Social Gifting

The next revolution in online shopping has arrived – social gifting.

The first of it’s kind – ever – and arriving as an application on Facebook (and soon to MySpace) is Gimme!, a social gift-giving tool that allows one person to gather a group of their networked friends to give a gift card to another friend.

Socialwise, Inc., the application developer, describes the application as “[providing] an easy way to organize a group gift for anyone—even yourself—by allowing users to contribute to a gift card from our collection of top retailers or a pre-paid debit card. The recipient can then choose their own gift, insuring that he or she will always get a gift they love.”

The quality of retailers is impressive, it includes Amazon, iTunes, Borders, Overstock, Motherhood Maternity and several others. The process itself is easy, it’s quick (2 steps) and because it’s on a social networking platform - it’s removes that awkwardness of group gifting and instead provides a good-hearted informal atmosphere to do something that is typically too formal to initiate.  Consider one example I’ve conjured:

• A co-worker goes on vacation; while away she gets engaged and changes her Facebook status. She receives tons of comments on the change.  You set up a Gimme! $100 gift card to BedandBreakfast.com, and invite all your mutual friends to give so that she can have it when she arrives as gift from everyone.

Or to use as a practical joke:

• You notice a friend of yours is wearing the same shirt in every picture he posts or is tagged on in Facebook. As a joke, you set up a Gimme! $25 gift card towards the GAP to present to your friend so that he can get another shirt. Of which your friends will want a picture.

The approach is different, but natural too. And following the forward-thinking of the Causes app in Facebook, the developent of an application like Gimme! only confirms what we already know- the potentials to leverage social networking is becoming very real.

Read more about Gimme!
MaketWatch: Gimme! Offers Innovative Approach to Holiday Gift Giving via Facebook
SocialWise: Socialwise Group Gifting

Learn more about SocialWise on their website: www.ideaedge.com

Twitter as a Growth Tool

I seem to be getting asked the same question a lot in the past few weeks by clients, friends, and just people in general who want to pick my brain.  Everyone I run into wants to know why Twitter is useful and if it is worth their time.

The truth is that Twitter is very powerful if done properly.  Just recently over the Thanksgiving holiday I was part of a project called TweetsGiving which was a 2 day campaign by Epic Change to raise $10,000 for a school in Tanzania as well as get people to share and realize how much we as a whole have to be thankful for this year.  The site entire campaign specifically targeted Twitter as it’s primary marketing point.

Within the first 3 hours the site had already hit the 25% mark to the fund raising goal, and after 47 hours the goal was completely met.  Although there was some word of mouth and the site did get a very good number of mentions on blogs and news sites, had it not been for the use of Twitter I do not think this would have been as successful.

Twitter allows people to follow and keep up with others they are interested in, build large contact networks and reach out to those people when you need them.  With TweetsGiving they began with several well know and heavily followed members on Twitter who were very interested no only in the concept of what the site was trying to do but also the impact they could have.  After these people posted about it, more followed.  Not only did the donations come running in but as people shared what they were thankful for it simply expanded the network of people who were seeing the messages from TweetGiving and driving more people to check it out.

In just those two days the site had over 9,000 absolute unique visitors, and over 16,000 page views with visits coming from around the world.

This is not the only example of how you can use Twitter.

Twitter is a great source for building a brand and loyal follower group. By allowing you to post messages as often as you like, forcing you to keep those messages short, and providing a way for people to share your message with a large number of other people who may be interested you can develop quite a following.

Since the message has a character limit you do have to make sure you can get your point across in efw words. This is great at helping to narrow down and get directly to the point, with no beating around the bush or long drawn out emails.

Twitter can also help to show activity, in many cases with nonprofits and small businesses people want to know you are actually doing something. It is human nature to be skeptical but if someone sees you Tweeting several times a day with what people are doing in your organization or updates on product development then it provides a means of being more transparent easing the tensions people have.

Twitter is also a great way to get volunteers involved. By giving them a way to also promote your cause or product you are simply expanding your customer base. It is really a word of mouth campaign done over a digital age technology. Volunteers can post links to you, updates on what they read from you, and share even more about what they are doing.

A great example is for a nonprofit organization that has several satellite groups working in multiple places the volunteers on location can Tweet from a computer or even in some cases their cell phones giving people real world real time updates to the impact the organization is having.

