Why have few nonprofits made major investments in inbound social marketing?
How come nonprofits do not seem to understand the ROI or value of integrating social media across the organization?
When will more nonprofits have a dedicated person for inbound social marketing?
Why do many nonprofits think of inbound social marketing as an optional or add-on part of their overall marketing, PR, and donor development strategies?
As I thought through these questions, several possibilities came to mind based on my experience with nonprofits across the country:
The entry cost for social media management and inbound marketing tools seems too expensive for many donation-based nonprofits.
Determining the ROI for inbound social marketing campaigns means having a solid handle on existing data trends and intensely tracking and comparing the impact of social marketing campaigns across all channels.
Integrating social across the organization is rarely heard of and usually relegated to the marketing department – never being considered for customer service, donor development, public relations, support, R&D, nor sales.
Dedicated resources cost, yet if you want to do inbound marketing right it is worth the investment to get the right person or team in the door to monitor and manage it daily.
Inbound social marketing is here to stay and works best when it is integrated across all departments: operations, HR, marketing, PR, IT, broadcasting, customer service, and development.
Certainly, some will push back on these ideas it is built on my experience interacting with nonprofits. It is unfortunate, but I can count on one hand the nonprofits that have a dedicated resource for inbound social marketing.
This is where Heather’s book comes in. Every nonprofit C-Level should read this book. While a few may see this resource as a primer, everyone will get nuggets of wisdom to apply to their organization. An excellent companion book for ROI and social analysis would be Social Media ROI by Olivier Blanchard.
Start With Benchmarks
Below is a list of benchmarks that Heather has seen through her years of experience with nonprofits. While these are not strictly to be adhered to they are excellent goals to shoot for.
5000 fans/followers as a first tier goal
10,000 fans/followers as a second tier goal
$2,500 – $10,000 annual budget for:
eNewsletters
List building
Donation landing pages
20% email opens as a first tier goal
25% – 35% email opens as a second tier goal
eNewsletter of 500 words with 1-2 updates per month
$12.48 is the average value of an email subscriber
Online giving should equal 25% of all organizational giving
40-50 hours a week for social media management
Best Practices
I have also included a list of best practices that Heather recommends. Look at your organization and weigh these in light of your current situation.
Facebook
6-10 posts per week (1-2 day)
Goal is for 1 comment and 3 thumbs up per each status update per 1000 fans
Ads equal $1.07 spent to acquire a fan
Twitter
“Old school” retweet 80% of the time
Auto-RT (retweet) 20%
25% of all tweets should be replies and retweets
4-6 tweets a day (20-30 tweets a week) 8am-8pm
YouTube
1 video per quarter (3-4 per year)
Create a “Favorites” channel
Customize and brand your YouTube page
LinkedIn
1-2 updates per week
2 hours a month participating in online groups
Comment or participate 1-2 times per month to get your name out
Goal of group size should be 5000
Rotate “Manager’s Choice” discussions 2 times a month
Send group announcements 1 time a month featuring 3 articles
Launch a sub-group after the main group has reached 5000 members
Blog
Post 1-2 articles per week
Post summaries from events 1-2 days afterward
Choose only 1 category per post
FourSquare
Create a FourSquare Business Page
Add a reward for checking in or stopping by
Mobile
Link to mobile channels from mobile site
Text message open rate should be 90%
Send no more than 2-3 text messages per month
Expect to budget $10,000 to build a custom smartphone app
Promote apps for 2-3 months per year
Heather’s book if full of good information and how-to advice. You will especially like the checklists for getting started and tactical planning.
If you’re part of a nonprofit, purchase a copy of Social Media for Social Good and begin implementing the information immediately. If you have already been involved in social media marketing then compare your benchmarks for success to those above. You do not need to start with a big budget but in today’s world you have to be involved with inbound social marketing. It is not too late to catch up and you surely don’t want to get left behind.
Was This Helpful?
Is this article was helpful, let me know by commenting now. If this was not helpful, tell me what would have been of interest to you.
Sebastian Barros, at Penn Olson, has put together a nice list of 38 free tools for monitoring social media. Evaluating return on investment (ROI) or, for social media enthusiasts, return on engagement (ROE) is a must! Seeing results is often challenging for many that want to get a handle on what is happening related to their online brand.
