Diva Marketing Talksis a live, internet radio show. 30-minutes. 2-guests. 1-topic about social media marketing. Why? To help you understand how to participate in the "new" conversation without getting blown-up. Miss today's show? You can pick it up as a podcast or listen on your computer.
Today's Diva Marketing Talks explores how nonprofit organizations are using social media to not only tell their stories but to encourage donations to their causes, build community and expand their reach. Beth Kanter, prominent social media consultant and founder of BethKanter.org, and Alex Brown, visionary of AlexBrownRacing, will share their insights about the most effective social media tactics to the ROI of social media to how to make it all work on a budget of limited funds and human capital.
A much in demand speaker and trainer, and she has trained nonprofits in social media techniques literally around the world. In 2009, she was named by Fast Company Magazine as one of the most influential women in technology and one of Business Week's "Voices of Innovation for Social Media." In March, 2009, she will serve as the 2009 Scholar in Residence for Social Media and Nonprofits for the Packard Foundation. You can also reach Beth on Twitter.
Prior to his involvement in AlexBrownRacing Alex worked in Business School Admissions and managed online communities for Wharton (Alex's interview with Diva Marketing). He's also written whitepapers on Engagement Marketing and Transparency and is a sought after conference speaker. In 1997, Alex was one of the first to teach Internet Marketing in 1997 at a higher education level. He taught the topic for 10 years and his innovative approach included to teaching was one of the first to include student and course blogs.
Tips From The Diva Bag
Complements of Alex Brown
1. Integrate and be deliberate. Your social media campaign should be integrated within itself and the remainder of your marketing. And you should be very deliberate in your strategy and tactics. ex. If you have a facebook group, and e-mail the group members. Then what is the strategy regarding using this e-mail outlet, and how do the e-mails integrate with other vehicles used. Just because you can should not mean you should!
2. Just because there is a social media tool does not mean you need to use it. Myspace may or may not work. Facebook may or may not work for you. Take risks and experiment, but then stick with what works for you.
3. Don't forget "old" social media tools. A discussion board is older than the web itself, yet it still might be your most useful social media tool.
Recently while doing some research for a presentation I stumbled on what almost 6 Million Facebook members have been doing .. planting virtual gardens. (Late to the party .. yeah I know!)
While I thought the little avatars were too cute and the game seemed fun what was intriguing was (Lil) Green Patch is a fund raiser for The Nature Conservancy.
Sue M. Citro, Senior Digital Membership Manager, of The Nature Conservancy graciously agreed to provide some of the back-story of how the organization came to be the recipient of a generous donation program that is one of the most popular games and one of the highest fund raisers on Facebook.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Where did the idea to create a Facebook application, (Lil) Green Patch, for fund raising come from? Did you approach the developer first or did the developer approach you?
Sue M. Citro:In regards to (Lil) Green Patch, two developers created it and chose our organization as the beneficiary.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Lucky The Nature Conservancy! Was it challenging to get buy-in from your Executive Director and/or board? What were their reactions?
Sue M. Citro: I wouldn't say challenging. Like anything that's new, we try to understand it and determine what the impact both positive and negative will be. Often we approach things as a pilot and I think that helps us get buy-in. I think the key to working online is just to be open to trying new things -- doing so yields invaluable learning that's often applicable to other channels too.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Did you establish goals or success measures? If so what were they?
Sue M. Citro: For (Lil) Green Patch or other Facebook applications, we personally did not. Although the developers may have. We did launch our own widget tied to our Plant a Billion Trees campaign at plantabillion.org. Through plantabillion.org, our goal was to raise enough to plant 1 million trees the first year.
We thought price point was important for the campaign we were promoting through social networks -- each tree costs just $1 -- and while that is something to think about, we learned it isn't the most important thing. I'd say our biggest learning is to think of the application like a video game -- there always needs to be another level. There needs to be a reason to keep it going and come back and that's what I think is so brilliant about (Lil) Green Patch, you get characters for Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day. It keeps on going and going.
Toby/Diva Marketing: How much money has been donated to date? Facebook indicates: $109,500 in donations. How many square-feet of rain forest have been persevered to date?
