We don’t work in Chile & aren’t involved in relief efforts, but here are ways you can help http://bit.ly/bzggc9 (via @LivingGodsDream) #fb

The above twitter update was posted by Compassion International on March 1. I think it is a great twitter update for a variety of reasons:

1. Your non-profit doesn’t have to do everything everywhere

I’m glad that some organizations don’t suffer from the Superman syndrome. Compassion doesn’t have ministries in Chile, and they are not asking for donations to Chile specific efforts. That is refreshing and honest.

2. Your non-profit can succeed by promoting other organizations

How refreshing to think that Compassion trusts their Provider and His people to not run out of donation dollars by giving to other organizations who are helping meet a very large and very current need. Compassion doesn’t seem threatened by the promotion of other non-profits.

3. Your non-profit doesn’t even need original content

If you notice this twitter update is actually a “retweet” from another user, LivingGodsDream. Compassion is just promoting some one else and their organization. Why? Because people are in need and donors may want to help through Compassion International. Problem: Compassion doesn’t work in Chile and shouldn’t (legally can’t) ask for donations to a project they don’t support right now. Solution: redirect giving, caring people to another site where they can easily give.

3. Your non-profit doesn’t have to close doors

The above twitter update doesn’t state that Compassion International will never work in Chile. It just states that they don’t now and aren’t currently involved in the relief efforts. I can imagine that if in the future there is a need and a way to partner with ministries in Chile, that Compassion might do just that.

What do you think?

Does this type of twitter update seem honest, true, and transparent; or cleverly marketed according to social media best practices? Please leave us a comment below.

And while I know it’s extremely weird to have made this leap in connection, it struck me that this analogy also translates, less spiritually, but nonetheless applicably, to the online fundraising programs of nonprofit organizations. You start out by getting in the car (you launch a website). Then you take off toward whatever destination represents your strategic plan. But along the way, you get off course. Others in the car (internal organizational voices) steer you astray. You get off course. The objectives aren’t met.

Not to take this navigation analogy too far, but let’s consider for a minute that nearly 70% of total online donations and actions online tend to originate from an organization’s homepage. Without clear navigation, direct calls to action and messaging that speaks directly to your actual and intended audiences, your organization will encounter major challenges in significantly increasing memberships and donations with acquisition efforts. is7 recommends evaluating and enhancing your organization’s homepage to capitalize on your current traffic. This process will be based on in depth analysis of current traffic, user behaviors, and review of online donation forms.

Launching a site that will never need to be touched again is like searching for the end of a rainbow. Refining your web strategy is an ongoing journey that requires paying close attention to how your users are navigating around and interacting with your site, where they are taking action, and determining what areas can be enhanced to produce greater conversions.

Information architecture combined with adherence to proven usability principles and response-focused design can lift response by 100% or more within 30 days.

The case study of HOPE International’s Site Architecture and Redesign is a perfect example that illustrates this point.

Don’t leave your site visitors roaming around your website, waiting for the annoying voice to tell them to “recalculate”. Provide clear navigational choices and solid information architecture to ensure that the signs are clear for your site visitors, steering them into the destination of engaging with your organization at just the right points of entry.

Recently we joined the Convio’s CSP program. Although we’ve been working with Convio’s platforms for some years on behalf of our clients, we realized we needed a closer tie to this premier commercial vendor. Many of the nonprofit organizations grow in size and sophistication over time, so we must continually find opportunities to create new and compelling ways to accelerate their initiatives through their technology investment.

A key requirement to joining the Convio Solution Partner program is having an authorized Convio Consultant and Technical Specialist on our full time staff. I can tell you this was no easy feat. The individuals we sent through training and certification testing came back and told us it was HARD! Ha Ha, they thought they were going to Austin for fun and frolic—wrong! All kidding aside, the training was thorough and extensive. Now more than ever we’re well versed in guiding a client through planning phases to development to implementation of a Convio project.

Our current and future clients will benefit from our experience and ongoing investment in this partnership. They’ll have peace of mind knowing we have access to priority support and an online partner community. Most of all, our clients will have Convio and is7 interactive working hand in hand to ensure the success of their organization. Several of our key clients using Convio are already seeing real benefit from our closer ties.

Check out these Convio/is7 interactive case studies:

• HOPE International Site Architecture & Redesign

• Feed The Children Recurring Giver Program

• T.D. Jakes Enterprises Interactive Elements

One of the biggest reasons I hear for non twitter users is, “I don’t get it”

There’s a misconception that twitter is just a more frequent Facebook status update, which some may use it as such but it is so much more than that. I have compiled a list of twitter terms that will help a twitter newbie gain a better understanding of what twitter is and how it works.

