Become a Better Editor. Bake a Better Cake!

• S: (v) edit, redact (prepare for publication or presentation by correcting, revising, or adapting) "Edit a book on lexical semantics"; "she edited the letters of the politician so as to omit the most personal passages"
• S: (v) edit (supervise the publication of) "The same family has been editing the influential newspaper for almost 100 years"
• S: (v) edit, cut, edit out (cut and assemble the components of) "edit film"; "cut recording tape"
• S: (v) edit, blue-pencil, delete (cut or eliminate) "she edited the juiciest scenes"

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you're well aware that there are these services on the Web - one is called Google, the other is Bing - that exist to help us make decisions. Whether it's buying a new car, meeting a new beau, giving money away or keeping it in the bank, search engines play a huge role in how we currently learn, shop and navigate the world.

These services are great because they serve up a sea of information but - and hears the rub - too often the information they generate is not molded, organized or aggregated in any particular way and that makes it unnerving and annoying. In short, way too much!

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather go to Google than my local library to look up a fact and it's an amazing privilege to have "the world at your fingertips." But like they said in Schoolhouse Rock - Knowledge is Power.

Knowledge is not the same thing as information. Knowledge is about making meaning out of all these data points about dragons, duct tape and donations. And although some software companies will say otherwise, it's my humble opinion that it still takes a person to sort, sift and contextualize all this material. It takes an Editor to bake an information cake!

Luckily, some nonprofits are good editors (and bakers too!). After all, we are the experts on myriad subjects. We know how to avoid environmental degradation, raise healthy and happy kids, and keep international conflict at bay. Who better than us to "organize the world's information?"

Here's my advice. If you want to ensure that your nonprofit has a place at the table in the Connected Age, become a better editor. Don't just serve up information, serve up the most useful links about your cause. Point out the inconsistencies (and consistencies) in the news stories we read. Create a coherent narrative out of the reams of research out here.

I promise. If you learn to edit well, you'll become the trusted source for KNOWLEDGE about your issue and that means more power (and icing) for you!

Cheers!
Jocelyn

Don't Kvetch About Your Coverage. Use the News to Get More Ink!

You may not like the news. In fact, if you're a "good progressive" (you know who you are) you probably abhor the way MSM (mainstream media) chases the money-stories, hops from one story to the next, ignores real world events like human rights violations in IRAN and capitalizes on our prurient interests.

Sorry and tough!

Rather than lament a news cycle that will never give you the real estate you deserve, join 'em! Yes, stop kvetching about your coverage and use the news to promote your cause.

Sierra Club has done an excellent job here of using the "news" of the day - the scandal surrounding Gov. Sanford's infidelity to promote the Appalachian Trail. (See above and below.)

Sound like a stretch? It is! But it also works and it's sticky.

Cheers!
Jocelyn

P.S. The only thing I don't like about this appeal is the postscript. It's not necessary. It makes Sierra Club sound pretentious instead of humorous. Besides, I can make this inference on my own.

Dear Friend,

We heard the governor of South Carolina had some trouble finding the Appalachian Trail last week. We don't want that to happen to anyone else, so now's a perfect time to let you know about our new online community: Sierra Club Trails.

Members of the community are adding trails from around the country, sharing spectacular photos, and discussing topics such as whether guns should be allowed
in our national parks.

But so far only two sections of the Appalachian Trail have been added by our members. No wonder the governor got lost!

If you've hiked the Appalachian Trail, join the Sierra Club Trails community and add a stretch or two. Share your photos of the trail, too!

If you haven't hiked that trail but have other favorites, we'd love you to share them on Trails as well.

Just click the "join" link at the top of the Trails homepage and you'll be on your way!

Thanks for all that you do to protect the environment.

Greg Haegele
Deputy Executive Director, Sierra Club

P.S. -- Don't forget your (moral) compass...

Write Your Organizational Epitaph

This is "A Soldier's Grave" by mtstradling.

The tragic deaths of Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson's this week have me (and people all over the world) thinking about life, death and what people leave behind.

Legacies are a complicated thing. Like brands, you can't control what you are remembered for -that photograph, quote or experience that gets stuck in another person's head. I think it's safe to say that when we die folks will wax on and on about both our good and bad traits.

All organizations, like people, die too. Witness the slow, agonizing deaths or decline of some of the worlds most venerable intuitions - Chrysler, Morgan Stanley, the San Francisco Chronicle - this summer too!

The point is not whether you give or gave a hoot about these organizations. The point is that they are going or gone and one day all we'll be left with is the conversation about what they didn't or didn't do in the world.

Call me morbid. But you should do this today. Write your organizational epitaph.

• What did you stand for?
• Who did you help?
• How did you make a difference when your nonprofit was alive?
• What were some of the shining examples of what you did well?
• What were some of your gravest mistakes?

I hope you see where I'm heading. This IS your value proposition NOW.

• Is it true or false?
• Does it inspire?
• Are you there yet?

There's not much time in this crazy adventure called life to do something great. To build a first-class team. To create a world changing product or service. To make meaning.