Sue M. Citro: The figure Facebook indicates for the amount donated by (Lil) Green Patch to The Nature Conservancy is accurate and correct. The money donated to The Nature Conservancy ties into our Adopt an Acre program (more can be found about this program at nature.org/adopt) and helps to protect the lush rainforest sanctuary of the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica (more info can be found at nature.org/adoptcostarica)
Toby/Diva Marketing: I noticed in addition to the Facebook app there are also cute (Lil) Green Patch widgets. How's that working for you?
Sue M. Citro: Yes, that's something else the (Lil) Green Patch developers recently created.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What has been the most surprising aspect of the program?
Sue M. Citro: I heard a stat that people now check their facebook page before checking their email accounts. When I heard that stat, I thought can that really be true. Only then did I realize, that's exactly what I do!
Toby/Diva Marketing: What has been the most challenging aspect of the program?
Sue M. Citro: I think it all comes back to staff time and resources.
I don't believe there's some new thing that's going to be born on Facebook that means we no longer need to fund raising on web sites, by email, through search -- rather social networks are another mini-channel within the web where we must also focus some of our time as they add to and complement all those other efforts.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Any plans for future social media initiatives.
Sue M. Citro: I think social media has to be a part of all future plans any organization has -- so yes, we plan to continue testing and trying new things in this space.
Sue M. Citro on Social Media
I think many view social media as some big, new, crazy thing. While it's newer, it's really just another form of communicaiton, another avenue to share your message. I think the biggest thing is trying to figure out the best way to share your story via this newer mechanism in a way that's truly tangible and compelling. Hopefully in the new year, we'll all get better at that.
On November 4th, what seemed like the never ending U.S. presidential primary election race (thanks for the catch Edward) will at long last come to the end of its run. Kyle Young, founder of the Atlanta-based social media networking community - Multi-Tasking Women, has launched a non-partisan campaign of her own. Help spread the word .. You Are Never Too Busy Too Vote.
My first time was in a crowded school room near Beacon Street in Boston. Finally I did it. I felt important and so very grown-up. Growing up in Boston it was something that everyone talked about all the time. Right Polli? Oh, when I finally did it my folks were excited too. As a little girl I remember watching my mom and dad do it and thinking one day I'll get to go behind the curtain. Diva Marketing 2006 post. When was your first time?
If this is your first time or your tenth time .. as Kyle reminds us, "You are never too busy to vote!"
We talk, some times ad nauseam, about the community of the blogosphere. Well today, October 15, 2008 thousands and thousands of bloggers across the global are joining together to support Blog Action Day - a non-profit event. Blog Action Day was launched last year when two bloggers asked, “What would happen if all the bloggers of the world united for a single cause?”
Blog Action Day 2008 focuses on raising awareness and initiating action to combat Poverty.
Act Locally. Think Globally. Change The Conversation
In his role as Director of Web, Film and Interactive Strategies for the American Cancer Society's High Plains Division David J. Neff has worked with ACS in some exciting social media intitiaves. One of the most successful has been Sharinghope.tv the non profit world's first total user generated content site.
The other side of David J. Neff is .. he is an author, speaker and social media maven. He's also a guy with a big heart. Skipping along Twitter a couple of weeks ago I caught tweets about a Tweet-up. Following the teeny bread crumb trail I learned that David was part of the Tweet-up team. Sounded like a Diva Interview to me and David agreed.
Toby/Diva Marketing: So David, what is a Tweet-up?
David J. Neff: A Tweet-up is the same thing as what used to be called a meet-up. From the meet-up.com days. It’s a bunch of people who know each other online meeting in real-life. Usually to enjoy some Tex-Mex and Adult Beverages if it’s an Austin tweet-up ; -)
Toby/Diva Marketing: What was the ACS Tweet-up about? How many people signed up?
David J. Neff: Well Toby we didn’t have a ACS Tweet Up. We had a Blood Drive Tweetup to benefit the Central Texas Blood and Tissue Center. The American Cancer Society was not involved at all. We had 45 to 50 people sign up and we had 45 people show up.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Let’s put a little traditional perspective around that number. In a typical Blood Drive out reach what would be your average response?
David J. Neff: We doubled their traffic for that day!
Toby/Diva Marketing: Did you have any expectations? What did you “hope” would happen?
David J. Neff: I hope I would get to meet a lot of the Central Texas/Austin commuity and talk to them about giving blood and even our newest Web Community www.sharinghope.tv. Luckily we did a lot more than that!
