Social Media Ctcef Conference 2009 Updated

Technology & Fundraising: How to Leverage Social Media

CTCEF Conference— Cromwell, CT 2009 | Brooke Csukas | Page #1

Technology & Fundraising: How to Leverage Social Media to Increase Your

Organization’s Overall Visibility and Fundraising

Brooke Csukas

Account Executive, eTapestry Division of Blackbaud

October 6, 2009



What do you check first after lunch?

How many have:a. cell phone b. email account c. Facebook/LinkIn/My Space account

d. Twitter account e. Your own blog or podcast

What is your Home Page on the Internet?b. Search engine (ie Yahoo/Google) b. “my page” on a search engine c.

Facebook d. NPO/Corp page e. Giving Institute f . Other application

Do any of your education foundations want to tap into the Web?

A Quick Survey…



The Rise in Internet Use Website Optimization What is Social Media & How to Use it Effectively

– YouTube – Facebook

• What are the different aspects of Facebook (ie: pages vs. groups)

– Twitter– Flickr, Podcasts, Message Boards, Blogs– Personal/Viral Fundraising

Pulling it All Together + Real Life Examples

AGENDA







The Rules Still Apply

(It’s all about relationships…not technology)



If Relationships are Built on Communications . . .

Basic Parameters are Driven by Common Sense

A Few Key Changes can Make a Huge Difference

Leverage Partners who KNOW the Non Profit Sector

Web Site Optimization…



Web Site Optimization: Be Like Martha or Oprah

Both are masters @ Multi-Channel Marketing





Web Site Optimization:Before, After, and After!Web Site Optimization:

Before, After, and After!



1. Learn from your content(Start with Google Analytics to see how many unique visitors you have, how they found you,

what they viewed, where they stayed the longest, and what content produced actions.)

2. Make your content easy to consume(Always offer RSS feeds in addition to various subscribe options. Make sure they are easy to

find and use.)

3. Make your content ever changing

(Be brave enough to blog, show responses, share viewpoints, and utilize forums. New information needs to be added daily or weekly by you and your community. Why do you think millions go to Facebook or Twitter by the minute.)

4. Make your site easy to find(Every NPO and those serving NPO’s should have a social web presence. Facebook, MySpace,

LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter and Flickr are your outposts linking back to the web site hub!)

Keys to Building a Successful Web Site







Top Ten Traffic Sources





Google Grant/Sponsored Links—How to increase your web presence/visibility

Google Grant/Sponsored Links—How to increase your web presence/visibility



They’re at your website, now what do they do?

1. Can they engage?

2. Can they add content? (Web 2.0)

3. Can they give or volunteer?

Your goal – to get something from them!



Keep it simple & Make Integration a Focus

Constituent Website

Gather Information

Use Email

DatabaseDatabase

Social Media



Social media is online content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies. Social media is a shift in how people discover, read and share news, information and content; it's a fusion of sociology and technology, transforming monologues (one to many) into dialogues (many to many) and is the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into publishers.

Social media has become extremely popular because it allows people to connect in the online world to form relationships for personal, political and business use.

Source: Wikipedia, 2009.

What is Social Media??









Which of the following types of social media does your charity currently use?

33%34%32%

41%

26% 25%

13%

79%

57%

30%

36%

79%

16%

11%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Video Blogging

SocialNetworking

Blogging Podcasting Message/BulletinBoards

Wikis Do Not UseAny

2007

2008



Food for Thought…. Top 5 Most Visited Websites in

the United States:

– Facebook is #3 – YouTube is #4– MySpace is #5– (Twitter is #14)

Source:

http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/US

http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/US



• Provides a strong avenue for your organization to broadcast testimonials and describe how you are serving the community

• Allows you to attract more traffic to your website• Videos can easily be posted on website or as a link within an

eBlast or eNewsletter• FREE service to increase your visibility• Growing in popularity and becoming more accepted in the NP

world as a method for reaching constituents

YouTube!



April 2009 Data comScore Video Metrix Service

78.6% of total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.

Average video viewer watched 385 minutes of video, or 6.4 hours

107.1 million viewers watched 6.8 billion videos on YouTube.com (63.5 videos per viewer)

The duration of the average online video was 3.5 minutes







Real Life Example….

Dec 11:Subject line: Urgent Appeal: Your gift to CRS is

vitally important!

