Take advantage of cheap or low cost online channels to build awareness and word of mouth! Create a reason for people to talk about you – no matter how small.
Starting truly at the beginning! Challenges – 103 years – no in-house marketing Sooooo many programs bring diverse interests! No online presence other than a website that was built for an internal audience Not a well-known nonprofit to the average Houston resident
There’s a lot to learn from others, and so many different ways to try the same thing. Give credit where credit is due, promote your partners and build Twitter lists to share.
Start with your own employees! Go where the people already are – don’t try to bring the audience to you. Use grants, nonprofit pricing and ‘free for all’ websites to establish a presence. Use Quantcast.com to find where your audiences are. Consider sites outside of the typical Flickr-Youtube-Myspace-Facebook-Twitter options like – Change.org Upcoming.com Eventful.com Squidoo.com Friendfeed.com LinkedIn.com Google Local Business Center
Motivate your employees and board to be engaged and make it SUPER easy for them to do so. Focus on your staff and board to spread the word first – Introduction during onboarding Create ‘social networking’ business cards, email signatures, whatever their preferred method to ease their burden of spreading the word Create a ‘101’ class during lunchtime Intranet access Reward them with photo credits, share their media/stories and give credit. Hold a training specifically for the board and how they can help
Your employees are obligated to help you build word of mouth. In turn, their network feels obligated because their ‘son/friend/mom’ works there. THEIR network is not obligated. What they decide to join, share and talk about is truly coming from the heart.
Embrace the tools for what they are – let them evolve and take shape. Twitter for the media, Houston socialites and search optimization Facebook for talking to the supporters directly Adwords and volunteermatch.org for finding new volunteers While not officially live yet, a blog will become the HUB of all our online efforts
Consider the small things Consider the things that don’t seem relevant Consider participating in voting/challenges/contests like – Story coverage (found on Twitter) about being prepared for swine flu – what’s important to people now. Twestival America’s Giving Challenge (Facebook Causes) Chase Community Giving on Facebook Project for Awesome DoGooder.tv
Building a strong base online sets the groundwork for multi-channel campaigns, online fundraising, incentivizing and crowd-sourcing marketing.
We’ll take all kinds of friends – they all have something to offer and we hope to have something to offer them. Don’t be too good to comment – conversation requires recognition Make things as easy as possible for sharing – one click links! Be open, honest and transparent – people WILL find out the truth.