Toby/Diva Marketing: As with most social media initiatives the “oomph!” comes from relations build with a community .. with Twitter it's the “Followers.” This is sort of a chicken and egg question. Do you first have to build a base of Followers before you can have a successful Tweet-up? How do you do that?
David J. Neff: Good question. I don’t have a third of the followers you do Toby (add me at @daveiam) so that was not an option for us. But what did happen was people spread the word on twitter and email! Michelle Greer my awesome co-partner on this did the same thing and soon we had the whole Austin Twitter Community interested in the Blood Drive. It went viral since it was such a good cause.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Twitter has a unique challenge. As the tweets (or posts) continue to increase exponentially based on the number of people you follow you can easily miss a tweet. How did you compensate for that?
David J. Neff: Michelle Greer and I talked the heck out of it. We also partnered with two local groups to get the message out. The 501 Tech Club of Austin and the Austin Social Media Club. They were a big help!
Toby/Diva Marketing: From a marketing view .. congrats! on integrating other social tactics such as the YouTube video and @Twitter messages .. which is how I found out. Please talk a little about that part of your strategy.
David J. Neff: That was just the summary.
If you are going to have an event around your non-profit be sure to Blog about it, Video tape people and take photos. It’s all you can do to spread the word!
Toby/Diva Marketing: What are a few of the Lessons Learned? Would you do it again?
David J. Neff: Whew! We learned a lot. The most important thing is that people really do care nowdays. You just have to break through the clutter and get them to notice your event. In this case the community on twitter really helped us do that! We do plan to do it again very soon for another non-profit here in town. Toby/Diva Marketing: What would you tell non profits and profits who are exploring micro blogging/Twitter as part of their communication out reach?
David J. Neff:
Make it happen. You need to experiment. Watch this video and follow some of my tips.
Follow David on Twitter! FI Space - blog about innovation for non profits.
Girlfriend, we all have lots of lives .. biz person, blogger, mom, auntie, teacher, student, tennis player, cook, wine connoisseur, and so on and so on. In part of my off-social-media-life I'm an adjunct professor at
Emory University’s
Goizueta Business School. I co-teach an innovative course on management consulting.
This is a shout for a few good Atlanta-based nonprofit organization to participate in a pro bono consulting services project that is part of Emory's top-five rated undergraduate business program.
What makes the class special is the students are teamed with an Atlanta-based not for profit organization "client." It's unique opportunity for undergrads (mostly seniors) to experience managing a real client relationship as part of their course work. By the end of the semester the students will have developed a research-based strategic plan that addresses the client's business challenge. What is quite amazing to me is that every year this becomes a from the heart project for the students .. and profs too!
Details About Business 438 Management Consulting Through the senior level course on Consulting, small teams of undergraduate students will be assigned consulting projects to complete between September and December 2008. These teams will spend approximately ten weeks during the fall semester working in partnership with their clients and will deliver a recommendation at the end of the process that will address the specific needs and concerns of their clients. The course will be taught by Professor Skip Gunther, a retired Booz Allen partner, and Toby Bloomberg, a practitioner with her own consulting company.
The Consulting course has been conducted for the past six years with a good deal of success. The students learn about consulting and the nonprofit sector at a critical thinking level. And, most importantly, the nonprofit clients have received high quality, pro bono consulting from a talented team of undergraduates.
To apply to participate in this service, please provide the following information by August 4, 2008 in no more than five pages:
1. Statement of the consulting project - due to the 10-week time frame, please be thoughtful in identifying a meaningful project that is sufficiently narrow to be accomplished in the time allowed.
Note: Students will create a project plan that addresses a specific organizational challenge. Based on the information needed to develop the plan, students may perform primary and/or secondary research. However, they will not execute any of the tactics (e.g., marketing communication materials) because of time limitations.
2. Brief organizational overview – including historical sketch, current programs and services, and mission. Please include date of inception and 501(c)(3) status of your organization.
3. Brief description of organizational resources – including annual revenues, staffing, Board of Directors list, and organizational chart.
4. Contact information for the staff member who will be the main contact for the project (preferably, Executive Director) – including office address, phone and email address. If you have a website please include the URL.
Requirements
1. Ability to provide up to $200 for out-of-pocket expenses for the students – includes development of final presentation and report.