Straight Appeal Static donation formRaised $112k

View the donation form

Source: Laura Durington: CRS Social Media Presentation-AFP Maryland, 2009

https://secure.crs.org/site/Donation2?df_id=2320&2320.donation=form1



YEAR-END 2008

Dec 29:Subject line: Only 48 hours left to make a tax-

deductible gift!

Added “hotspot” text

Added video message from our president (that plays right on the donation form)

Added a strong pull-quoteRaised $112kWatch the video





YEAR-END 2008

Dec 31:Subject line: Final Deadline: Last chance to

make a tax-deductible gift

New “hotspot” textKept video message from our

presidentNew pull quoteRaised $119kWatch the video





Was CRS’s most successful online fundraising campaign to date (non-emergency).

Three e-mail messages in this campaign (based on a direct mail piece)

Banner ads used on website Posts on social networking sites advertising campaign Coordination with Google AdWords

This campaign raised $594k online. Source: Laura Durington: CRS Social Media Presentation-AFP Maryland, 2009

The Results…



“SHOP” Others Identify a few constituents who would like

to share their story with others & record a few different testimonials each year

Integrate with your website and eNewsletter blasts

Get Creative!!

YouTube Takeaways…



What is Facebook??– A FREE, online social networking site that connects people through online

communities Facebook started out as a service for university students but now almost

one third of its global audience is aged 35-49 years of age and almost one quarter is over 50 years old.

Non profits can use Facebook to: – Connect

• With supporters• With other organizations

– Brand• Build trust through exposure

– Share your story • Pictures• Stories

– Fundraise • Promote events• Find supporters/donors

FACEBOOK



FACEBOOK Users



Personal Page= Your Organization’s Official Page on FB

Facebook Pages

TIPS:

Invite colleagues, board members, and friends to become fans

UPDATE often

Start Conversations

Brand your page



Facebook Cause Page=Online Donation Tool (application) on FB Also a Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Page since anyone can start/create a cause

Facebook Pages Cont…

TIPS:

Brand & Link to your Page

Provide Clear FR Goals

Give Supporters Updates on your Progress



Group/Fan Pages=Tool for gathering people w/ like interests

Facebook Pages Cont…

TIP:

Ask supporters to start groups related to your Charity





Real Life Application– The Nature Conservency’s “Lil Green Patch” Case Study

• Built a cause page on FB to attract users to support the Adopt an Acre program to conserve rainforests in Costa Rica & fight global warming

• 20K new cause members and $33K in support since Feb 2008 These results will most likely NOT be the case for your organization…

– HOWEVER, creating an online, Facebook presence will not hurt – Creating a group of fans/people that advocate for your cause WILL

increase your giving and support POST YOUR ONLINE GIVING PAGE LINK ANYWHERE YOU CAN ON FACEBOOK Determine the type of page you want to create, and how you’ll tackle making

sure it’s constantly updated. Best advice, rotate between a few people probably weekly. (Or in conjunction with events, education sessions, etc)

Facebook Takeaways…



What is Twitter?? – Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate

and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

– Compete.com numbers show that roughly 2.5 million people visit Twitter.com each month. Just as a comparison, Facebook receives about 41 million unique visitors per month.

– Often times referred to as a “micro-blog” (140 characters or less) where entries are “TWEETS”

– A service that is QUICKLY gaining momemtum!– But NTEN (the Nonprofit Technology Network) reminds us that Twitter

isn’t the point. Relationships are the point. Relationships are always the point. The most basic of fundraising secrets is that people give to people. Twitter is simply one more tool to help people connect with each other.

**Can your nonprofit afford to not explore all the tools available?**

TWITTER—Stupid or Worth a Second Look?



We’re all familiar with the iPhone and the popular apps that are the new craze, right? Twitter’s got ‘em too!



TweetDeck is a must for any community manager, marketer or researcher tracking important and relevant conversations on Twitter. It's an Adobe Air desktop application that enables users to split their main feed (All Tweets) into topic or group specific columns allowing the tracking of a broader overview of tweets based on keywords or groups of people.

TwitterFeed connects your blog to Twitter and automatically feeds posts into the timeline with each new update.

Whoshouldifollow.com makes it easy to find relevant, like-minded friends as well as friends of friends based on keyword and validated networks.

Twubble can help expand your Twitter network. It searches your friend graph and introduces and recommends new people who you may want to follow.

