting a new course for the global economy. Last year’s conference included participants interested in social capital from 26 countries.
I missed the Socap 08, but this year I have a bloggers pass to cover it. I'm looking for to these panels and speakers:
Opening keynote by Sonal Shah, White House social innovation director — 1 pm, September 1 — The Obama appointee outlines priorities for the newly created White House Office of Social Innovation and Impact.
The second annual Social Capital Unconference — 9 am to 5 pm, September 3 — Participants propose sessions on the top issues facing the social capital arena and self-organize to brainstorm solutions.
BeDo Intrapreneurs Event — August 31 – September 1 — Leading thinkers and actors meet to discuss the development of corporate business strategies for ethical and environmental impact.
Embrace Disruption! — 11 am to 4 pm, September 2 — Join SOCAP09 investors and entrepreneurs, plus Skoll Foundation, Participant Productions and Food Inc, GRITtv, LINKtv, Carrotmob, Invisible Children and numerous others as they seek to re-imagine the state of play for social entrepreneurs, funders and media makers.
You can learn more about this conference and register at the web site.
]]>Tech Support for Your Body: Planned Parenthood Online Chats and Text Messaging Programshttp://www.blogher.com/tech-support-your-body-planned-parenthood-online-chats-and-text-messaging-programs2009-08-17T00:48:57-05:002009-08-17T00:48:57-05:00Beth Kanter
According to Mobile Active, although nonprofits in the United States have been slower to embrace mobile phones for health purposes than other parts of the world, the use of mobile phones by nonprofit social service agencies in the US is gaining traction according to a recent post by MobileActive.
Take for example sex education programs. Back in February, 2009, the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign in North Caorlina launched the Birds and Bee Text Line where teens could ask questions anonymously, free of charge by a sexual health educator, according to an article in the New York Times.
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According to Mobile Active, although nonprofits in the United States have been slower to embrace mobile phones for health purposes than other parts of the world, the use of mobile phones by nonprofit social service agencies in the US is gaining traction according to a recent post by MobileActive.
Take for example sex education programs. Back in February, 2009, the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign in North Caorlina launched the Birds and Bee Text Line where teens could ask questions anonymously, free of charge by a sexual health educator, according to an article in the New York Times.
Being able to text or type into an anonymous online chat lessens the shame and embarrassment when asking delicate questions. There is a perceived feeling of safety and privacy that teens may have when they're typing into a cell phone or chat. And, it's probably more effective than adults lecturing them.
The Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties in California has recently launched a mobile initiative, a sex education text messaging hotline, TechSupport for Your Body. This expansion of their already existing sex education hotlines allows users who send their questions to 53634 to receive a personalized response directly to their mobile device from a live, certified health educator.
According to Stephaniue Kight, Senior Vice President of Community Affairs, "Our text messaging service is conversational. When we were searching for a new mobile marketing company we really had to find a technology that would work for our human-to-human conversation. Many mobile messaging services and text message programs are based around a one way interaction between a texter and a database, but we have learned from using our live operators that texters are having conversations with our health educators that no database could take the place of. While you can search for answers to sexual health questions online, many teens we have talked with feel the need to explain their unique situation or questions and our conversation based text hotline is perfect."
The texting service and online chat lines have a robust outreach strategy to reach teens. Kight says that Facebook advertisements have been particularly effective. She notes, "We had a 60% jump in users of our hotline who were asking very important questions that they couldn't find answers for elsewhere." When teens reach out to have their questions answered, the agency makes sure they have all the education and the support for all the sexual health needs. Add Kight, "What is so great about reaching out to teens through these social networks and offering our text messaging service is that we are reaching out to those who may not be familiar with our brand, but become familiar after we help with their concerns."
When nonprofits are incorporating new technologies in their service delivery, having success metrics to track how they a moving the needle is of critical importance. Says Kight, "Putting accurate, honest information into the hands of the people who need it most is critical to improving the overall health care of the community. We are measuring success by the number of people who use this program. We also monitor the number of referrals we make to our medical centers as a way of seeing how it might impact our core business."
Kight says they also monitor in real time using tools like Google Analytics to check where referrals are coming from and Facebook's ad tracking tool. Says Kight, "We also time our social networking and online advertising within weeks of each other so that we can monitor the impact of a certain type of campaign by tallying the texts we get, whether it is Facebook advertising one week, Google ad words the next week, this helps to see the impact of each advertising method."
What advice would Kight offer for other nonprofits? "We aren’t just pushing messages to users. This service is about allowing the user to contact us when they need us - we think that is extremely important. We hope people will think of our hotline services like that really cool big brother or sister who knows everything, is honest and always there for you. We don’t want to be that annoying aunt who is always pushing brochures in your face in the hopes you’ll read them!"
Kight also says that research and piloting is very important. "Be sure to commit to the project financially and emotionally because projects like this are not created overnight!"