2. Dedicated liaison - preferably the Executive Director or senior level staff member of the nonprofit.
3. Commitment to attend 2 evening classes at Emory University; the first will be on September 17th to introduce you to your team, and the second will be on either December 3rd or December 10th to receive the presentation of final report.
4. Atlanta-based location with full-time ED.
5. The resource ability (time, people and funding) to implement the plan.
Proposal Evaluation Criteria
1. Satisfaction of requirements above
2. Realism of project scope (is it sufficiently challenging, yet realistically doable within the course time frame)
3. Balance within selected projects to provide maximum diversity of experiences to students (i.e., we would prefer to not have all projects focus on, for example, resource development).
Deadline for submission August 4.
If you want to submit an application please drop a comment or DM me and I'll get back to you with contact specifics. If you know of an Atlanta-based non proft that would be interested I'd appreciate if you'd pass along. Thanks!
Today's post is a Two-for-One. It's Friday Fun - Friday Fun is Diva Marketing's virtual happy hour from cosmos to
Jack to lemonade. A waiting for the weekend 'playground' time to be
sophisticated-silly. Or sometimes just plain silly. Combine with Biz Blog Profile - Biz Blog Profiles! is a behind the scene look at how corporations, non profits, higher education institutions and the arts are using blogs to support their marketing goals.
Take a brand with an image challenge. Add a unique positioning strategy targeting a new segment. Overlay it with the limitations (people and money) of a not for profit. Sprinkle with an innovative, never been done before social media strategy. Toss in a few vintage dresses.
Mix well. Welcome to the world of the
Goodwill of Greater Washington.
About Goodwill of Greater Washington Goodwill of Greater Washington provides job training and employment services to people with disadvantages and disabilities throughout the greater Washington, DC region. We fund our mission through diverse lines of business including our chain of nine retail stores, two e-commerce sites, landscaping, pest control and janitorial contract services, as well as a small amount of traditional fundraising (about 10%).
About Brendan Hurley
I have been a marketing professional for 15 years, with a BA in Communications and an MS in Marketing. I spent most of my career in the “for profit” sector, working primarily in the radio industry marketing for a variety of radio groups including Clear Channel Communications. I came to Goodwill as the VP of Marketing when Clear Channel’s Regional Senior VP became Goodwill’s CEO in late 2003. What I enjoy about Goodwill is that it is a charitable agency that helps the community, but also runs more like a business than a traditional non profit.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Vintage shopping is great fun but Brendan, I must admit when I think of diva, cool places to discover cute clothes Goodwill is not top of mind. However, you not only are changing the image of Goodwill of Greater Washington but are creating a new positioning for the organization … from thrift shop to vintage fashion.
How and why did an organization, that is not known for innovation in marketing, decide to step into the world of social media to support and promote that new direction?
Brendan Hurley: There is an interesting disparity in the vintage and classic fashion world. If you spend $150 on an outfit at a high end vintage retailer, it’s considered hip, but if you buy the same outfit at a Goodwill store or “thrift” store, many consumers perceive it as old and used.
We didn’t want to alienate our core customers, many of whom are bargain shoppers, but we needed to find a way to grow a secondary market segment for Goodwill that we felt we could impact with the right positioning: young, professional females, who tend to be a primary market segment for vintage retailers. Ultimately we felt that a social media strategy would help us address this need.
Toby/Diva Marketing: In a recent guest blog post on The Buzz Bin you said something very interesting:
It wasn’t until I started developing our 2007 strategic marketing plan that I finally figured out my problem: I was trying too hard to develop a social networking strategy instead of incorporating social networking into my marketing strategy.
It’s the concept that I’ve been trying to help marketers understand. Would you please discuss that a bit more? How did you “get it.”
Brendan Hurley: Like many marketers (I think), I didn’t fully understand social networking as a “tactic” incorporated into a strategy. I kept wondering how we could integrate social networking into our marketing plan (trying to force it) rather than identifying our organizational challenges and applying the best marketing methods to address those challenges.
