News RoundUp

As I change the news of the day links, I'm reticent to remove them so instead I decided I would create a post that would list the links every week of the articles that I've found.

Here are this week's:

Why Social Media Works For Nonprofits
Online Campaigners Voice Social Consciousness
7 Ways to Be Worth Following on Twitter
Facebook Stats
Twitter Talk May Come At a Cost
How Do You Measure Sucess on Social Media?
Twitter Raises Thousands of Dollars
Brainstorming: Friend or Foe?
Why Philanthropy Wins in a Web 2.0 Culture

New Features

Hello All! Happy Friday!

Just wanted to share with you a couple of new features that are popping up on the site. The first is the News of the Day section on the left hand side. Featuring the latest marketing and media news of the day, this section is a great way to get all your marketing news in one place. Don't worry about wading through everything that's out there; I'll do it for you.

The other new area is Book Review. In the coming weeks, I will be reviewing marketing and media books for non-profit organizations.

Upcoming Blog Posts include:
Getting your Board on board with Social Media
Email versus Print Newsletters
Setting up an Email Campaign
Glossary of Social Media terms

If there are any topics you are interested in, please let me know and I will discuss!

Also, if you would like to receive my monthly newsletter full of nonprofit marketing tips and tricks, please email: lindsey@lindseypatten.com

Guarding Your Communications

This just appeared in the Globe and Mail! (Thanks to J-Source for the tip via Twitter)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090211.wspeech12/BNStory/National/home

The details are these: The Southern Chiefs Association are alleging that racist and hateful comments have been posted on the CBC website in the forum. Now the CBC's forum is moderated, meaning that technically those comments should not have been posted. As the moderator of my own message board, I can see quite easily how messages can be missed.

So how does this affect non-profits? This immediately made me think about blog moderation. If you have a blog that recieves comments, will you choose to moderate them all? If so, have you alloted the time to do so?

It's just another step you have to think of when planning out your blog.

Learning from the mistakes of others

Social media tools like Facebook and Twitter are changing communications, however it's important to remember that like any public thing, you should be careful what you say.

Case in point is this: http://www.mediastyle.ca/2009/02/national-post-reporter-has-total-twitter-melt-down/

A National Post reporter and a marketing professional got into a cat fight on Twitter. Their fight was displayed for all to see and neither of them ended up looking quite professional, in my opinion. This is a perfect example of how widespread information is on the internet.

It's so important to be careful with everything you say and when and how you choose to say it.

If you have a Facebook or Twitter account that is personal, then ensure that you don't mix business in along with it. If you have a business account, keep it that way. That doesn't mean you can't share facts about yourself and your day; just remember who you are writing for.

I've struggled with finding the balance on Twitter between serious business and fun. I would recommend putting together a creative brief or strategy about what tone you want to set and topics you want to comment about. This will serve as a guideline of sorts that you can reference when needed.

Writing The Perfect Email Subject Line

I'm in the midst of developing an email campaign for my business, Synthesis Communications. When it came to developing the email, the message flowed fairly easily. I knew what I wanted to say and communicated it effectively. I was quite proud of myself until I became stumped by the subject line.

The subject line for an email is the first thing a reciever sees, so it's important that it stands out.

Some stats first:

• According to a study by the American Management Association, U.S.workers spend an average of 1 hour and 47 minutes per day dealing withemail.Eight percent spent more than four hours a day dealing with email.
• Average attention span for internet users is 9 seconds.
• There are billions of emails sent every day.

So how do you stand out from the rest? One way is by creating an enticing subject line. There are a few types of subject lines that you can use.

The first is the Direct Subject Line. These subject lines tell you exactly what the email contains, whether it's for you to sign up for something or an annoucement.

Examples: Romeo and Juliet Advance Three-Day Seat Sale, Today's WeatherDirect Forecast for Toronto

Another is the Advertising Subject Line. These subject lines are used to entice you to buy. Often they have exclamation points and promise exciting things within the email.

Examples: F-R-E-E!, And the Winner is...Lindsey, It’s not too late to voice your opinion!

The last type is the Question Subject Line. This is when you pose a question in order to get people interested in what you have to say. Creating a question that makes people think gives them all the more reason to click on your email.

Examples: Still waiting to connect?, Is your funding plan recession proof?

Whatever subject line you choose, make sure it fits your email content. Brainstorm with others to get ideas about what it should include. Keep it short and simple and avoid industry-specific words.




Reference: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=287573

The Smartest Brands in Social Media

Got this article of of RedWire.com's Twitter. Very interesting!

http://mashable.com/2009/02/06/social-media-smartest-brands/

Habitat For Humanity Founder Dies

I found this link today and was immediately saddened:

http://www.masslive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2009/02/habitat_founder_a_legacy_of_gi.html

I worked on Habitat builds for several years when I was in university and enjoyed the entire experience. Millard Fuller was example of amazing philanthropy and a great human being.

Twestival!

Twitter is the hot new thing but many non-profits are wondering if it can actually be used for their organizations.

Look no further than Twestival!

According to their website:
On 12 February 2009 175+ cities around the world will be hosting Twestivals which bring together Twitter communities for an evening of fun and to raise money and awareness for charity: water.

Here's the Toronto website, where you can get all the information:

http://toronto.twestival.com/

And a great article from one of the organizers about how Twitter can help raise money:

http://erinbury.wordpress.com/2009/01/28/how-to-throw-a-global-event-in-140-characters-or-less/

Creating a Blogging Strategy For Your Non-Profit

I am in the middle of creating a blogging strategy for this blog. Why do I need one? Well, it's important when planning out your blog to create a list of possible topics that you are going to blog about. Rather than posting them as you think of them, it's wise to create a blogging strategy.

Here are my steps for creating a good blog strategy:

1. Assess your audience.
Think about who you want to read your blog. If it's donors, what would they want from a blog? What makes a good blog and why should they read it? Brainstorm ideas to make it interesting and new.

2. Create a list of topics.
What do you want to talk about? Write down the top ten categories you want to discuss on your blog.

3. Create a list of blog posts.
Take each one of the topics and brainstorm as many blog post ideas as possible. You don't have to come up with the whole post, but rather just the titles. This will give you a jumping off point to write your posts.

4. Determine what should be posted at what times.
Examine your topics and look at ones that closely tie together. Rather than writing about one topic until you've exhausted it, tackle several topics at once. If you only have a few topics, rotate them so that blog readers get a bit of everything.

5. Make your strategy flexible.
You don't want to have too rigid a schedule that you can't post some news when it comes along or an interesting article you find. Just use it as a guideline as to what should be posted.

A strategy will definitely take the stress away from blog posting and free up time for your other work.

*cartoon from http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/

More Stuff: Receive a copy of the monthly newsletter by emailing: lindsey@lindseypatten.com

Tech Soup

Tech Soup, a non-profit blog that has good advice about the tech side of fundraising, has now created a Canadian version! Here's the link: http://www.techsoupcanada.ca/

If you click on Learning Centre, there's articles posted about a variety of things including disclaimers, spam and more!