Mixing Your Work and Personal Life Online

When I started my consulting business 11 years ago, virtually everyone told me to market my services under a company name, rather than to promote myself under my own personal name. No one would hire an individual freelancer, I was told. I needed to appear to be a “organization.” Organizations were more stable,  more trustworthy, and more marketable. I wasn’t keen on adding “& Associates” to my name, thus EcoScribe Communications was born.

Oh, how times have changed.

In the last decade, with the rise of social media, especially blogging and social networking sites like Facebook, the personal often carries much more cache than the organizational. Small business people like myself are urged to let their faces and personalities shine through — and even corporate America doesn’t want to be faceless any longer.

Now nonprofits are wrestling with these same issues, too.

How much of a staff member’s personality — and personal life — should shine through in a nonprofit’s newsletter or blog? What’s the right level of personal detail from staff on what are really meant to be organizational profiles on Facebook or Twitter? Should you encourage, monitor, or simply ignore what your staff say on their own personal profiles about their work lives? Can we really keep our personal and professional lives online separate, and even if we can, should we?

I’m hosting a webinar on The Personal/Professional Mix: Getting it Right in Social Media on July 15 (Rescheduled from July 1). During the webinar, I’ll share some examples from the nonprofit sector about finding the right mix of the personal and the professional and also offer some tips on making the right decisions for you and your organization. I don’t have all the answers, but I will help you frame up the discussions so you can talk intelligently about your options with others in the office.

For now, here’s what some smart folks in the nonprofit world are saying:

Does Your Nonprofit Need a Social Media Policy? (Beth Kanter)

Why We’re Not Friends Anymore (Michelle Murrain)

The Two Paradoxes of Identity in the Digital Age (Maddie Grant)

How are you handling the personal/professional mix online? Leave a comment and share your story!

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When Trying to Fundraise from Friends of Friends is a Complete Waste of Time

When we talk about fundraising through social media (and we had many of these conversations at 09NTC this week), the discussion always turns to how we should go about converting into long-term donors those friends of friends  -  people who gave to the cause because a friend of theirs and an existing supporter of ours (let’s call her the “Original Fan”) asked them to.

The standard advice is to come up with a cultivation campaign that introduces these new people to the organization over time and encourages them to become involved as a volunteer or donor on their own, directly with the nonprofit.

The problem is that this treats the Original Fan, whom we sometimes call the evangelist or über-friend, like some kind of inconvenient or spent middle man. For many nonprofits, the Original Fan is anything but a middle man; instead he or she is more like a gatekeeper or nightclub bouncer. It’s only through the Original Fan that the nonprofit will have access to those people and their wallets.

Most national organizations with widely understood or broadly supported missions should probably go ahead and try to establish direct relationships with all of those friends of friends. But nonprofits with specific geographic limitations or niche missions (e.g., diseases that affect relatively few people) should move forward much more carefully and deliberately, checking to see just how likely it is that the friends of friends will actually convert into long-term, direct donors.

For example, I recently donated to the Community Food Bank of New Jersey,  because my friend Nancy Schwartz asked me to as part of her birthday celebration.  While I certainly support the mission of food banks in general, I live in North Carolina. Nancy is the sole reason that I donated to this food bank in New Jersey. No matter how many newsletters or appeal letters the Community Food Bank of New Jersey might send me in the future, it is extremely unlikely that I will ever give them another dime.

Unless, of course, Nancy - the Original Fan - asks me to.

That’s why when the executive director of Positive Wellness Alliance (PWA)- the beneficiary of my own birthday fundraiser and also a very locally based organization - asked whether she should add the names of my donating friends to her prospect database, I told her no. (I serve on the board, so that’s why I was asked. I doubt few Original Fans are consulted at all - which may be part of the problem.)

Instead, I asked her to send a thank-you note directly to my donating friends and invite them to sign-up for PWA’s e-newsletter, should they want to.  I’ve asked her not to message these people again otherwise. Why?

Because as the Original Fan, I know these people are giving because of me, and because I asked, not really because of the cause. While I’m sure that everyone who donated to PWA supports the mission, just as I support food banks, nearly all of the people who donated lived outside the geographic service area, and I believe it’s extremely unlikely that they would give again on their own.

Unless, of course, I - the Original Fan - asked them to.

I hope it is clear by now where I am going with this. While your nonprofit should definitely spend some time coming up with cultivation strategies for friends of friends, it is equally important (and more important for local or niche organizations) to develop strategies to keep your Original Fans fully engaged and willing to fundraise again and again for you.

