How Driving In A Blizzard Parallels Managing Social Media

A recent meeting took me to Richmond, Virginia for a couple of days. The journey back was a bit of an adventure... The snow started falling in Richmond around 9:30AM and I started my trek toward the Mason-Dixon line around 1:00PM - enough time for a couple of inches of snow to accumulate.

As basically anyone I talked to from the Richmond area can attest: 2 inches in central Virginia = Blizzard-like driving conditions. Not so much because the roads are more sensitive to snow in Richmond, Fredericksburg and the surrounding areas, but because the drivers are. Once home I sat pondering the trip and the number of accidents I passed (I stopped counting at 10). I found some parallels in how one tackles a social media plan:

1) Go Slow, But Not Too Slow: Proceed at a speed that makes you feel safe, but isn't so slow it will cause your fellow drivers (co-workers, marketing staff, etc.) to run into you.

2) Map Out Your Course: While many of us have become dependent on things like Google Maps and apps to give us turn-by-turn navigation, in a blizzard it is even less safe to be peaking at these while behind the wheel. The lesson? You don't have to memorize your strategy, but you need to know it well enough that you don't have to check it incessantly. This way you will view other campaigns, communications efforts, and opportunities with an eye towards improving your social media efforts. You will be more likely to recognize opportunities for synergy and success.

3) Be Open To Changing Course: It's not uncommon for you to find your planned path - no matter how much thought you dedicated to it - may not be possible halfway through your journey. Resources may disappear due to budget cuts, Facebook may change the way pages work, Twitter may redesign the way a standard profile appears, etc. Be ready to change on the fly. Two things you can plan in advance are: A) Your attitude when the inevitable road block arises - be positive and confident... it's contagious; and, B) Who you will gather to discuss the issues. If you already know you have a group of X people who will discuss such bumps in the path - and they know they are in the group - you will have an easier time organizing the group and finding a solution quickly.

4) Don't Stop Just Because You See Others Running Off The Road: Others are going to make mistakes and go slip-sliding-away. Rather than let it deter you from plowing ahead, learn from their mistakes and pay attention to your efforts. (*You have to love me using "plowing" in this analogy, don't you?!?)

5) Don't Speed Up Just Because You See Others Flying By: Just like others are going to make mistakes, some are going to get lucky and have greater early success than you will. Again, learn from what they have done well and apply it to your campaigns. However, do not skip critical parts of your plan just to "keep up."

6) Follow A Truck Or Plow: Someone likely has better equipment (technology and tools) or more experience with this kind of driving than you do - follow their leadership and embrace the appropriate tools. Let me know if you need help finding this kind of help or consulting. If I can't help you, I will gladly help pair you with the right person for your needs.

7) Be Thankful When You Arrive: Don't overlook the short-term success and show gratitude for all involved in your social media efforts.

8) Be Ready For The Next Blizzard: Keep track of what you did well in your last campaign, hold a debrief meeting afterwards to identify what went wrong, gather it all (wiki?) so that it can help you navigate the drive with more expertise the next time you face a blizzard.

Please note - If you follow these as actual driving suggestions when in a blizzard you are on your own and I'm not liable for any damage or injuries. ;)

Photo by PinkStock Photos, used via creative commons license.

Free Feedback on Your Nonprofit's Website

You may recall that the post 10 Pages Every Nonprofit Website Should Have generated a lot of feedback (and it still generates numerous visits to this blog). One result of the post was a LinkedIn group entitled "Nonprofit Website Best Practice." One part of the group is regular nonprofit website review. This provides the members of the group with an opportunity to visit various sites and identify tools, ideas and design elements they may want to implement or avoid on other sites.

That being said, I invite you to 1) join the group; and, 2) suggest your nonprofit organization's site for the group's review. Submit your site via the comment section below!

What Lies Ahead For Philanthropy?

I'm putting together a series of super-brief interviews with philanthropic leaders discussing what lies ahead for philanthropy - challenges, opportunities, technological advances, necessary research, social media's place in it all... as well as any other paths that arise from the answers to these questions.

I have a decent list of names to start with, but I would love your suggestions on who to include. Either email me or post your suggestions in the comments. Thanks!

New Book & Contest for Nonprofits

So the promotion team for a new book by Carol Cone, Jocelyne Daw, Kristian Darigan Merenda and Anne Erhard, Breakthrough Nonprofit Branding, were kind enough to send me a copy of the book to review. Well, I have not yet been able to tackle the book, but a quick skim has me excited. Of course, any book that gets Beth Kanter's (@kanter) endorsement is likely to be worth reading. So why am I posting about it before I can do a full review? Because of this (from the promotional materials):

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To celebrate the book launch, USA TODAY has donated two national ¼ page ads worth $100,000, which will be awarded to one North American nonprofit organization. In January, the public can vote on the top 10 finalists to decide which will be the lucky winner!

The deadline to apply is December 10th. UPDATED: Now extended to December 17th.

