I was at a speaking gig a few months ago and a participant asked, “How do I reach out to seniors? Most of them aren’t on the Internet.” Although, I don’t necessarily agree that seniors aren’t online (my 85-year-old father-in-law is online more than me), I thought that it was a fair question. Then I discovered Eons.com.
Eons is an online community for baby boomers and it is hoppin’ (and pretty well done.) Users can share photos, blog, keep in touch with family and friends and much more. And even though the most discussed topic is “death”, the community revolves around the celebration of life and fun for seniors.
There are advertising opportunities for businesses and organizations and they serve a large, dynamic community.
If your organization targets seniors, it might be worth it to give Eons.com a look!
I am writing an article about online dating and have been out of the dating scene for about 14 years. Luckily, I have lots of friends that are finding love (or not) online via Match.com, Yahoo, etc. and have a lot of stories that run the gambit from inspiring to just plain weird. I’d love to hear more stories about online dating experiences if anyone would like to share. All names will be confidential. Just ping me if you’d like to share - I’d love to hear all the “details”!! Thanks!!
Posted on Aug 18, 2008 under General Social Media |
A friend of mine is writing an article on Web 3.0. He’s not a tech guy, so I’ve been trying to find a few resources that would help him better understand the concept and how other folks are defining it. Since I am a little swamped today, I’ll leave you these breadcrumbs of thought to tide you over until tomorrow.
I’m considering putting together a social media 101 class for the businesses and non-profits in the metro DC area. If anyone is interested (or thinks its a good idea or better yet - wants to participate as a presenter) please let me know! I’m looking at an October time frame. Thanks!
I have to rant for a few minutes about the whole Facebook - Friends You May Know feature. I can honestly say that out of the dozens of people that pop up in that little box, I’ve known 3 and only been inclined to add 1. Who are these people? Where do they come from? Why does Facebook think that I want to be friends with these strangers? I find it all very odd.
On a happier note - FlogBlog on my Facebook profile is finally updating after months of staleness, so I’m pretty excited about that. However, I just noticed that its not FlogBlog anymore. Now its Simplaris Blogcast. Who knows? At least its working.
Enough ranting. Have a great night!
Today I participated in a great discussion on NTEN.org with Sue Cline about non-profit communications and whether its better to look like you need the money or have a more professional image. This is a question that I get asked a lot and is often the topic of much discussion among our board. There are two viewpoints that I see.
1) If you look too professional, potential donors may not want to donate because you don’t look like you need the money or worse - they wonder where the money is going.
2) If you look too “mom & pop”, donors may not take your organization seriously or worse - they wonder where the money is going (or in this case - how is it being managed).
I went to a Best Friends conference several years ago where this topic was discussed as it pertained to animal welfare organizations. Best Friends has a full-color, VERY slick magazine, a professional website, multiple print fundraising drives - you get the picture. As an organization, they made the decision to spend the money to give their org a professional, clean image. Ironically, there was very little fallout and they are one of the most well-funded animal welfare organizations in the country.
GoodDogz.org has been a grassroots organization for five years, yet we’ve always been able to convey a professional image while not spending loads of money. Here are a few tips that may help your organization make the most of your resources:
- Recruit volunteers that have the skills you need. If you need a new website, find a web designer that is interested in your cause. If you need print materials, find a graphic designer that can help you create a template for your print collateral.
- Work with the business community. Seek out members of the local community that can donate or cut you a deal on printing, legal services, accounting, PR help, etc. If they like your message, its likely they will help. It never hurts to ask and I’ve been told NO many times. But that should never stop you from asking.
- Look for cheap online resources. We paid an arm and a leg for our first business cards by using a local business that didn’t want to help us out. By searching online, we’ve been able to find great deals on printing, promotional materials, etc. Also check out Craigslist for high ticket items like trade show booths, computers, etc.
- Find sponsors. If you need a new website or printed materials, look for a sponsor that will pay for the service in return for promotional considerations. I built GoodDogz.org on sponsorships. Not only do you get what you need, but you also make valuable relationships with business owners.
- Most important - execution is key. It doesn’t matter how nice your newsletter looks - if your organization doesn’t present itself in a professional manner, you will not be taken seriously. It seems so simple, but I see so many non-profits fall apart on execution. Return phone calls and emails promptly. Take the time to ensure that your message is clear and is part of everything you distribute. If you host events, be sure that volunteers, participants, sponsors and exhibitors are well taken care of. Go that extra mile. In the long run, people (and potential donors) remember how they were treated by your organization before they recall the color of your website.
