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1 good example of nonprofit social media

January 27, 2011 By Sandy

Seems like lots of nonprofits are talking about social media these days, but not many are doing it well.  If you are thinking about uing Facebook or Twitter or email campaigns or any other tools, here are some tips for success.

  • Know your purpose.  Be very clear about what you want to achieve by using social media.  Too many nonprofits jump into it without clear goals then get frustrated when they don’t raise boatloads of money.  It’s not a “build it and they will come” situation.
  • Be warm and friendly in your communications.  Social media is about building relationships and the key to good ones is communication.
  • Communicate from one person on staff, not from the organization itself.  We know that there’s a real person actually writing the blog posts or the tweets, so let us see who they are.
  • Share interesting stuff.  Leave the boring junk out. 
  • Share photos and video.  A picture is worth a thousand words, right?

I’m a big believer in finding a good example to go by and I have a good one to share with you. One nonprofit organization that I think is doing a great job of communicating with social media is the Asheville Humane Society.  Now, it’s a given that kittens and puppies are cute and guaranteed to be interesting.  But the folks there do a great job of sharing photos of adoptable animals, animals being adopted, and updates on animals that have passed through their care.  They always have something interesting going on and I just love the photos they share.  Check them out on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Asheville-Humane-Society/48648647067.

I’d love to hear if you have other examples of nonprofits doing socal media or other online communications well.  Leave a comment and share your favorites.

Filed Under: Communications/Public Relations, Marketing, Social Media

What every nonprofit should know about marketing

July 8, 2010 By Sandy

I interviewed Kivi Leroux Miller today about her new book “The Nonprofit Marketing Guide.”  There were several nuggets of wisdom that popped out of our conversation, and I thought I’d share them with you.

Tell stories.  Learn how to tell a story about a person your organization has helped.  A good story has a beginning, a middle, and an end.  The story should be about the person, not about your organization.

Lose the jargon.  Keep all your communications simple and easy to understand.  Your donors don’t know your industry slang and acronyms.

There’s no such thing as the general public when it comes to marketing.  The general public includes everyone.  But you don’t need to reach everyone.  You only need to reach those people who are likely to support you. You must identify the specific groups of supporters who are out there, and craft your message to them.

Be clear about your message.  Don’t try to cram too much into it.  And include a call to action.

When deciding how best to reach your audience, first consider their preferences.  If most of them are hanging out online, then you might be able to completely ditch your print newsletter.  If not, then don’t try to force them online, because it won’t work.

I encourage you to get a copy of “The Nonprofit Marketing Guide.”  It’s easy to read (my copy is already marked up, tagged, and dog-eared!) and is full of practical ideas you can implement right away.  Get yours at Amazon.

Filed Under: Communications/Public Relations, General Fundraising, Marketing Tagged With: ,

Enter the 2010 Tagline Awards!

July 6, 2010 By Sandy

My friend Nancy Schwartz is hosting her annual Tagline Awards.  Here’s the scoop:


Your nonprofit or foundation could be one of this year’s Getting Attention Nonprofit Tagline Award (a.k.a. The Taggies) winners!  And this year, for the first time, you can submit your organization’s program, fundraising campaign and special event taglines, in addition to your organizational tagline. So enter here now.

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 basic, and effective, marketing tools, but a recent GettingAttention.org survey showed that 72% of nonprofit organizations don’t have a tagline or rate theirs as performing poorly.  This program is designed to help close that gap.

All entrants will receive a free copy of the fully-updated 2010 Nonprofit Tagline Report in late 2010. It’s the only complete guide to building your organizational, program, fundraising or special event brand in 8 words or less—filled with how-tos, don’t-dos and models.

Please take 3 minutes now to enter your nonprofit’s taglines today while it’s on your mind. The deadline for entering is July 28.

Filed Under: Communications/Public Relations Tagged With:
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