Multichannel Communications - Management & Tips

A point I've been harping on for some time whenever I speak to groups of nonprofits is the importance of communicating to your supporters the way they want, not the ways you're used to. In other words, while some of your supporters may still be looking for that annual holiday letter in the mail, others want to hear from you on Facebook, or by email, at an event, or even by the old telephone. This is what we mean by multichannel communications.

This guest post is from Madeleine Hammond. Maddie is a marketing executive at Skeleton Productions - One of the UK's leading video production companies. Here’s what She has to say about managing multichannel communications...

Multichannel marketing is not a trend likely to end soon - and for good reason. With the constant evolution of new technologies, new social platforms, and new ways to communicate with your audience, nonprofits are currently able to enjoy a whole plethora of potential communication options. Managing these various outlets however is where things can get a little... messy, especially if you’re a charity doing this on the cheap.

To successfully manage all your data, you really need to understand the information you are receiving. So with that in mind, here are some tips that can hopefully help you in the management of your various channels…

1) (Social) Network, Network, Network!: Now, this one is a biggy. According to studies, email open rates are on the decline with more people of all ages switching to social media as their primary form of communication. This means organizations have to think about not only growing their presence in relevant social networks, but they also have to think about growing their “lists” in these environments—much like you think about growing your email list. The great thing about social media is that - mostly - it is free, and you can reach a ha-uge potential audience with some persistent marketing. Make sure to have Facebook, Twitter & Linkedin profiles for your nonprofit. Managing them is simple, especially if you make use of their mobile features - just don’t forget about them!

2) Don’t Forget About Emails!: Yes bringing emails into the equation after talking about social media’s superiority may seem like a contradiction, but just because it’s not 1999 anymore doesn't mean email appeals are no longer relevant. It does mean you have to get more creative however. An email blast to your entire list with the same plea won’t work - in fact, you’ll be lucky if it gets read at all & not marked as spam. Segment your database & create specific templates for those segments, matching the profiles of your supporters. Always test these groups with various content & measure the response. You can even create filters within your inbox so you can monitor responses more successfully. By creating filters & recipient segments, it is easy for you to keep on top of your email campaigns.

3) Keep Track: Tracking is a crucial factor in understanding how your channels are working for you - If you are not measuring what is working via unique tracking links for your petitions and fundraising pages or using Google analytics, you are not listening to what is working for you and what is working against you. As the ol’ social media saying goes; ‘measure, listen and adapt’. Remember its important to connect and communicate with your supporters based on what you know about them, so track and measure what is working and adapt and adopt appeals to suit your audience needs accordingly.  It needn’t cost you much either, as tools like Google Analytics are free.

4) Have a Strong Profile: Creating a strong profile for your nonprofit is essential in targeting donors and audiences. Creating supporter profiles will also help target your audiences in different channels more effectively. Each customer profile has different needs, and your channel of communication should adapt to that. Different channels should be used to translate different communications to different audiences. This may take time (and some saint-like patience!) but it could make a huge difference to your campaign.

Personal, Political, and Professional

The common sense advice that is frequently given about social media is to keep your personal and professional identities completely separate. Much like the age-old saw about not discussing religion or politics at social gatherings, this is meant to avoid controversy, and, more to the point, not give any work associates reason to disagree with you (or terminate your job, etc.).

I've generally followed this advice, with separate blogs and distinct Twitter identities for the personal and professional. I try to keep my Facebook "friends" to only social contacts and my LinkedIn "connections" to only professionals (doesn't always work out that way). I've not gone out of my way to completely hide one identity from the other, but I've been reasonably careful about not deliberately mixing the two.

But, really, what have I got to hide? I'm not a recent college graduate with pictures of wild parties filling my personal social media streams. There are no illegal or immoral activities shared on my personal streams (although, there are some that are fattening). If alcohol is mentioned or pictured, it's most likely in reference to a visit to one of my state's many world-class wineries. The only possible area of controversy is the political.

Then, yesterday, following news of the death of George McGovern, I wondered why I am not more overtly political on this blog. The political is an essential element of the nonprofit sector. Political decisions drive the demand for social services, the results of elections can effect the flow of grant money into the nonprofit sector. And, this coming Presidential election could possibly have a major impact on the tax deductibility of the individual donations we depend on for support.

