http://www.spiral16.com This is an updated version of the Social Media for Nonprofits: Listening, Setting Goals, Storytelling presentation from Spiral16's marketing/communications manager Eric Melin. It focuses on starting with a goal-oriented foundation for your social media strategy, covers tips for online listening, and goes into the steps for telling effective stories that will connect people with your mission.

1. Nonprofit Listening &
Storytelling
Eric Melin
@SceneStealrEric #SocialIRL
@Spiral16 Dec. 4, 2012

2. Spiral16 Overview
Spiral16 provides a robust software platform with
customized services for Internet tracking, analysis, and
reporting.
Spiral16 gives companies the key insights they need
from the web and social media to make smarter
decisions and gain a competitive edge.
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3. Nonprofit Opportunity
• Online fundraising continues to
grow with 73% of organizations
raising more in 2011 than 2010
• Online giving continues to grow
fastest for small organizations
• Advocacy continues to play a
key role in online engagement
- 2012 Convio Online Marketing Nonprofit Benchmark Index™ Study
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4. Start With What You Know
You’ve identified your
organization’s goals already.
Nonprofit goals Social media program Success
Now think about how you can
achieve those goals through a social
media program.
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5. 3 Things to Remember

6. Social Media is a Component
Use it to support your existing
organizational strategy.
• Create a structure for your program based on the
unique needs of your nonprofit.
• Build it from the ground up.
• The more customized, the better.
• Social media does not support every goal effectively.
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7. Social Media Isn’t Free
It takes valuable time.
You need human resources for:
Planning
Content creation
Monitoring
Measurement
Analysis
Creative insight
…and more.
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8. Tools Are Not Strategies
• Twitter
• Facebook Being active on
• Blogs these platforms is
• Forums only important
• YouTube if
• Foursquare using them helps
• Instagram you reach your goal.
• Pinterest
• LinkedIn
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9. Where Do You Start?

10. The First Step is Listening
• Monitor mentions of your organization,
common abbreviations
• Look for mentions of your events
• Monitor keywords around your cause or issue
• Find mentions of your executives
• Identify how far your other campaigns’ reach is
• Learn from language, strategies of similar
nonprofits
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11. Insights From Listening
• Where are people talking about you and what
are they saying? Identify advocates.
• Is there a community built up around your
events? Should you create one?
• Who’s talking about your cause? Can you forge
a partnership?
• What is the sentiment surrounding your CEO?
• Where have you or others’ similar campaigns
succeeded/failed?
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12. Data Drives the Strategy
Listening allows you to identify opportunities.
Knowing the online space will inform how you
build every facet of your social media program.
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13. examples to start with

14. Practical Applications for Social Media
- Blackbaud , Social Media Learning Series: Marketing Communication

15. Research Community Around
Your Issue/Topic
Using keywords that relate
to the issue and NOT the
organization, the client could
see where to prioritize
engagement.
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16. Research Your Digital Footprint
Using organization-
related keywords, the
client was able to
compare the volume of
the issue vs. the
organization itself.
They found that online
forums contained tons
of discussion.
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17. Prioritize Engagement
Blogs made up 46% of online
activity. The challenge for any
organization regarding blog
engagement is TIME.
It’s important to figure out which
blogs merit the effort and time of
the team. While every blogger is
important and every voice
counts, some voices are more
powerful than others.
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18. How to Engage?
People will forget what you said.
People will forget what you did.
But people will never forget how
you made them feel.
- Maya Angelou
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19. Stories Convey Passion
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20. Stories Are
Inspirational
Stories Connect
People to Your Cause
Stories Raise More
Money and More
Awareness
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21. Storytelling Tips
Nonprofit stories have the unique ability to allow people
to feel and want to be a part of something bigger.
• Think about the stories that surround your mission.
• Share inspiring stories at meetings.
• Create an organizational story bank to record them.
• Be patient. The best stories aren’t always the ones that
jump out at you. Sometimes the real stories are the
ones you only notice after interacting with people
several times.
http://www.socialbrite.org/
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22. Telling a Story With Pictures
May/June 2012
Site Assessment
Trip to
Guatemala
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23. Challenge: Explaining What We Do
What works better? This:
About
Our PASSION is to make a difference! Engineers Without Borders-
USA: Sunflower State Professionals is a non-profit humanitarian
organization of Kansas professionals established to support
community-driven development programs worldwide.
Mission
EWB-USA supports community-driven development programs
worldwide by collaborating with local partners to design and
implement sustainable engineering projects, while creating
transformative experiences and responsible leaders.
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24. Challenge: Explaining What We Do
Or This:
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25. Reach = # of people who have seen post
Engaged Users = # of people who have clicked on post
Talking About This = # of people who shared, liked, commented
Virality = % of people who have created a story from post
Late April/Early May Daily Averages:
Reach: 78
Engaged Users: 3.7
Talking About This: 1.8
Virality: 3.1%
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26. Human Interest w/ Captions
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27. Tapping Into Curiosity
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28. How Culture is Different
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29. 12/5/2012 #SocialIRL
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30. Daily Averages for Guatemala Photo Album:
Reach: 355 (+277 people)
Engaged Users: 116 (+112.3 people)
Talking About This: 26 (+24.2 people)
Virality: 7.2% (+4.1%)
Photos introduce then reinforce the message of the group and
… humanize both the organization and the Ch’orti’ Maya.
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31. Before & After Photo Album Stats
700
Matasano photo album begins
600
500
Daily People Talking About This
400
Daily Page Engaged Users
300
Daily Total Reach
200
Daily Viral Reach
100
0
5/2/12
5/7/12
6/1/12
6/6/12
4/22/12
4/27/12
5/12/12
5/17/12
5/22/12
5/27/12
6/11/12
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32. Ideas for Video Storytelling
• Use video for emotion and motion.
• Keep it simple and short—break longer stories into
shorter ones, each with their own arc.
• Leave statistics out of videos.
• Don’t fear the close-up. Exaggerate emotion for the
audience.
• The best videos go beyond tragedy – moving
forward to transformation – to create hope.
• Watch other videos for inspiration.
http://www.socialbrite.org/
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33. steps to tell great stories