Once I did that, the answer became clear: The use of social networking would achieve multiple strategic objectives. It was like a light bulb went off. An integrated social networking and new media plan would help us reach the audience we were targeting without alienating our core shopper, drive traffic to our virtual fashion show that we knew would convince visitors we had a good product, then provide them with an easy portal to our online retail store to make a quick purchase. By integrating mission messages into each step along the way, we could also educate the population on the nature of Goodwill’s mission, thereby developing greater passion for our cause while generating brand loyalty. The flow seemed very natural.
The only problem was that while I had read blogs before, I had never written one, so I didn’t understand the strategy behind it and how to make it compelling and sustainable. Fortunately, I knew Geoff Livingston of Livingston Communications from a marketing committee we both serve on at the Greater Washington Board of Trade and I asked him if he would consult us on finding appropriate vintage fashion websites on which to advertise, and on launching our blog.
It was Geoff that taught me that we had to treat the blog just like any other product with a mission statement, logo, positioning statement, etc. Doing so has helped us stay focused and forced us to maintain product integrity so that the blog doesn’t become another blatant advertisement that will simply turn off any half educated reader. The content has value and I believe that is what keeps readers coming back.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Let’s talk about your exciting initiatives.
First the Goodwill Fashion Blog. Was it difficult to get buy-in from your board and how was it presented to them?
Brendan Hurley: Our board LOVED the idea. They believed that the use of new media was quite innovative in the non profit sector. And certainly the use of fashion to help educate others on our mission was a very unique strategy. While they seemed quite confident, my team and I were responsible for the execution of this complex initiative, so I was a a bit nervous having never launched such an effort before. Fortunately, I have a fantastic team. Our blogger, “The DC Goodwill Fashionista”, is an employee, Em Hall, who is very keen on fashion. She loves writing the blog and is very talented.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Did you establish success measures or goals and if so what were they?
Brendan Hurley: We set financial goals for the fashion show, which we’ve already achieved. We also set a goal on the number of unique visitors to the fashion show (10,000) which we are close to hitting now and we haven’t even posted the video on YouTube yet. Right now, the only place the fashion show can be seen is on our website.
We have a financial goal for our silent auction, but it hasn’t ended yet, so I can’t tell you whether or not we’ll hit that number. However, I can tell you that we’ve already successfully converted better than 14% of our fashion show viewers into Goodwill online shoppers. That is a number I had no idea we’d achieve. Our brick and mortar retail sales increased measurably as well in the two weeks since the fashion show launched. However, I can’t say whether those numbers are sustainable at this point and how much the virtual fashion show and blog influenced that growth.
As for the blog, I would have been happy with 100 visitors a week and a retention rate of 25% after less than 90 days, but we’re presently averaging about 700 visitors a week and a retention rate of close to 40%. The blog has also become the second largest referral source for our fashion show.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Did you perceive any risks in stepping into the blogosphere with a blog that has open comments? What strategies are in place to mitigate risk?
Brendan Hurley: When we decided to pursue a blogging strategy, it was an easy decision for us to establish a policy of posting both positive and negative comments, provided they were not inappropriate. No comments go live without our review first. However, I am a firm believer in transparency and integrity and if someone criticizes us, it will be seen.
Toby/Diva Marketing: The DC Goodwill Fashionista seems to be having such fun with her posts but why did you choose to go the anonymous blogger route?
Brendan Hurley: That was a strategic decision to protect the long term sustainability of the blog. We decided to give the blogger an alias because at some point, the author of the blog may change.
Brendan Hurley: For three years we have held an annual Goodwill Fashion Show that was designed primarily as a fundraiser and secondarily as an attempt to help change perceptions of the quality of fashions available at Goodwill Stores. Unfortunately, while the unique fashion show received some good publicity, only a limited number of people could attend the event because it had a high ticket price attached to it.
By converting our live fashion show into a virtual fashion show that we could post on our website and promote through social networks, we believed we could reach a broader and younger market segment by providing entertaining and compelling content that would interest and excite the viewer. This would also make our sponsors happy because we’d be reaching thousands of people rather than a few hundred who could attend a live event.
Creating a fashion blog and pages on social networking sites like MySpace would not only help drive traffic to the fashion show and our online auction site, but also give us access to influential social networks that may help position Goodwill as a knowledgeable resource on vintage and contemporary fashion, while also positioning our stores as untapped destinations for inexpensive vintage and contemporary fashions, rather than stores for low income shoppers. So far the virtual fashion show has been a big hit!