So, let me make one thing perfectly clear to any readers who may not have already figured this out: I am a liberal. Sometimes I use the euphemism "progressive," but I don't hide from the L word. Liberalism is not just a guide to how I vote, but a key to who I am. Liberal values and ethics permeate my being, and flow through my veins. It comes from my family upbringing, it comes from my religious background, it comes from my education (BA in Politics, Master of Public Policy & Administration), and it comes from my life experiences. It's not likely to be changed by a 30 second attack ad.

My liberalism is why I have made my career in the nonprofit sector. It is liberalism that keeps me dedicated to making the provision of social services efficient, effective, and possible. It is liberalism that makes me a better consultant, more interested in looking for ways nonprofits can better serve our communities than ways to extend my contract and increase my income. Without a conscious choice to live my liberalism, I would more likely have made a career in media or the entertainment industry, and made quite a bit more money. Oh well.

George McGovern's Quixotic campaign for President in 1972 was also part of the background and education that made me a liberal. Yesterday I wrote more about that on my personal blog, here: George McGovern: Acts of Faith

Let me make one more personal, political confession: I am not a Democrat. I was, from when I was able to register to vote in 1979 till about 1995. I was registered as a Green briefly after that, but have been happily DTS ("Decline to State") since. I describe myself as "left-of-center, independent." No one party or candidate owns my vote or can expect it without first earning it.

That said, my final point here is this: The Nonprofit Consultant Blog proudly supports and endorses Barack Obama for a second term as President of the United Sates.

I believe that this President, while far from perfect, has shown dedication to the issues we work on as a sector, and that he deeply cares about the people who we serve. Meanwhile Mitt Romney's private remarks to donors about "the 47%" have disqualified him from consideration by anybody who has dedicated their career to helping those on the lower side of the economic ladder.

We need to give President Obama another term to continue the progress that he has made. Further, we need to help him by removing the obstructionist Tea Party Republicans from Congress. I am an independent, who has regularly split my vote, but this year it is vital to elect a straight Democratic ticket. I hope you will join me.

LinkedIn Launches Board Connect Service

LinkedIn, the social network for professionals of all sectors, has just announced the launch of their new Board Connect service for nonprofit organizations. If you're not already familiar with LinkedIn, it began, basically, as a place to post your online business profile/resume and connect with others in your field to grow your network using a "six degrees of separation" model. Other features and refinements over the years have turned LinkedIn into an essential social network for all professions, including active discussions, groups, job boards, and more.

The new Board Connect uses LinkedIn's "Talent Finder" to help you search for professionals with the skills your organization needs. Likewise, professionals interested in board service can search out organizations that meet their interests. Best of all, the service is free to nonprofits (business use of the Talent Finder can cost $1,000).

So, what could be wrong with all this? Well, in one of those active discussion groups on LinkedIn for Nonprofit Professionals, Michael Wyland (of Sumption & Wyland Consulting) says of the service that "the pitch is off-key and reflects antiquated views of board service." Michael recognizes that the LinkedIn service can be beneficial to the organizations that choose to use it, but, he notes:

"Searching algorithyms can get a nonprofit only so far. ... The 'pitch' in LinkedIn's blog makes no mention of governance, board member obligation, legal exposure, and the duties of board service in an increasingly regulated and scrutinized environment. The days of viewing nonprofit board service as an expression of noblesse oblige and an opportunity to network are fading fast, if not already gone."

Terrie Temkin (of CoreStrategies Consulting) replies, in part, that nonprofits "must still do the hard work to vet potential [board members]." She states that this is true, not just of LinkedIn's new service, but of all board matching programs.

I will agree with Mr. Wyland, and add that the "antiquated view" of board service as noblesse oblige and a social activity not only exists within some board matching programs and the well-intentioned attempts at encouraging board service in corporate circles, but within far too many nonprofits themselves.

When I work with boards, I find there can be a very fine line between those boards where the members are comfortable with each other, share outside interests and relationships, but still manage to accomplish the serious business of governance of the nonprofit corporation, and those boards where their shared social situations and relationships stands in the way of good governance.

Often, the one thing that makes the difference as to which side of that line an organization is on is simply good board training. Nobody has ever gone to these boards and explained what their role is or should be on a legal, fiduciary, and ethical basis. They're not shirking their responsibilities; they've just never been made aware of their full responsibilities.

I will also agree with Ms. Temkin, and add that the process of vetting potential board members is a continuous one. It does not start when a member leaves and a seat opens up, but proceeds according to a plan that includes methods of identifying new recruits, the vetting process, suggestions for other volunteer activities until a board seat is open (non-board members may sit on committees, help with events, etc.), and a process for how the full board votes on and welcomes in new members.

