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Creating Something Out of Nothing: Social Media in the Nonprofit Sector

Rebecca Gordon, The Rebecca Gordon Group

@rgordongor6

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Welcome!

Who Is Here?

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The State of Philanthropy

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The nonprofit sector has been growing steadily, both in size and financial impact, for more than a decade. Between 2001 and 2011, the number of nonprofits has

increased 25 percent; from 1,259,764 million to 1,574,674 million today.

The growth rate of the nonprofit sector has surpassed the rate of both the business and government sectors.

In 2010, nonprofits contributed products and services that added $779 billion to the nation’s gross domestic product; 5.4 percent of GDP.

In 2011, charitable giving totaled over 346 billion dollars, a 7.5% increase over

2010.

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Though many people are not aware of it, research confirms the enormous scale of the nonprofit workforce. U.S. nonprofit establishments employed nearly 10.7 million paid workers in 2010. This accounts for about 10.1% of our national’s total private employment and makes the U.S. nonprofit workforce the third largest among U.S. industries, behind only retail trade and manufacturing.

A MAJOR ECONOMIC FORCE

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So What IS Social Media and why is an effective social media strategy important?

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• Social media is not a strategy, it is the channels in which we engage individuals and communities online.

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Why is it important to your organization?

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Top of Mind Awareness – Created and Reinforced by the organization

and its leadership.

First position is important because the business that is in the first position is 2X more profitable than the business in 2nd position and  4X more profitable than the business in 3rd position. 

Mark DahlAccountable Marketing Research Group

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Some “Truths” About Social Media Communications

• Communications in social media is “Pull” not “Push”

• Communication in social media is slow but needs to be consistent.

• Communications in social media is engaging content.

• Communications in social media is based on dialogue not monologue.

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Social Media in NOT

• All about technology• About marketing/promotion only• About YOU/US• An overnight solution or a quick fix• A replacement or stand-alone effort• Something you set and forget• About immediate ROI• A fad• Rocket Science• Free

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How Did Nonprofits Communicate Before the Social Media Revolution?

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The 5 Steps to Effective Social Media

1.Create your strategy (know your audience and what you want from them)

2.Pick your social media channels.

3.Build your reach.

4.Persuade through content and interaction. 5. Turn your likes into ambassadors

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“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it

has taken place”

George Bernard Shaw

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Create Your Strategy – The Approach

Identify Your Objectives Do Your

Research ActivitiesDevices (Social

Platforms)

=DEVELOPED SOCIAL MEDIA

STRATEGY

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Identify Your Objectives

• The first step in any strategy is identifying your desired outcomes. – Common Nonprofit Objectives

• Building Awareness • Driving Action• Advancing Engagement

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It all comes down to this…..

• Building• Engaging• Empowering

Powerful contributions are made when: People are in touch with their purpose, their vision and with the difference they make.

When it is clear that an organizaton’s goals are clear and ATTAINABLE – they are engaged to succeed!

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Select Target Audiences

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Rebecca’s Easy Theory – Path to Communications

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AIDAAttention

Interest

Desire

Action

Action

Desire

InterestAttention

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The Single Best Way To Communicate?

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Identify What Motivates

People

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Understanding Generations Helps Identify Motivations

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The events and conditions each of us experience during our formative years help define who we are and how we view the world.

The generation we grow up in is just one of the influences on adult behavior.

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What is a Generation?

• A generation is a subdivision of population grouped in time intervals of approximately 18-20 years.

• Each generation’s attitudes and beliefs are formed by the cultural shifts, influential public personalities, technological changes, and the major events during their formative years.

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“Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.”

George Orwell

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Why is this important?Understanding generations is a big key to understanding which social media channels your will utilize and what tactics will work the best.

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Technology

1. “Anything that is in the world when you were born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural way the world works.”2. “Anything that is invented between the time when you are 15 to 35 is new, revolutionary and exciting, and you can possibly get a career in it.”3. ‘Anything invented after you are 35 is against the natural order of things.”

