advergirl

I use social media instead of a ladder

I do enjoy reading the lovely Tara Hunt’s insights on social media in action over at Horse*Pig*Cow and, of course, in her book The Wuffie Factor. One of my favorite ideas is The Soup Metric.

Defined: The soup metric is the number of people in your social network who you know would bring you soup if they knew you were sick and/or get your back in any other real friend way.

The big idea is: For those native to social media, there’s isn’t necessarily a big difference between our close-knit personal friends and our strongest business/online relationships. The people who will go to bat for us no matter what are our people. Doesn’t matter how we came to know them. Or where we talk to them most frequently.

I’m confident that if I was sick and needed soup, I could Tweet just such a mopey request and a number of someones would come to my aid. I know that because I would do the same for lots of people I’m connected to – even some I’ve never directly met.

I’ve often tried to explain this dynamic to spectators or adopters.

They ask: Isn’t Twitter just a bunch of people saying what they ate for dinner?

(Incidentally: a ridiculously good PB&J from Café Apropos)

And, I say: No, people use it lots of different ways. Primarily, they form ad hoc groups for socializing, sharing ideas or just supporting one another in everyday-tough situations.

They look at me quizzically. I try again.

Here are a few of the ways I use social media:

• To make my city smaller: Lots of Columbus people participate in social media – on Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. Getting to know them here lets me connect with a broader range of people than I might otherwise encounter. It helps me find new places, events and things worth checking out – and, ensures I’ll know someone when I get there. It’s knowing and being known in my adopted hometown. 


• To give and take ideas and resources: I read a lot. But, there’s so much information out there, I could never even hope to get to 1% of it. Online, I share links and mini reviews of my favorite content and count on my network to do the same. Together, we’re like a sassy high school debate team of data.


• To know my friends in more personal ways: I have friends I haven’t seen in years who I feel closer to than some of the people I see every day. I watch their lives unfold online. Hear their small victories and complaints. Laugh at what they did have for dinner or what awful thing their trainer said to them. It’s what the New York Times calls ambient intimacy – that easy sense of knowing someone that comes from being a small, ongoing part of their lives (instead of just getting the big Christmas-letter download)


•  And, it’s true: I use Twitter instead of a ladder. My ladder weighs at least 60 pounds. The thing is wicked configurable and nearly impossible to lug up the stairs. So when I have to change a light bulb in some lofty location, I climb on something totally inappropriate to the task (hamper, bar stool, and, once, a kitty condo tower). But, first, I tweet that I’m about to do something dumb & if I’m not heard from in 10 minutes to please send for help.

About the T-shirt: Threadless has this great new online Twitter store featuring shirts with crowdsourced Tweets. Submit one or buy one here.

Fundraising and Social Media

Can we just take a moment to be truly honest with each other, dear readers?

It’s weird when incredibly smart, fresh, relevant social media advice comes from the mouth of a 50-something, right?

Hell, most of the time I feel completely out of touch in this category myself… especially, as it turns out, when I’m getting schooled by a grey hair.

I’m jumping ahead.

This week: Ologie and Benefactor Counsel hosted a series of events for fundraising professionals and greater good leaders featuring Richard McPherson, author of Digital Giving.

I was lucky enough to attend two of the sessions focused on how to use social media to connect with new donors. And, I have to say – if you’re looking for a speaker who (1) totally gets social media, (2) has been there/done that credibility and (3) can deliver advice that is relevant, clear and actionable … well, this is the guy to call. I’m already integrating some of the things I learned.

Let me share a few highlights:

Set aside the scarcity mindset

• We need to move from the mindset of scarcity to one of abundance
  


• There are millions of potential donors out there; you just have to find a way to connect with them


• Online fundraising allows us to aggregate the resources of those scattered givers


• Your donors are older today, but it’s more a symptom of your fundraising efforts than it is a reflection of your true constituents


• 80% of Americans give to nonprofits every year (DMA 08)

Cause vs. Candidate

• Why has Obama been able to inspire so many first-time givers? The first thing he asks for isn’t money; it’s a commitment. He doesn’t ask for money until three or four communications in. First he makes you a stakeholder in his campaign – gives you a movement / an event / a task to be a part of


• One effective social tactic: Sign a pledge. People who get a chance to make a statement quickly become donors
  • 47% of people who give online did something else first


• People don’t emotionally connect to institutions; they connect with causes they can believe in
  • Ex. Give to the Library annual pledge vs. Thank a Librarian campaign
  • Ex. Nothing but Nets – the UN Foundations campaign to fight malaria


• The Internet rewards storytelling. It’s hard to tell a truly compelling “unrestricted gift” story

What's the strategy? There are no checkbooks on Facebook

 

• Fundraising is one step removed from a social media introduction


• Fundraising on the Web is more like “major gift” strategy than anything else. It’s about cultivation. Finding the right time and the right amount for a first gift


• Engage the person first; ask for money later


• Virtual volunteer recruitment is essential. Share your brand with your biggest advocates – let them take your message and “the ask” to their friends


• Add a function to your Web site that allows people to quickly qualify themselves (get them to register in exchange for something of value – ex. Field guide, “pet inside” fire sticker)


• The messenger is critical. You want that person / organization to create confidence. To endorse your organization’s brand.


