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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?

Can Your Nonprofit Tell a Story to Save Its Life?

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Have you heard the tale of Scheherezade? She was a noble lady who married the king of Arabia.  Her new husband had a grim habit: marrying and killing off a wife every night.

Scheherezade’s  beauty couldn’t save her, but her stories did. Night after night, she told him one fascinating story after another, always ending with a teaser or a cliffhanger.  The king kept her alive another day…to hear the end of the story.

After 1001 nights, he had fallen in love with her and remained faithful the rest of his days.

We all love stories–but many nonprofit organizations can’t tell their stories to save their lives.  Is yours one of them?  Here’s how to become the Scheherezade of nonprofits.

Six stories your nonprofit should tell

Andy Goodman tells us there are six stories every organization should be ready to tell.

  1. The nature of our challenge story: This story describes the problem that you are trying to address with your programs/services. “Too often, we express this as a number,” warns Goodman.
  2. The creation story: This is the “how we started” story. “It’s primarily for internal use,” Goodman says, “but I think everybody who works in an organization should know it.”
  3. The emblematic success story: This story shares your unique approach and why it works.
  4. The values story: These are the stories through which your organization shows how it lives out its core values
  5. The striving to improve story: This story is for internal use and says “sometimes we fall short, sometimes we outright fail, but we always learn from our mistakes and do better next time,” Goodman says.
  6. The where we are going story: This is a story that says if your organization does its job right, this is what it will look like in five to 10 years. (For example, the ADL’s “A World Without Hate.”)

Some of these stories are for your prospects and supporters.  Some are for your Board, staff, and volunteers.  All of them say more about your organization than any mission statement or set of numbers can do alone.

Put it in writing

Sometimes you’ll tell your story in person, or on video, or through graphics.  Often, you’ll tell it in writing.  When you do, heed these 10 Tips for Writing Your Nonprofit Story from Network for Good.  I particularly like #7!

Write a Social Media Policy that Works

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social media policy cartoon

Your organization should have a social media policy, not so much to tell employees what not to do as to tell them what they can and should do.

Why?  Because your employees are a source of all the good stuff you can share on social media.  Success stories.  Fascinating facts.  Good advice for people looking to use your products or services, and fast responses to people who have questions or complaints.  Inside looks at  how the organization works.  In short, everything that would make people follow you on social media.

Neither the head of your organization nor your marketing department (if you are fortunate enough to have one) can do it all.  Empower your staff with a clear set of guidelines and you will multiply the ways you interact with the people you want to reach: your potential clients, customers, donors, and other supporters.

Yes, a good social media policy will set limits.  But those limits should give a lot of leeway, to make room for creativity and initiative.

Don’t be the pointy-haired boss who makes it impossible for employees to do their work.  Be the one who shows trust, and earns it in return.

Here are some templates you could use to create a social media policy that’s right for your company:

Society for Human Resource Management template

5 Examples of Corporate Social Media Policies (from Hubspot)

Online Database of Government & Non-Profit Social Media Policies (socialmediagovernance.com)

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