• A tweet is a post to twitter.  It can only be 140 characters (including spaces). You will type this into the box at the top of the screen that says what’s happening? (There is a character counter at the top of the screen that lets you know how many characters you have left to use)
• A timeline is a series of tweets displayed on a Twitter page. When you refresh the page new tweets will appear at the top and the older tweets will scroll to the bottom. The timeline you will see on your homepage is that of the people you are following.
• Follow. A large part of twitter is that you can follow certain people/organizations/blogs, etc that you find interesting.  By following these people you elect to see the tweets they post in their timelines which will appear in your twitter feed.
• Following. Just as you will follow people that you find interesting, others will follow you if they wish to see your tweets. (You can put a protection on your account and that will allow you to choose who can follow you)

At the top you will see “following” and “followers” When you click on following you will see all of the people you are currently following. You follow people and they in turn follow you if they find you interesting and wish to see your tweets. When you click on following you can see who all is currently following you.

• @replies. @replies are very important for communicating with people in the twitterverse. In order to reply to someone or refer to someone put a @ symbol in front of their twitter username. (On your twitter homepage there is a @yourusername link and when clicked on will show you all messages directed at you)
• RT. An important part of twitter is sharing. That is where the RT (retweet) comes in. The RT is a way to share other people’s tweets with your followers.
• Hashtags. The hashtag is used to track tweets that are related to a certain topic. So if you want to be a part of a conversation or find out who is talking about a certain topic you are interested in you can add a hashtag for that topic (example: #mobilemarketing #nonprofits) and you can also search for a certain hashtag by typing it into the search box.
• URL Shorteners. Since a tweet can only be 140 characters URL shorteners are great for sharing links. These URL shortening services will take a URL and condense it so that it will fit within your 140 character limit. (Some of these services allow you to track your links so you can see how many clicks a link is getting)
  • Example services:
  • http://bit.ly/
  • http://tinyurl.com/

These basics should get you started but the best thing to do is explore the site, read up on twitter best practices, and decide how you want to use twitter and how you can get the most out of it. Need help getting started? Contact us to see how we can help you get your social media marketing efforts off the ground.

With this question, I am not just referring to the amount of impressions, clicks or conversions. This type of data should only be the starting point in your data collection. Just because your new awareness campaign resulted in thousands of new names does not mean that these new constituents will result in dollars toward your cause. It is critical to understand how much money a name in your online file brings toward your organization. Simply divide the total amount raised online by the amount of names you have in your online file. This data becomes substantially much more valuable if your organization is able to target specific segments of your file. With proper segmentation you have the opportunity to assign financial value to names acquired through mediums such as social media acquisition, pay per click campaigns and banner advertising or based on specific campaign performances.

While this metric absolutely cannot be viewed in a vacuum because of many variables, it can provide a realistic look at how your file responds financially once they have come on. What is so exciting about this metric is how unique it is to your organization. Not only will this metric help define the value of acquisition for your program but, it also demonstrates the current state of your communication and fundraising efforts and will help identify the next steps to take in the development of your program.

Many organizations are reluctant to spend money into developing campaigns that focus on acquiring new names. To invest in a campaign where the direct focus is not on donations, often will illicit concern from individuals leery of the investment, particularly with interactive mediums. Having visibility on social media, search engines and throughout the Web has significant branding value, but at the end of the day, providing a specific value to each name acquired can really make acquisition campaign decisions easy.

An organization we work with was presented the opportunity to acquire new names at $5 cost per name by expanding their campaign through additional channels. This name acquisition campaign had begun less than a year before, and had seen excellent results. Though the names had been on the file just over 6 months, we were able to pull data on this segment to associate a value through 6 months for each name. Utilizing a targeted Welcome series, a strategic communication plan, an engaged social media plan and a Web site optimized for fundraising, we were able to quickly turn these newly acquired names into donors. A segment that consisted of 9,223 acquired names resulted in $124,390 in donations. In this case in just 6 months, each name acquired had a value of $13.49. Keep in mind the 6 month timeframe is shorter than we would prefer to use, but this price point makes the decision to invest $5 for an email address very simple. Needless to say, the campaign continues to be successful, and new names continue to be converted to donors. With our new data we can begin to project and model the LifeValue® of these new donors, but we will save that for another discussion.

Are you looking for more opportunities to increase your donor file? Let us help you!

This hour long forum was densely packed with valuable information that we have spread over three blog posts. Here are the take away points from the middle of the presentation:

1.) Offering check-only payment for donations reduces giving.

• Older donors write checks less frequently
• The world is moving away from using checks to pay bills and make donations
• Donors want payment options. In addition to the direct mail reply device, be sure to include online giving options in your appeal
• Younger donors write no checks, or at the most, one or two checks a month for their rent and car payments

2.) Online giving for most direct mail donors starts with the direct mail appeal.