• Focus on what the donor wants, not what the organization wants. For example, most online giving tools allow for anonymous giving, but organizations turn that off because they want to be able to track down the donor. If you allow it? Total donations increase 15 – 20%

The Web’s not just for small gifts

• 51% of the “wired wealthy” (middle and major donors) prefer to give online


• 80% already have (download Convio study)


• Why they like it: reduces administrative costs, has a sense of immediacy / ability to respond effectively to a crisis, gets them frequent flyer miles (yep, it’s a big number), makes it easier to track total donations over time


• Why they don’t like it: Worried that you’ll sell their personal information or deluge them with email

What are the tools?

• Ask yourself: If an opportunity presented itself today, are you ready to quickly communicate with all of your constituents? Do you have their email addresses, cell phone numbers, etc.?


• “Email is an old person’s medium. You have to be able to think beyond it.” But also use it strategically to reach boomers – it’s the bread & butter of their giving.


• The new free media is blogs. It’s “Information unfiltered by authority”


• 74% of people who give said an email about how a donation was spent would improve the chance that they give again (DMA 08)


• 3/4s said the Web site experience has a significant impact on it / how much they give

Budget for preparedness

• The challenge with disruptive technology is that there’s no proven ROI, no history


• It’s tough to fit that into the nonprofit planning model


• Need to set aside a certain percentage of the budget to prepare for what’s next – to experiment with how to connect with your new donors


• “Increasingly, the gap between have and have not organizations will be defined by how they have / have not embraced technology”

Why add mobile to your strategy?

• “Phones allow us to begin to compete with consumer spending instead of other charitable giving”


• Americans acknowledge that much of their spending is somewhat frivolous. It’s also spontaneous. So, today, it’s a sweater, but tomorrow it could just as easily be a contribution


• Today, mobile giving is challenged by total giving limits and administrative charges from providers. But, soon people will connect their Paypal accounts to their phones and giving will be much less restrictive


• Mobile partners: Mobile Accord, MobileCommons

Big takeaway: “You don’t teach your donors; your donors teach you” Donors are changing the rules of the game. It's up to us to learn it.

OpenAd.Net

What's better than wandering the aisles of Meijer when you're hopelessly awake past 3AM on a Monday?

OpenAd.net

All those wacky / expensive / off brand / scary ideas the AE wouldn't even let you get in front of the client??  ... yeah, whip 'em out. OpenAd is a virtual bazaar of spec creative work.

Read the RFPs. Submit your best idea.Winner takes the purse. And, the credit.

Sign up as a freelancer or make your entire creative department flex their noggins.

Read about it in Fast Company
Or, go sign up.

Rollover takeover

Here's an interesting video ad technique I hadn't noticed before - rolling over the ad causes the video panel to expand and take over the page content without leaving the original page. Nice balance.

Two examples from Eyewonder:
Invasion
Titliest

RSS: Yes, now

For most agencies and clients, email marketing still has a strong hold on interactive communications. In many cases RSS (which some of us rely on daily ... um, hourly) hasn't even really hit the radar.

With email marketing maturing and declining quickly, many savvy marketers are looking to RSS as the next logical opt in communication - and, as a huge proponent, I want to help get the word out.

Here's a great new article on the subject, chock full of plenty of plain-spoken rationale to start to move clients toward adoption. And, below is a super quick primer on just what we're talking about -

Email Morphs Into A Feed: The Progression from Email to RSS Content Distribution & Marketing

RSS [Real Simple Syndication] lets users (also known as people) choose what content they want and where they want to get it. They can look at information when they have the time or desire to do so, rather than planning to get back to yet another message in their crowded inbox.

The most ubiquitous users of RSS are bloggers. But, RSS – or the ability to subscribe to content – can been enabled on most any database-driven Web property.

There are generally three ways to read RSS-enabled content

• Visit the web page
• Use an online new aggregator [Users simply create an account, and then start subscribing to feeds. They can come back to that single portal page at any time and see all the latest updates on the sites they subscribe to]
• Download a reader. [Users also have the option to download a news aggregator, an RSS reader, that delivers the content right to their desktop or inbox. Newsgator, for example, is a popular RSS, which runs in Microsoft Outlook.]

And, with the correct administration, RSS can also be set up to power email – enabling users to subscribe to email updates daily, weekly or monthly.               

Many cell phone companies, free email providers and others are also starting to integrate RSS readers in their products.

If you haven't already, click through and read the article.

Do it yourself advertising

For the client who believes in less, Nick Grouf and David Waxman, founders of PeoplePC and Firefly, have just introduced Spotrunner - a virtual vanity press for low rent TV spots.

Do-it-themselves advertisers pick from 1,000 generic modules of pre-existing, professionally shot spots that cost as little as $350 to lease. They add their own title cards and/or voiceovers and taglines.

It’s not just account execs and creatives out on the street, though. Spotrunner lets users take over the media department, too, with a detailed media schedule featuring  à la carte prices that’s as user-friendly as ordering an item from an Internet retailer. Bravo in Berkeley, Calif. between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. will cost you a whopping $5. Want to advertise pizza delivery on ESPN when the local team is playing? That will run you $88—the profit on, say, 30 large pies?