Beth Kanter, author of Beth's Blog, is BlogHer's CE for Nonprofits.
]]>Coupons with a Consciencehttp://www.blogher.com/coupons-conscience2009-08-11T23:55:35-05:002009-08-11T23:55:35-05:00Beth Kanter
Last year during the holiday giving season, the recession was really gloomy news for nonprofits. Colleagues Allison Fine and Marnie Web started something called the Givelist. It was a crowd sourced list of ways that one could support causes that don't necessarily require writing a check.
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Last year during the holiday giving season, the recession was really gloomy news for nonprofits. Colleagues Allison Fine and Marnie Web started something called the Givelist. It was a crowd sourced list of ways that one could support causes that don't necessarily require writing a check.
CommonKindness is another way that people can support a cause without necessarily writing a check.
If you're like many of us, when times get tight we start pinching pennies and clipping coupons. But with CommonKindness, your frugalness can help a nonprofit causes. Grocery doesn't see so boring anymore.
How does it work?
CommonKindness receives revenue from the brands who offer coupons and discounts on the site. CommonKindness, in turn, donates 60 percent of its profits to charities and causes selected by people who visit the site and clip coupons. Shoppers get a source for coupons, causes get some money, and businesses get another outlet to advertise their products.
CommonKindness also offers local merchants the opportunity to post coupons for their products and services on the site for free via an online platform.
The site's founders are two moms Calandra Cruickshank and Dana Valdez who wanted people to save money on their grocery bills while giving back to their favorite nonprofit causes. According to Cruickshank, consumers can save up to $1,300 in groceries per year with CommonKindness. Andrew Martin McGovern is the founding chairman. Martin sold his successful company - SmartFood Inc., to Pepsico/FritoLay Corp.
Beth Kanter, BlogHer CE for Nonprofits, writes Beth's Blog.
]]>The Body Shop Teams Up With Cambodian Anti-Slavery Activist Somaly Mamhttp://www.blogher.com/body-shop-teams-cambodian-anti-salvery-activist-somaly-mam2009-08-09T23:31:29-05:002009-08-10T15:05:39-05:00Beth Kanter Somaly Mam is a vocal activist in the fight against child sex trafficking industry in Cambodia.
]]> Somaly Mam is a vocal activist in the fight against child sex trafficking industry in Cambodia. This is a personal crusade for Somaly Mam, a former sex slave sold to a brothel at the age of 16 by an abusive caretaker to pay off his debts. She was able to escape a cruel life with the help of a Swiss patron who paid off the owner. Ever since, she has campaigned tirelessly against forced prostitution of young girls and women and set upan NGO named AFESIP (Acting for Women in Distresting Situations) that provides rehabilitation for girls Camobdia, Laos, and Vietnam that has helped rescue and rehabilitate thousands of women and children in Southeast Asia.
Her newest campaign to raise awareness has been launched in partnership with The Body Shop and ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes) to raise awareness. According to UN.GIFT (Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking) over 1.2 million children and young people are exploited in the global sex trade each year. Starting in August, The Body Shop will donate $6.00 of every $10 bottle of "Soft Hands, Kind Heart Hand Cream" to ECPAT and sell Bags for Life totes and Create Your Own gift bags to raise funds for the Somaly Mam Foundation.
According to a post summarizing a story from Reuters, Details Are Sketchy Blog, reports that Somaly Mam recently rescued a four-year old girl from a brothel in Cambodia after being reported by a male client. The child had been sold to a brothel by her mother, who is also a prostitute. According to the Reuters article, Somaly reports "There is a belief that having sex with a virgin will cure you of HIV so there is an increasing market for younger and younger girls. In my time it was girls aged 15-16 but it has got younger and younger."
Beth Kanter, BlogHer CE for Nonprofits, writes Beth's Blog.
]]>Planned Parenthood Movement Building: Leadership, Engagement, Stories, and Platform for Self-Organizinghttp://www.blogher.com/planned-parenthood-movement-building-leadership-engagement-stories-and-platform-self-organizing2009-08-02T23:56:34-05:002009-08-03T07:13:42-05:00Beth Kanter
Source: Planned Parenthood Fan Page Profile Photos
Allison Fine and I have been busy working on a book about how social media and connectedness is changing the way nonprofits are creating social change. Earlier this week, we had an amazing conversation with Planned Parenthood's president, Cecile Richards
Allison Fine and I have been busy working on a book about how social media and connectedness is changing the way nonprofits are creating social change. Earlier this week, we had an amazing conversation with Planned Parenthood's president, Cecile Richards
and Tom Subak, Vice President of Online Services, to learn more about Planned Parenthood's movement building techniques.
Last week, I gave a presentation to a group of Bay Area Foundation program officers and funders who work on population research issues. (I tried to use sex metaphors to explain social media) One of the examples I shared was Planned Parenthood's social networking presence - so it was good to get the inside story. Tom and Cecile shared a rich story about culture change, loosing control, building relationships, story telling, multi-channel strategies, engagement techniques, online/offline metrics, and more.