Toby/Diva Marketing: How is the eBay Auction working for you? Sidebar: Today - 9-28-07 - is the last day of the auction.
Take a break and do a little virtual shopping for a few cute vintage pieces .. at bargain prices! Send me a photo of you in your new outfit and I'll post it on Diva.
Brendan Hurley: Since the auction hasn’t ended yet, I can’t tell you if we’ve hit our financial goal, but I believe we will. We’ve got a lot of watchers on our site. Our fashion show has become the second biggest referral source to our eBay store behind eBay itself.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Were there any surprises along the way in terms of what people bid or perhaps who bid?
Brendan Hurley: Yes, there are people bidding on some items I didn’t think would get much interest and other items I thought would be popular that few people are watching. We did discover through some additional research that a Versace china collection is worth much more than we had originally thought. The interest in that china has really skyrocketed. There is also an interesting vintage circa 1920s clutch purse that I am not personally fond of, but is getting a great deal of interest from eBay shoppers. Then again, I don’t know a lot about purses.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Hmm .. eBay today .. perhaps Second Life next year. A few diva-typequestions .. Who were the models?
Brendan Hurley: The models were fantastic. They were all local and supplied by Tu-Anh. Tu-Anh is a locally based, but internationally experienced fashion designer and consultant who volunteered her time. She runs a professional fashion consultancy called Polished. She knew exactly who to ask and all of them modeled for free.
Toby/Diva Marketing: How were the garments chosen and who put together the outfits?
Brendan Hurley: All of the items were literally taken off the racks from our nine DC area Goodwill Retail Stores by Tu-Anh and her staff. It didn’t take them long. I think they were only hunting for a few days before they had an entire collection. What can I say…the stuff you can find at Goodwill is pretty good! You just need to look.
Toby/Diva Marketing: How will you sustain this new positioning and does social media fit into the Goodwill of Greater Washington’s long-term marketing strategy?
Brendan Hurley: I suspect that we’ll see a bit of a drop off once the auction ends and the initial excitement over the fashion show starts to fade, but we’re committed to a long term blogging presence and will very likely do another virtual fashion show next year. The challenge now is sustaining and building upon our early success.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What were a few of the lessons learned?
Brendan Hurley: First, treat your blog like a product, not a strategy. Second, to be successful at a blog you need to be willing to make the commitment. A blog requires much more research and time than I would have ever thought.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What advise would you give a not for profit who wanted to step into the social media space?
Brendan Hurley: I would tell them something that sounds like a cliché: Think out of the box. If you want to engage a new audience and educate them on your mission, you don’t necessarily have to force your mission upon them.
Engage them using a common interest. If your cause is homelessness, maybe think about developing a blog about homeowner related issues and weave your mission into the blog content. You’ll reach a broader variety of people, develop a personal relationship with them and then gain their trust and support. The population that is already passionate about your cause is going to support you anyway. Use the blog as a way to acquire new untapped supporters.
Brendan Hurley On Social Media Your take on using social media as a marketing / business strategy. Your get the last word (smile)
I’m amazed at how others are willing to market your product or service for you if they feel it has value. Build an online product with significance and treat it with the respect you would give any more tangible product or service. If you do, you won’t have a problem finding people willing to help you communicate your message.
I love planes so when Josh Hallett, Hyku, presented the opportunity to talk to the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) I jumped at the chance. CAP held its inaugural Public Affairs Officer Academy in Hot'lanta (very hot 'Lanta!)last week. I had the pleasure of speaking to a wonderful group of volunteers who are making a huge difference in our country and influencing the lives of thousands of kids. I met people who had been volunteering for over 20-years. They told me the most heart warming stories of how CAP has changed lives .. especially kids in the cadet program. CAP is meant for social media. Julie, Kim, Steve and Jim you were great!
Got to the Marriott Marquis in time to catch the speaker before me. Always a good thing to do - to have a reference point of where folks were before you come on. It was a session on traditional PR. After the slides on how to plan and media relations a slide on Blogs popped up. Oh oh .. over lap I thought. The speaker's concluding remarks on the topic ran something like .. Interesting idea but you don't want to put it on top of your list. Keep in the idea file if you have time. You have too many other more important things to do before you add blogs to the mix.
