You are missing huge opportunities to connect with your audience (be it volunteers, other organizations, or donors) if you are not using your website as an interactive tool.
Make sure you are easy to contact through your website by providing contact forms!
2. Constructing your Social Media Strategy
What social media outlets should you be posting on?
The answer for this will be different for every organization. Think about who your audience is and where they “live” online, that is where you want to focus your social media strategy.
What social media outlets should you be paying attention to?
All of them! Just because you are not active on a network doesn’t mean people aren’t talking about you. Even if you aren’t participating keep an eye on your non-primary networks so you can be aware of your online reputation.
What about all this privacy stuff?
Super important! Review and update your privacy policy frequently as the regulations are frequently changing.
3. Email Newsletters
Do you have different audiences?
If the answer is yes then you should be thinking about how you target your newsletter. Don’t overwhelm your contacts with information that isn’t relevant to them.
Have multiple options for opting out of email communication, maybe someone doesn’t want to receive your monthly newsletter but really wants to stay posted about upcoming events. Give them the option to make that choice.
Thank you to HiMA and all of the awesome panelists!
Today we upgraded our Schipul Facebook Page to preview the new and improved Facebook Insights!
Facebook is always rolling out updates* – and we are especially excited when those updates include tools that help our clients make smarter decisions about their social media efforts!
*Note: insidefacebook.com is a great resource for keeping track of all things Facebook – news, stats, and updates!
For now, the new version of Insights is rolling out to a small group of Facebook Admins (log in to your Facebook Page and view your page Insights to see if you’re prompted to preview it). The new Insights will roll out to all pages later this summer.
Actionable Analytics:
4 Easy Ways to Start Making Content Decisions with the New Facebook Page Insights
We love data – and we also know that data is even more powerful when you are able to take action based on it. So we’ve put together a quick list of easy ways to translate the data from Facebook’s new Page Insights into action!
1. Post the Types of Content Your Facebook Fans Engage with Most
Under the “Posts” tab is a report called “Best Posts Types.” Previous versions of Facebook Insights have shown you the engagement of posts of different types, but this new interface aggregates that data into one easy to read report. This report shows average engagement for each type of post (Photos, Videos, Status, Links, etc.).
My one suggestion to Facebook would be to include how many of each type you’ve posted to give you perspective on these numbers. For instance – if a page rarely posts video, higher than average engagement for one video may skew the report.
2. Post Content When your Fans are on Facebook
Under the “Posts” tab is another report titled “When your Facebook Fans are Online.” This report shows the times that your Facebook fans saw any Facebook posts – by day and time. The report shows popularity by day and overall time of day patterns. Roll over any day of the week to see how that day’s time of day patterns vary from the average. Take this information to post your content when your fans are most likely to see it.
For instance, Schipul’s Facebook fans are online between work hours (9 AM-5 PM), and then we see a small lull until they’re back home and online again from 7-9 PM.
3. Create Facebook Posts that Drive People Back to your Website
You obviously want your posts to be seen by more people, but also want those people to click through and visit the content you’re sharing – particularly if that content links back to your website. Facebook can be a great way to drive traffic to your website by sharing your fantastic content.
Sort your posts by Engagement (choose “Clicks” from the drop down) to see which posts compelled people to click through most.
For us, most of these clicks were to Facebook photo albums – but others were posts about topics like Branding and Marketing – and Job Postings.
4. Create More Facebook Posts Like the Ones that Reach Beyond your Fan Base
You can also sort your Post Data by how many Facebook Fans vs. Non-Fans were reached. Non-Fans may see your content if one of their friends shared it, or if you Boosted a Post.
Above the table of All Posts Published, click the small arrow next to the “Reach” label. Filter to Fan/Non-Fans.
This will update the Reach column to show Fans and Non-Fans reach. Keep an eye out for posts that reach beyond your Fan base, and continue to share more things that are similar to this “viral” content.
Want more? Here are some more great resources on the new Facebook Insights!
This month’s Netsquared Nonprofit + Technology Meetup was a lively discussion on Mobile Apps. We talked both Mobile Apps we can’t live without and Apps ideas we would love to see created.