• The best approach to online giving for direct mail donors starts with a unified multichannel direct response offer included in the familiar direct mail appeal
• When direct mail and online messages, themes and offers are not aligned it may reduce income and confuse the donor
• REMEMBER: Donors have one relationship with your organization, not separate offline and an online relationships
• Review your communications schedule to ensure that your direct mail and online appeals are in sync and both offer an online donation option
• It is crucial that your online and direct mail messages are always consistent

Donors with a high propensity to give online can be located using outside data.

• Households can be matched with known “digital neighborhoods,” online banking, credit card use, online catalog buying behavior and many other indicators
• Models have now been perfected with other nonprofit organizations that allow donor households to be ranked in the likelihood that they will give online
• Households who rank high on these scores are the best candidates to target for online giving

3.) When direct mail donors begin giving online their giving increases from 35% to 50% per year.

• Online donations are typically higher average gifts than direct mail donations and thus an increase in donor value
• In many cases when the organization does not offer online giving the donor has been suppressed because they have already given online to other organizations and prefer the instant communication that comes with giving online
• Donors who give to both direct mail and online campaigns have the highest value—in one organization the annual value of the “both” donors was $1600 a year
• Many direct mail donors move to online monthly auto debit donors. As a result, their donor value increases

4.) Online donors are the most likely donors to sign up for monthly auto debit giving.

• Monthly auto debit giving is the most promising avenue of increasing regular stewardship
• It is already becoming the backbone of donor support from younger donors in some organizations
• Promoting monthly auto debit donations is the next logical step to increasing consistent donations

In conclusion, offering multichannel giving options can:

• Increase your organization’s donor income for every donor that begins to give online
• Produce an increase from 35% to 50% when donors begin to actively give online
• Bring back lapsed donors and increase donor retention
• Result in larger average donations, because online donors typically give larger gifts, give more often and easily make the transition into monthly auto debit donors

Download the full slide show presentation.

If this article peaked your interest in strengthening your multichannel marketing efforts with online integration please contact us today for more info. Or catch us on Twitter – @is7interactive to see additional great content about nonprofit marketing.

This hour long forum was densely packed with valuable information, so we’re spreading it out over 3 posts to make it easier to digest. Here are the scan-able take away points from the beginning of the presentation:

Key Point: Donors don’t live in a single channel of communication. Neither should your fundraising.

Lessons from Other Industries

• Catalog: Research reveals that more than 1/3 of consumers prefer to respond to print promotions online
• Check Printing: Some consumers actually put all of their bills on their credit card because it is convenient and it earns miles or reward points
• Direct Response Television: Infomercials on TV now expect more than 50% of buyers to order online

So, what can nonprofit organizations learn from the commercial world’s experiences?

• Offering check-only payment for donations reduces giving.
• Online giving for most direct mail donors starts with the direct mail appeal.
• When direct mail donors begin giving online their giving increases from 35% to 50% per year.
• Online donors are the most likely donors to sign up for monthly auto debit giving.

Mutlichannel Giving

Offering multichannel giving options can:

• Increase your organization’s donor income for every donor that begins to give online
• Produce an increase from 35% to 50% when donors begin to actively give online
• Bring back lapsed donors and increase donor retention
• Result in larger average donations, because online donors typically give larger gifts, give more often and easily make the transition into monthly auto debit donors

We’re slicing out key sections from the conference’s video feed of the presentation. Stay tuned for part 2 with more insights as well as multimedia content from this conference, including the ability to download the full slide presentation.

If this article peaked your interest in strengthening your multichannel marketing efforts with online integration please contact us today for more info. Or catch us on Twitter – @is7interactive to see additional great content about nonprofit marketing.

Social Media Marketing has rocketed into the online development space over the past few years and quickly become an essential component of any multichannel campaign. Unfortunately, because the medium is so new many organizations are missing the mark when it comes to using social networks for marketing. This is mainly due to a huge misunderstanding with how Social Media works. If you want to use Social Media effectively, your organization needs an understanding of the differences between traditional marketing methods and how Social Media works. And to explain that, we have to talk about economics for just a moment (we promise, no boring bar graphs or complicated math).

Social Economics Vs. Professional Economics

Every situation in life plays by either social economics or professional economics and mixing the two is where we run into trouble. Here’s an example.

Say you are invited to a dinner party and the host cooks an amazing meal. After eating the delicious food you compliment the cook and say “this meal was so incredible I must compensate you for it. Is $100 enough?”. Now I’m sure you’d never do that because it would be unspeakably rude. Dinner parties among friends operate on social economics which are hinged together by many unspoken rules like not offering money to your friends for their gestures of hospitality.