Check out Sebastian’s article and be sure to visit the links to the resources listed. I think you’ll find some that will definitely need to be added to your tool box.
If this was helpful, let me know by commenting below. Enjoy!
This provocative clip gives you some data to chew on if you are wondering about the ROE and ROI of Social Media. Thanks Socialnomics – Social Media Blog.
Day 2 is down but not out. In today’s line up was Mari Smith, Jason Alba, and Ann Handley. Mari covered the in’s and out’s of using Facebook for business while Jason revealed the power and reach of using LinkedIn. Finally, Ann ended the day with her Top 5 reasons to be on Twitter and listed some of the tools she uses.
My take aways from the today’s Summit are listed below. I have broken then down by Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Facebook
Create a loyal following by:
Optimizing your profile
Choosing your core message
Creating a fan page
Adding “friends” strategically
Thinking about relationships first
Creating viral visibility
Running tests with social ads
Adding Facebook to your overall marketing strategy
Also, use Friendfeed.com as another means to networking and creating community. You can pull your Twitter tweeps, Facebook friends, and Google contacts in as well.
LinkedIn
Create a comprehensive and complimentary Social Strategy for your organization
Tie your Twitter tweets to your LinkedIn status updates
Use keyword phrases in your profile summary
Export your LinkedIn contacts to a personal database for backup and mining
Use the Slideshare app for displaying presentations
2-Minute Per Week Strategy = accepting/rejecting connections and asking/answering questions
Twitter
Why use Twitter? Here are several reasons:
Create a strong community of followers
Use it to provide Customer Service
Stronger brand awareness
Networking
Monitoring the online community conversation in regard to your organization
Last nights keynote at SMSS09 with Gary Vee (Vaynerchuk) was high energy. The attendees especially liked the Q&A session afterward. Nothing like free business coaching.
Gary spoke for about 45 minutes (too short) but could have gone on for another 45 easily. The tweets were flying throughout the entire session. My take aways from the evening were:
You may remember when I first started writing about Twitter and then when I started using it. I have found it fun and interesting using the micro-blog format. It is certainly faster than writing a 200-250 word blog article.
So how about you? Why do you Twitter? Do you like to keep up with friends and family? Do you view it as a “game” wanting to see how many followers you can gain? Do you use it as a form of self-expression or do you think of it as a way of developing community?
Let me know here in the comment section below. Enjoy!
Who would think a friend half-way around the world would talk me into joining Twitter? Well, Justin did, but I admit I am still skeptical. I have been tweeting for a coupe days and only have 7 followers…hmmm. Could be my original conclusions were right (See Related Articles).
I’ll give it some time and try several different environments. Who knows, I might like it.
Also, let me know if you’re on Twitter too! You can find me at eweirdguy.
Really? Who says, blogging is dead? Maybe it was Jason Calacanis. Well, if you’re Jason and your tired of writing lengthy content…yeh, blogging is probably dead for you. Twitter is short, sweet, and to the point. And, it doesn’t hurt if you have a following or are seen as a bit of a celebrity.
Well…it makes all the difference!
If you’re an average person, what do you care? If you’re blogging for your family and friends, then guess what? Blogging is not dead. If you’re tweeting for family and friends, good for you. Although, I question whether your family is reallt interested in where you are at any given time or how many times cute-little-Suzy rolled peas up into her 8-month-old mouth (See Twitter Is For The ADD Generation).
Sorry Jason, blogging is not dead. Twitter is fun for some, but it will soon be replaced by a type of video tweeting and live friend0finder mash-ups.
What do you think? Take the poll or make a comment.
It’s in your pocket: teaching spectacularly with cell phones. Great speech by Hall Davidsonfrom Discovery Education Network about using mobile phones in education, the kind of talk many teachers and administrators need to hear. The first thing Hall said was to take out and turn on our cell phones
There is a large potential for cell phones in education, but current best practices are small. Mobiles have lots of functionality, including:
Telephone
Text messenger
Still camera
Video camera
Video player
GPS device
Podcaster
Music player
Are we really going to ignore a device this powerful? Can we, when it has all kinds of applications for teaching, learning, school-to-home, administration?
In general, we still take cell phones away, and school districts ban them (e.g. during school hours). However, if this is a tool for adults, we need to teach kids how to use it.
