Social Media (2009)

Technology & Fundraising: How to Leverage Social Media

VFRI Conference — Charlottesville, VA 2009 | Katie Rucker | Page #1

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

Organization’s Overall Visibility and Fundraising

August 2009

John Applegate

Account Executive, eTapestry Division of Blackbaud



A Quick Survey

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?a. 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 clients/constituents want to tap into the Web?



AGENDA 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







The Rules Still Apply

(It’s all about relationships…not technology)



Web Site Optimization…

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: Be Like Martha or Oprah

Both are masters @ Multi-Channel Marketing







Small Changes Make a HUGE DifferenceBefore/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?

2.2. Can they add content? (Web 2.0)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



What is 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.







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 #16)

(Source: http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/US )



YouTube!

• 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



April 2009 Datacom Score 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



Video is a Magnet forYour Web Site!

“Most viral video

of all time!”

Could her storybe told in any other manneras strongly?







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



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…



YouTube Takeaways… “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!!



FACEBOOK 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• Photos, etc.

– Fundraise • Promote events• Find supporters/donors



FACEBOOK Users



Facebook Pages Personal Page= Your Organization’s Official Page on FB

TIPS:

Invite colleagues, board members, and friends to become fans

UPDATE often

Start Conversations

Brand your page



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

TIPS:

Brand & Link to your Page

Provide Clear FR Goals

Give Supporters Updates on your Progress



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

TIP:

Ask supporters to start groups related to your Charity







Facebook Takeaways… 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 Have an intern or student volunteer create these pages for you—they

typically have the most knowledge and insight into what will sell to their generation of internet users!



TWITTER—Stupid or Worth a Second Look? 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 momentum—mentioned in 2 commercials I saw over the weekend!

– 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?**



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



The Power of Twitter



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





Takeaways from Twitter… 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



Real Life Story via the “New York Times”…



“Web Site Story Continued”Gift for Promotion

charity: water * 11 Employees * 500,000 Followers on Twitter * 500 Donors Cover

all Admin Costs * Donors can Locate

Their Well on Webvia Google Earth



“Web Site Story Continued”charity: water

* Raised $250,000via Twitterfest

* Raised $965,000via Sept. Birthdays

* Tons of Video * Easy to Engage * Giving is Joyous * Infectious with

Youth/Boomers!











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, Podcasts, Message Boards, Blogs

Flickr—Photo Sharing Application Podcasts—Short recordings about a variety of different topics

that can be purchased, downloaded for free, or posted on a 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



















Peer/Personal Fundraising Online**Link these pages to your database

for data collection and future cultivation of donors**



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…



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











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

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/)



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



QUESTIONS?

Thank You!

John ApplegateAccount Executive

[email protected]

317-336-3982