*According to the late author Douglas Adams(The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.)

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In America Today

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This is the first time in history that we have four generations in the workplace.

TraditionalistsBaby Boomers

Gen Xer’sGen Yer’s

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Generations

Matures Born Prior to 1946

Baby Boomers Born 1946-1964

Generation X Born 1965-1980

Nexters Born 1981-1995

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Where are you on the timeline?

GENERATIONAL TIMELINE    

1922-1945 1946-1964 1965-1980 1981-2000

Veterans, Silent, Baby Boomers Generation X Generation Y, Gen Yers,

Traditionalists Millennials, Echo Boomers

       Cupsers

Ages 66 - 89 Ages 47 - 65 Ages 31 - 46 Ages 11 - 30

       

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TraditionalistsValues

Hard Work

Frugal

Dedication & Sacrifice

Honor / Respect for Rules

Sacrifice

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Traditionalist

Leadership Style Direct, Command & Control

Interaction Individualist

Communications Formal/memo, One on One

Other No news is good newsExperience is respectedEducation for many was a dreamRotary PhonesMoney—save and pay with cashFamily is traditional

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Baby Boomer’s Major Influences

• Civil Rights Movements• Birth Control• Moon Landing• Cuban Missile Crisis• Assassination of Kennedys and MLK• Inflation• Nixon and the Watergate Scandal• Vietnam• Height of the Cold War• Women in the work place• Divorce• Rock and Roll - Woodstock

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Baby Boomer Values

Optimism

Team Orientation

Personal Gratification

Involvement

Personal Growth

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Baby Boomer

Leadership Style Consensual, Collegial

Interaction Team player, love to have meetings!

Communication In person

Other Love title recognitionMoneyYou are valued and neededEducation is a birthrightFamily begins disintegratingBuy now, pay laterAffluent

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Gen Xer’s Major Influences

• Challenger Disaster• Berlin Wall• Desert Storm• Star Wars - Reagan• Latch Key Kids and Daycare kids• Skyrocketing Divorce Rate• Scandals• Personal Computers• Cable TV• HIV• Video Games

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Generation X Events & Experiences

Fall of Berlin Wall

Women’s Liberation

Watergate

Energy Crisis

Cynical

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Generation X Values

Diversity

Techno Literacy

Fun & Informality

Self Reliance/Autonomy

Pragmatism

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Generation X

Leadership Style Everyone is the same Challenge others

Interaction Entrepreneur

Communications Direct Immediate

Other Freedom is the best rewardLatch Key Kids Money cautious….save-save Education is a way to get there Sorry to interrupt,but how am I doing?

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Gen Yer’s

• Oklahoma City Bombing• High School Shootings• Era of Natural Disasters• Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan• 9/11 Terrorism• Reality TV • Computer/net/cell - instant information• Lowest Parent/Child ratio in U.S. History• Helicopter parents and friend parents • Have been protected• Generation of self esteem

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Unique characteristics of the Gen Y

• 1 out of 4 lives in a single parent house-hold, 3 out of 4 with working moms.

• The child is the center of the household

• Loose family structure, Merged families

• Coddled and protected kids

• Value individuality yet are immersed in a global environment

• Extremely diverse segment of the population (est. 50% are immigrants or children of immigrants.)

•Surrounded by digital media.

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“YES, MOTHER. I TOLD YOU, I’M DOING FINE ON MY OWN AT COLLEGE… HEY, COULD YOU LOG ON AND FIND MY SCHEDULE, ORDER MY BOOKS AND CALL ME WHEN IT’S TIME FOR CLASS?”

The generation of the helicopter parents…

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Nexter Values

Optimistic

Civic Duty

Confident

Achievement Oriented

Respect for Diversity

Social

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Nexter

OtherMeaningful work

Whenever I want it I can push & clickWill work with other bright & creative people

Merged familiesEarn money to spend it

Leadership StyleTBD

InteractionParticipative

CommunicationsE-mail

Voice mailCell phone

texters

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Bottom Line

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What Motivates Our Generations?