Consultants (such as Mr. Wyland, Ms Temkin, or myself) can help your board with both proper training on roles and responsibilities, and with creating a board development and recruitment plan.

If your organization is interested in LinkedIn's Board Connect, you can learn more about it on the LinkedIn blog here, or go direct to the LinkedIn Nonprofits page here. While you're at LinkedIn, you can join my network through visiting my profile here.

Social Media 101 for Nonprofit Consultants

Yesterday I had the opportunity to present an introductory workshop on social media to a few of my colleagues in the Fund Builders Alliance. We covered some of the basics of what social media is and is not, got into the how-tos and whys of facebook, twitter, linkedin, and blogging, and briefly went over the variety of other services available (pinterest, storify, g+, ...). It's always a great day when you can get together with a group of professionals that you respect and teach them something new. (And thank you to Karen and Leadership Monterey Peninsula for use of the conference room!)

Here's the thing though. Although I was pleased to present this workshop, and although I do offer social media planning and coaching services, I'm always hesitant to use the title "social media expert." As I told the group yesterday, "At the end of this session you will all be social media experts, for about three hours." Social media is such a constantly changing and evolving ecosystem that I believe it is a continual learning effort. Fortunately, I am fascinated by it and enjoy that effort. But I still realize that there is always more to learn.

I've been playing around with online communities in my personal life for nearly twenty years now. On a professional level, I got involved with nonprofit online discussions as a member of HandsNet around 1996. A few years later, I wound up working for HandsNet as the Director of Online Community Development. Since then I've continued to be an early adopter of many new platforms, including blogger, facebook, youtube, and twitter. But "expert"? ...

I hope to continue to learn and fascinated by social media, and I hope to continue to bring that experience and enthusiasm to my colleagues and clients in the nonprofit sector. But if you ever catch me using the title "Social Media Expert" please splash a cold glass of water in my face. Just try not to splash my iPhone, thank you.

Oh, and if you'd like a copy of my powerpoint slides from yesterday's presentation, just send me an email (contact info in the "about the consultant" section of this blog).

Why You Have To Do It Better

The "It" referred to in the title of this post is Social Media. And the problem is nonprofits who are under the impression that Twitter, Facebook, etc., are just about marketing. They think that it's just fine if their postings consist of nothing more than a sales pitch (or, in the nonprofit case, a donation pitch).

Nonprofits can be forgiven, somewhat, for thinking that way. After all, using the news feeds from many local small businesses as examples, that's what we frequently see. But there's a huge difference between, say, a local burger joint and a local food pantry.

Think like a consumer of social media: what benefit do you get from following either of these streams?

The local burger joint can get away with not being social on social media. If I subscribe/follow/like them, the benefit is clear: cheap food. Finding out what's on special, getting that coupon code, learning today's location of the food truck. If I'm getting any of that, I really don't care if they engage in conversation, or provide any information other than saving me a buck on good food.

But what added value do I get from subscribing/following/liking the local nonprofit food pantry? Being asked for yet another donation on an hourly basis? Where's that "unlike" button?

No, nonprofits don't have the luxury of using social media just as another advertising outlet. We have to use it correctly. We have to be social on social media. We have to constantly put our audience's needs ahead of our own.

Subscribe/follow/like others, and engage them in conversation about your area of expertise. Answer questions about your organization, its mission, and the issues that your programs address. Tell about your successes as well as your challenges. Thank your supporters and show how much they're appreciated. Find out what your audience wants to hear from you, and then provide it regularly and clearly.

Sure, you can mention where to donate, or plug your upcoming events or volunteer opportunities. But not every time you sit down to tap out an update. To get (and keep) followers - and turn them into donors later on - you need to figure out your value added proposition. Otherwise, it's just a lot of spam.

Social Media Training for Supporters

Here's an interesting item for those of us obsessed with social media. On the Jerry Brown for CA Governor YouTube channel, along with posting various interviews, campaign ads, biographical bits, and so on, the campaign has now posted a "Social Media Webisode" -- a short training video on how Jerry's supporters can help get the word out. The first webisode is on promoting the Brown campaign via Facebook:



This is a great example of using social media, and a brilliant strategy. Faced with a challenger who has so far spent over $119 million of her personal fortune, making hers the most expensive campaign for statewide office ever anywhere, Brown has not only made good use of social media to get his message out, he is harnessing the full power of social media by turning supporters into advocates.

