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Your Most Urgent Questions about Social Media-Answered Jan. 21

January 15, 2015 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

"How can we use social media better?"

“How can we use social media better?”

Here’s a question I often hear as a communications consultant. Is it a question you’d ask? Would you like to hear the answer?

“My nonprofit organization is on Facebook and Twitter and even Instagram, but we don’t really know why. Everybody’s doing it, I guess. But what can we get out of it?”

If that sounds like your organization, then you should sign up for a free webinar: No Nonsense Social Media. Tripp Braden and I will be hosting it next Wednesday, January 21, at 2:00 EST.

Here are some of the things I know already we’ll be discussing:
1. What nonprofits most frequently ask me about social media
2. The big question you should be asking yourself instead
3. Why your supporters spend time on social media
4. Are you cuter than a cat video? Are your supporters as loyal as a dog?
5. The unique advantage that lets community-based nonprofits rock social media

Tripp will also ask me some questions of his own, and I’m looking forward to hearing those.

But some of the most important things we’ll be talking about during the No Nonsense Social Media webinar will be a surprise to me. That’s because we’ll be leaving plenty of time for your questions.

We know the challenge nonprofits face when trying to use social media. Let’s face it, you didn’t start working for a cause because you wanted to learn about social media. Your mission is what matters to you.

It matters to Tripp and me, too. Tripp is an executive coach who has works with many foundations, nonprofits, corporate foundations, and privately held businesses to create their best funding strategies for special projects and annual fund development. His corporate partners give in excess of a billion dollars per year to support philanthropic work around the globe.

He is actively involved in using social media to build stronger, more engaged communities. Tripp is actively involved in helping entrepreneurs decide what causes they can get more involved with upon retirement and before. He currently hosts two online journals that have over 132,000 leaders in their communities.

I worked as a senior manager at an anti-poverty agency for nine years. Through my practice at Communicate! Consulting, I dream of putting great communications within reach of every nonprofit organization. Communications is the “easy button” you can press for visibility, volunteer and Board recruitment, and fundraising. That includes social media, and I want you to know how to make those media your own.

You will get the chance to ask your most pressing questions about social media and get thoughtful, informed answers from people who understand the nonprofit sector. Just take a moment right now and sign up for the No Nonsense Social Media webinar.

Talk to you there!

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Is Your Organization a Stalker?

January 8, 2015 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

stop stalking

You wouldn’t do it in real life. Don’t stalk by email!

My friend Rebecca Lillian wrote this to the companies she deals with. Could someone have written it to you?

Dear Lands End, LLBean, etc. etc. etc. (said with the tone of Yul Brynner as the King of Siam): If I visit your website and don’t purchase anything, I will be less, not more, inclined to visit in the future if you send me a creepy e-mail that makes me feel stalked.

Imagine that you walk into a shop, look around, and walk out. Do you want someone to race out after you, yelling “Did you forget to buy something? Come back and don’t leave till you make a purchase!” ? I didn’t think so. I know how to find you. Leave me alone.

Whether you’re a business or a nonprofit, listen to Rebecca.

What you should do on social media includes following what your supporters are saying online, getting into actual conversations with them, sending them articles of interest, and giving them something they find valuable to entice them to view your website.

What your website should do is to build the trust you’ve started to create, provide more information, give them reasons to sign up for your email list, and give people the opportunity to support you (by making a purchase or donation).

What you shouldn't do--in person or online--is make unwanted advances. No means no. Share on X

If you didn’t get to yes, by all means study your website statistics to see where people lost interest and exited. Hold focus groups. Do what you can to make yourself more attractive.

But don’t obsess over the ones who turned you down. And don’t stalk them.

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Youtility: Creating Marketing that People Actually Want

June 9, 2014 by Dennis Fischman 2 Comments

Jay Baer has some bad news for us…and some good news.

Bad news: In the age of information overload, you’re not going to keep your company at the top of people’s minds by constant advertising.

Good news: You don’t have to.  Getting the ear of the right audience is  better than paying for name recognition by the masses.

Bad news: Just because people can find you online, it doesn’t mean they’ll become your customers.

Good news: Recommendations from their friends influence people’s decisions.  Word of mouth has always been important, and today, it has a new address: on social media.

Bad news: Getting people’s attention is hard. You’re competing with their friends, the latest cute cat video, and photos of their grandchildren (who are probably a lot cuter than you!)

Good news: People will pay attention when you solve problems for them or provide them with information they need.  That’s what Baer calls “Youtility.”

Help, Not Hype

If you have the resources, you can help people exactly when they need it.  Baer talks about the @HiltonSuggests program, where Hilton employees who really know the city they work in will go on Twitter looking for questions they can answer or recommendations they can make…for free.

They are not trying to make a customer today.  They are trying to win a customer for life.  The return on investment is huge.

Not all of us can be Hilton, but could you be Taxi Mike?  This Canadian cab driver personally creates a “Where to Eat in Banff” brochure with his personal recommendations and delivers them to hotels, bars, and tourist traps all around his city.  When visitors need a taxi and they have this guide in their pockets, who do you think they’ll call?

What Does It Take to be Useful?

I hope you’re thinking just about now, “What about me?  How can I help the people who I want to be calling me?”  Baer suggests three ways you can make yourself useful to your audience.

  • Self-serve information.  Be like Angie’s List. Put the information out there in a ways that’s easy for people to find and use for themselves.
  • Radical transparency.  Be like Holiday World. Answer every question people ask. Answer questions they haven’t thought yet of asking.  Answer the tough questions.  Do it where everyone can see it.
  • Real-time relevancy.  Be like Scotts Miracle-Gro. Provide information that’s keyed to the location or the situation of the customer or what’s going on at that season.

How Do I Start?

Read Baer’s book for details about the six blueprints you can use to build Youtility.

  1. Identify customer needs.
  2. Map customer needs to useful marketing.
  3. Market your marketing.
  4. “Insource” Youtility.
  5. Make Youtility a process, not a project.
  6. Keep score.

The Value of this Book

My take: this is a great book because it pulls together a lot of lessons learned over the past few years.  If you are not getting what you want out of your marketing or communications, read the book, and think about how to give others what they want.

Two reservations: Baer doesn’t often address nonprofit organizations.  His idea of a small organization is still a lot larger than many community-based businesses and nonprofits I know.  I’ll try to translate Youtility for these audiences in other posts.

Have you read Youtility? Do you plan on reading it?  What do you think of Jay Baer’s approach?

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