Edinburgh, Weds 27 October 2010#BeGoodBeSocial

Kicking off a conversation about fundraising through

networks...

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building relationships

I help charities trust more of their own people to

build relationships online that support collaboration, transparency, advocacy &

philanthropy

@stevebridgerv

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I’ll try to sow some seeds in this bit... to start a conversation

19:15

20:00

qtime to natter

and share stories &

experiences

Sorry... I need to disappear sharpish for my flight :(

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Our next 45 minsWhat role can social media play in connecting & creating communities of support for your cause?

Q.

#BeGoodBeSocial

The web of ‘flow’ and ‘instant’ campaigns

The web of ‘pages’ and top-down campaigns

We need to reach out to people in a way that isn’t just marketing

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Social media is about long term engagement; you won't win by dipping in and out.

“...ordinary conversation became quite audible to my ears.”

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Grow bigger earsa

#BeGoodBeSocial

• Align yourself with the conversations your communities are already having

• Engage first, then fundraise (@SMacLaughlin says “friend raising not fundraising)

• Empower employees to identify, understand and speak directly to people in a language they’ll connect with. (Most relationships start with ‘small talk)

• Use social media to ‘build a bridge’ with the 8/10 first-time donors who don’t make a second gift

• Twitter & Facebook allow you to build a relationship with a lot of people quickly; thicken the texture of these relationships over time

• Embrace ‘free agents’ - some of the magic will rub off on your brand (check out @uncultured)

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Make connections

• Social media gives us the potential to turn donors & beneficiaries back into real people (see “From Joey, with LOve”)

• Don’t leave fundraising to the fundraisers; fundraising should be in all of us (e.g. MSF Canada bloggers in Dafur)

• When you hear or read a good story, share it that instant (“they will remember how you made them feel”)

• Make the experience better when shared

• Be there before ‘the ask’; earn trust by telling stories and demonstrating impact

• Turn your work (and your website) into a never-ending story

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Share stories

#BeGoodBeSocial

• Get the tone right - balance ‘blowing your own trumpet’ and amplifying the voices of other people

• Acknowledge, measure, and Value contributions other than money; develop reciprocity and the positive feedback loop of social networks

• This may be the future of digital engagement: intimate and packed with multiple light-touches

• Shower praise on your advocates (and give them the tools they need to reproduce your message)

• Respond quickly to questions & complaints

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Show reciprocity

#BeGoodBeSocial

“The real value of Twitter is to keep the invisible lines of connection alive” -

Cory Doctorow

Move from an organisation that uses social media to being a ‘social organisation’

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charities should encourage staff to speak for their

organisation ‘in public’

supporters & ‘free agents’

trust the hiring decision

the challenge is

to empower staff

without

generating chaos the digital capability that

comes online needs to be rolled into the brand

Grapple difficult issues• Need to evolve from institutions to networks (speed up the evolution of orgs so they are fit for the 21st Century)

• Need to focus on relationships rather than new channels for transactions - but charities not built for conversations & participation

• I’ll say that again... it’s STILL about relationships

• Often a backlash as framed in the wrong way: as delivering donations, rather than as a fundamental shift in expectations (social media is a marathon, not a sprint, etc.)

• How is social media integrated with your overall online footprint? (which is how it will provide the most value)

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• Democratise the ‘brand’; learn to lose some ‘control’ in return for greater reach

• Behaviours > telephone, email > were established inside the workplace... social networks > outside workplace

• You open yourself up to public criticism that many would rather pretend does not exist (address negative comments)

• Authenticity (don’t outsource your ‘voice’)

• Challenge assumptions about productivity (but how much do you have to be ‘on’ with social media?)

• Same old jobs - ‘just add social media’ (i.e. orgs want the return but not the changes)

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Sorry... more big issues

#BeGoodBeSocial

• Don’t hang up your passion with your coat every morning

• Find time for social media by giving up the things that don’t add value...

• For example, duck out of one meeting a week and use the time to ‘be’ a community member

• Leave trails online that others can find & connect (@kanter)

• If you’re a manager - embrace employees as a passionate community, trigger their discretionary effort, and reward them for being ‘social’

• All this is too important to be left to the digital team

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umm... now YOU

#BeGoodBeSocial

• The average number of ‘friends’ someone has on Facebook is 130-ish

• Visibility of MSF (USA) on Facebook (after Haiti quake) quickly outstripped visibility of their own website

• 10% of fundraising based around ‘occasions’ (e.g. birthdays, weddings, the oddball, etc.) - JustGiving

• 95% of donors have a mobile phone. Think about it :)

• Online donations in 2009 up 20% on year before. But still only represent 6% of total donations (source: @Blackbaud). In UK, 44% now ask for updates on ‘impact’

• Someone once told me that people spend less than 1% of their time online ‘transacting’

• Social media ROI: “if a farmer wants to fatten a pig he feeds it; he doesn’t weigh it” - Jon Weedon

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To ponder...

#BeGoodBeSocial

the more we remain in our silos and feel constrained by

our job descriptions, the greater the disconnect between

us and our supporters

I believe that...

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Are you ready to shape the future of your organisation?

• Joey’s Story - Child’s i Foundation -http://www.childsifoundation.org/blog/2010/08/from-joey-with-love/

• Médecins Sans Frontières Canada has consistently published compelling blogs from the field - http://msf.ca/blogs/

• One of them, written by Dr. James Maskalyk, was even turned into a book - http://www.sixmonthsinsudan.com/

• Buy a copy of “The Networked Nonprofit” by Beth Kanter & Allison Fine. Then pass it on to your CEO

• This post by “free agent” Shawn Ahmed (@uncultured) is well worth a read:http://uncultured.com/2010/06/04/how-to-engage-us/

• SocialxSocial is a great primer into using social tech to deliver social impact - http://www.socialbysocial.com/

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Useful stuff

#BeGoodBeSocial

@stevebridger

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Thank you... now let’s talk about itsteve@visceralbusiness.com

“we build too many walls and not enough bridges” Isaac Newton

#BeGoodBeSocial

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