An example on the business side would be a product development company with multiple products in testing, or even products that have been released. If you have your engineers constantly updating people on fixes, availability and testing they can see just how dedicated you are as a brand to making a solid well produced product.

The best part of Twitter is the cost.  It is a free service this means the only cost of using Twitter is the 1 min it takes to have a person post to it.  For those looking at a solid ROI you can get it here if you make a dedicated effort and use the right strategy for your situation.  If you need help determining the right strategy for you I would suggest speaking to someone well versed in your particular market.  If you need help finding someone who can help you in your field send me a message and I will help you get in the right direction for your needs.

Big Expectations from the Convio Summit 2008

This year's Convio Summit 2008 kicked off this evening at the Renaissance Hotel in Austin, TX with an opening gathering for clients and partner organizations. As the drinks were poured, the buzz for this year's client sessions is centered on a few topics: 

Common Ground: Convio launched their Salesforce-platform-based CRM system two months ago. Now, nonprofits will get to see more of the product and ask tough questions about why the product would work for their organizations. We expect to see plenty of private and group demos to take place over the next two days.

Social Networks: Social media sites continue to be the elusive goldmine that every organization wants to tap into and reap fortunes. Expanding an audience through social media has been the hot topic at a lot of conferences this year and a few panels here are devoted to Facebook applications and social media. Expect a lot of small talk to focus on how to attract and convert social media denizens to eCRM-managed donors and constituents.

Convio Open: How you get these folks from social media sites to an eCRM platform will depend partly on the Convio Open APIs and extensions. Last year, Convio Open was buzzworthy because it was brand new and an interesting concept for the company. This year, it's becoming more about how the APIs and extensions can really be used by all organizations and what are the practical applications for the enhancing the tool. Of course, most organizations still don't have the staff or expertise to create their own Facebook applications and the like. But, knowing is half the battle and just getting acquainted with the initial ideas behind Convio Open can help these organizations make smart decisions about how they can use the platform to do more for their overall online programs.  

The Economy: The elephant in the room; every conversation seems to touch upon our struggling economy. Are donations down? Are people giving like last year or in 2006? Will online continue to push at 30% overall growth rate or will it slow considerably? How can organizations meet capacity, raise money, and communicate with limited resources? How are we doing YTD from last year? Will we meet our online fundraising goals? It's doubtful anyone will have the answer, but they might have good advice on how they're tackling the issue.

We'll review some of the sessions and provide highlights from keynote speaker Tony Elischer's breakfast plenary. Couldn't make the conference and have a question? Drop us an email or leave a comment, we'll be happy to answer your questions or get the scoop on a session for you.

Keeping Up With Social Media

How many hours do you have in a day to work? How much of that time can you (or a staff person, if you're lucky) devote to updating your organization's Twitter posts ("tweets"), Facebook Causes items, MySpace page, blog posts, and other social media? OK, how much time can you devote without doing at midnight while in your pajamas or sitting in front of the television on Sunday night? How can you keep up with all social media?

Well, it's easier than you think. Just recently, I had to handle our tweets and do some updates here and there (including today's blog post, which was supposed to be done yesterday). Well, Avi Kaplan here at onLine advises 30 minutes a day to update your social networks. So, try it. Take 30 minutes every other day to see what you can do. Make a few updates, post a tweet or two every couple of hours. Take 20 minutes to write a a great blog post. Just remember to be fun, be social, and get people listening and engaging with your organization.

Here are some interesting topics about social media anxiety/resources to explore... when you have the time:

• Beth's Blog: Information Coping Skills
• Seven Deadly Sins of Social Networking
• Idealist: Add Facebook Friends for a Cause...Or a Living
• DIOSA: Get a volunteer

What's Next?

The Obama-Biden campaign recently released an iPhone app that is revolutionary. The app isn't just an abridged version of the site, but a tool embedded into your iPhone designed to exploit it's capabilities. Consider for example, the "Call Friends" tool, which organizes all your contacts (using their area code) by state battlegrounds. From within the tool, you can call a contact and talk Obama, talk McCain, or even talk Tina Fey. After making a call from the tool, the contact's note "Have not called" is changed to "Called". (There is also options to label the contact "Not interested", "Already Voted", "Call back", and others.)

