Non Profit Social Media Ideas
We recently had the opportunity to meet with the Bob Perks Cancer Assistance Fund (BPCAF) who was interested in increasing its online social media presence. Bob Perks was a graduate of Penn State University and a founding member of Coaches vs. Cancer until he was no longer able to do so because of his own battle with cancer. This fund was established to continue Bob’s goal of bringing cancer support to the local community.
The BPCAF’s current presence on social media consists of an inconsistent Facebook page and an outdated Twitter page. These two social media outlets can serve as an excellent social hub for a variety of non-profit associations. Encouraging people to talk to each other through these two outlets can especially serve to reinforce BPCAF’s brand image as serving the local community. Facebook and Twitter can be used to promote events, share stories and even serve as an online support system for those who are benefitting from BPCA
F. As a non-profit, we also recommended that they create their own Youtube channel, to showcase their success stories. For example, the fund had radio testimonials from last year that ran on air that will be put up on this Youtube channel.
Any non-profit organization that produces such touching and inspirational success stories can very effectively illustrate them through both voice testimonials and video clips. Social media is an inexpensive marketing strategy for non-profit associations that allows them to increase their awareness and engage their followers more with the brand.
Rebecca Einstein-Digital Marketing Intern. Penn State University.
NASA and Foursquare
A Friend of mine shared this link with me and I felt it was amazing to think that “Space” has even embraced social media… Enjoy!
NASA Launches Partnership with Social Networking Service Foursquare
Washington, DC – NASA astronaut and International Space Station commander Doug Wheelock became the first person to “check in” from space Friday using the mobile social networking application Foursquare, which lets users find nearby friends and places. The move officially launched a partnership between NASA and New York-based Foursquareto connect its users to the space agency. As part of the relationship, a customized section of Foursquare website’s will feature tips and information about the nation’s space program. “Partnering with Foursquare allows NASA to connect directly with the people who visit our locations and share with them the interesting things that happen at each place,” said Bob Jacobs, deputy associate administrator for communications at NASA Headquarters in DC. When Wheelock checked in to the space station venue, he received the message, “You are now 220 miles above Earth traveling at 17,500 mph and unlocked the NASA Explorer Badge! Show this badge and get a free scoop of astronaut ice cream.”
http://www.foursquare.com/NASA
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/oct/HQ_10-273_Foursquare.html
This is a personal message that I couldn’t help but post. Annie is an amazing women in State College, PA that will be publishing her first book very shortly. I have met Annie once, but know through that first meeting that she is a strong driven women that has overcome many obstacles, she should be an inspiration to all.
Her book, It’s Easier to Dance will be available soon!
Ideal Image Marketing Solutions Annie Harris book is honored to help Annie market her book!
* a recent email to me from Annie
Barb,
I am so glad to read your email on this sunny morning. I want you to know that I am actually a rather shy, private woman but feel a strong committment to making public certain experiences of those most marginalized and feared by our society go through. In It’s Easier to Dance, I speak rather bluntly, at times, about things that mainstream America would rather keep behind closed doors. I want you to know a little about the woman whose book you are marketing.
I have been so blessed by a strong sense of who I am as an African American woman. Raised by a mother, though somewhat unstable, taught me everything I needed to know to have a good life, know how to take care of myself, maintain good credit and healthy friendships.
It is time for me to give of myself from my heart the way so many, including you, continue to help me live a full life with respect and dignity.
Thank you and may God bless our working together to market my memoirs.
Annie
I do SEO, but encourage SM!
This blog by Rich Brooks of Flyte.biz that I am attaching gives a great overview of what I have felt was going to happen to the world wide web. Many companies are spending millions and millions of dollars to get to the top of a Google search – what are some of these companies missing? They are missing what makes business go around and that is engaging with your clients/customers and talking to them.
I do SEO, I enjoy reading Google Analytics to see if my strategies are working for my clients. But if you spend money to try and rank your site with the hopes that the words we have picked are what your clients are thinking and utilizing to search for your product or service – and try to ignore Social Media, you might want to rethink your strategies.
After catching up on all the new cool things that FB will be offering on websites across the world, I had the chance to dive into the applications a little deeper. WOW, is all I have to say.
As a marketer, some of the challenges I face when speaking to a new client are for them to answer some simple questions;
- What is your market segment? OR,
- What are your market demographics?
Unless they are very in tune with what is going on in their business, many times it is a guess or just speculation.
FB has now taken a lot of the guesswork out of that. With the new applications/plug-in that can be put onto websites, this is a great way to see what friends recommend, like, see and even hear.
I had the pleasure of visiting Pandora and seeing what my Facebook friends are listening too. Right there, I was able to create play lists that are amazing and I could listen to them instantly! Brilliant.
As it was mentioned in Eric Qualman’s “Socialnomics” video, 14% of us believe advertisements, the rest of us believe what are friends say. How true, I built 8 playlists in less than 5 minutes on Pandora!
Facebook has it right – we all want to communicate, share, engage, and reinforce our decisions even if it is virtually!
Many new great features with Facebook and Twitter to spread your word - always glad to help!