Kevin Kelly is one of those guys I could listen to for a time and then have to walk away and ponder on all the implications of the information I have just received. He is one of a handful of people I greatly admire. At the “5000 Day” mark, Kevin talks about the next 5000 days of the Worldwide Web and makes some interesting predictions. The clip is about 20 minutes long, but well worth the time. Sit back and listen to what Kevin has to say.
While on a recent panel discussion, Jeffrey Veen noticed something…
I was on a panel at this year’s South by Southwest talking about the role of analytics in design. With me were two veterans of the advertising industry who’s work included some of the biggest ad campaigns of the past few years – some really amazing stuff. I started the conversation by saying how the remarkable amount of audience data available to us gives designers tremendous power to affect user experiences. My collegues suggested my approach sucked the creativity out of design. I countered that they were mistaking preferential research from behavioral. The argument heated up.
While this was happening, my phone was buzzing non-stop. I slipped it out of my pocket to discretely turn it off, but noticed a stream of Twitters going by – many from audience members in the room. So I set the phone down on the table in front of me and kept an eye on it. I’m so glad I did.
As the conversation on stage continued, the stream of questions and comments from the audience intensified. I changed my tactics based on what I saw. I asked questions the audience was asking, and I immediately felt the tenor of the room shift towards my favor. It felt a bit like cheating on an exam.
I guess it really wasn’t cheating, but it does illustrate one of the frustrations I’ve had at conferences lately. Most of the events I attend have a rich conversation happening in the room, yet the only people not able to participate are those on stage. A couple times, I’ve seen organizers project a live IRC channel, but that usually bring out the worst in people (“First!!!111″) – and is terribly distracting. So I’ve been wondering for a while if there was something smart we could do at our conference.
Apparently, Bryan had the same idea. As we were planning Start, he said, “We should have someone onstage the whole time to represent the audience. Like an ombudsman does for a newspaper.” (for more visit Jeffrey’s blog)
This is community driven synchronous learning at it’s best! Why do we often think learning has to be limited to traditional “learning environments”? Learning happens every moment of every day. Unfortunately, there is often a monologue going on inside each of our heads as we learn new things about ourselves, others, and the world around us. Yet now, with the social networking and collaborative tools available, we no longer have to settle for a monologue — we can have a dialog. And, the fact is, we are!
Learning On The Road
Mobile devices incorporate much of the new social networking technology. Whether you’re a tweeter, yelper, IM’er, ichatter, texter, blogger, vlogger, or whatever, there is a conversation going on. It is constantly going on around us. You see people talking and texting in cars, trains, buses, and planes. Even during meetings there are other conversations going on (some related to the meeting, some related to the speaker, and some totally unrelated).
Those of us in the learning profession have seen synchronous and asynchronous learning happening for years. Utilizing the latest tools and technologies to further equip learners is what good trainers do.
Speakers Do The Same
Who is my audience? What do I want them to learn? Is it practical? What is the best way(s) to communicate and transfer information to them? How can I make it “stick”? How can the audience take and apply what they learn?
These are questions any good communicator/trainer should be asking. So, what have you learned today?
As a reader of WeirdGuy blog I’d like to humbly ask you to help me. I have a short 10 question survey running from August 28 – September 7, 2008 on Zoomerang. The survey should take 2-3 minutes to run through. Your thoughtful responses will aid me in future developments for this blog.
I realize I am asking you to volunteer your time, but I value your opinion. Please follow the link provided today — the survey is only available for 10 days.
And, if the survey takes longer than 2-3 minutes then you can feel free to spam me with your hate mail.
Thank you for your patronage…can I say “patronage”?…whatever, you know what I mean.
By the way, I’ll reveal the findings here on WeirdGuy when the survey is up, so if you want your response to count, now is the time to act…now! If you do not care, then what are you doing here at WeirdGuy blog to begin with?
I am still not sold on the value of Twitter (See Twitter for the ADD Generation). Yet, Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh, sees great worth in using the socila medium for spreading the word and getting feedback about his company.
Here is a brief piece from an interview with Inc. Magazine:
You have 5,681 “followers” signed up to read your Twitter updates — that’s not just employees. Who are they?
We have eight million customers. It’s been great for getting feedback. For example, we have a new website that’s still in beta. As we make improvements, I’ll send out a Twitter message asking people what they think.