Twellow, a service of WebProNews, is an exceptional service for finding people who matter to your business or industry, by category. You can search keywords or browser through common categories to find the voices you deem as worthy following and/or connecting with on Twitter or other social networks. You can also claim your Twitter ID to further customize your individual profile with a short bio, extended bio, links to other profiles popular social networks such Facebook, LinkedIn, Delicious, Flickr, FriendFeed, etc.

A few apps to take a look at as you get started



Don’t get overwhelmed—there is a lot of information to sift through in the beginning as you learn how to use it effectively

Don’t be afraid to try it and start connecting with other like organizations—You’ll be surprised how fast your followers grow

“Tweet” regularly—assign someone this responsibility each week

Use Twitter to reach out to your constituents as a way to get information in front of people—whether that be about your organization as a whole or to inform them of the need for support, or to celebrate how well things are going

Takeaways from Twitter…



Real Life Story via the “New York Times”…



“Web Site Story Continued”Gift for Promotioncharity: water * 11 Employees * 500,000 Followers on Twitter * 500 Donors Cover

all Admin Costs * Donors can Locate

Their Well on Webvia Google Earth

* Raised $965,000via Sept. Birthdays







charity: water1. Was the $250,000 raised via Twitter the key

fact?

2. Was the $975,000 raised from Sept. birthdays the key fact?

3. Is the way they have harnessed web/video technology the key?

4. How about how they show impact via Google Earth?

Communicating daily w/ 500,000+ followers!



Flickr—Photo Sharing Application Podcasts—Short recordings about a variety of topics that can be

purchased, downloaded for free, or posted on web page Message Boards—A segment of a website that hosts an open

discussion amongst users Blogs—A portion of a website (or a separate entity altogether

like Twitter) in which an author posts discussion topics or information to be shared with followers– Personal Blogs=Online ‘Diary’– Organizational blogs=Information sharing/News Updates

Linked In – networking tool to connect people, organizations

Flickr, Podcasts, Message Boards, Blogs















The Power of Twitter



Linked In – networking tool for individuals or groups

• Create a personal profile

• List organizations you are affiliated with

• Create and join Groups –Create a group for your education foundation!

• Grow your list of connections through the “people you may know”

suggestions

• Recommend other people/organizations and have others recommend

you!

• Can supply link to your education foundation

website!!!!!!



Peer/Personal Fundraising Online



Personal Fundraising

Source: Kintera



Average volunteer sends over 30 emails One in four emails sent by a volunteer results in a donation Average online event gift is $59 which is a 50% increase over the

average off-line gift Many volunteers reach their stated FR Goal!

Personal Fundraising results are typically pretty impressive. Take a look…



Where does the information go?

How do you track all of the information you know about a donor?

Can you store their interests, historical conversations, and all contact points in one location?

Is your institutional memory protected?

What are the benefits to combining all this information into one location?



Some Thoughts to Ponder on Social Networks

“My own "ah ha!" moment came recently on my birthday. In my personal email account, I found 33 notifications from Facebook that friends had left birthday greetings on my Facebook page, but only two regular emails with birthday greetings.” (54 yr old male)

“Most interactions now come from my social networks. Not only do my birthday greetings come via Facebook and Twitter, but almost all of them were made where other people could see them. Those public greetings prompted several others to add their own.” (52 yr old female)

“Email messaging — the main tool of most nonprofits for "push" marketing — will need to meet a higher and higher bar in terms of relevance, or it will be increasingly ignored.” (61 yr old male)

Kevin Mannion, On-Line Publishing, February , 2009











Write a blog post Share stories w/ friends Follow Charities on Social Networks Support Causes on Awareness Hubs (ie. Change.org) Find Volunteer Opportunities Embed a Widget on your site (to collect $$ through social

network) Organize a Tweetup Express yourself using a video Sign or start a petition Organize an online event (form fundraising drives/eCommerce)

Source: Mashable:The Social Media Guide (http://mashable.com/2009/07/14/support-charity-sosg/)

10 Ways to Support Charity Through Social Media(from a donor or board member perspective)



Social Networks: Hints for Success

It is not FREE, resources are required Being present is not enough, engage Be authentic, otherwise you will be exposed fast Integrate, don’t imitate other mediums Endorsements matter, think forwarded emails! Measure Have something to say, must be regular or it dies fast

Stephanie Miller, Email Insider, 2009



No Email List? No Problem…

• Whether you have some contacts or are starting from scratch, anyone can grow a strong email list

