Communicate!

Helping you win loyal friends through your communications

What a Toddler Taught Me about Communicating

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My nineteen-month-old niece was crying as if her heart would break.

toddlers communicate

What is she saying now?

Her heart was fine, actually.  It was her grandfather’s heart that was cracked open for a triple bypass, in a hospital an hour away.  So her mother had gone to the hospital, and I was spending the day taking care of her.  Alone.

“Honey, what do you want?” I pleaded with her.  And I thought, “If only she could tell me what she’s thinking.”

But she could.  She did tell me.  And your audience is telling you too.  Look and listen to what they do online, and you will find out what they want.

How does a toddler tell you what she wants?

Pointing.  My niece knows the milk is in the refrigerator, the bananas are on the table, and the TV remote is on the couch.  If she points at the table, you know she wants to eat a banana.  If she hands you the remote, it’s time for Bubble Guppies or Sesame Street.

Your audience knows where to find what they want online.  If they’re visiting your website or social media pages often, there’s something there they want.  So, find out where they’re pointing!  The pages, posts, or tweets they visit will tell you what will keep them coming back again and again.

Making happy noises.  My niece laughs, squeals, and talks excitedly in full sentences in a language I don’t understand when something makes her happy.

Your audience likes, shares, retweets, or recommends the content they like the best.  So, listen to their communications with other people to find out what kind of content will keep them gurgling with delight.

Keeping to a routine.  My niece gets up around the same time each day.  Five hours later, it’s time for her nap.  If it’s around 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon and she’s rubbing her eyes, I know it’s time to take her to her crib.

Your audience is online at certain times more than others.  Find out their pattern and you’ll know when to post.  They like reading more serious articles at certain hours and they go for distraction at other hours.  Keep track of that and you”ll know what content you should post when.

Listening to You

Oh, my brother-in-law is fine.  Thanks for asking!  And my niece is now three years old, and still adorable (as is her baby brother).

So on this blog, I’m listening to you as intently as I listened to my niece. When most of you readers are online,  in the before-work, after-lunch, and early-evening hours, that’s when I’m posting. And I hope this story made you as happy as a child.

What else would you like to see on this blog?  You could let me keep figuring it out.  If I can do that with a toddler, I can do it with anybody!  But if you’re a grown-up and know how to “use your words,” write me and let me know what you want.

Thanks for reading!

Your Volunteers ARE Your Reputation

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It’s Election Day in Massachusetts. Please remember to vote today–and to train your volunteers all the time!

campaign volunteer

What do your volunteers say about who you are?

My dear wife Rona Fischman is constantly shaking her head at what passes for communication.

I told you before about the phone solicitor who lied to her, the email marketer who never told her the truth, and the bank that failed to earn her interest.

Here’s the story of the campaign volunteer who nearly lost her vote–in one phone call.

On the Saturday before Election Day, Rona got a live call to her business phone from an Alderman at Large candidate’s organization. (An Alderman is like a city councilor.) The volunteer asked Rona if this candidate could count on her vote.

Rona said something like this, “I have four votes. Two are spoken for. The other two are up for grabs. Tell me why your candidate should get one of them.”

The guy on the phone was gobsmacked. He could not tell her why she should vote for his candidate. After a short silence, he said “____ will work tirelessly for the good of the people of Somerville,” and hung up.

Rona went on Facebook and asked all her friends, “Should this candidate lose my vote because his calling staff don’t have a clue why he’s right for the city?”

That’s not the kind of question a candidate wants voters to ask.  It’s not the kind of question your nonprofit organization wants its donors to ask, either.

Please, please, please train your volunteers.  At the moment they interact the public, they are your organization.  What they do and say is what you stand for–at least to the person interacting with them.  And when you ask for donations, you will need that person to vote yes.

Listening Beneath the Surface

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So many readers enjoyed my post “Are You Listening, Nonprofits?“, I thought you might like a little more advice about social listening.

Submarine using sonar

Craig Jamieson is a submarine fan, and he tells us that social listening is like sonar.  Use it to find:

  • Conversations that reveal something about the people who support you or the people you serve.
  • Mentions of your organization. Ever wonder whether people out there really know about your organization?  The one who mentioned you does! Write them back.
  • Praises and problems. Visibly thank people for saying good things about you.  Visibly respond to requests for help or criticism of your organization.
  • What your audience wants to hear.  If people “like” something on social media and it relates to your mission or your community, why not post something about that too?
  • Opportunities. Your elected officials are probably online.  So are your funders, your donors, your collaborators, and your competitors.  Listen to what they’re saying to get a better sense of what your organization could be doing.

You can do all this with tools that you have at your fingertips, like Google Alerts, Facebook and Twitter lists, and keyword searches.  If you want to make your sonar run by itself, you can invest in tools specifically designed for social media monitoring.

Either way, a human being still has to listen.  So, turn on your sonar and run silent, run deep until you find the right conversation to enter!

 

 

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