Far too many of the social media campaigns that I see, whether political or for products or nonprofit organizations, treat facebook, twitter, etc., as one-way broadcast mediums. They neither engage the audience in dialogue nor tap into the extended networks of each of their followers. Brown 2010 has now done both. That the video is well-produced and gets to the point in barely over 90 seconds also helps.

Is your organization simply pushing random updates to your followers without thinking about how they will use it, or explaining how they can help your cause by re-tweeting, "liking," and commenting? When a supporter posts something to your facebook wall, or asks you a question with an @tweet, how long does it take for you to respond? Do you respond?

Whether or not you support Jerry Brown for Governor, or even live in California, take a look at the training video and imagine how you might be able to train your followers to be an army of advocates for your cause and for your organization.

Is Facebook Causes A Good Investment?

A new posting on the Blue Sky Collective blog claims that "Facebook Causes Continue to Show Little Promise as Fundraising Tool." In the post, they examine the Nature Conservancy's Cause page and finds this:

"Today, they have 286,000 members and have raised nearly $388,000!  Sounds great, right? That's about a $1.36 per member.  That's pretty awful. ... If I were a nonprofit manager, I would think twice before investing more time and money into Causes."

Here's my response that I posted to the blog:

I think you're looking at the wrong numbers. Whether they've raised $1.36 or $2.40 per current "member" is insignificant.

I want to know how much did they spend to raise the $388,000? Was that from current donors who gave through Facebook rather than their mail appeal? Or was a significant amount of that from new donors?

The cost of acquisition per donor is an important part of deciding whether or not the Facebook strategy is paying off. Obviously, if it's more than $1.36 then there better be some other value for the organization using Facebook Causes other than the income.

But, I'm willing to guess that the the cost per donor is quite small, and, once the Causes page is up and running, the marginal cost for each additional donor acquired goes down.

I'd love to hear from somebody from the Nature Conservancy with more data, and whether or not they feel they've gotten a good ROI from Facebook Causes. They're no bunch of dummies. I'm guessing they've done the analysis and are satisfied.

What about you? Has your organization set up a Facebook Causes page? How much have you spent, and how much have you raised? Did it come from your communications budget or your fundraising budget? Are you satisfied with the result?

I think the jury is still out, and I worry that we're making decisions about the worthiness of new tools for fundraising based on testing it in the worst economy in 70 years. I say, keep on testing, keep on communicating. The full ROI may not be there yet, but when the economy does return, you don't want to just be starting your social media strategy then.

"I had to unfollow because..."

From time to time I've used this space to encourage nonprofit organizations to use social media to help get their message out, connect with supporters and community, and engage in conversation. A good social media strategy can include all or any of blogging, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, or any number of other platforms.

Last year, to the question of "Should Your Nonprofit be on Twitter?" I answered an enthusiastic, "Yes!" But in that posting, I emphasized that "Twitter requires listening, as well as frequent posting," and that ignoring that warning could cause your social media strategy to backfire. Yesterday, it did backfire for an organization I was following.

This organization had always had a habit of tweeting in spurts, posting five to ten links or comments at a time, then nothing for 24 hours. I understood this, as the person doing the tweeting has many other duties as well, and she did a good job of listening and responding to others.

But what happened yesterday was a spurt of several hundred tweets within a three hour period before I had to click "Unfollow."

Regardless of how useful and valuable the information in a tweet might be, and regardless of what other benefits such a promotion might bring, she forgot to consider the effect it would have on those who are already their supporters and followers.

For me, it rendered Twitter useless for those several hours before I pulled the plug. Within the hundreds of messages from that organization, I lost messages from other groups and individuals, and there was no possible way to read all the tweets this one group was sending - nor could they have been paying any attention to replies during this period.

Overwhelming is not informing, and drowning out is not communication. Even well-intentioned tweets or emails can become spam when the tools are abused.

This morning, they have posted an apology and explanation, promised a return to "normal tweeting," and I have re-followed. But if my loyalty to this person and this organization had not been so strong, I would have un-followed quicker, and not come back.

So, how often should you tweet? As far as spurts, I'd say that if you need to tweet more than five times in a 30 minute period, or more than twenty tweets per day (not counting replies), you should have written a blog post instead.

A handful of useful tweets each day, plus responding to supporters tweets, keeps you part of the conversation and relevant, and - most important here - not annoying.