Facebook has had so many updates this week – we are not going to “Fan” a business page on Facebook anymore, we are going to “Like” a page! I am not really sure why the change is taking place or the logic – but since there over 500 million of us on Facebook, I think we will pretty much accept anything.
Today, I read this blog from Mashable that talks about ANOTHER new page, this one is called Community Pages. It seems like it is geared more towards things that go on in your community – if that is the case, that happens when the community event is not happening anymore? Then the page is not needed anymore! Then Facebook has the opportunity to say they have even MORE pages!
Would love your thoughts as to what you think?
I came across this excellent article that was written by Jeff Bullas regarding a study conducted by Harvard along with some of his opinions based on the statistics.
In the survey they asked questions like
- Are professional networks being utilized by decision-makers in business?
- Is social media typically regarded as a trustworthy source of information for professionals?
- In what ways do professionals rely on social networks to support business decisions?
- Will social media change the business and practice of enterprise-level operations?
The survey was administered online to 356 participants via online survey with close to a quarter (23%) are CEO of their organization, 50% are “Director” or “Manager”.
Company size ranged from less than 100 to over 50,000 full-time employees and age was well distributed with the greatest proportion in the 36-45 range, 25 countries were represented, with 58% of respondents living in the US and all respondents were either the decision makers or influenced the decision process.
So what were the “30 Key Findings”
1. Professional decision-making is becoming more social, traditional influence cycles are being disrupted by Social Media as decision makers utilize social networks to inform and validate decisions.
2. Professionals want to be collaborative in the decision-cycle but not be marketed or sold to online, however online marketing is a preferred activity by companies.
3. The big three have emerged as leading professional networks: LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter.
4. The average professional belongs to 3-5 online networks for business use, and LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are among the top used.
5. The convergence of Internet, mobile, and social media has taken significant shape as professionals rely on anywhere access to information, relationships and networks.
6. Professional networks are emerging as decision-support tools.
7. Decision-makers are broadening reach to gather information especially among active users.
8. Professionals trust online information almost as much as information gotten from in-person.
9. Information obtained from offline networks still have highest levels of trust with slight advantage over online (offline: 92% – combined strongly/somewhat trust; online: 83% combined strongly/somewhat trust).
10. Reliance on web-based professional networks and online communities has increased significantly over the past 3 years.
11. Three quarters of respondents rely on professional networks to support business decisions with reliance increasing essentially for all respondents over the past three years.
12. Social Media use patterns are not pre-determined by age or organizational affiliation with younger (20-35) and older professionals (55+) are more active users of social tools than middle aged professionals.
14. There are more people collaborating outside their company wall than within their organizational intranet.
15. Professionals tend to belong to “Multiple Social Networks” for business with
- Half of respondents report participating in 3 to 5 online professional networks
- Another three in ten participate in 6 or more professional networks
- More than 7% used more than 10 professional networks
16. The Big Three Social Networks Have Emerged as Professional Networks, so popular social networks are now being used frequently as professional communities with
- More than nine in ten respondents indicated that they use LinkedIn (91%)
- Half reported using Facebook (51%)
- Twitter followed closely with (41%)
Note: The closest next channel only scored 13%. Blogs were frequently listed as ‘professional networks’
17. Mobile Is Emerging as a Frequent Professional Networking Access Point with 94% using a PC and 44% using a Mobile.
18. Usage Of Professional Networks Is Increasing
- Three quarters of respondents visit their social networks at least daily
- Four in ten visit many times each day
- All indicated that their usage has increased over the past three years
- Those who belong to more online professional networks are more likely to visit many times per day
- Small companies are more likely to indicate that they have increased their use significantly
19. Professional Networks Are An Increasingly Essential Decision-Support Tool
- Three quarters of respondents rely on professional networks to support business decisions
- Reliance has increased for essentially all respondents over the past three years
20. High Levels of Trust Exist in Information Obtained From Online Networks
- Offline is strengthened by online engagement – to extend relationships and collaborate
- Information obtained from offline networks still have highest levels of trust with slight advantage over online (offline: 92% – combined strongly/somewhat trust; online: 83% combined strongly/somewhat trust)
21. Connecting And Collaborating Are Key Drivers For Professional Use of Social Media.
22. More than half of respondents expect that in 1-2 years their company will increase social media use to share more content.
23. Over half the respondents will increase social media use to do more company-wide communications.
24. Changes in Company External Use of Social Media with More than half of respondents foresee more marketing programs and content distribution in the next one to two years.
25. Social Media is supplementing the traditional professional decision-making cycle with great affect.
26. The era of Social Media Peer Group (SMPG) has arrived and information will travel at a business velocity that has never been seen before enabled by the Internet and Web 2.0 technologies.
27. Challenges are facing marketers who endeavor to mange or control social media network content.
28. Traditional cycles of decision-making are being disrupted by Social Media Peer Group (SMPG) .. I like this new acronym!
29. Managing and influencing professional decision-making will be the major challenge as professionals often do not seek the information that marketers want to share online.
30. The greatest opportunity business has is to engage collaborative influence – via immediacy of impact through social channel.
