Communicate!

Helping you win loyal friends through your communications

Blogging: Where Do Your Ideas Come From?

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Novelists hate the question, but bloggers have to face it: where do your ideas come from?  When you’re blogging anywhere from once a week to once a day, coming up with inspiration is hard work.

Best Source: Other People’s Questions

My favorite source of ideas is questions that people ask me.  Why I Like Social Media directly answers a question a friend posed.  So does Too Old for Social Media? Not!.

Another blog entry, Write a Social Media Policy That Works came about because my friends at the Somerville Rotary asked how they could let their staff use social media without having them use it all the time.

What questions are people asking, face to face or online?  Answer them and they’ll keep coming back for more.

Content for Nonprofits

My friend Julia Campbell has listed five ways to find content ideas for your nonprofit, even if you think you have nothing to blog about.

  1. Share breaking news related to your cause.
  2. Take 10 minutes each day to scan the headlines for topics you can relate to your cause.
  3. Post at least one success story per week.
  4. Set up daily Google Alerts for your competitors, your industry and your cause.
  5. Ask questions that encourage your fans to share personal stories related to your organization.

HubSpot Blog Topic Generator (handle with care!)

Boston-based HubSpot has created a free tool for bringing ideas to mind.  “Plug in your topic, push a button – and VOILA! Content ideas aplenty,” says Joel K of Business Casual.

So why does Joel say, “I don’t like it”?  The Topic Generator relies on tried and true formulas.  That means your blog could end up sounding…formulaic.  When you’re competing for your audience’s attention not only with other bloggers but with cat videos, you need something to make you stand out!

So, you might start with the Topic Generator, but don’t end there.  Put your own spin on the results, and make the ideas your own.

Which of these ways to come up with ideas is YOUR favorite?

Small nonprofits can ROCK social media. Here’s how.

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Are you on Facebook or Twitter but don’t really know what to do with them? Do you wish you had the time and the budget to do social media like the big kids?social media

Small nonprofits, take heart! You have unique advantages you can use to make social media your own.

In The No-Nonsense Nonprofit Guide to Social Media, I guide you step by step.

  • Learn how to read your audience’s mind and give them content that will make them loyal friends of your organization.
  • Find out how to choose the right social media and how to turn every single idea into ten blogs, posts, tweets, and videos.
  • Understand how to make your social media support your fundraising.

I wrote this ebook especially with you in mind. The practical approach  you’ll find in The No-Nonsense Nonprofit Guide to Social Media will help you start small and grow your social media into an important part of your organization’s work.

Social media can help you build stronger relationships with your donors, clients, and supporters. Doesn’t your good work deserve that support?  Order the ebook today and get started on rocking social media.

Dennis

Social Media: Starting Small

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starting small

Start with what you can handle

If your nonprofit organization is large enough, you may have staff specifically assigned to social media.  if it is new enough, you may have started online before you opened an office!

But many nonprofits are not large, few are rich, and only a few have social media in their DNA.  You may be one of the many saying to yourself, “I know I need to do something with social media, but how do I start?”

I’ve been there.  A few years ago, I was the only communications person at a community-based nonprofit organization.  (I was also the development person, and the outcomes person…but that’s another story!)

I knew that my agency couldn’t possibly do Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Youtube, and the next new thing that came along–let alone do them well.

Here’s what I think will work for you: start small.

  1. Start with your website.  It’s not social media as such, but everything you do leads back to it.  When someone arrives on your website, will they find something that’s valuable to them?  Is your site attractive and easy to navigate?  And a really simple thing that too many of us overlook: do all your links work?  If you can do only one thing online right now, it should be to improve your website.
  2. Know your audience. You don’t have time to send out messages at random hoping some of them will touch your readers’ hearts. Click on the link for a humorous guide to audience research.
  3. Think about your objectives. Let’s imagine you succeed beyond your wildest dreams in getting the audience you address actually to pay attention.  What do you want them to do as a result?  Try to narrow it down to one primary objective for each specific audience.  I know how hard that is.  Do it anyway.
  4. Now, pick one medium.  Ideally, it should be the one your supporters use. If they’re on Facebook, choose Facebook.  If it’s Youtube, choose Youtube.  Practically speaking, you will probably pick the medium that your supporters use most which your organization uses already.  However you pick, do pick one, and only one–and then concentrate single-mindedly on learning how to use that medium better.

Give yourselves at least six months to become really good at connecting with your supporters on just one of the social media you use.  That’s do-able, isn’t it?  Try it and watch your influence grow.

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