From the app, you can sign up to receive emails and text messages about recent updates, read local and national Obama news, watch videos and view photos, view a countdown to Election Day, read Obama's view on the all issues but most importantly- donate. Political favorites aside, the app is magnificently clever.

Think about your non-profit. A tool that is in front of your constituent every time they look at their phone, allows them to easily access recent updates, and offers them an opportunity to conveniently donate is unreal- yet, here it is. The potential popularity of this app to catalyze a stronger passion for your advocacy group or nonprofit looking to build a more motivated following I believe is only months away from your nearest app store.

Mobility is Moving In

Since practically everyone has a cell phone these days, it’s no real surprise that they’re becoming useful campaign tools. With mobile texting becoming as popular as email, phone texting list would be just as valuable as an email list.  Two ways to use mobile phones to increase your campaign are to take donations via text message and to increase your outreach list to include text messaging alongside your email and print campaigns.

One of the most important drivers to a campaign is to keep the people involved and up to date.  They want to know what is happening and be a part of the process as much as possible, this is part of what compels them to get involved in the first place.  The idea of sending a text message about a campaign is actually the same concept as using email, you want to give the person a way to stay connected.

By using print media, online forms, and email, you can inform people how to sign up and allow them to opt-in to receive the text messages.  Once the person has signed up for the list they can send and receive text messages about campaign updates in the same fashion as email, to include RSS feeds sent directly to text if so desired.

This brings me to the next part, using the same method as well as the list it generates to increase donations for your campaign.  By working with someone like the Mobile Giving Foundation, you can accept donations over the mobile phone. The donations are actually charged by the mobile phone provider so at the time of texting the person dose not need to have a credit card or check book handy to make the donation.  They are limited to taking $5 donations for each mobile donation, up to five times a month, so each person can give $25 a month via their mobile phone. 

This is a great way to reach the younger generation of donors who are becoming ever more tech savvy.  This really came to light when Garth told me that his neighbor told him she never uses her email account, only texting. She referred to him as being old, since he was more of an “email person.”  A conversation with a few friends who work for mobile phone providers has opened my eyes to the amount of people buying unlimited texting plans for their phones.

A great resource for more information on using mobile phones to increase your campaigns potential, check out Mobile Active.

Five Ways to Recover from the August Doldrums

Summer finally draws to a close this week and if you've looked at your online figures for August, you'll probably notice a downward turn (unless your organization is in Denver this week). August is typically the low-water mark for most organizations in terms of visits, page views, donations, and actions. Your organization will need to come out swinging in September to make up for the lethargy.

Here are five things to consider for September:

Update Your Homepage - Where was that staff member who supposedly posted updates for your team? Oh yeah, he/she was on vacation and nothing has changed on the homepage since July(!). Even if you did make frequent updates this month, take the first week after Labor Day to beef up homepage content and graphics.  Start looking at features and services that will bring back repeat visits and attract new visitors.

Revisit that Calendar - Take a look at your production calendar again to see where you've been this year and where your organization is headed. What appeals, newsletters, events, and updates do you have planned for the rest of the year? What big items are coming up for November and December for year-end tactics? Get re-acquainted with your production schedule and get moving.

Get Social Again - Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Gather, Ning, Change.org — wherever you are in the social network world — say hi to everyone again. Post an announcement or news from your organization, kick-off a campaign, do a friend-raising activity, or just get out there and let people know your organization is back for the year.

Research, Redesign - Take the time to start looking at competitor's sites and communications, as well as what's coming up on the horizon. Take note, take screen grabs, visit NTEN and TechSoup, and start looking around at your own site. Why? Chances are these sites will be different by early next year, and yours might be, too. You might decide that 2009 will call for a fresh look, maybe even a redesign. Take the time now to start investigating the possibilities.

Think Engagement Strategies - While you're doing the research, start discussing next year's budget in terms of features and services. Is 2009 the year you build the Google Earth project? Use more videos and podcasts on the site? Build an interactive feature on your site for donation or events? Maybe a Facebook app? How is your organization communicating in an innovative and engaging manner and bringing people into your world? Don't just be clever or techy, be strategic. How can you communicate to get your best audience. And, start thinking now. The four months you have left will go very, very fast and before you know it, you'll be planning that early membership appeal or January newsletter.

