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!

Why Your Nonprofit Blog Shouldn’t Be About Your Nonprofit

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Is your nonprofit’s blog mostly about your nonprofit organization? Then there’s a reason your audience is so small!

I know. You’re proud that you made the effort to create a blog at all. You work really hard at posting something  every week. But who’s reading anything you post?

Take this advice from Jayson DeMers, a Forbes magazine contributor:

Ask yourself a few questions: What are your favorite types of blogs? Which ones do you subscribe to and look forward to reading? Which ones do you consider a good use of your valuable time?

Although I can’t guess which specific blogs are your favorites, I think I can predict, with a good deal of accuracy, which types of blogs aren’t on your list:

  • Those that are exclusively about products or services
  • Those that are constantly and explicitly trying to sell you something
  • Those that are essentially a platform for the business or blogger to broadcast their marketing message

Let’s translate that into nonprofit.

  • If you feel bound to write a blog post about each of your programs, you’re boring your readers.
  • If you’re asking for money, time, or action in every post, you’re irritating your readers.
  • If you sound like you’re speaking French–because every post says “We, we, we”–you’re ignoring your readers.

No one has to read your blog. Your board members may read it just to see what you’re doing. Your most loyal friends may read it because they care. But most people have too many other things competing for their time. Unless they can see right away what’s in it for them, they will go elsewhere for their fun.Continue Reading

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.

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