Interactive Marketing from Power Tools

Better late than never? I attended a few sessions at the Power Tools Conference for Nonprofits Conference a few weeks ago and I wanted to share some neat things I learned. FYI the sessions handouts are all online so you can get some nifty info for FREE! [And for future reference, the conference is only $49 so mark your calendars to check back for the 2011 conference]

SESSION 1: INTERACTIVE MARKETING with Neighborhood Centers and Houston Zoo

You say, “OMG! I HAVE NO SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE AND DON’T KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN!” [or maybe your boss says, "Hey, you have a facebook, can you get us on all those things. I don't get twitter but I saw on the Today Show that it's big or something."]

[CASE STUDY]@HoustonBrooke with Neighborhood Centers:

Before you jump off the deep end … develop a strategy:

1. Keep in mind, EVERYTHING IS AN EXPERIMENT. There are hordes of social media “experts” but, truly, the landscape changes every second. Don’t get discouraged and quit social media if one tactic doesn’t work for your organization. On the same token, if it’s not working, try a new tactic instead of continuing on and on and on the same way.
2. Use Quantcast to assess social media platforms’ demographics and determine where your audience is.
3. Before you go “follow” or “suggest page” to  everyone you can find that has no association with your organization, develop a small following of those that know you [i.e. staff of the organization] and post some things for credibility. You never get a 2nd first impression. Make sure the first time someone you don’t know comes to your page after you follow them, it seems legit.

Ok, so now you have your accounts set up. Rather than blasting everyone with random LOLz, think strategic implementation:

1. Communicate to everyone [Board and Staff] the tools  you have created and ask them to participate and contribute by retweeting, liking and sharing with their networks.
2. Get some social networking business cards [i.e. add your social media url's to your existing business cards]
3. Create a social media policy based on  your organization’s core values.

READY? SET? UPDATE!

Tips from those in the trenches:
STEP 1) You gotta listen!  Set up  google alerts and/or social mention to monitor what others are saying about your organization
STEP 2) ENGAGE!
CROWDSOURCING: It’s a fancy term for “don’t do the work yourself.” The best way to utilize crowdsourcing is through photos. Ask your networks to submit photos around some topic. Neighboorhood Centers launched a successful campaign by asking for photos from around the neighborhood/representing Houston. While not required, they asked for a $5 donation for submission and they raised $400+ and got a bunch of great pics while also building their network with photographers.
STEP 3) MEDIA: include video and photos whenever possible

What’s next for Neighborhood Centers?

1. Incentivize crowdsourcing: you get alot better material and more if you offer a prize
2. More online ambassadors: find your online advocates, thanks them and credit them; value them so they provide more online accolades
3. Micro-fundraising campaigns: they’re all the rage

HANDY-DANDY RESOURCES:
501(c)3 = 501(c)FREE! Resources & Tools
SAMPLE SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY FROM NEIGHBORHOOD CENTERS – personal social media usage
SAMPLE SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY FROM NEIGHBORHOOD CENTERS – agency run usage

QUESTIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE: Do you get release forms from people you are videoing/photographing? YES

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[CASE STUDY] @krussohzg with Houston Zoo
Problem: Zoo guests  can =  supporters/donors but how do you get the whole team/staff on board?
The Houston Zoo held an executives workshop for social media that outlined  metrics and impact of social media.

For their blog they began with moderated posts from staff:

• internal survey of of who is online and how much they knew about social media
• ask for 1 or 2 volunteers from each department
• hold social media training for volunteers

The staff volunteers were tasked with generating content: anything from photos and one-liners for twitter, to enrichment, posts on  making animal diets andcleaning poo. They also provided staff backgrounds. Make sure to always CREDIT, CREDIT, CREDIT the staff members.

**TIPS:

• Not on twitter all day? Or can’t keep in open in the background? Try twitstra. It will email replies from twitter
• twitter seemed to work and be more responsive with joking, edgier content
• facebook received more traffic and engagement
• When reposting blog posts on facebook, readers would comment on the facebook link but not on the actual blog post. Make sure to show the facebook comments to the blog writer so they don’t get discouraged and think no one is reading.
• TeacherTube – like YouTube but geared just towards teachers

MANAGING THE CONVO: negative comments allow education and improve customer service,; the zoo also found that their fans would come to their defense many times before they could even reply.

SOCIAL MEDIA INTERACTION: include social feeds from facebook, flickr, youtube, twitter on homepage;  value staff, thank them and ask them to share/like updates from the official page

WHATS NEXT FOR THE ZOO:

• Guest bloggers: members that come weekly, mom groups
• Share your photos and they’ll put in newsletter
• Share your favorite memories from the zoo
• Ask us questions

MICROFUNDRAISING CAMPAIGNS: The Zoo’s Baby elephant needed a new pool so the staff shot a video and spread it through twitter and facebook. The campaign brought in $4800; 51% first day and 37% were first time donors.

**Most of all HAVE FUN! Experiment with different messages and mediums; enter the conversation and invite feedback; it’s evolutionary and always changing!

NEXT UP! SESSION 2:  MARKETING TACTICS TO INCREASE FUNDRAISING  with Denise Patrick from Peirpont Communications!

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