Enjoy your last week of malaise, if you are so lucky.

Don't Abandon Your Blog

A recent Harris Interactive/Verilion survey showed that a small percentage of charity supporters use social media to engage with organizations. The headline from The Chronicle of Philanthropy (Few Charity Supporters Read Nonprofit Blogs; subscription req'd) probably scared a few good organizations off blogging or even engaging with Facebook or some other social network site. However, the article does point out that 43 percent of those surveyed indicated they were interested in receiving information from these organizations through these media. So, don't abandon your comment tools or social bookmarking links just yet.

OK, so 36 percent say they wouldn't be interested in receiving updates through a blog... have they read your .org's blog? Have they discovered that your organization has an engaging voice and tons of information about the programs and resources you offer? Have they even noticed that they already read your blog because your blog is so seamless with your website? Ah, well, don't abandon your blog just yet.

Most charity supporters may not know if you have a blog or a Facebook page. You have to let your constituents know where your organization has a social network presence. Try promoting your social media with a homepage link, a webpage with links to all your social media (and don't bury it), a newsletter link, a donor newsletter article, or even as an action item on a donation acknowledgment page. Engage your existing social network constituents and donors to also help spread the word with their friends and colleagues.

Also, it's important to engage within these media once you establish them. Send newsletters, updates, and even appeals through them. Make sure friend requests or group access is granted on a rotuine basis. Update media files and build links back to your website. Ultimately, see if your CMS or CRM tools can help you capture constituent data and update content more frequently through these social media interfaces.

The cost? Well, it depends on how deep you go with your development and how much you want to market your social media presence. However, even the simplest blog, the one or two YouTube or DoGooder videos, or a Facebook Cause could catch fire with the right amount of patience attentiveness. Your 43 percent could be waiting for you online right now.

NTC 08: A Few Updates

A few thoughts and announcements as NTC 08 wraps up here in New Orleans today:

* DoGooderTV has posted the winners in the 2008 Video Contest. Congratulations to the Humane Society of the United States for their Best Overall Video win.

* Best Overheard Quote and Overall Sentiment: "Don't judge ROI by donor dollars, judge it by the results of the lives you change and how you make your donors feel about this change." Well put.

* Best Treats: Coffee and beignets from Cafe du Monde and Jelly Bellies from GoLightly. Both were addictive.

* Check out the blog posts on Technorati for more feedback from NTC 08.

* Finally, one of the best sessions came from See3's Mike Hoffman on video for nonprofits. A great session and I'm glad they posted it:

2008 NTC Day Two Wrap-Up

Day two: Sessions, sessions, sessions!

NTC 08 Day Two started off with a hilarious plenary speaker, New York Times Tech guru David Pogue. Pogue spoke about the three trends for the future: cell phone technologies, television and movies whenever you want them, and Web 2.0 user content. The most interesting example he gave was Google's Grand Central, a service where one phone number will ring or text any phone in your life, which means you are always accessible, whether you like it or not! Pogue ended his talk with a grand piano performance of his famous (at least for NYTimes site junkies like me) iPhone song (And yes, I held up my iPhone for the ballad). Here's the video of Pogue in action:

There were plenty of breakout sessions today ranging from communications, IT, fundraising, and community building. The morning sessions focused heavily on e-mail campaigns, mobile phone fundraising, analytics and social networking. The afternoon sessions continued the Web 2.0 discussions and discussions built on analyzing campaigns. The key question that seems to be on a lot of minds is understand the value of social networking. Does it work? Does it build awareness? Does it raise money? How do you measure the ROI of social networks? Should your organization be doing social networks? How will it affect your organization?

A lot of organizations were quick to share their stories and curious to hear feedback from what other have done. It's a bit unruly and uneven to navigate, but the social network gurus gave strong advice for sticking to your guns and pursuing new audiences with these tools, even though the ROI was difficult to measure. Of course, onLine always says go for it! If you can build an online with social networks, social bookmarks, or any micro-group, you should pursue it. You never know when a channel could open a very big door. It's all trial-and-error and even the best experts can't predict which organization will have a groundswell.

The evening wrap-up featured afternoon ice cream and a Network For Good-sponsored reception, followed by a night out on the town in New Orleans. I have a feeling I may be one of the few people at the morning sessions.