Posted on Aug 11, 2008 under Beth's Obs, Blogging, Kool Toolz |
Happy Monday everyone! It’s a lovely day here in the DC burbs and I’m giving a little thought to my Monday morning routine (which is really my daily morning routine). Setting aside the household “must dos” (like letting the dogs out, cleaning up any mess from the night before, sending my hubby to work, etc.) how do I get the most from my AM time? I will admit that I am not a morning person and I’ve started sleeping in a little later in order to catch up on some much needed R&R. So, I’m usually not coherent until 10AM. Most of my friends are up at the crack of dawn, but I am much better in the evening hours.
I am looking for a little advice (and getting up earlier ain’t happening) so here’s my plan. May there are a few tips you could share to help me streamline my tasks?
- Check my news and blog feeds. I have a gazillion of these set-up and really find value in all of them for different reasons. The problem is, this morning I’m looking at about 414 posts to go through. I prefer the Feeds option offered by Flock, so I’m not sure whether there is a more useful tool out there. Is there a more effective way to manage feeds that you can share with our readers?
- Write my blog posts. I currently write for 5 blogs with more on the way. One is weekly and the rest are daily. I know that I need a better work flow for blogging and should really study Chris Brogan’s blogging work flow. It’s a great process.
- Check for RFPs. Until I get my business really moving, I’m checking the web for RFPs (got one on my desk that’s due Friday). Looking for blog help, small web development projects and the likes. What I find here lays out the rest of my week.
- Return phone calls. Inevitably, I need to return calls from Friday.
During the week, I do a little of this, but Monday AM is by far the time suck for catching up. During the week I tweet, blog, write proposals, write technical docs, write strategy docs, prepare for speaking gigs, etc. My latest endeavor is setting up a GoodDogz.org presence in Second Life. So, my weeks are busy.
I guess I’m just a sucker for time management and am looking for some suggestions/tools for managing my freelancer time.
Posted on Aug 07, 2008 under Beth's Obs |
I will admit that I am a bargain hunter and will ask for freebies every chance I get. Yesterday, I noticed that LinkedIn had a special for $60/year on presumeably their Business Account. It was noted at the bottom of the page that shows who’s viewed your profile. I clicked through to the subscription page but there was no $60/year special offer. So I emailed LinkedIn’s customer service.
I was very politely told that this was a typo and that their IT department would be removing it immediately (btw - it’s still there). So, me being the cheapskate that I am, asked if they would still honor the pricing since it WAS listed on the site and I quickly brought it to their attention. I was even more politely told no. They did offer me a free month trial that I would inevitably have to call to cancel after a month because there was no way I was paying $200 for a year’s worth of LinkedIn. I can hear the conversation now -
BB: “I’d like to cancel my LinkedIn business account.”
LI: “But you’ll miss out on all of the huge business benefits that our paid service offers.”
BB: “No thanks, I want to cancel my account.”
LI: “What if we give you an extra month at the end of the year?”
BB: “Seriously, I want to cancel my account.”
You get the idea. What happened to the days when being a good online citizen was rewarded or when business’s honored their mistakes in order to keep their customers happy? Apparently those days are long gone and I’m personally going to use this experience as a reason to be more accommodating to my own clients (and to check my own work for typos).
I am in the process of writing a social marketing plan for GoodDogz.org. We launched our new website about 2 weeks ago and, without any type of promotion, started immediately receiving blog comments, new NING community members, new LinkedIn group members, etc. It was truly amazing to see how quickly the new social aspects of the site snowballed. Adding these tools to a non-profit site was easy, cheap and effective. Here’s what we added:
That’s it. By adding those 4 tools, we were able to quickly gain more interaction with our audience, more interest and ultimately better resources for our users.
The next step is to create a strategy for promoting and using these tools. Although we were lucky enough to have “built it and they came”, a strategic plan is important to not only establish engagement but maintain an audience of loyal users who will come back often and participate in the conversation. More to come on that and I would love to hear the ideas of others on getting the word out.
Chris Brogan is a visionary in the social media space and has compiled this comprehensive list of tool and sites that are great for the beginner (with a few gems for everyone else). Be sure to check out the comments for more great finds. I would add the following sites to his list:
- Eons.com - social community for baby boomers (I’ve found that the question “How do we reach out to 60+ crowd?” comes up a lot.)
- Gather.com - social community for the intellectual set.
- Changents.com - connecting agents of change with backers.
- Change.org - social community for non-profits.
- Idealist.org - community and resources for non-profits.
I will add Chris’s list to my social media tools page. Please feel free to comment and help us add to the list.
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Beth consults with businesses and non-profits on social media tool selection and strategy and helps her clients find effective ways to leverage these new mediums to meet business goals.