Marketing for Non Profits

If you are here to report on Kindness, please click on that page...

What is your cause?  

Are you involved in making your community a better place?  

Are you involved in making the world a better place?

I know you...and the answer is yes.  

Social Marketing for Non Profits

According to GivingUSA, Americans gave nearly $300 billion in 2011…with the aim of making the world a better place.  That’s a lot of money.

Every year donors and nonprofits believe more could be done, if there was just more money.

Many donors are concerned their giving is not making a real difference.

By changing how you collect information, communicate your story and connect with donors, nonprofits can have better access to the funds you need.  Of the information that is available, almost none of it helps donors understand how charities are fulfilling their missions. 

According to the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer that aims to gauge consumer trust, only around half of the survived individuals believe that nonprofits can be trusted to operate with society’s best interests at heart. 

A couple of years ago, Hope Consulting produced a research project called Money For Good. One of the results found that donors do care about impact and effecting positive change in the world.  And that nonprofits can attract more funds if they can communicate their impact, connect with donor sponsors and build relationships. 

Connecting  Communicating  Building

Snail mail, face to face and social media all have a part to play in connecting with donor sponsor, communicating your story and building relationships.

Learn everything you can about your cause, including on a national level.

Establish yourself as a knowledgeable resource for your cause, in your community.

Make new social media friends and subscribe to your cause on a national level…blogs, facebook pages, etc.  Your knowledge will increase, you will find stories, information that you can share.

Keep old friends.  Do you have a donor sponsor with news, share it.  Promote them and let them know you care about their events.

Boost web traffic with a blog and frequent social media postings.  List your link and when folks land on your link, make sure there is a donation button and email sign up.

“Ask for the order”.  There will be a time for this…after you have established a relationship.

In the very best of all worlds, your organization would be wise to have someone working on this communication all the time...

Did you know that Thursdays is Marketing for NonProfits on facebook.com/FeelGoodFreeArt

Where ever your footsteps take you,
go with great joy
and great kindness to one another!!!

25 Things Not To Do On Facebook!!

 SO.....

We are all learning 

and in preparation for the Gig Harbor

Arts Commission FREE workshop 

on Social Media, 

May 6th, 5:30pm Civic Center 

 I did a little research and found some interesting information...

 25 Things Not To Do On Facebook

No one wants to look dumb.

Especially when it comes to Facebook, where there’s the potential for thousands of people to see it.

And when you’re first getting started, it’s easy to make some rookie mistakes. Many of these mistakes happen simply because newbies don’t know any better.

Are you doing any of these things?