Don't squander your time or anyone else's by settling for mediocrity, hypocrisy or bureaucracy.

Warmest regards,

Jocelyn

Let's Talk Taglines

My new frolleauge (friend and colleague) Nancy Schwartz, keeper of Getting Attention: Helping Nonprofits Succeed Through Effective Marketing just launched the 2009 Tagline Awards. Submissions are due July 31, 2009.

"Taglines?" you say.

"Yes! Because great taglines are a key ingredient in any messaging platform."

Think about it...

"Just do it!"

"Got milk?"

"Good to the last drop."

Amazing right? You just have to say a few words and all sorts of emotions and associations jump to mind.

"But these are taglines for consumer goods. Do nonprofits really need taglines too?"

"Si!"

According to Nancy (and I agree),

"A strong tagline does double-duty -- working to extend your organization's name and mission, while delivering a focused, memorable and repeatable message to your base. It's one of your most effective marketing tools. (Unfortunately) the 2008
GettingAttention.org survey showed that 72% of nonprofit organizations don't have a tagline or rate theirs as performing poorly.

Nancy's trying to change this sad state by highlighting the best nonprofit taglines around and giving the winners lots of FREE PR!

So, why wait? Learn more or enter your nonprofit tagline now. You can also download last year's report here for FREE!

Cheers!

Jocelyn

4 Reasons Facebook Might Not be Right for Your Nonprofit

This photo is from dvs' Photostream.

This spring, Facebook made some significant changes to the functionality of Pages on their site in order to help brands market more effectively. This has led to a lot of discussion and encouragement aimed at nonprofits about how to market via Facebook. I'm not anti-Facebook but I do want to lend a little objectivity to this discussion so before you just dive in, consider these 4 reasons why Facebook might not be right for your nonprofit (at least not yet)!

1. None of your key stakeholders, i.e. donors/members/volunteers/advocates, etc. communicate via Facebook.

Based on the current stats regarding the HUGE number of people that are on Facebook (over 200 million at last check), it is highly unlikely that none of your key stakeholders are on Facebook. However, you should still check to be sure that this is where your donors are hanging out! How? Send a survey or do a social data append.* Why? There is no point in communicating with someone via the wrong channel. Instead, do your due diligence and determine if Facebook is a preferred mode of communication before you dive in.

2. You don't have the time or talent on staff to develop engaging content.

Here is my soapbox. "FACEBOOK IS NOT FREE!"

Yeah, yeah the software is gratis, but the TIME and ATTENTION required to market via social networks is EXPENSIVE. (I've been blogging at night for almost 2 years! Trust me.) Before you dive in, determine if devoting a significant amount of human resources to this channel is a wise investment and don't go unless you decide that it's the best and highest use of your staff time.

3. You don't have any way to promote the site.

Facebook is not a Field of Dreams, i.e. if you build it, they will not come unless you are a household name. (Interestingly Beth Kanter is doing an experiment right now to test this hypothesis.) Instead, you will have to do the heavy lifting to drive traffic to your Facebook Page in the same way that you have to do the heavy lifting to drive traffic to your organizational website. So don't build a Page unless you already have a robust marketing program in place which you can leverage. This means, in part, having an up-to-date online subscriber list and an Email Service Provider (ESP). Next, to get folks to join your Page, you'll want to send an email to your subscribers and tell them the benefits of becoming a fan.

4. You don't know how to define or measure success.

It's a terrible idea to do any marketing without first determining your goals and developing some metrics for success. While I'm not saying that you have to write a 10-page marketing plan for each tactic or campaign, you must take a few minutes to decide (and write down) how you will measure your efforts - traffic, comments, donations, etc. - this is the only way you will know if you're going in the right or wrong direction.

If after reviewing this list you decide that a Facebook Page is right for your organization, here is what I recommend.

1. Check out this guide - How to Use Facebook for Business from HubSpot.

2. Mosey on over to John Haydon's blog. He has a whole section dedicated to helping you get more out of Facebook.

3. Take a webinar from Heather Mansfield at Diosa Communications. You can also contract directly with Heather directly to build your Page.

4. Finally, if it's donations you're after, check out the new blog by Causes - the Facebook application which enables you to mobilize your friends, raise money and do good stuff in the world.

Cheers!
Jocelyn

P.S. I'd love to hear from you! Is your nonprofit on Facebook? What have been the benefits and challenges to date? How do you measure success?

*Full disclosure: I work at Triplex Interactive.

FREE Email Marketing Guide for You!

My frolleague (friend and colleauge) Kivi Leroux Miller, owner of The Nonprofit Marketing Guide has partnered with the great folks at Network for Good/Fundraising 123 on this new FREE Email Marketing Guide.

Read it now and learn how to:

1. Choose the right Email Service Provider (ESP) for you. (No, it's not OK to send bulk email via Microsoft Outlook!)

2. Build and segment your list.

3. Develop targeted messaging. (Yes, it's important to send the right content to the right audience.)

4. Evaluate your efforts.

5. and more...

