the keys to successful nonprofit blogging that drives engagement
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The Keys to Successful Nonprofit Blogging that Drives Engagement
Claire Axelrad
January 15, 2013
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Claire Axelrad Principal
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The Keys to Nonprofit Blogging
that Drives Engagement
How to:
build a better mousetrap,
learn to love mice and vice-versa, and
get the mice to help you fulfill your goals.
Learn:
Little-understood factors affecting your blog readership; Content; Plan; Accessibility
How to build a blog worth sharing; Relatable; Conversational; Actionable
Why your promotion strategy sucks, and how to fix it! Share; Shareable; Talk; Search
Why a blog is important-summary
First: Why a Blog is Key
Establishes you as a ‘thought leader’ and ‘go-to’ resource.
Generates leads (e.g., potential advocates, volunteers. donors and participants).
Improves SEO for website.
Improves your credibility;
people trust blogs.
People trust info rec’d from blogs
more than that from FB or Twitter*
*Social Media Examiner 7 Reasons to Rethink Your Blogging Strategy: New Research
KEY: Blogs are your Content Hub
Blogs are like ‘case statements. They assure you have a consistent stream of fresh, timely new content
you can repurpose - Tweet, post on Facebook, share on LinkedIn, use in your e-news, hard copy news -
and provide testimonials (from comments) you can post on your website.
• Social media is content driven
• Blogs enable quick content creation that is here and now
• Blogging puts a human face to your organization, enabling you to tell relatable stories
• Blogging enables action. Report on breaking news. Ask for advocacy actions; emergency $$
• Search engines find blog content more easily than website content
• Analytic tools installed on your blog make it easy for you to tell what content folks care about
• Blogs gave birth to the notion of the “social web” and enabling building community
Blogs are an easy-to-use content platform.
Little-Understood Factors
Affecting Your Blog Readership
Content CPA - content must be:
Constituent-centered, high quality and relevant to the audience,
Planful and
Accessible or it’s akin to
(1) spending a fortune on an ad
for bread; then having only a
tasteless loaf that no one will
want to come back for again
once they’ve tried it; or
(2) spending a fortune to
sell bread to folks who
are gluten intolerant.
Constituent-centered, high quality
and relevant to the audience
What are your constituents greatest problems?
What can you do to make their lives easier? More meaningful?
Your blog is not about you; it’s about your constituents.
Brainstorm/research ways to provide value.
Here are some tips
to put the “C” in customer-centered,
planful, accessible content.
How to show folks you know them and
make your content customer-centered.
1. Brainstorm customers’ top problems/Verify with 3rd party sources.
2. Search on Google “[your subject} FAQs” or “Top [your subject] problems” or “The best reasons to [your subject]” or “Why is/are [your subject] important?”
3. “Look inside” Amazon book Table of Contents. Find info that points to customer
problems; unanswered questions.
LOTS OF FODDER FOR BLOG POSTS INSIDE:
What’s wrong with American schools?
How to make school a magical place?
How to put adults and children on the fast track?
How to raise the bar for everybody?
More on finding customer-centered
content through your own research
4. Read Amazon book reviews. See what problems reviewers feel books fail to answer; also see what reviewers find helpful and want to learn more about:
19 Reviews 5 star: (0)4 star: (7)3 star: (7)2 star: (3)1 star: (2)
I was hoping for lessons that would work "in any school" What if regular public schools could de-enroll students that don't perform or that present behavioral problems as can charter schools?
I did get some new ideas on what to read to my kids which I appreciate.
5. Ask folks to tell you their challenges. Create a survey. Choices include online service like Qualaroo to put a one question survey on your blog; writing a post requesting visitors to answer questions in the comments; using Survey Monkey or Google Docs to pose a question like “What question about [your charity or subject] do you most want answered?”
6. Review “Answers” and “Q & A” sites for your industry (e.g. Linkedin; Yahoo Answers; Quora).
Planful content strategy for your blog
Be intentional and
consistent. Don’t wing it.
Build an editorial calendar. [free template at “The Business Blog Editorial Calendar Every Marketer Needs” by Andrew Fosbrook of Hubspot].
Get multiple mileage from hot topics – select different angles
Target different audience segments.