Traditionalists – Build A Legacy

Boomers – Build A Stellar Career

Generation Xers – Build A Portable Career

Millennial – Build Parallel Careers

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DO Your Research

• Social media is communications so the old rules still apply!

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Listening Is Key

• Listening is an important tactic for every organization regardless of size or mission. By listening to what is already being talked about online you can see who the key subject leaders are, look at great content and learn from the hits and misses of others. – Setup Google Alerts– Identify key words that interest you and follow

influencers.

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Now What?

• You have identified your objectives.• Decided on your target audiences and

demographics.• Now it’s time to choose your social media

channels!

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What’s Missing?

In today’s internet-based society, your organization has to have a strong online presence to stand out in the crowd.

1. Foundation for ALL of your social media activity.

2. Builds your organization as an expert in the field.

3. Supplies fresh content to a static site.

4. Builds trust online. 5. Provides much needed search

engine optimization to your organization’s website.

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Email is CURRENCY in Social Media

Have something to say.Make it digestible

Be regularBe Personal

tilize Email as Currency

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1. Worldwide, there are over 1.5 billion active Facebook users. (Source: Facebook) 23% increase from March 2012. Facebook is too big to ignore.

2. 4.5 billion likes generated daily which is a 67% increase from August 2012.

3. 699 million people log onto Facebook daily, 26% increase form 2012.

4. 819 million active mobile users which is 54% increase from 2012.

5. Age 25 to 34, at 29.7% of users, is the most common age demographic.

6. Average time spent on Facebook is 20 minutes. 7. Highest traffic occurs mid-week between 1 to 3pm. 8. On Thursdays and Fridays, engagement is 18% higher. 9. The average value of a Facebook fan for a nonprofit over

12 months is $161.30. That climbs to $214.81 when combined with other channels. (Source: MDG Marketing)

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• There are roughly “About a billion” registered Twitter users.

• There are 100 million daily active Twitter users.• Average number of Twitter followers is 208.• 500 million average tweets per day.• 60% of Twitter users accessing via mobile • Percentage of millennial (age 15-34) that use

Twitter: 29%• Tweets between 100 and 115 characters are more

likely to be ReTweeted. (Dan Zarella)

• Craig Smith, Digital Marketing Stats DMR

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“Think about it this way, if Facebook were a cake than Instagram would be the icing.”

Jared Gordon 17, Senior

• Instagram launched in October 2010• 150 million active users• 16 billion photos shared• Number of Selfies posted to Instagram to date – 35

million• 8500 likes per second• Most followed Instagram brand is MTV• Percentage of teens that consider Instagram their

favorite social network? 23%

DMR Marketing

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• 60 hours of video are uploaded every minute, or one hour of video is uploaded to YouTube every second.

• Over 4 billion videos are viewed a day.• Over 800 million unique users visit YouTube each month. • Over 3 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube• More vide is uploaded in one month than the 3 major US

networks created in 60 years.• 70% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US• YouTube is localized in 29 counties and across 54 languages.• In 2011, YouTube has more than 1 trillion views.• In 2011 there were almost 140 views for every person on Earth.

Source: Jeff Bullas, jeffbullas.com

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There are TONS more….

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Content is King

• It must be consistent in both quality and quantity.

• Value is key – it MUST be valuable to your audience.

• Funny – Funny things are shareable. So don’t be afraid to be fun!

• Create your own content – not just fliers for fundraisers but engaging information (success is always valuable)

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Utilizing Images to Tell Your Story

• So there is a fight in the marketing world but some researchers say that humans process visual information 60,000 time faster than text.

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Success hinges on a well placed and consistent CALL TO ACTION!

hing to Be Successful?

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Test, Test, Test……

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And Finally…..Pull it ALL Together

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Creating Something Out of Nothing: Social Media in the Nonprofit Sector

Rebecca Gordon, The Rebecca Gordon Group

@rgordongor6