Alternately, if you had hired your friend to cater the dinner party it would be perfectly reasonable to sit down after the meal and go over the bill line by line. This is assumed and understood that when it comes to business matters an entirely different set of rules applies.

This matters in the realm of social media because social networks all operate on the social economics system. Hopefully you can see the conflict starting to emerge here. Traditional marketing platforms are interruptive and work on a professional economic system. Social Media works on a social economic system and thus requires a new set of rules.

So you can see how many organizations who elbow their way into social communities blaring their message with loudspeakers are often ignored. The summation point here is that you can’t apply traditional marketing methods or professional economics to Social Media.

Most of us participate in at least one if not many social communities. However, when we turn out minds to marketing to these communities we forget all of the irritations we hold about organizations who show up and don’t respect our space. With this in mind we’ve put together a few basic to keep you from applying professional economics to something inherently social. Violate them at your own peril.

• Social Media is a communication medium not a broadcast medium.
  
  This means that you must be willing to engage in a two-way conversation with people instead of just scheduling fire and forget messages.
• Social Media is a community not a target audience.
  People are on social networks to communicate with their friends, explore shared interests, consume content, distribute their relevant messages and connect with new people. The key is to find people who would be genuinely interested in your message.
• Social Media requires frequent attention not marketing automation.
  How many times a day do you check your Facebook? The point here is that people have Social Media consumption routines and in order to connect you must be active on the network – usually daily. People expect a prompt reply.
• You cannot be successful on every social network.
  Do you want to cultivate many random contacts or a dedicated group of passionate friends? To engage a passionate group you must focus your efforts. In reality you should pick 2 primary networks (no more than 3) and label any other social activity as secondary by prioritizing it appropriately.
• Social Media require resources
  Building friends takes time and energy. Give Social Media the resources it needs to succeed. That means appropriate man power and time. Intermittent busts of Social Media activity looks sketchy.

In summary, Social Media is much like going to any other social event. The people who are engaging, care about others and take time to form meaningful relationships will grow a garden of friends to help them. The guests who are obnoxious will be shunned and never invited back. Don’t let the online layer of technology separating you from the user fool you. Social Media is a very real kind of social interaction and success hinges on having good manners not pitching your idea to as many people as possible.

]]> http://www.is7.com/post/why-organizations-fail-at-social-marketing/feed/ 0 http://www.is7.com/post/3-tips-for-creating-content-for-your-new-site/ http://www.is7.com/post/3-tips-for-creating-content-for-your-new-site/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:52:29 +0000 admin http://www.is7.com/?p=671 Should you want to create the content for your site redesign, this is typically considered the “heavy lifting” portion for the client. Content can include items such as copy, images, videos, audio files and PDFs. Compiled below are a few helpful tips before you begin.

The Use of “Click Here”

Try not using “click here” in your copy, as it typically does not align with best web practices for some of the following reasons:

• You’re assuming someone is using a mouse to navigate throughout the site. Several users (especially the visually impaired) use screen readers, keyboards or other tools that do not use a mouse.
• “Click here” makes no sense if the page is printed out on paper.
• “Click here” is bad for search engine optimization (SEO). Search engines have no way of reading the link “click here” and understanding what is the content on the page.

An example of altering your copy for better usability might be instead of saying “To see where we’re located, click here”; you can simply say “Find our location.”

Sample Thank-You Page Copy

Here is an example of thank-you page copy. This is what appears on a page after a user completes a form (e.g. provides an email address, makes a donation, forwards a message to a friend, etc.)

Thank you for your generous gift. Your contribution makes it possible for us to [insert organization’s purpose]. Your donation will be used to [insert how donations will be used].

You will receive a confirmation email and receipt shortly.

Tell a friend about [insert organization’s name] »

Return to homepage »

Sample Autoresponder Copy

Here is an example of autoresponder copy. This is the email a user receives after completing a form (e.g. provides an email address, makes a donation, etc.)

From name: [insert name of organization or founder]

From email address: [insert email address]

Subject line: Thank you for your donation

Dear [insert First Name],

Thank you for your generous donation of [insert gift amount] to [insert organization’s name]. Your contribution makes it possible for us to [insert how donations will be used].

Your gift will allow us to [insert additional information or restate organization’s purpose].

Attached is your receipt that can be used for tax purposes.

Thanks again for your generous gift.

Sincerely,

[insert signature.jpg]

[insert full name]

[insert title]

[insert organization]
Tell a friend about [insert organization’s name] »

A content delivery delay can impact project deliverables, including your intended launch date so it important to get a head-start. If you feel you need some assistance, is7 is available for guidance as well as site auditing and content creation.

Do you have any other content creation tips or have any questions that we can help answer?

]]> http://www.is7.com/post/3-tips-for-creating-content-for-your-new-site/feed/ 0