The Social Side of Giving
Uncategorized
@WorkingOrange – How to Manage a Higher Ed Twitter Account
It’s an age-old (in social media time) and still relevant question – “what do we tweet?” The easy answer is, “something that’s useful, valuable, and fun for your audience.” For a specific example of a Twitter account that covers those three things and more, check out Syracuse University’s @WorkingOrange. The @WorkingOrange Twitter account is run … Continue reading
Twitter’s Analytics Help Guide Your Content Strategy
Twitter has now made its analytics platform open and free for all users. This is great news for nonprofit conversation managers who are trying to learn more about which content resonates with their followers. Using Twitter’s analytics is about as simple as reading your own name. The dashboard lists each tweet and tells you how … Continue reading
I Love UD – Another Online Ambassador Campaign Nets Million Dollar Results
Another online ambassador program has resulted in a 7-figure-plus fundraising campaign for a higher education institution. This time, it’s the University of Dayton and their I Love UD campaign. In addition to the spectacular fundraising haul and large number of new donors acquired (27 percent of the 3,016 donors were making their first ever gift … Continue reading
HOW TO Measure Social Media ROI for Nonprofits
We work in fundraising. So when we think about return on investment or ROI, the “return” part of that acronym usually has something to do an increase in gifts and dollars given. Of course, for those of us whose fundraising experience extends beyond running a bake sale, we know there’s more to a nonprofit’s budget … Continue reading
Online Ambassadors Are Not a Fundraising Crutch
4 Tips to Help You Build a Program that Benefits Your Organization AND Your Online Ambassadors When you consider how quickly a message travels online and you see the ever-growing list of successful online campaigns that utilize ambassadors – the most recent being Georgetown’s “City Challenge” – it’s easy to assume that online ambassadors are … Continue reading
3 Tips for Targeting Donors Through Facebook Ads
A very common and great question social media philanthropists are often asked is “how do we raise money using Facebook?” Short answer? “Very creatively.” But a more serious and useful answer is “through a smart Facebook ad strategy.” If you know your donors’ email addresses, then you can send an ad directly to their Facebook … Continue reading
Long Tail of Giving Follows Short Online Fundraising Campaigns
A new trend is starting to emerge that provides nonprofits with yet another reason to ramp up their online and social media giving efforts – the “long tail” of giving that follows those short-burst online fundraising campaigns. The roughly 24- to 72-hour, mostly-online or online-only campaigns have already proven themselves to be excellent tools for … Continue reading
Attacking Social Media “Slacktivists”
UNICEF Sweden is taking shots at its online supporters who “like” activity the organization posts on Facebook. A recent ad campaign from the Sweden branch of UNICEF is rather bluntly telling its supporters that so-called vanity actions on social networks – the likes, shares, pins, retweets, etc. – do nothing to further the mission of … Continue reading
Emails That Don’t Ask – Online Fundraising Done Right
When producing an email for donors, the following are a couple tips for grabbing your supporters’ attention: Keep it short. Provide engaging content (like a video or an awesome picture). As often as possible, make it about the donor. Avoid making an ask in every email. As is often the case, the online team at … Continue reading
Why Investing in Social Media Leads to High ROI
Nowadays, when I’m asked “what’s the ROI on social media for fundraising?” I often respond with my own question – “that depends, what’s your investment?” Too often, organizations put a low-level employee or intern in charge of managing a Facebook page or Twitter account and claim that they’re active on social media. If that’s the … Continue reading
Connect with me…