And you additionally can track anyone who mentions Zappos on Twitter. Here’s an actual example: “Just bought boots on Zappos. Grt cust svc–sent an email last night asking about hiking boots for flat wide feet and had links this AM.” Are Twits a good focus group?
It’s been really useful, finding out what actual word-of-mouth conversations are out there.
Of course, all the Twitter updates from Zappos employees are public, too. Anyone can read about your employees finding good bars to meet at and drink at. You posted a message about your nipples being chafed from surfboard wax. Couldn’t that kind of candor scare customers or business partners or investors?
There may be some times when an individual Twitter message out of context can give a bad impression. But generally people on Twitter aren’t just looking at one single Tweet. They see what we do over time. For customers, I think it’s a way to get an inside glimpse of what our people are like and what our culture is like. Our belief is that your culture and your brand are, ultimately, the same thing. Your brand might lag your culture, but eventually it’s going to catch up. I think where companies are finding challenges now is they want to project this great brand, but if inside the company it’s not a great culture, then they’re going to be in trouble in the long term. For us, I just think it’s important to be real and authentic.
I’ll be taking a week off to focus on closing out a project (July 28-August 1). More to come from the lessons learned during this engagement. It’s a really cool online course with custom hooks into a client app. The back-end was designed as “plug and play” so content can quickly and easily be swapped out while still being applicable to the course testing and grading scenarios.
I have questioned the value of Twitter in the past. Well, with a recent acquisition, there may be some value to using/adopting Twitter — especially if you’re in marketing, public relations, or customer service. See Mike Gunderloy’s post on Web Worker Daily:
If you’re a Twitter user you likely saw the news this morning: Twitter bought Summize. The deal, covered on the business level by our parent blog GigaOm, brings Twitter some more smart engineers and a potential route to monetization. But what does it mean to the average web worker?
In the last article I asked, “what is Twitter really for?” Now I am wondering who is it really for?
Is it really for the average person on planet Earth? Is my life really that interesting that I feel compelled to notify others (or an online service) of everyday changes:
“I got out of bed at 6:00am .”
“I showered using a new shampoo.”
“I am meeting (insert name) at Starbucks for coffee at 8:00am.”
Okay, okay, I know that is a bit condescending. Yet, if I have to tell someone something immediately — like I just got out of an opening night Broadway play and YOU have to see it — I’ll call or text them on my mobile.
Celebrities
If I were a celebrity, I might see the value in Twitter. I know people are going to be interested in me and besides, it’s a form of marketing and PR.
Let’s face it, the average person is more apt to be interested in a celebrity figure than Joe-Schmoe down the street cutting his grass at 2:00pm.
Voyeurism
This brings up the topic of reality TV and the voyeuristic society we are becoming. We would rather watch or hear about peoples lives than help or interact with them. There is a cool detachment that can be unhealthy and disturbing at times. Does Twitter advance this trend
Use Twitter?
I am still not convinced. There are others forms of communication that are more intentional. Yet, in this seeming ADD Generation intentionality gives way to spontaneity.
I’d venture to say that 2/3 of the people reading this are familiar with the Web 2.0 technology, but for you other 1/3 out there visit CommonCraft for an idealistic explanation of Twitter. Then come back and finish this article.
Okay now, why do you use Twitter?
I was out having dinner with some friends and the subject came up. The question was asked, “Who has time for Twitter and why in the heck would you do it to begin with?”
Being a technologist, my first reaction was to stand up for the online application. Isn’t it obvious? Look how popular it is. But I paused for a moment and thought.
Why do people use Twitter?
Do I really need to know what my friends and family are doing every hour? Do I really care? I mean, some of it is pretty mundane stuff. Am I wasting my time (life) watching other’s lives go by? Hmm…
I started to think of the generational differences and the monotonous chime I here from college age friends and younger — “I’m bored.” This being said as they Twitter from their cell phones, text message friends while watching movies (in the theater!), playing videos games on their laptops while IM’ing an acquaintance in Europe.
Is Twitter just another thing to keep the minds of the ADD generation busy? Is there real social value? Tell me what you think.
I recently read Heather Mansfield’s book, Social Media for Social Good: A How-To Guide for Nonprofits. As I finished the book several thoughts came to my mind:
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Day 2 is down but not out. In today’s line up was 
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