Tweetsgiving is a social media charity drive that mobilizes the Twitter community to Tweet their gratitude and fundraise for a specific social causes in a 48-hour time period. The following case study highlights a successful social media fundraising strategy that resulted in close to $11,000 raised in 48 hours to build a classroom in Tanzania.
Permalink to Social Causes That Get Twitter Right- Tweetsgiving Case Study
Social Causes That Get Twitter Right- Tweetsgiving Case Study
Permalink to How to Get the Most Out of Press Releases
How to Get the Most Out of Press Releases
People get so caught up in the news release when the truth is that most are poorly written, are filled with so much self puffery and very little news, and/or sent to the wrong people who can’t do anything with the release in the first place. Small businesses especially fall for the belief that press releases will product magical results. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
A few tips:
1- Be sure that there is actually something of importance to talk about in the release.
Permalink to 20 Point Crisis Communications Checklist for When Disaster Strikes
20 Point Crisis Communications Checklist for When Disaster Strikes
The last few weeks of 2011 saw an astonishing number of public crisis arise at corporate giants, colleges and universities, and even well 
respected brands. When they needed a plan the most, many of these organizations failed and severely bruised their reputation, faced public humiliation, and sometimes even suffered sales. The truth is that is not about whether or not a crisis will arise, but when one does the plan of action that should follow to appropriately and strategically handle the crisis so that it does as little damage as possible to the organization.
As simple as it may seem, organizations fail during a time of crisis because they lack a pre-established crisis communications plan that they can rely on. During a crisis is never the time to figure out what to do; it’s too late and you’re in repair and recover mode by now. While an organization can never be fully prepared for the oncoming damage, there are a few tactics to put in place before disaster strikes.
20 Point Crisis Communications Checklist
Permalink to 7 Tips to Accomplishing Marketing Goals in 2012
7 Tips to Accomplishing Marketing Goals in 2012
In just the blink of an eye, 2011 will be behind us and 2012 will be staring us dead in the face. Besides the normal challenges that come with planning for a new year, many companies simply struggle to maintain top of mind awareness and this eventually has a negative impact on brand positioning, public perception, and ultimately, sales.
What other challenges is your company faced with? Is it generating media visibility, deepening brand visibility, remaining competitive, making the leap into social media, being more creative with your customer engagement tactics, or is your company simply faced with typical growing pains?
Below are 7 tips to accomplishing your marketing goals in 2011.
Permalink to 10 Reasons Your Non-profit Should Be Active on Twitter
10 Reasons Your Non-profit Should Be Active on Twitter
It still amazes me how a large majority of non-profits are such laggards when it comes to marketing and especially with social media. I know that marketing budgets are especially tight these days, but that’s still no excuse why many organizations fail to create real social media engagement programs.
We moderate a webinar for non-profits on how to use Twitter to fundraise, brand, and connect with supporters. Trust you me when I say there’s a huge potential being missed by non-profit who fail to actively use social media to activate online audiences and connect with prospective donors, volunteers, and brand evangelists.
In a recent study we conducted with CEOs and senior executives at non-profit organizations across the country, we found that non-profits were just scratching the surface with social media with regards to fundraising, building cause awareness, and engaging current and prospective donors and supporters. While there are some organizations who do an outstanding job, this is still the exception and not the norm.
Permalink to Why Your Press Release Doesn’t Get Noticed
Why Your Press Release Doesn’t Get Noticed
The last thing a reporter/journalist needs is another press release and a poorly written one at that. From my guess and judging by the number of press releases I see published across news wires on a daily basis, my guestimate is that a journalist receives anywhere from 50-200 press releases in their inbox on any given day.
Considering the limited media space available for new stories every day, I’m also guessing that at least 80-90% of those press releases never make it to the news, yet they keep coming. The worst part of it all is that half of those press releases are written by so called PR people and the other half are written internally by some staff person at the company that has the tough job of convincing the media that what they have to share is even news worthy.
Permalink to How to Use Social Media for Non-profit Success
How to Use Social Media for Non-profit Success
Last week, I had the honor of being invited by the Associate Dean of the University of Miami’s School of Education to present a lesson before a Master’s Degree level Non-profit Management course for those either work within the non-profit sector, currently run an organization, or have an interest in starting a non-profit.
Being the social media strategist that I am, I dived right into the presentation discussing advanced level strategies for how to convert followers on social media into ambassadors, brand evangelists, and ultimately, supporters. It was not until I was asked by one of the students to start from the very beginning about what Twitter was and how to use it that it dawned on me that there is a major disconnect between social media and non-profit organizations.
Obviously, it’s advantageous for non-profits to maximize their communications platform by using social media as an engagement, outreach, and donor cultivation tool. However, I find that the majority of non-profits still lack the understanding of how to use social media to capture and engage audiences.
Permalink to Branding a Non-profit: Definition of a Brand?
Branding a Non-profit: Definition of a Brand?
A recent discussion on the Twitter non-profit chat #nptalk moderated by @SocialNicole prompted the beginning of a series of posts targeted specifically to non-profit organizations.
After engaging in a series of interesting discussions with a few of the chat’s participants, I found that many non-profits suffer not because of budgetary reasons or staffing constraints but suffer as a result of a weak approach to branding and positioning their non-profit. Since one of the reoccurring themes in the #nptalk chat was about how to effectively brand a non-profit so that its mission, messages, and core values are well communicated to stakeholders, the next few posts will do just that- teach non-profits the importance of designing a multi-layered marketing strategy that effectively brands and positions their organization. Though targeted to non-profits, this information is useful and applicable to any type of organization whether non-profit or for-profit.
Since the definition of a brand is often times blurred, we’ll start this series here.
What is a brand?
Permalink to REGISTRATION: Webinar: How to Use Twitter to Fundraise, Recruit Volunteers, & Build Cause Awareness
REGISTRATION: Webinar: How to Use Twitter to Fundraise, Recruit Volunteers, & Build Cause Awareness
Permalink to Osama Bin Laden’s Death Sparks 27.9 Million Tweets in 2 Hours
Osama Bin Laden’s Death Sparks 27.9 Million Tweets in 2 Hours
The breaking news of Osama Bin Laden’s death proved the massive power of social media. Before President Obama could formally announce the death of Bin Laden, records were already being broken with 3,000 Tweets per second, which totaled to 12.4 Million Tweets per hour or 27.9 Million Tweets in just 2 hours according to @Mashable.
In fact, the first Tweet to break the news of Bin Laden’s death was “I am told by a reputable person they have killed Osama bin Laden. Hot damn,” Tweeted by Keith Urbahn (@keithurbahn), Chief of Staff for the Office of Donald Rumsfeld and Navy Reserve intel officer.
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