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Helping you win loyal friends through your communications

Live, on Social Media: Your Event!

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Every event your organization holds is really two events: the one happening before your eyes and the one happening on social media.distorted mirror

What? You aren’t posting about your event on social media? Well, some of your guests are.

They’re snapping photos with their phones and instantly posting them on Facebook or Instagram.

They’re quoting your speakers on Twitter.

They’re live-blogging during the event and posing their opinions afterwards.

You planned your real-life event so carefully.  You left nothing to chance. So…

How can you make sure your real-life event is just as good on social media?

Here are eight suggestions from Bizbash.com, translated into nonprofit.

  1. Listen. Assign someone to follow what participants in your event are saying about it in real time.
  2. Post about the event yourself.  Ritu Sharma of Social Media for Nonprofits suggests creating a “command center” where your staff and friends will have “adequate power supply, the best seats and vantage point in the house.”
  3. Speak with the same voice. Do you want to be earnest? Funny? Ironic? Confiding? Settle on a tone and a relationship with the audience and keep it up.
  4. Keep it personal. Write like a human being–and write back to other human beings by name when they post about your event.
  5. Expect the unexpected and plan for it. What are you going to do if the lights go out? If your keynote speaker says something offensive? Know what to do.
  6. Put Twitter first. As Martha C. White says, “Tweets are the language of real-time social media conversation.”
  7. Woo “influencers.” Find people who have a big following among the audience you want to make your own. Get those people involved in your event, online or off.
  8. Be imaginative. Where might people be talking about your event? What terms might they be using besides the official event title? Search widely.
Social media are just as important between those big events. Which Social Media are Right for You?  Find out! Sign up for a free guide at www.dennisfischman.com.

Are You Listening, Nonprofits?

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The main thing a nonprofit organization should do online is learn how to listen.

not listening

Your community is online, talking. Why aren’t you listening?

Did you ever say to yourself, “I wish I knew what my donors were thinking”?  Or “It would be great if clients just told us what they need. I can’t read minds”?

Online, people tell you what they think, feel, want, and desire.  Online, you can read minds.  But only if you talk less and listen more.

First, Find Your People

People are talking about what they care about online all the time.  The key is to find your people, talking about the issues that matter to your organization.

Start with the people you already know: the people on your mailing list.  Take a sample of them and search for them online.  What social media do they use?

If they’re on Facebook, set up a Facebook interest list and add them to it.  That way, any time you go on Facebook, you can see what those specific people are talking about.

If they mostly use Twitter, you can also create a list.  You might find that you spend most of the time you’re on Twitter looking just at that list (which will help you cure the feeling that you’re drinking from a fire hose!)  And you can do the same for other social media.

Then, Listen

Spend a little time each day getting to know your supporters.  What do they post about most often? Are they sports fans, foodies, readers?  Are some of them heatedly discussing a local or national issue?

Going online is like walking into a party where people have already begun to mingle. Once you have figured out what their conversation is about, you can find ways to contribute.  That will raise your visibility and gain you good will. In the long run, it will lead to more volunteers and donors.

But don’t go in and start trying to change the subject to what your organization is doing.  You’ll find people excusing themselves and heading to another corner of the room!  When in doubt, listen longer.

Do Some Research

The next time you open Facebook, try searching for pages liked by people who like [your organization].  You can do it in two steps:

 

  1. Find your organization’s numerical Facebook ID. (You can go to http://www.findmyfbid.com/ and type in the name of your Facebook page, and it will tell you the number.)
  2. Then, go to Facebook and search on https://www.facebook.com/search/your ID/likers/pages-liked. (Where it says “your ID,” put in the numerical ID before you search.)

 

Run that search and Facebook will tell you:

  • All the pages that your followers have liked, and who liked which page.
  • How many people, total, like that page.
  • Other pages that people who like a specific page also like.
  • Which of your own friends liked that page (if you are using Facebook as an individual)

You can read about seven different ways to use this information in my blog post “Find and Attract the Audience You Want.”

Listening to a Broader Community

It makes sense to start listening to the people who know you best already.  What if you want to hear what a broader range of people think about you and your work?  Then you should set up a Google Alert and use hashtags on Twitter to search for:

  1. The name of your organization.  (Be sure to look for misspellings and abbreviations, too.)
  2. The names of your partner organizations and your competitors.
  3. The field you work in as the public thinks of it.
  4. Key words associated with your work.
  5. The phrase “I wish” and any of the first four items on this list.  That’s a good way to understand what people want and are not getting already.

 

How Valuable is Social Listening?

Take a tip from someone who does social media for a living, Candie Harris.  (What you’ve been reading is partly her ideas “translated” from business to nonprofit.)

As a former brand marketer, if someone had told me I could have access to the hearts and minds of my most loyal consumers (as well as my competitor’s), my first question would be: “How?” My second question would be: “How much will it cost?”

Social listening can give nonprofits “access to the hearts and minds” of clients, donors, prospects, volunteers, even policymakers who affect our work–and all it will cost is time.

Is your organization using social listening now?  Please share your experience!

Would you like to listen to what your supporters have to say online but feel you don’t have the time? Drop me an email at dennis@twofisch.com and let’s see if we can find an affordable solution for you.

Are You Using a Rotary Phone on the Internet?

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rotary phone

How many know what this is?

Does your nonprofit or business use a rotary phone?  Of course not.  Push-button phones are everywhere.  When younger people wonder how to use a rotary phone, they have to look it up.

But are you using a rotary phone on the internet?  The answer is “yes”–if you’re not using social media.

Yes, you have email.  That’s the rotary phone of the 21st century.  You can still use it to get in touch, but it’s slow, and talking to more than one person at a time is awkward.

Yes, you have a website. That’s like being in the phone book.  Most people these days are throwing phone books away as soon as they receive them.  Being listed does you no good if people don’t have a reason to call.

You have a blog?  Good!  A step in the right direction! But it’s a baby step–like putting your phone number in a print ad.  What makes people want to get in touch with you if they don’t know you already?

Social media let you meet people in a relaxed environment.  You get to know each other.  People begin to like you, perhaps even trust you.  They tell you more about themselves.  When it comes time to ask them for something, you know what might appeal to them.  But they might actually approach you first.

That’s why it’s worthwhile using social media and using them well.  Because you don’t want to wait by the phone.

 

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