Fundraising Success You Can't Buy

These days more and more nonprofit agencies are looking to online social networking tools and sites, such as Facebook, to see how they can use them to increase donations (and if you're not on Facebook, why aren't you?). Well, here's a great Facebook fundraising success story:

The story began Aug. 11, when Jenni Ware of Redwood City lost her wallet at Trader Joe's, and a woman standing behind her in line — Carolee Hazard of Menlo Park — offered to pay the stranger's $207 grocery bill. The two exchanged addresses. Ware found her wallet later that day and repaid her grocery "angel" $300 - with $93 extra to perhaps get a massage.

But Hazard asked her Facebook community what her friends would do with the bonus amount. Swift electronic responses urged Hazard to give the money to charity - the local food bank, since the act of kindness began in a grocery store.

Hazard, a green activist and former Genentech biochemist, loved the idea, and she not only sent in the $93 that Ware had given her as a "thank you," but matched that amount herself. So did a Facebook friend. And another. And another. Kids have pitched in 93 cents. And since the story has been pushed out on Facebook's own site, others are donating what they can, too, even $9.30.

Hazard has since started the "93 Dollar Club" on Facebook, where people across the globe can easily read the story and comment on the good karma phenomenon. There are links on that page where people may donate to their own food banks close to them. And commenters say they are reading - and giving - from Iran, Israel, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Australia, Hungary, Sri Lanka and beyond.

The result for Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, where it all began? Nearly $10,000 raised for Silicon Valley's hungry in a week — the most raised in such a short period of time, according to the food bank.

So, yes, it is quite possible to raise large amounts of money using social networking sites. This is not the only such success story I have come across, and they come from Facebook, from Twitter, MySpace, and beyond. But - and it's a huge but - the secret to nearly each of the success stories I have read is giving up control.

An old expression about good press coverage is that it's like "advertising you can't buy." Well, good viral fundraising is pretty much the same. To be truly "viral" it has to come from your supporters, not your staff, and it has to come on their schedule, not yours, and it has to be their ideas.

Now, that doesn't mean you should be doing absolutely nothing. You should be setting up your Facebook fan page and cause page, and have a Twitter account, and each should be linked and pushing content to your official web site (well-equipped with donation buttons).

Start using these tools as extensions of your current campaigns and to bring in new donors who prefer electronic methods of communication and participation. But don't expect dollar miracles overnight. The magic comes when one of your supporters (or potential supporters) has a "grocery angel" experience of their own and decides to launch their own campaign.

When they do, you'll want to be ready, and easy to find, with an established online presence that they can point to. Because, if you're not online, in place, and ready to receive those donations, another organization will be.

Visit the $93 Club on Facebook (may require Facebook login)

Should Your Nonprofit be on Twitter?

By now, I'm sure you've all heard of the micro-bloggging platform, Twitter. In a nutshell, micro-blogs - or "tweets" - are posts of 140 characters or less, typically answering the question, "What are you doing now?" Twitter is also the hottest thing going right now in terms of web 2.0 / social media. But is it right for your organization?

First, some of the criticisms of Twitter: "It's shallow." "It's vapidity to the point of depravity." "Who cares what you're doing right now?" And, when users take the "What are you doing now?" question too literally, those criticisms can be very valid. Posts of "Waiting for the bus," or "Just finished lunch, need to burp," are hardly useful or inspirational to anybody but the person who posted them.

On the other side, a few months back when a US Airways plane made an emergency landing in the Hudson River, Twitter got out the news quicker than any official media and carried the first photo of the evacuation of the plane. The presidential campaign of Barrack Obama demonstrated to community organizers worldwide how Twitter could be used to promote events, get out a message, and raise money for causes. But, again, is it right for your organization?

I personally love Twitter, and previously on this blog I've encouraged all nonprofits to use blogs and other social media as a communications tool. But on Twitter, I have to say that it may not be the best choice for smaller organizations who don't have staff dedicated to either outreach or public relations.

This is because the best use of Twitter requires listening, as well as frequent posting. One of the simplest, but most powerful, tools within Twitter is the reply post. Beginning a tweet with @(username) makes it a reply to that user.

If you're not prepared to quickly read and follow-up on replies to @yournonprofit, your use of Twitter could backfire. Rather than be seen as involved in the community and wanting two-way communication, you risk appearing out-of-touch or as putting yourself above your supporters.

For those organizations who have staff whose primary role is public communications, and who are tech-savvy, Twitter can be a great way to connect with potential supporters, organize activities, and (yes) raise needed funds.

But if Twitter is going to be an after-thought to an over-worked staffer who's focus is elsewhere, it's probably best to stick to traditional blogging for now. But, what you can do is encourage your supporters who are on Twitter to give you plugs (with links) on their Twitter feeds.