Communicate!

Helping you win loyal friends through your communications

Fundraising Tuesday: Put Your Donors in the Mood

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Giving to charity, word cloudOnce your appeal letter is in the mail, what can you do to help donors decide to give?

Reaching out directly through the phone or by email is a good idea… especially if you make your calls and emails warm and personal.

The Wrong Way to Use Social Media

For most organizations, asking directly for money through social media is not a good idea. Here’s why.

Picture yourself on Facebook. What are you doing there? You went online to catch up with your friends, and perhaps to see a meme that would amuse or outrage you. You didn’t go to Facebook to do business. And that includes giving away money.

There are exceptions. If you’ve tried asking online before and it worked for you, congratulations! If you want to experiment with fundraising via social media, ask for donations for a specific cause, with an immediate impact. Think of it as crowdfunding.

In general, though, “making the ask” is the wrong way to use social media to back up your end-of-year appeal. There is a better way.

Put Your Donors in the Mood for Giving

in a giving moodA donation is an act of love…and like other acts of love, it goes better if you set the mood. Too bad you can’t offer your donors a glass of wine, a fireplace, and romantic music on social media!

But here is what you can do to make them feel like giving:

    1. Give their pleasure your full attention. Between now and December 31, post pieces that will make donors feel good about themselves when they give.
    2. Tell stories. Create good memories that you and your donors share. It will bring you closer.
    3. Share the love. Post stories–or even better, videos–of donors like them saying why they love giving to your organization and how it makes them feel.

It Takes Two to Tango

For the donor to feel the love, you have to be feeling it too. And that’s difficult in December. You’re watching the numbers on the end-of-year appeal and worrying about what happens if you don’t meet your fundraising goal. Performance anxiety is making you tense.

May I make a suggestion? Before you write for social media this month, slow it down. Breathe. Think about why you care so much: the good results your organization bring about that makes you want it to succeed.

Now, think about the donor.  She cares about those good results too. You’re together in this. That’s what brought you together in the first place.

You just have to speak the language of love with your donors, and watch them respond.

The Secret Reason Nobody’s Reading Your Blog

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There’s one reason people aren’t reading your blog that no one will tell you about. But I will.

blogging secrets

The blogging secret no one talks about

Sure, you can find all kinds of important tips to attract more attention.

  • You need to make it easier to find, use eye-catching subject lines, write for your audience and not for yourself.
  • You need to stop using white on black, or 8-point font, or anything else that makes it hard to read.
  • Above all, write on a topic and in a voice that will make readers want to read more.

But here’s the thing no one is telling you: blogging is different.

It’s not like writing for social media.

One good post or tweet and I might follow you on Facebook or Twitter…because hey, I won’t see everything you post anyway. It’s not a huge investment of time.

If I’m going to follow your blog, though, I’m planning on reading a fairly long-form post on a regular basis and giving each post enough thought to learn from it. When you blog, your writing has to be good enough and your content has to be substantive enough to convince me to make that commitment.

It’s not like writing for print.

Blogging may not be social media, but it is social. When you post a blog, you should think, “Who will find this useful, or informative, or entertaining?” Keep that audience in mind always. Don’t write anything for posterity: write for right now.

Even when you’re writing to work out an idea for yourself, do it “out loud,” so your readers can follow each step…and join in with you. And when they do, by commenting on your post, feel complimented and answer back. Every comment. Every time.

Blogging is different.

Blogging takes the skills of a writer and an editor, but also  a good interviewer’s interest in a guest, and the pleasure a hostess takes when she introduces her guests to one another.

If too few people are reading your blog,how can you make it better for the people who are? Share on X

Creating a great environment for a select group of people. That’s the secret. (Just between you and me.)

What Can the New England Patriots Teach About Social Media?

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It’s the preseason for NFL football, and a lot of people are wondering how the season ahead will go. I’m thinking back to 2013. For three straight weeks during the regular season, the New England Patriots won a close game at the last minute.

It’s great to be able to do that.  Just like it’s great to be able to get today’s post up on Facebook, or tweet something brand new on Twitter, at the last minute.  But you don’t want to HAVE to do it.

Game plan your posts and tweets in advance

You can schedule Facebook posts using the little clock icon in the bottom left corner of the status box.  For Twitter, a tool like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck is a great way to call a series of plays–er, schedule a series of tweets–so they will just run by themselves.

By planning, you can make sure you won’t drop the ball and leave your fans wondering what you were thinking.  Instead, you can save time on the clock and use it for communication with others on the field.

When you’re not posting your messages at the last minute, you can huddle up with people you want on your team: customers, donors, colleagues.  Becoming known as a team player will help you win.

The Patriots fell short in the AFC Conference Championship because they had to play from behind.  Learn from them.  Get ahead of your game.

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