The food bank and PWA don’t need strategies to reach Nancy’s friends and my friends; they need strategies to keep Nancy and me and all of the Original Fans happy with the organization and excited about its work so that we will continue to tap our networks on their behalf. It’s just not worth twisting ourselves in all different directions trying to convert these people into direct donors when it’s both easier and more productive to more fully engage the Original Fan.

Does your org have strategies of either kind — for friends of friends or for the Original Fans? Where do you think nonprofits should put the most priority? Leave a comment and let’s talk about it.

Tags: 09NTC
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Branding Your Org in Social Media - Tips from #09NTC

Yesterday I attended a workshop organized by one of my favorite bloggers (and NTC roomie) Nancy Schwartz on how you deal with branding issues for your organization within social media. The panel featured Danielle Brigida, National Wildlife Federation; Felicia Carr, National Parks Conservation Association; and Wendy Harman, American Red Cross.

Nancy created a wonderful guide to the session (Word doc) that contains even more great stories and tips than came out in the live event, so download that. What I found most interesting is the debate about whether to centralize or decentralize your brand online. Of course, there is no right answer and you need to sort out what’s best for your organization. Here’s how these three groups are dealing with it.

Danielle at NWF says they are branding many of their individual programs online (Ranger Rick, a campus ecology program, Green Hour for families, etc.). While they hope all the talk about these programs feeds back up to the overall NWF brand, they believe that allowing their supporters to segment themselves and talk about their very specific interests within NWF is a good thing, even if it dilutes the overall NWF brand.

Danielle says that because they are decentralizing their social media presence, they are also empowering and trusting their staff and giving them the ability to represent their own programs online without a lot of heavy handed management. One additional benefit of this approach is that various programs within NWF retweet and link to each other, introducing fans of one program to many others.

In contrast, Felicia at NPCA believes that brand confusion for her organization, particularly with the National Park Service (a federal government agency) is a big problem for them online. She would prefer the NPCA logo to be on everything and does not want individual program managers to set up microsites or their own pages on Facebook. She prefers the more centralized approach.

Felicia also shared a story about how a fan had created a fundraising Facebook Cause for NPCA, but had included a huge National Park Service logo. In contrast to what Clay Shirky suggested - that people will not blame the nonprofit when fans get their facts wrong - she found the opposite to be true. The National Park Service was quite miffed with NPCA, even though they had nothing to do with the Facebook Cause page and had already asked the fan to take off the logo (without getting a response.)

Wendy at American Red Cross says that chapters and individuals had created so many different pages and groups on Facebook that Facebook actually asked the central office to consolidate the American Red Cross presence. There were so many different pages that it was actually hard for users to find what they were seeking. She has worked hard to make sure that there is a consistent look and approach for the American Red Cross across multiple social media sites, and after a brand revitalization project, has created a handbook of standards and is now teaching employees about how to use it.

Need more on nonprofit branding? Nancy is your source.

Tags: 09NTC, branding, facebook
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Here Comes Everybody - Lessons from Clay Shirky at #09NTC

I planned to live blog from the Nonprofit Technology Conference today, but the Hilton was obviously not prepared to host a tech conference, because the wireless was down most of the day. No wireless, no live blogging. So, instead, I’m going to post a few summaries here.

This morning, Clay Shirky, author of “Here Comes Everybody” presented a great session that he summed up in five words:  “Group action just got easier.” Of course, he’s talking about social media.  What do nonprofits need to know about social media and how to approach it?

Social media is a profound change in the way people get information and what they do with it.  Here are a few of my favorite take-aways from the session:

–With sharing on social media, “a problem solved by one person is now solved for thousands of people.”

–People can organize without having an organization. And they don’t need your org’s permission to organize around something related to your organization.

–Small groups of people are in the middle of the largest collaborations - used Wikipedia as the example. Looks like tons of contributors, but actually a small number of people are doing an overwhelming amount of the work on any particular page.

–You can now put together a group that isn’t just listening but that can talk back and to each other. Many-to-many pattern, PLUS the media-to-many pattern.  It is as if when you buy a book, they ask if you want them to throw in a printing press for free.

–Social media is free-loader tolerant - unlike most in-person groups.

–The meaning of tools is much less influenced by the designers than we are used to.

–Flash mobs - social media is not just a source of information, but of action.  Flash mobs started as a way to mock the participants and now it is a real tool for organizing with an enormous variety of uses - users control what happens with social tools, not the designers. Take twitter - who cares what you are eating, but look how people are using it now!

–”Things get socially interesting when they get technologically boring.”