Girlfriend, I had to bring in another point of view. The Civil Air Patrol is meant for social media. Fascinating to me was after my talk a group of people came over to chat that included 20 somethings to 70 somethings. It was a 71-year old gentleman who was the most enthused about going home to Dallas to talk to his WING about blogging. I,of course, sent him to Millie Garfield's My Mom's Blog for a peek into senior blogs.
Sidebar: Millie's on network TV .. ABC News no less! Not bad for 81-year young gal from Swampscott, MA!
Okay, I admit to taking a sip or two from the koolaid so let's take a closer look and see if CAP is really meant for social media.
CAP's mission is connecting with and helping people. - The most powerful value of blogs is the functionality to develop relationships through conversations. CAP has the most amazing stories to tell. Each WING (CAP Chapter) could write its own book.
CAP's mandate is also to education. Podcasts, vlogs, blogs each offers unique (and fun) ways to provide information and peer-to-peer interaction. Using YouTube and iTunes as distribution channels can increase reach.
The WINGs don't have a lot of money. - Blog platforms, like Blogger and Wordpress are free.
One of CAP's challenges is to reach diverse audiences: prospective cadets, cadets, adult volunteers, media, corporate sponsors, parents, community supporters, businesses, pilots .. to name a few. - Multiple social media strategies are a way to provide content that addresses specific needs of members of their community. Podcasts, multi author blogs and online photo albums area a few more ideas.
As one might expect the cadets are all over social networks. There are amazing Flickr photos, YouTube videos, MySpace sites and Facebook groups. There's even a Facebook group for girl cadets. However, it's not all under twenty somethings who are using social media to reach out to other volunteers and people who share their passion. Adults are there too. - Hang out where your people are .. why not a WING Myface page and/or Facebook group?
Since there are CAP members involved in social networks and blogs listening in on those conversations - and then joining in - would be a terrific way to obtain informal feedback and first step research.
Yes, Divas sure seems to me that CAP is meant for social media.
Lessons Learned: Keep an open mind to new ways of doing business .. or new ways of doing life!
With a
dirty martini in hand and wearing your hot polka dot bikini
TiVo Fellini's La Dolca
and head over to Getting To The Point where Katya Andresen, is hosting this week's Nonprofit Consultant's Carnival.* The theme is Your Top Five .. Anything.
What does a dirty martini, a hot polka dot bikini and a Fellini film have in common? At first glance not much but each in its own time and place was considered edgy and even innovative. And Katya is giving special treatment to posts that contain one of the following words: bikini, martini or Fellini.
My Top Five .. Anything: Internet Marketing Strategies That Were Once Innovative But Have Since Become Mainstream
My heart
goes out to Virginia Tech's extended family .. students, parents, facility, staff and beyond.
There will be many who analyze the situation and review the hows and whys and what shouldas. In her post, Virginia Tech: Social Media in Crisis Planning, Marianne Richmond takes a different view. Based on how students in the year 2007 communicate ..
Students at Virginia Tech used mobile phones, digital cameras, social networks such as Flickr, Facebook and MySpace, blogs and video to communicate with each other and to document the tragedy in real time.
Marianne offers a simple but brilliant solution that every school should include in their crisis management strategy: Twitter. Create Twitter groups to relay important information during disasters.
Sidebar: Twitter is a mobile text messaging systems that allows groups to be formed without regard to provider. The history of the content is retained on a web page which can be public or private.
If I were a betting kinda diva, I'd say that the majority of college
students have cell phones. Those who don't have cells phones would learn about the
situation through friends, as well as from the buzz happening on campus. Faster, more effiecient than email or blog posts.
Last week I spoke at the Center for Disease Control and Preventaion about promoting public health through blogging. After the panel discussion some of the CDC's EMarekting team and I explored how Twitter could be used as a crisis communication tool. They immediately saw application in using this type of simple technology in remote areas during a disaster or disease out break. Overlay Google Maps and you have a visual Free alert system.
Crisis management in the year 2007 and beyond must incorporate processes and systems that reach people in ways in which they communcate. And then make it easy for those who have the information to extend it to those who do not. What would have been the result if Virginia Tech had a Twitter Group in place this week?
I encourage, no I challenge marketers involved in healthcare, education and the non profit sectors to step out of your comfort zone and present these types of new solutions to your clients. Not only will you appear innovative but you may just help to save lives.