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For more information & to enter the contest, please visit this page. For more on the book, go here or to the Twitter account, @BNonprofitBrand. And good luck in the contest!

Planning Ahead: January Holidays Your Nonprofit Can Use

As many of you know, there is a page on this blog dedicated to holidays nonprofit organizations may be able to use for creative awareness or fundraising campaigns or internal management - such as getting your team behind Universal Letter Writing Week (January 8-14). I'm going to try and do this about a month in advance every month, to give you a little time to plan ahead. If you're interested in planning further ahead or reviewing some of the guidelines on making these holiday campaigns successful for your organization, make sure to visit the original page.

Here's a quick snapshot of some of January's holidays you may be able to use:

Bird Day
Birth Defects Month
Cervical Cancer Screening Month
Fun at Work Day - Please use this one, it's great for your team!
Healthy Weight Week
Humanitarian Day
Hunt For Happiness Week
I'm Not Going To Take It Anymore Day - Great for asking your constituents to take a stand for your cause.
Inspire Your Heart with Art Day - Not just for art-focused nonprofits. Use art to illustrate your efforts and impact. Remember, photography, children's art... there are many ways to use this one.
International Creativity Month - Is there a contest you can have in honor of this month? Asking for creative campaign or solicitation ideas? Campaign themes?
International Quality of Life Month
Martin Luther King Day
National Cut Your Energy Costs Day
National Glaucoma Awareness Month
National Lose Weight/Feel Great Week
National Mentoring Month - Another great one to use internally & externally!
National Poverty in America Awareness Month
National Volunteer Blood Donor Month - If you can, give blood. It's the easiest philanthropic gift you can make (again, if you can).
New Years Day
New Year's Resolutions Week
Thyroid Awareness Month
Trivia Day - Come up with 10 trivia questions about your organization and its efforts - some fun, some illustrating impact and some that are really trivial. Direct folks to the page in honor of Trivia Day (January 4).
Universal Letter Writing Week - Have everyone on your team write a letter to a handful of random donors to say thanks. Or... ask your donors, volunteers & beneficiaries to write a letter to local media outlets and online to highlight your organization.

Reason #4,282 Not to Use Twitter/Facebook as Your Only Source

Some of you know I'm a big soccer (a.k.a. "proper football") fan. Well, today brought disappointing news that the United States' bid to host the 2022 World Cup came in second place to Qatar's bid. Not a huge surprise, considering what a corrupt and political organization soccer's international governing body, FIFA, is, but I digress...

Given how popular the sport and the World Cup are, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the Twitter trends reflected the awarding of the 2018 games to Russia and 2022 event to Qatar. What might come as a surprise? Well... check out the worldwide trends following the announcement:

Qatar is nowhere to be seen... but "Quatar" and "Katar" both make the list. While spelling is not the most important thing in the world (I'm sure there are typos on this blog somewhere, so I'm just covering myself), the fact that these two misspellings made worldwide trends should tell you something about how much thought, research and expertise go into many-a-tweet. Or, more accurately, doesn't go into tweets or Facebook postings. Some will simply pass on information from others as fact, without stopping to consider how accurate the info may be.

Just another example and reason to be careful about using Twitter or Facebook as your sole source for any information.

Photo credit

The Best Nonprofit Fundraising App Ever...

...is no app at all. Fundraising apps are pointless - you need to engage and inform if you feel like you must have an app.

Sorry to pull a bit of a bait-and-switch on you, but I am surprised how many nonprofits are focused on the creation of a fundraising app for their organization.

This is one of the areas where I believe consumers have different expectations of for-profit and nonprofit organizations. Here are some data eMarketer compiled from mobile app users:

There are some compelling points for the for-profit organizations to create an engaging mobile app, but let's look at it Through Nonprofit Eyes:

What would a potential donor gain from your mobile app if it is only for fundraising?

1) A way to give? Sounds great... but do you have a lot of folks telling you "I was going to give, but there wasn't an app for that?" I may be wrong, but I don't think this is the primary reason folks would install an app, when they could make a gift online via the same phone without jumping through as many hoops;

2) A way for you to pester them about giving? Hmm...

3) Anything else?

I am not claiming there isn't a place for apps in the nonprofit world, but they should be based around the services and expertise provided by the organizations, not strictly making gifts. These type of apps will further inform and engage, which can build a foundation for gifts... but I bet they don't come through an app.

All of this being said, there are some nonprofits doing a nice job engaging folks with apps. Here you go:

Capital Area Food Bank (Austin, Texas) - iPheedaNeed:

Great, engaging app with games, events and impact news. Their president, Debbie Bresette, was kind enough to be a guest of the blog in July. This is easily the most-cited example of a good nonprofit app.

National Public Radio:

An easy way for NPR supporters and listeners to keep up with NPR programs and news. Just another way for folks to be engaged by NPR and - hopefully - be more likely to give when the ask comes.