social media : promoting and protecting your non-profit brand

Visible Logic, Inc.

142 High StreetSuite 615

Portland, ME 04101207.761.4230

visiblelogic.com

IDENTITY

PRINT

PUBLISHING

WEB

Social Media : Promoting and Protecting Your Non-Profit Brand

Social Media Breakfast, October 2010

COMPELLING BRAND IDENTITIES IN PRINT & WEB

Your Brand Online: Personal, Organizational & Cause

Emily Brackett

President

Visible Logic, Inc.

Graphic Design & Branding:

Logos, Web Sites, Print Marketing, Book Covers & Interiors

Brand Positioning & Strategy

Your Brand Online: Personal, Organizational & CauseIntroduction

Social Media Overview

Branding: On- and Off-line

Identifying Yourself

Tips for Using Social Media


Social Media Overview

Your Brand Online: Personal, Organizational & CauseSocial Media Overview

Major Social Networking Web Sites & Media

The major web sites and media

• Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, FourSquare

• Blogging

Other media

• MySpace, Gowalla, Plaxo, etc.

• Email marketing

• Forums

• Face-to-face networking


Facebook

What’s On Your Mind?

Individuals

• Set up personal profiles

• You become friends with other people, and it’s reciprocal; the other person needs to OK you as a friend

Non-Profits

• Set up “company” pages (you can choose non-profit as your type)

• You can “like” a company, and it’s more of a one-way street. Gets your updates into someone’s news feed

Cause

• Could set up an “organization” type of company page

• You can “like” a company, and it’s more of a one-way street. Gets your updates into someone’s news feed


LinkedIn

Network Updates

All individual accounts, very resume-like way of presenting yourself

• There are company listings in LinkedIn, (still labeled as beta) but you still only link with the

employees (You can follow companies)

• You are encouraged only to connect with people you know, then the connection is two-way

• The Q&A section is a good way to break out of the resume structure, prove your expertise, connect

with those outside your sphere

• Groups are forum-like spaces, and are also a good way to connect with others


Twitter

What’s happening?

All accounts are individual

• There is only one kind of account with one user name & password

• Because they are individual accounts, there is some sense that tweets are coming from

an individual, but this is changing

• There are services which will allow more than one person to use an account

(and append initials, for example, at the end)

• You can follow as many others as you like, and it’s not automatically reciprocated


Blogs

Company sponsored or individual

Blogs can be completely personal, or can have a corporate mandate

• Multiple authors can contribute to a company blog and therefore have their own voice and persona

• Commenting on other blogs is an individual activity


Why Use Social Media?

• It’s free

• It’s where your volunteers, donors and sponsors are

• It’s a way to stay connected and top-of-mind

• It’s a great channel for sharing stories

• Connect with the cause that’s behind your non-profit


Branding: On- and Off-line

Your Brand Online: Personal, Organizational & CauseBranding: On- and Off-line

Your Brand is a Combination of:

The Identity you build and

The Perception / Messages that come from others

The Cause

An official “face” (Exec. Director, Founder, etc.)

Volunteers

Donors

Recipients / Beneficiaries


The Cause


OrganizationThe Cause


OrganizationThe Cause An official “face”

(Exec. Director, Founder, etc.)




Volunteers




Volunteers

Donors


OrganizationThe Cause

Donors

Recipients Beneficiaries

An official “face”


Volunteers


The Cause


The Cause Organization


The Cause OrganizationAn official

“face” (Exec. Director, Founder, etc.)




Volunteers


Donors



Volunteers


Donors



Volunteers Recipients Beneficiaries


The Cause An official “face”


Volunteers Recipients Beneficiaries

Donors

Organization


Does your cause have a brand identity?

Causes may or may not have their own brand identity. Generally, if a “cause” has a well-defined brand

identity it’s been the work of an organization who launched the brand.

A good example of a cause’s brand identity is the pink representing Breast Cancer. This is such

a universal phenomenon it can be found on everything from t-shirts to Kitchen Aid mixers.

Most causes do not have such a strong brand identity.

Causes that generate news also have a sort of brand perception (ie Hurricane Katrina,

Earthquake in Haiti)


Identifying Yourself

Your Brand Online: Personal, Organizational & CauseIdentifying Yourself

Online Specific Branding Elements

Domain Name and Handles

• Grab your name on all the major social media sites

• Grab your name, even if you won’t use the site immediately

• Consider creating multiple names if you use an acronym, or for key people



Avatars, Favicons & Headshots, Key Visuals

• Have reduced the idea of a “logo” to a small, square icon.

• Use these consistently: Set up gravatars (globally recognized avatar), or recreate case-by-case on

different platforms

• Key personnel should use consistent and professional headshot photos

• Customize any areas that you can with your brand identity (ex: Twitter background)



Content Rules... so Voice is More Important than Ever

• What topics will you discuss

• Is the message coming from an individual or from the organization?

• How can you make stories from multiple sources sound consistent?

• How can you encourage people to tell their story?


How are you presenting yourself?

• Are you large and established or small and grassroots?

• Can you afford to look “well branded?”

• Connect on the personal level.

• Be authentic.


Tips for Using Social Media

Your Brand Online: Personal, Organizational & CauseTips For Using Social Media

How to cultivate your Organization’s brand using social web

Maintain a consistent brand presence:

• Register your business name on all major sites

• Use your business name (with or without your own name in addition)

• Use a logo, rather than a photo for an avatar

Don’t go too far and be too impersonal or stiff


How to connect personal stories to your organization’s brand on the social web

Encourage individuals to connect to your brand

• Have Facebook status updates built into event registration

• Have your social media icons visible in all materials

• Give people a reason to connect (matching donation, etc.)


How to integrate your cause’s brand with your organization’s brand identity

• Connect with other non-profits to cross-promote (ie retweets, posting to each other’s wall, etc.)

• You can have multiple accounts.

(ie non-profit page and cause “organization” page on Facebook).


Compounding Effect

Social Media should be used to increase the effectiveness of all channels:

• Offline: connect in-person events before, during and after

• Online: Cross promote between your different channels

• Partners: Cross promote with other organizations that have ties to the same or similar causes


Questions to Ask Yourself

• How can personal stories build your organization’s story?

• How does social media fit into my volunteering, fund raising or marketing plan?

• What am I doing outside of social media that needs to complement my online brand?

• How are my potential volunteers and donors using the social web?

• What kind of social media policy will we need?


Emily Brackett

Visible Logic, Inc.

visiblelogic.com

visiblelogic.com/blog

twitter: @VisibleLogic

facebook: Emily Brackett

facebook: facebook.com/VisibleLogic

LinkedIn personal: linkedin.com/in/emilybrackett

LinkedIn company: linkedin.com/company/204702

social media : promoting and protecting your non-profit brand

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