–You matter if you can find a way to create value. Big opportunity is in the convening power and letting people discover people. But also need to learn how to make that staying power.  Need that continuity. Not something institutions are doing well now.

–”Failure for free” and “fail informatively” - this is the attitude that organizations need to approach social media with. Try it. Need lots and lots of experimentation to make sure that we get something good out of it.

–Some mystery in what will take off and what won’t.  No secret sauce to making convening power work. Go where your people are now. Do searches on own names, but exclude results from your own sites - easier to see everything else. Don’t hire consultants, hire your own 23-year-olds.

–This is not about technology change, but culture change.

–Most important things not yet known about social media? Role of emotion is going to be a huge part of the story in the next year. As media moves along social rather than broadcast channels, the media landscape will be driven by the emotional - look what’s happening with the swine flu example.

–When things speed up, we are good at feeling fast, but not thinking fast. May lead to more informed and engaged population, but also more hysteria.  The emotional substrate is going to rise. People get caught up in moment, and actually really don’t know what they are talking about. What is obvious is the speed. Measuring in minutes or hours now.

More session notes coming soon!

Tags: 09NTC
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What Your Supporters Can Do for You Online, When You Empower Them

This Friday, March 20, John Kenyon will join me in presenting a webinar called “Creating Online Evangelists: How to Excite and Motivate Your Supporters.” Who are these online evangelists that your nonprofit should be exciting and motivating? They are ordinary people who, because of a great personal passion for your good cause, do extraordinary things to help you, whether you personally ask them to or not.

Here are some examples of what John will be talking about on Friday and how you can find and support people like these two evangelists, for your nonprofit.

Twelve-year old-Mimi Ausland from Bend, Oregon has provided over 50 tons of food to needy animals in shelters through two websites she created.

In 2008, after learning about the food shortages many animal shelters face, Mimi - with help from her parents and months of research and planning - created the websites freekibble.com and freekibblekat.com. Her efforts prompted Castor and Pollux, a Portland, Ore. pet products company, to donate 10 pieces of kibble for every answer to the animal trivia questions Mimi posts on her site. Visitors to the site not only help contribute food, but learn something about animals in shelters.

Since April of 2008 she has provided over 713,000 meals to hungry dogs and cats. She has become the sole supplier to 11 shelters nationwide. In the fall of 2008 she was honored by the ASPCA with their “Kid of the Year” award for her efforts. Mimi is one of a new breed of “online evangelists” who promote good causes, often independently, not as agents of the organizations they support.

It’s not just kids taking the proverbial lemonade stand online . . . people of all ages are using the social web for good.

Judith Sol-Dyess was touched by the people she saw who lived at the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, where she works as the Sr. Director of Information Systems.

Judith created a simple yet effective website called Project30W named for the buildings address, 30 W Chicago Ave. Although the building is her office, for many it is their home.

On the site she shares her experience of her neighbors along with portraits of them, showing their humanity and giving viewers a window into the lives of people who live a that Y. Even though she is an employee, Judith is sharing her personal experience and suggesting people make donation to help support the people she now knows as friends.

These are two examples of individuals motivated to help a cause on their own using the online medium. How can you excite your supporters and motivate them to spread your message online?

Learn about the efforts of Mimi, Judith and other “Online Evangelists” in the webinar this Friday, March 20th, and more importantly, what lessons you can learn to encourage your own online evangelists. Get the details and reserve your spot now.

Tags: online evangelists
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Feeding Your Nonprofit’s Biggest Fans

On February 17 March 20, John Kenyon and I will present a new webinar called “Creating Online Evangelists: How to Motivate and Excite Your Supporters” or what I call “Feeding Your Biggest Fans.”

What makes someone a big fan of your nonprofit? It’s not that different from what makes someone a big fan of a sports team.

1. There’s an Emotional Connection. Your cause touches something deep inside of them and makes them willing to do crazy things for you. Sports fans paint their faces and wear weird costumes. Your fans might host a party in their own homes, invite all of their friends over, pay for the food, give you the floor to talk about your cause, ask their friends to empty their wallets, and write another big check themselves. Or they might do the online equivalent, such as placing one of your fundraising widgets on their own blogs and emailing all of their friends about you.

2. They Believe They Matter. They believe their actions will have a real impact - and you can’t do it without them. Fans bring signs and cheer and chant, because they believe it will inspire their teams to play better. Your biggest fans also believe that their support really matters - that they are making it possible for you to do your best and to bring about real changes to make the world a better place.