34. 4 Steps
1. Connect the string of facts to find the
story.
2. Push beyond the facts. Tell a simple
truth of your organization and/or
humanity. Get creative.
3. Think of the difference you make as a
movie—with a beginning, middle and
end.
4. What is catalytic? What brings people
together?
- Dan Portnoy, The Non-Profit Narrative
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35. Effective Storytelling
―The Force‖ Volkswagen commercial
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36. Using the 4 Steps
1. Facts: Passat demo – nice house, family, children of the
70s. Benefit: remote start.
2. Push beyond the facts: Passat makes people feel good
about themselves, can create special moments with your
family.
3. Beginning: Kid with imagination. Middle: Kid struggles to
feed imagination. End: Kid succeeds and is stunned!
4. Truth about being human: Imagination rewarded:
Moments like this bring people closer together.
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37. Social Media Case Study
Storytelling & Call to Action
The Goal: The Hurdle: A two-step
Win the contest registration process & single-
to open for vote limit.
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38. Social Media Case Study
Storytelling & Call to Action
Goal: Get more online votes than the other four bands.
Strategy: Mobilize friends and family to spread the word on
Facebook/Twitter
Assets: Links to our music, blogs on my site, band site
Problems: Voters have to register as a FoxFanatic first and
confirm through their email. Then they could only vote once.
Not easy to explain, too many steps, not easy-to-share
instructions.
Bottom Line: We needed to tell a story that would resonate
enough to make strangers want to register, vote, and share.
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39. 4 Steps
1. Facts: The Dead Girls are big KISS fans and would
make an excellent opener.
2. Push beyond the facts: They are all huge KISS
fans, have been since they were kids. Help make a
dream come true.
3. Beginning: 7-year-old kid dresses up as KISS.
Middle: KISS inspires him to play music, which he
does for almost 20 years. End: Give the story a
happy ending.
4. Truth about being human: As cheesy as it
sounds, you can make a dream come true.
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40. How to Make Story Resonate?
It’s a good story, but how
do you tell it?
Saying
“Please vote for us!”
With pictures of the band
an mp3s of the music
ain’t gonna
do it.
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41. Visuals Make the Story
Eden Prairie, MN at Granny’s House
We had yet to hear KISS'
music, but I knew them
from the KISS cards I had
gotten at the grocery
store.
So we lip-synced and
mimed our "instruments"
to the only 45 record I
had--Glen Campbell's
"Rhinestone Cowboy."
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42. Tapped Into Nostalgia
and Basic Human Emotions
We knew the Space
Ace, Catman, and
Demon, but no one
wanted to be Paul Stanley
cuz he only had a star on
his face and we didn't
know his name (It was
Starchild!).
Our cousin Julie had to
take his role, it was
decided, and we called
his character
"Poopyman."
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43. Put a Face on the Campaign
(Or a Blank Slate Anyone Could Identify With)
Placemats for
drums, crayons for sticks,
Lite Brite logo:
Ready to rock!
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44. The Result? Dreams Do Come True
/
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45. Thank you —
Let us know how we can help!
Eric Melin
@SceneStealrEric
@Spiral16