1. Talking at your customers, not with your customers. Pushing out a bunch of blah blah blah press releases or links to stuff you do on your website is not engagement.
2. Not responding to comments or questions. It’s not a good first impression for a potential new fan to see that your business or organization doesn’t address concerns and doesn’t interact with customers.
3. Not monitoring the Page. When someone visits your Page, are they going to find it full of links from Facebook spammers inviting your fans to college night at the local bar or to click to win a free iPad?
4. Using hashtags on Facebook. Umm, hashtags are for Twitter. If you’re just cross-posting from Twitter, that also signals that you don’t care enough about your Facebook fans to create updates just for them.
5. Writing long posts that get cut off. It’s okay to write longer status updates on Facebook (you have a limit of 60,000 characters), but you still need to keep them clear and concise.
6. Liking your own post. Really? That’s almost a cry for help. Maybe that’s why no one else is Liking it.
7. Not having a custom URL for your Facebook Page. What’s the first rule of Facebook Pages? Get yourself a custom URL.
8. Posting one thing right after another. Your fans may love you, but long post after post after post in the newsfeed can be a bit much. Be sure to space out your updates so there’s a better chance people engage with them rather than pass them by.
9. Talking smack about your competition. There’s no need to bad mouth your competition. Keep it to yourself unless you really want to look dumb.
10. Responding negatively to a negative comment. The outcome from a negative comment truly depends on how you react to it. Being negative in return isn’t the best idea. Say thank you for the feedback and respond professionally to resolve the issue. You may just turn that unhappy customer into a happy one.
11. Not filling out necessary information, location, description, etc. Facebook gives you the opportunity to add detailed information about your business or organization. Be sure to fill it out fully.
12. Not using Facebook Insights. If you’re not paying attention and evolving based on the information you learn from your Page’s Insights you may find yourself with a poorly performing Page. And you know how that looks.
13. Only promoting yourself. It’s called social networking for a reason. If you’re not engaging and showing personality, why bother?
14. Spelling errors. As small as they might be, spelling errors can really hurt your Page’s credibility. A typo is okay, but lots of typos are not. (Watch for some common misspellings, like There/Their/They’re/Your/You’re.)
15. USING TOO MANY CAPS OR EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Shhhh. Stop yelling. Use capital letters and exclamation points sparingly for maximum impact.
16. Responding with the same answer from multiple admins. It’s good to respond to people’s posts, but if multiple people are running your Page, be sure they’re communicating internally so they’re not posting the same response multiple times.
17. Not having any posts or comments from customers. When all the posts and comments on a Page’s wall are between friends and family of the business owner and not customers, that’s not really a good sign. Be sure to get your customers engaged.
18. Not getting any feedback on questions. Posting questions to your fans is a great idea, but when you see a business doing it every day and no one is answering … that looks bad.
19. Having a blurry avatar. If people can’t make out your Page’s avatar, what good is it? Or if you have an avatar that looks silly as the minimized version, that’s not much help either. Be sure to use the appropriate sizes to look your best.
20. Relying on user-generated content. All content created by your fans is gravy. Don’t demand that people get involved. Or expect it to make your Facebook Page a success. You still need to create your own engaging content.
21. Trying to make every post for everyone. Not every post needs to be for everyone. It’s okay to post something that only a segment of your fans may find engaging. It’s better than watering something down to make it appropriate for everyone.
22. Leaving the shared link in your status. Once you paste a link in your status the link preview pops up. Once that’s there you can erase the original link from your status and write what you want.
23. Not customizing the headline and abstract when you share a link. In the link preview you can actually click on the headline and abstract to customize the text for your audience.
24. Leaving a random image in the link preview. If applicable, there are little arrows below the image that allow you to choose what image displays when you share a blog post or article. This is especially important if Facebook pulls something random like a Twitter badge or sign-up form image.
25. Leaving up a post with a typo. If you notice a typo in your update immediately after you post it, you can delete it and re-post a corrected version before people start liking, commenting on, and sharing it.

Don’t look dumb

Be aware of those things that may make you look dumb on Facebook. Have you been doing any of the things on this list? Well, now that you know it may be a good time to stop.

Source:  Dave Charest “Social Media Marketing”

   

OOOPS!  

I have been doing some of those things.  I did finally get an URL for my facebook page...step #1 is done!! www.facebook.com/FeelGoodFreeArt  It is suppose to look more professional

 As we are all learning together, this is my plan....yes, we are suppose to have a plan for our Facebook usage.  So, this is my plan:

Tuesday and Wednesdays:  posting marketing information for artists/ and small businesses

Thursdays: posting marketing information for non profits 

Every so often I will use my blog for marketing information.  

Facebook works best as an interactive tool. 

 Please make comments and share your stories, so we can all learn together. 

Where ever your footsteps take you,
go with great joy
and great kindness to one another!!!

Marketing Your Widget* On Social Media!!!

Marketing Your Widget * On Social Media

Widget = painting, nail polish, nonprofit run; substitute your item.

Come up with a social media plan and work your plan.  If your plan is to sell widgets, or get folks to enter your event...become a knowledge leader in your widget or event.  Social media is for sharing knowledge.

1.     Learn.  Learn everything you can about all the widgets in your category.  Learn everything about nail polish, health, colors, everything.  If you are having a fund raiser, supporting a cancer cure, find out everything about that cancer.

2.     Raise brand awareness. Establish yourself as a good resource of information in your area of interest.  Find good articles on your interest, short and sweet and post to Facebook, tweet to twitter, etc.  Art happenings in your area…critique of a painting.  Why and what colors of nail polish are good.  How running is a great exercise and is good for your body.  Become knowledgeable on your area of interest and share.  Try to share with a question…”Doesn’t a pedicure make you feel so much better?”  That is a question that will inspire a LIKE, rather than an answer.

3.    Make friends.  If there is a blog about your interest, subscribe.  If there are Facebook groups for your interest, join.  Connect with like minded organizations any way you can.  You will learn a lot, and you will be able to share a lot.