3. They Want to Belong. They want to feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves. Sports fans dress in the team colors and do the wave. Your biggest fans also want to feel like they are part of something bigger by seeing how their individual contributions, combined with others, can produce something amazing. They want to feel like they are real, valued members of your team.

4. It Feels Good. They get off on the Helper’s High. Sports fans party in the stands, hanging out with friends and having a good time. Your fans get a boost too, because giving feels good, both emotionally and physically.

Keep your fans happy, give them reason to cheer, and help them spread their enthusiasm to others. How do you find your biggest fans online and what do you feed them? Attend the webinar and find out.

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Tips for Giving Social Media Projects to Interns

If you moan to 10 of your nonprofit colleagues about how you don’t have time to get your nonprofit on Facebook and other social media sites, I’d guess seven of them will tell you to get an intern to do it for you. (The other three? Two will just nod sympathetically and the other one will have no idea what you are talking about.)

If you are thinking about giving a social media project to an intern or a new employee who is a recent college grad, keep these four tips in mind. They’ll not only make your intern’s experience much better, but your organization will benefit too.

1. Make it a team effort, led by the intern. Social media is . . . well, social. And that’s why it holds so much promise for nonprofits. You can connect with friends of friends of friends you might never otherwise reach. But the organization needs to be at the center of this network, not some intern who is leaving in three months. The intern can lead the way and set everything up, but permanent staff, long-time volunteers and board members must be a part of it too.  The team approach also gives your intern valuable project and team management experience, so she isn’t just sitting alone in front of a computer.

2. Be clear about why you are doing it. “Getting on YouTube” is not a marketing goal. Who are you trying to reach and with what message? What do you want these new friends you’ll make to do? Why is getting on Facebook or YouTube the right tactic? Know the answers to these questions ahead of time so that your intern and the team can create a presence online that complements your existing communications work.

3. Make training a part of the assignment — and you get schooled. For your social media project to succeed, the senior management of your organization needs to understand it. Even if you as the executive director or development director don’t login everyday, you still need to understand the culture and vocabulary of the site, what people actually do there, and how your organization is being represented. Give your intern at least fifteen minutes every two weeks to show you and other senior managers what they are doing online and to give you some quick lessons on how you can do it yourself.

4. Open your mind. If the only way you can see your nonprofit getting on to social media sites is by asking a younger person to do it for you, there’s a good chance that you don’t fully understand what it’s all about and just why “everybody’s doing it” in the first place.

For example, you may not be entirely comfortable with the idea that other people (those friends of friends you covet) may be talking about your organization and your issues in their own words, ignoring your talking points and failing to keep all the facts straight.

This is where you have to remember that social media is not just about pushing information out, but also about conversations about that information and collaboration that grows out of those conversations. Relax and go with it. Gently correct when it’s really important to do so. Thank your new friends for caring. You may be pleasantly surprised at the new ideas and insights you discover.

Want more? Check out our February webinars on online marketing basics, blogging for nonprofits, and creating online evangelists.

Tags: nptech
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Trio of Online Marketing Webinars Coming in Feb. - Reserve Your Spot Now

Looking for an online marketing crash course for your nonprofit? I have a trio of three webinars just for you.

Online Marketing Basics: From Email to Social Media (Wednesday, February 11). We’ll start the series with an overview of online marketing that will help you put all of your options in perspective and give you some tips on coming up with a strategy that works for you. How often should you email your list? Should you be on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or some other site du jour? Should you blog? This webinar will give you the big-picture perspective you need to sort all of that out.

Blogging for Nonprofits: Tips, Traps, and Tales (Thursday, February 12). While it isn’t right for everyone, I confess to being a huge advocate of nonprofit blogging. It’s an easy way to connect more personally with your supporters, to let them behind-the-scenes, and to engage in conversations with your professional community — not to mention that it also improves your search engine rankings. If you are ready to explore blogging for your organization, join me for this webinar.

Creating Online Evangelists: How to Excite and Motivate Your Supporters (Tuesday, February 17). If you want to move beyond the basics and really start to support your biggest fans — individuals who want to advocate for you and your cause — you’ll want to hear what guest speaker John Kenyon has to say during this webinar. Learn how nonprofits are using Web 2.0 and social networking in particular to empower their current supporters and to reach entirely new groups of people — and how you can do it too.

Each webinar is $35 and includes as many people in your office as you can fit around one computer. Want to attend all three? Then the All-Access Pass is the way to go. For $97, you can attend these three webinars and all of the others we host in a 12-week period. That also gets you access to our Webinar Archive, so you can view recordings whenever you like, whether you attended live or not.

I hope you’ll join us!

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