Social Media WIN – Authenticity in Action
Feb 7, 2012 Weblog
In an earlier post I outlined an example of a social media failure. In that example I related how I was contacted by somebody that wanted to add me to their professional network. After some brief exchanges with them it was clear that their request was not to make a meaningful connection, rather they were simply interested in growing their network “number.” Following this experience I thought it only fair to give equal attention to an example of a social media success story.
A few years ago I was contacted through LinkedIn by Rhett Wilson. We had never met, but our professional networks shared a few connections. Rhett and I shared other similarities, namely our professional path and age. Instead of simply requesting to be connected on LinkedIn, Rhett and I discussed first connecting via phone to share our work experiences and to talk through topics related to our shared work and age demographic. Following our first phone call we agreed to stay connected both on and off LinkedIn. Over the past couple of years, we’ve also had the opportunity to meet in person a couple of times.
It has proven to be highly valuable to have a professional contact outside of my regional network. Rhett has been able to give me critical unbiased third-party perspective on challenges and opportunities related to the profession. I hope I have been able to serve a similar purpose and prove to be an asset in Rhett’s professional network.
This experience reinforces insights and recommendations outlined in a recent CNN Money article, The Real Way to Build a Social Network. I highly recommend this article for those looking to expand their professional network in an authentic way.
Tags: communication, LinkedIn, networking, professional development, social media, WIN
Social Media FAIL and the Importance of Authenticity
Aug 12, 2011 Weblog
Not long ago a message appeared in my e-mail inbox:
SENDER:
LinkedIn suggests we may know each other. Must be because of the mutual relationships. Would be glad to invite you to Link In if useful to you.
Intrigued, I searched the sender’s name and discovered that we did indeed have a few connections in common. I should note, have a personal policy of restricting my social networks to people I know personally. Normally I would have ignored the unsolicited message, but because our common connections are individuals I respect and count as some of my most trusted colleagues, I responded and tried to build rapport.
BEN:
Thanks for your note. I don’t believe we have met, so it must be a result of the friends we have in common. I’m pretty close to. How do you know them?
Oddly this was the response I got:
SENDER:
If you saw my profile on LinkedIn, and it’s not useful to you …. for me to have reached out, we can just drop it.
Happily, I’ll do just that, but first let’s consider what can be learned from this exchange.
Tags: communication, FAIL, LinkedIn, networking, professional development, social media
Breakthrough Nonprofit Branding – Valueable, but Not for Obvious Reasons [Book Review]
Jul 11, 2011 Weblog
I’ll preface my review by disclosing I personally believe that the public, private and non-profit sectors serve as a system of checks and balances between one another. As a result I am not in favor of cause marketing because of how it blurs the boundaries between the private and non-profit sector. Cause marketing is attractive to non-profits because it appears to be a mutually beneficial arrangement–non-profits create another revenue stream and for-profits sell more products and make consumers feel good about their purchase. However, since the motivations of the private and non-profit sectors are so disparate (shareholder profits versus and the greater good), the non-profit sector loses more than it gains because it discounts (in my view) its most valuable asset, philanthropy.
Despite my bias, I approached this book with an open mind and was pleasantly surprised to find tremendous value in Breakthrough Nonprofit Branding: Seven Principles to Power Extraordinary Results (The AFP/Wiley Fund Development Series). It is clear that Daw and Cone are highly experienced in the area of cause marketing. However, the elements I most appreciate about this book had nothing to do with cause marketing. The way the authors addressed the topic is what brought me the most benefit. I appreciate that this book uses a Jim Collins-esque approach of selecting top performing organizations to case study–this brought great credibility to the methods these organizations utilized. The authors don’t just explain key concepts, but apply them in a way that makes the principles of engagement, loyalty, and community real and actionable. These elements help seasoned fundraisers understand how to better communicate a non-profit organization’s case for support by adopting strengths from the private sector–this helps us view communication strategies through the “branding” lens of the private sector.
If you are a business looking to partner with a charitable organization, a non-profit looking to give your organizational mission more richness through a strategic partnership in the private sector, or like myself looking to better articulate the non-profit organizational brand by borrowing from the private sector, I believe this book is a must read.
Tags: book review, embedded giving, fundraising, social media, transactional fundraising
Millennial Fundraising Epic FAIL
Jun 1, 2011 Weblog
Typically, this time of year I see fundraising appeals from educational organizations, faith-based groups preparing for summer mission trips, and health-related (education/advocacy/research) groups that sponsor an athletic event (e.g. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Team In Training). Over the past four months I’ve received about eight fundraising appeals representing five different organizations. Of these, five have been through social media or in electronic format and stand out in my mind, but not as best practice examples.
Social media and the viral fundraising campaign is highly lauded among large national organizations with high name recognition and stellar reputations. However, a major shortcoming of peer-based appeals is that the responsibility for relationship building is transferred from professional fundraisers to an inexperienced volunteer. A trend I’m seeing among the disappointing appeals is a lack of volunteer fundraising training by these well-respected organizations (or perhaps volunteers are ignoring their training).
The downside of this is that even if a person I know sends me an e-mail or Facebook message asking for my support for their upcoming mission trip or walk-a-thon, I’m unlikely to be receptive to the request if it’s the first time I’ve heard from that person in five years.
As Millennials seek to make a difference, it should be the responsibility of non-profits to engage their volunteers in training to make clear the importance of genuine cultivation and stewardship as a preface to effective asking and engagement. Volunteer training should not focus just on building endurance for the upcoming marathon, but should also spend some time educating on the strengths and weaknesses of permission marketing and their responsibilities as volunteer fundraisers.
Where should these volunteer training programs to start? I recommend the Donor Bill of Rights and the Code of Ethical Principles and Standards.
Tags: best practice, Code of Ethical Principles and Standards, Donor Bill of Rights, e-mail, Facebook, FAIL, fundraising, Millennial, permission marketing, pitfalls, social media, viral fundraising
Purpose-filled Tweets
May 17, 2009 Weblog
My initial experience with Twitter echos this statistic. I tried out the service and quickly grew frustrated and gave up on my account. However I rediscovered Twitter about four months later.
The difference between my first and second attempt was that when I returned I only shared “purpose-filled tweets.”
Like my mother would say “if you don’t have anything [nice] to say then don’t say anything at all.” I think this also applies to Twitter. It is a good idea to know how you will use the service before you sign up. For the person on the street, Micro-blogging can quickly become much like shouting into hurricane-force winds, an exercise in futility. If you have purpose behind each and every post it can actually add value to your personal and/or professional networks.
Tags: networking, social media, tweet, Twitter