• The three most important factors in effective email list-building are:

– Where and how you acquire the addresses– How you welcome each new subscriber

– How you manage the relationship after the opt-in

– Source: EmailLabs



Grow Your List Online

Direct staff and other close supporters (board, volunteers, etc.) to include subscription links in email signatures

Use Search Engine Optimization/Marketing to increase traffic and subscriptions

Investigate alliances or partnerships with similar or complementary organizations to reach common supporters

Advertise your newsletter/services/cause through a 3rd party list



Grow Your List Offline

Ask for email addresses at every touch point

Instruct staff to capture email addresses over phone when appropriate

Include your website address on all printed materials

Offer an incentive to register (contest, raffle) to collect emails



Now that I have permission…

Hook them early, and keep them engaged over time

Optimize the welcome message

Send follow up message within a week (or less)

After a few months of active email, survey lists to see if you are meeting expectations (ask for feedback, give them what they want! )



Why Segmentation is Important

Segmentation breaks your audience into manageable parts

If the goal is building relationships, it helps to know who you are talking to

Segmenting your list will lead to more targeted messages

If you don’t segment, you are treating every one of your recipients like they are the exact same type of person



How to be a Good Sender In your messages, always include:

– The purpose; why you are sending it to the reader

– A clear way to unsubscribe. – Consider offering alternative ways to receive

emails, such as:• Receiving newsletters monthly vs. weekly• Change of address (home vs. business email)• Sign up via RSS

– Link to your homepage– Privacy policy– Physical/street address of your organization

Don’t get caught in spamtraps



How Important is that Header?

80% of respondents decide whether to click on the "Report Spam" or "Junk" button without opening the actual message

73% based that decision on the "From" name

69% percent based the decision on the subject

line

Source: 2007 Email Sender and Provider Coalition (ESPC) study



Designing for Mobile Devices

• Mobile readers are more likely to scan your email rather than reading

• Include compelling call to action in the first 15-25 characters of your subject line

• Avoid “top heavy” images in the design

• In addition to testing email browsers, test messages in handheld devices

email (html)



• Reads email before snail mail

• More comfortable online

• Busy, satisfies interests on own schedule

• Expects immediate feedback

• Demands information on progress/stewardship

• Wants a way to share experiences with others online

Today’s Supporter



What Social Media Is…and what it isn’t!

Is a tool to help raise awareness, generate buzz and drive people back to your website!

Is embracing the trend in changing donor preferences—people want involvement.

IS NOT the magic wand that will solve all of your fundraising struggles.

It’s Still All About Relationships –use Social Media to inform and more

importantly engage your supporters!



What Now?

1. How do we stack up?• Website effectiveness, social media tools

2. Written Plan• Add to Board agenda and staff meeting

3. Continuous Evaluation of Tools/Technology

• Website hits, fundraising, donor retention, friends

4. Have FUN • Try new things, share your passion, be creative!



Resources Getting Started with Facebook Beth Kanter Blog – How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media Jay Love Blog – CEO eTapestry -- Jay Love Twitter Page Blackbaud – Raising Money During Challenging Times Getting Started with Google Analytics LotusJump – Website Marketing Made Easy http://www.charitywater.org Flickr http://www.flickr.com Blogger https://www.blogger.com/start Podcast.com http://podcast.com Twitter http://twitter.com Linked In http://www.linkedin.com eTapestry Home Page Contact eTapestry for Guidance

http://www.facebook.com/help/new_user_guide.php?guide_section=set_up_profile

http://www.facebook.com/help/new_user_guide.php?guide_section=set_up_profile

http://beth.typepad.com/



http://forums.blackbaud.com/blogs/jaylove/default.aspx

http://twitter.com/jaybarclaylove

http://www.blackbaud.com/files/resources/downloads/WhitePaper_RaisingMoneyDifficultTimes.pdf

http://www.google.com/analytics/

http://www.lotusjump.com/

http://www.lotusjump.com/

http://www.charitywater.org/

http://www.flickr.com/

https://www.blogger.com/start

http://podcast.com/

http://twitter.com/

http://www.linkedin.com/

http://www.etapestry.com/

mailto:%[email protected]



QUESTIONS?

Thank You!

Brooke CsukasAccount Executive

[email protected]

317-336-3912

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Documents

Social Media Ctcef Conference 2009 Updated