Consider different authors
Accesible content strategy for your blog
1.Spend some time on titles. You want
folks to find you when they search. Be actionable “How to…” “6 Ways To…”
Be brief and punchy (8 words or less)
Be clear
Be authoritative
Be keyword conscious
Be intriguing
2. Copy should be “just right” in length
and front-loaded Be concise and quality (500 – 1500 words)
Be in plain sight. Don’t bury the good stuff. (Put it at the check-out counter. Don’t bury it on the
bottom shelf in the middle aisle.)
3. NOTE: Don’t forget to be mobile
friendly
How to Build an Engaging Blog
Worth Sharing
Engagement RCA - content
must be:
Relatable,
Conversational,
Actionable
Relatable engagement
OLD: 1. What I’ll tell you
2. I’m telling you
3. I told you
NEW: 1. How I feel
2. What have you felt?
3. Ways we’ve found to deal with…
SHARE; Don’t Tell Telling = Monologue
Sharing = Describing emotion, intent and observation
It’s relatable!
Conversational engagement
Speak to the heart; not the head
-- No corporate-speak trying to sound smart
-- No “we”; use “you.” Speak directly to your reader, and not in 3rd person
Tone should be conversational; not formal or stilted –
-- Is it like you talk? Read it aloud, fast.
-- Use contractions
-- Cut adjectives
-- Use phrases
Use personas; picture who you’re writing to –
-- Demographic? Lifestyle? Interests?
-- Who influences them?
-- Personal goals?
Know who you’re talking to.
You can’t have a good conversation with
someone you know nothing about
Actionable engagement
BIGGIE: Join our email list.
If you aren’t systematically capturing emails – if you don’t have a well-designed opt-in form with a headline describing the benefits of joining your mailing list – then this is the #1 reason your promotion strategy sucks. Why? For many blogs, 70-80% of visitors are new and will never return (per Social Media Examiner). But if you can deliver your posts directly to people’s in-boxes, that’s the height of accessibility.
Tips:
Use form-maker offered by email service provider.
(Aweber and MailChimp have good tools)
Hire a designer/programmer (around $100)
Use a plug-in (Opt-in Skin is a good one)
Include Call To Action (CTA) in every post. If you don’t
ask folks to comment, share, volunteer, give… they simply won’t do it.
Give first by sharing valuable information. Then ask.
Why Your Blog Promotion Strategy
Sucks and How to Fix It
Promotion SSTS – you need a Super Sonic Transport System that enables:
Sharing (what you do)
Shareability (what others do)
Talking (you and others dialogue)
Search (how folks find you)
Your brand is not just you talking; it’s
other folks talking about you. Your job is to make this easy.
Share widely to promote your blog
Your blog needs a social media support system. Use share buttons to promote your posts on popular social media sites. (most common are Twitter, FB, G+, LinkedIn – but test for yourself).
-- Learn best practices. Use #hashtag; @twitterhandles (not @sharethis – because no one will find you again).
-- Use images. They inspire clicks, and make pinning to Pinterest or posting to FB easy.
-- Consider timesavers like Buffer or HootSuite to simplify sharing posts on multiple platforms.
Assure you’ve got working “follow me” buttons for the sites frequented by your constituents.
Email about your posts
Include blog links in your e-news.
Ask key stakeholders to share your blog.
Shareability makes it easy for
readers to become evangelists
Fully integrate user-friendly social sharing.
-- Buttons at the top of post
-- Buttons at the end of post
Don’t forget a “Share by Email” button. It’s still the #1 way people share blog posts. (Followed by FB; Twitter).
Talking builds reputation and develops
relationships with those who share values
Discussion forums are magnets for those already interested in your area of expertise Find where your ‘peeps’ hang out; hang there.
-- LinkedIn; Yahoo Answers; Quora
Ask for comments at end of every post
Guest authors will promote what they write for you
Comment on other blogs to establish credibility and build relationships
Find your influencers and ask them to share your posts
Manu, via flickr (Creative Commons license)
Search is what assures people find you
Don’t stress. Google loves blogs since they have fresh
content. Best place to put your energy is in creating relevant content that you post on a regular schedule (and if you’ve done your research about what your audience is looking for you’ll have naturally honed in on the right key words).
Do engage in a minimum of SEO optimization however.
-- Create SEO title tags and meta descriptions for your homepage,
top pages (e.g. “about us”) and your posts.
-- Include ALT tags for images on your posts.
-- Use header tags within your post content. (Makes posts more readable; helps with search if you’ve included key words.
Install Google analytics; Learn to use the reports and tools. You want to know where your traffic comes from and which posts are most popular (Google Analyticator, a WP plugin, makes it easy to install in a few clicks).
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