In addition to this guide, check out these other free online marketing resources archived on Email for Impact (where I work).

Finally, I'm doing a webinar for The Nonprofit Marketing Guide on August 6 called Nonprofit Marketing With Personality. I hope you'll check it out!

Cheers!
Jocelyn

What You Need to Get Online

I love this video from the folks at Network Solutions re: how to build your online presence.

Getting online is more than just building a website. It's also about creating a plan to "get found" by potential customer, donors and members and creating an ever loving stream of content.

Check it out!

Jocelyn

Want to Succeed With Social Media? Change Your Culture First.

This photo is by the inimitable Geoff Livingston.

I spent last Friday with some smart folks at BlogPotomac - a DC-based event focused on helping communications and marketing professionals learn more about social media and put these tools to use at their own organizations. It was a refreshing day because rather than talk about the utility of Twitter vs. Facebook, we spent a lot of time talking about the role of organizational culture in making or breaking your social media strategy.

I was particularly impressed with Scott Monty - social media guru from Ford Motor Company. He talked about how Ford has used social media for crisis communications. He also talked about the importance of culture fit in making social media work.

I'm paraphrasing...

"Our goal is to humanize Ford. To put faces to the blue oval and to connect people with our employees. We believe in openness and bringing value to our customers in all of our interactions. But our social media success didn't come first. Culture change came first. When I arrived to lead our social media efforts last year I fully expected to have to educate folks on social media and to allay fears, but that wasn't necessary because our CEO had already set the course for change. Instead, people were like. Finally, you're hear. Let's go."

Monty also talked about how Ford plans to operationalize openness by "democratizing and distributing the use of social media across the enterprise."

Again, I'm paraphrasing...

"Our employees are a key audience that is interested in our future. And while the communications department is responsible for providing employees with a communications policy and giving them guidance on the use of the tools, we don't want to "own" social media. We want other people to provide value to our customers by using them. It doesn't matter which department is connecting with customers online - Product Development, IT, Human Resources or Customer Service. The goal is to provide value to people as a part of the interaction and social media are great at enabling this type of relationship building."

I really appreciated Monty's reminder of how importance culture fit is to the successful use of any technology but especially social media. For example, it's one thing to tell your employees to get on Twitter. It's a whole other ball of wax to tell them that you trust them to connect authentically with customers online or offline and to get going!

In order to succeed with social media you need to pay attention to and cultivate a culture of openness and honesty. You also have to get over yourself and be willing listen to and hear critique.

According to folks at the event many (most?) organizations aren't there yet. Here's what I heard.

"I like what you have to say Scott, but we don't have a culture of trust in my organization."

"I can't imagine my boss letting me start a blog."

"Is there ever a time you should just give up?"

I'm not an expert in change management but I do know that if your organization doesn't value dialogue and authenticity in the workplace you'll never succeed with social media. So work on changing your culture first. Then go Tweet.

Cheers!

Jocelyn

Can Nonprofits Really Raise $ Through Social Media? Come and See...

Last week, Mashable - a leading tech blog focused on Web 2.0 and Social Networking news - launched Summer for Social Good - an all social media charitable giving campaign to benefit 4 charities.


According to the release, "the Summer for Social Good is the first large scale online charitable campaign to raise funds strictly online through the power of Social Media and the Internet over an extended period. The goal is to use the power of “Social Influence” via Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, blogs and other online media to raise an unprecedented amount for our fund."

From June 1 - August 28 Mashable and others will promote the campaign via their site which according to Technorati logs 5 million page views per month! The hope is also that the campaign will go viral and that folks like you and I will donate and spread the word via our networks. See the widget above. All donations will be processed by Global Giving. To date, $1,140 has been raised.

The 4 charities to benefit from Summer for Social Good include:

• The Humane Society
• LIVESTRONG The Lance Armstrong Foundation
• Oxfam America
• World Wildlife Fund

I don't know how they were chosen.

I'm excited to see how this campaign unfolds as it will provide additional benchmarks and information regarding the ROI of social media and how nonprofits can best use these channels. Specifically, it will help us all answer the question, "can nonprofits really raise money through these channels or is brand awareness a better "'play.'"

Interested in learning more? Visit Summer of Social Good. You can also follow the campaign as it unfolds on Twitter. FYI, looks like this initative may be just be one in a series of social good campaigns organized by Mashable. Kudos to these bloggers for using their social media powers for good not evil!

Cheers!
Jocelyn

A FREE Conversation About Charitable Giving You Can't Afford to Miss

This beautiful photo is by Mr. Kris.

On June 10, the Giving USA Foundation will release the latest edition of Giving USA - THE authoritative source of information on U.S. philanthropy.

• Want to see how your fundraising results stack up vs. other charities?
• Want to know what you can expect from donations in 2009 and beyond?
• Want some suggestions for how to change your fundraising course, if necessary?

Join this conversation with the authors of the report being hosted by The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

The chat runs from at 12:00 - 1:00 (EST).

Cheers!
Jocelyn