A couple of takeaways from the interview:
Leaders Lead Culture Change. Over the past three years, Planned Parenthood has built an impressive Internet presence and social media strategy. Cecile Richards, president, paved the way. Says Richards, "Confidentiality is a big part of Planned Parenthood’s culture. And, as you know being successful with social media is the opposite of that. Three years ago, not everyone was convinced that we needed to shift our investment into our online presence. However, given that we’re trying to reach young people – how could we ignore the place where most of them get their information?”
Tom Subak, Vice President of Online Services, adds "Looking back over the three years, Cecile made it clear to everyone that the Internet was a critical part of our future and that she was going to be personally involved in the organization's transformation to embrace it."
Social media is described in terms of the mission, not the tools. While the board wasn’t against technology or social media, it was a little bit of a mystery. Says Tom, "We don't talk about Facebook or Twitter. We talk about how using the tools expands our mission." And, they don't just talk, it is backed up with reports and graphs about how the use of the tools supports their work -- the connection between the online efforts and people using services on land. But, as Cecile points out the storyline isn’t about technology or social media, it’s about movement building and the people they serve.
Giving Up Control and Relationship Building: As Cecile and Tom shared, their passionate activists are shaping the organization's campaign messaging and content. "That's less so on email, of course, but now with all the work we’ve done cultivating and building relationships on Facebook and Myspace – when something happens, the response is there. We help guide it." Activists are sharing their personal stories in their own words, images, and videos across social networks with little prodding from the organization.
So, how specifically do they build relationships on social networks? As Tom says, "There are many ways, but we do spend a great deal of time sending virtual birthday cards to folks. (It’s a great job for summer interns once you’ve put together your overall strategies and you can guide them)." Obviously this is working because when they need to ask their activists to mobilize to support them when their funding is in danger, the activists are there. Sometimes before they ask.
Platform for Self-Organizing: As Tom Subak recalls, in the beginning stages of their social networking strategies, they goal was to get as many people to join their fan page. They realized quickly it was the wrong approach. "We’ve stopped cramming calls to action down people’s throats because we understand that’s not the culture of MySpace or Facebook or the way social media can be successful. We created a platform for folks to have a dialogue in the way they want. We support it, guide it."
As Tom Subak adds, "On social networks, we have a very light touch – we give people the opportunity to respond. It often happens through the wall comments – we go through the discussion areas, comments, photos and videos and we take those stories to share with decision-makers."
The Power of Sharing Stories: Planned Parenthood has built the infrastructure to be successful. Their online services department is in charge of web site presence, email messaging, and social networking. They work in collaboration with the communications team. As Tom Subak mentions, "But something was missing: The intersection of content that we create with what our supporters create. It doesn’t matter whether it is on our web site or somewhere else. There are millions of stories inside of Planned Parenthood – the stories are incredible. We put a human face on our work and what we’re doing. With our stories, we try to figure out how to get more people engaged and change the public’s view. We now have a department called the New Media Content team. Their job is to create, edit, repurpose, identify content across all our channels. Where does this all come together – part of the organization that is thinking about content – in the way that content exists in now. It doesn’t matter where it is or who created. Another thing to is that it doesn’t matter where the content lives – we’ve been creating widgets that can placed anywhere – not just on our site"
I've been thinking about this interview, especially this idea of the intersection of content that the organization creates with what their supporters create and share. And, yes the whole balancing act of how you facilitate that without controlling it. Perhaps it is a little more than a content creation strategy where your organization is doing all the heavy lifting, creating, editing, and production grids. It's how you use the conversation to generate, aggregate, and facilitate social content.
Engagement is not really created by being a nice, genuine, caring and attentive sort of chap on twitter. It’s hard to create much momentum in any kind of social network without some of those qualities, but true engagement, engagement that leads to customers and partners, is created with content. Or, perhaps more accurately, engagement is created with engaging content.
The post goes onto discuss the balance between conversation and content. Others have a different take. For example, John Cass, in his post "Measuring Engagement in Social Media."
I often think this idea of engagement is lost in the shuffle when thinking about how to use social media for marketing. Why is that? Well marketers are comfortable with creating advertising to attract customers, here the focus is on attracting customers and converting them, if engagement occurs it is to sell the product, the concept of engagement around the customer's content is something new, and the ROI of that activity still has to be justified for many marketers.
This is not to say that content marketing is not a good idea, or a wrong step, it's just I think content marketing is a stepping stone in the development of marketing to engagement. I also understand that many in the industry would suggest engagement is part and parcel of content marketing, but I think there's still some debate about the definition of content marketing and differences in how content marketing and inbound marketing practices are implemented.
How do you think about your content strategy in the context of movement buliding?
Beth Kanter, BlogHer CE for Nonprofits, writes Beth's Blog.
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