4.    Keep old friends.  Social media is a great way to strengthen friends we already have.  Give a shout out to your customers.  Welcome Mary Sue home from Italy with her new landscape of the Tuscan region. Give a shout out to your sponsors.  Safeway, who also donates bottled water to our run is opening a new store…let’s go.

5.    Boost web traffic and expand email contacts.  Most social media posts are short and link to areas of more information…web pages, blogs, etc.  For every click through, there needs to be an email sign up and/or donation button.

6.    Action.  Yep, this is last and for a reason. Jumping onto social media to sell or raise funds for your widget/ event before establishing yourself 1-5, can turn off anyone that’s chosen to follow you.  Focus on the first 5 points and your social network of friends will be more receptive, and may even share your call for action with some of their friends.

Plan Your Work …work your plan, every day.

 Perhaps you have a partner, or volunteer for this time consuming job.

You're Invited to find out more.....

May 6, 2013  5:30pm  Gig Harbor Civic Center

Social Media as a Marketing Tool!

Make your Facebook page your Number One marketing strategy 

 

Where ever your footsteps take you,
go with great joy
and great kindness to one another!!!

Marketing for you!

A BIG thank you.....

  to all presenters of the Making Friends With Media Event!!

  to all interested parties who showed up to meet and learn about our local media!

  to the City of Gig Harbor for allowing their support

  AND

  to the Gig Harbor Arts Commission for presenting this workshop!

OK.....in the interest of full disclosure, I am one of the Gig Harbor Art Commissioners.
Our goal in presenting these workshops is to be of assistance to local artists and their business...which is small business, so we included small businesses and then invited our local non profits.  
 Our next workshop is:

 How to Make Facebook Your Number One Marketing Strategy

May 6th    5:30pm

Gig Harbor Civic Center

The meeting will be in the Council Chambers,

 no reservation required and we are expecting a full house!

The presenters for this workshop will be 

Tracey Warren, author, "100 Lessons to Grow Your Business Using Social Media"

AND

Laureen Lund, Marketing Director for the City of Gig Harbor.....Laureen markets Gig Harbor, including using social media, every day!

Our last workshop included how to write a good press release, here is a recap:

Good press releases are meant to keep the media informed of your recent developments and future plans.

Good press releases are meant to stirr the reporters' interest and inspire them to cover the story further.

1.  Grab attention with a good headline; engaging and accurate.

2.  Get right to the point in the first paragraph:  who, what, where, when, why.   Reporters are busy, make it easy for them.

3.  Include hard numbers.  If you are have a new art piece about a particular subject, is it growing extent...numbers please. If your widget is popular in the world and selling like hotcakes here.... If you had 5 runners in your event last year and 200 runners this year..numbers please...etc.

4.  Make it grammatically flawless.   Please do not spell Twitter, Tweeter....OK, that was me.  But, don't do it!!!

5.  Include quotes when possible...one sentence.

6.  Your contact information.

7.  One page,send email.  If you can get a photo in the actual email, good.  Reporters do not have time to click through to find a photo.  

8.  Show reporters how to find more information with a clickable link.......just make double sure there is good information when landing on that link/s. 

9.  Your Facebook address, you Twitter address....

10.  A followup phone call is good thing to do to make sure your release was received.

11.  Always ask for the order.....example:  

There is going to be a great presentation on May 6th at 5:30pm at the

 Gig Harbor Civic Center on How to Use Social Media as Your Marketing Tool.

  Will you you attend??

Where ever your footsteps take you,
go with great joy
and great kindness to one another!!!

We are so excited to cordially invite you to attend....

 

Feel Good Free Art

On The Road to Asia

 By Way of Amsterdam

Yes, yes, we had a wonderful trip and shared lots of FREE art and took lots of video!!!   This video presentation is just a little preview.  We also met some "unusua"l artist...

...but that is for another time.

Our first video is ready for your viewing pleasure, and it is from the end of our trip.  In Kyoto, Japan we met and spent a little time with a wonderful, gracious Enamel Cloisonne artist, Tomoko.

By way of a fun, short video you will meet Tomoko...and we actually have a couple pieces of her work for you to enjoy in real life.  

A bonus for all of us, is a great music experience, a local group, "Signature Brass Quintet".  6:30, a fun evening, enjoying Japanese and local art. 

A great big thank you to Deborah Grady at Full Moon Gallery for offering her space to welcome this video, artists and wonderful music!!

Where ever your footsteps take you,
go with great joy
and great kindness to one another!!!