April’s Social Media Breakfast Maine was awesome. The bacon was amazing (as always). And the presentation by CC Chapman was great too!
I recently found a copy of a blog post from a Blackbaud seminar that was just sort of “stream of consciousness.” So I thought I’d add this stream of conscious like notes here.
I loved how this fits so well into “engaging” with donors and prospects for nonprofits using social media.
Which ones do you find most helpful?
Social media is like a small town. It’s the basics: say ‘hi’, say ‘good morning’
I spend the first hour of my day with my coffee tweeting people saying hi.
The basics of this is people.
Email is shockingly old school but definitely not dead.
It’s all about relationship building. Most businesses haven’t figured that out.
Cut the excuses! The common ones are: legally we can’t do it, don’t have the time, or the intern does that. Are you really going to trust your entire business with an intern?
Every one you employee you need to be able trust with the media. “The media” isn’t the big cameras. Everyone is the media now.
How do you do business? “I get up and open the door on time every day.” Frills are nice but if you don’t have good service, social media isn’t going to save you.
Listening is the easiest thing to do but the first people forget. Google alerts take no time to set up.
Twizzler vs Red Vine “Thanks for the package but this sucks.” — They responded! They smacked me down. In their own language. They were human.
New England gets this stuff better than anyone in the world.
Content HAS to be a core part of what you’re doing. Everyone of us has a device to create content with us–even pen & paper.
It’s dangerous to only be on FB. It’s rented property. FB changes the game almost every day. And they still don’t respect businesses as much as they could.
You should be driving traffic to your site as much as possible.
610 MILLION people on FB. Your customers are there.
FB: You can’t go wide but you can call tall. Use that image space.
Right now, FB blocks Google searches but it has to open up. And you can pull in lots of other stuff (YT, blogs, etc.)
Don’t let not having a budget stop you from making video. Film it. Be human.
Don’t think it’s one hit and your done. Reimagine how content can be used and reused.
Don’t use the megaphone of the internet just because you can. “Solve or share, don’t shill.”
What’s the first thing you do when you have a problem? You go to Google and look for the answers. What questions are your customers asking? Create the content.
Google owns YouTube. Video is appearing much better in search, maybe even better than text.
Viral videos is not the goal. It doesn’t create web hits. You just watch it and giggle.
You want to be seen more. But you want the RIGHT people seeing you.
Make the customers your story. It’s NOT about you.
Always give attribution when you use other people’s content.
Curate. Collect your the top 5 or 10 links every week or month on your stuff. Share it.
Have manners online. Be willing to disagree but don’t forget how you act face to face.
Use your own voice. Have an opinion. People love seeing opinions. Nobody loves vanilla.
If you need results TOMORROW, you need to spend lots of money. You can buy eyeballs, you always can. TV, radio, etc. You’ll get traffic but not quality leads. Print/radio/television are dying but they’re not dead.
If you want to do research, go through the whole FB ad process without hitting the “buy” button. You can see particular numbers.
Not sure what image to use on your Facebook ad? Use a play button. People are programmed to press play.
Get your desired results on the table up front.
“I don’t know what the ROI of my pants are, but I put them on every day.” Scott ____ Ford
“What’s the ROI of your mother?” @garyvee
My friend Chris Brogan made a video on a bag. I bought it and reviewed it too. Eagle Creek never could figure the ROI of that but it sold lots of bags. But they couldn’t measure the ROI.
Don’t ever get in the way of your customers spending money.
Never focus on the tools. The tools just make it easier to be human.
There are no silver bullets. It’s hard work.
If you’re using someone elses content, you have GOTTA ask for permission.
Using a photo from Flickr? Always ask. Often people put it in the lower right hand corner.
Is it ok to have PR people to social media? Sure, you are righting as the brand. You’re hired to do that. But if you’re doing it personally, you have to disclose they’re a client of yours. Posting as them? No problem. Posting as you? Must disclose.
Purists without clients might be annoyed that others post for brands. But once you’ve done it you know it’s not a problem.
You can do geo targeted FB updates by city, state, country. It’s free.
Starting conversations is kinda hard if nobody knows you. They develop naturally. You ask questions about people and start sharing your stories.
Try a 2 minute video. Will anyone use it? I don’t know but it’s not going to cost you anything but a couple minutes of your time.
Contests can work but can have unintended consequences. You might rank high for “free shoes” but do you want to?
If you have a website, be sure to have a like button on your site. It now pulls your headline, a picture, and text. Don’t know what image is being pulled? Test it and find out!!!
Lots of good nuggets here for how your nonprofit can use social media more effectively.