We started with a simple question: What app are you addicted to right now? (My answer was Instagram). This led to a conversation on the psychology behind what addicts us to apps, and what we can do to make our internal technology “addicting” to further social causes – particularly when it comes to gamification (adding elements of games like avatars, badges, points, etc. to encourage people to engage with a cause through time or donations). More reading on that below:
We then brainstormed what App or tool we would like to see created. Not so surprisingly, a lot of the features requested already exist in some form or another. Below are 10 Apps I discovered or found out more about crowdsourced from our discussion. Some of them are content creation and productivity related… and some are just fun!
10 Cool Apps Crowdsourced from Netsquared Houston June Meetup
Evernote’s new contact management app allows you to “remember everything about people” with tools like business card scanning, importing contacts from your calendar, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.
The coolest feature is “Hello Connect” – your phone emits an audible tone that sends a signal to phones close to you that shares your contact info automatically. Pretty cool.
Trello allows you to create collaborative task lists with “cards” that you can drag and drop to move around to keep your tasks organized. You can add images, color coding, dates, etc. to keep track of projects big and small.
3. Google Keep – Simple Notes and Task Lists that Sync in the Cloud
Add task lists and “post it note” style notes to keep organized through Google Keep. You can label items and identify notes by category or color. The notes live within Google Drive so you have access to them from your desktop, tablet, phone, etc. The notes have very little formatting options, but that’s the idea. Keep it simple and keep it in one place.
Doit.im is a GTD Task Manager that lets you quickly add, process, and organize tasks. Built in labels like “Today,” “Next,” “Tomorrow,” etc. let you organize your day and prioritize easily.
The Delivery Status plugin is a Mac Desktop Widget that keeps track of what you have ordered online. It syncs with lots of services including Amazon, UPS, and Fedex to let you know what is on its way – and when to expect it. A simple little tool that can save you a whole lot of remembering!
Google Now takes advantage of everything Google knows about you and feeds you time-sensitive “cards” throughout the day. The idea is that if your calendar says you have a flight at 2 PM, Google pops up directions to the airport a few hours early so you’ll be sure to have time to make your flight. It feeds things like traffic conditions, weather, news alerts, etc. throughout the day.
This app combines time and location based alerts to give you the right information at the right time.
This powerful tool allows you to create workflow “Recipes” for virtually any online service that has an API. Define Triggers (if this happens) and Actions (then do this) based on everything from posts on social media to email to the weather. This tool can help “integrate” things that otherwise would not be integrated – and save a lot of time in the process.
Some example IFTTT recipes:
Every time I post to Instagram, save a copy of the photo in Dropbox
If the weather calls for rain tomorrow, send me an email alert
If the National Weather Service updates their sever weather alerts in my area, send me a text message
Create a personalized digital “magazine” with Flipboard by aggregating content from social media, RSS feeds, news sites, blogs, etc. in a visual way.
My favorite feature of Flipboard is setting up your feeds and then visually “flipping” through content and stories to see what’s going on around the web.
Is the content you post on social media sites really yours? It lives in a place that you can’t control, and could disappear tomorrow. Backupify saves your social media data so you at least have a copy of posts on Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Yipit aggregates daily deals (think Groupon, LivingSocial, TravelZoo etc.) in any city to give you one place to go for deals. One Netsquared attendee recommended it for traveling – even internationally – to discover activities and places to visit in a new city.
Bonus: Yipit also aggregates the data from deal sites and posts interesting stats and infographics like this one:
What Killer Apps are you obsessing over right now? Share in the comments!
Join Us July 9 for the Next Houston Netsquared Nonprofit + Tech Meetup
This week, Schipulite Aaron Long was a Guest Lecturer for the Art Institute of Houston, where he currently serves on the Advisory Board, on the topic of Using Analytics to Understand Web Design.
At Schipul, we are often working on “redesign” projects, where a client has an existing website and design that needs to be updated. We know that just because a website is “attractive” doesn’t necessarily mean it is successful.
Every day, we are looking at current Analytics data from tools like Google Analytics to shape the design of a new website. Analytics tell us when to change a site from desktop only to mobile ready. Analytics tell us if we did well in search optimization. Analytics tell us what content should be presented for visitors. We use Analytics to determine the success and failure of projects – and hope to share some tips for you to use that data as well!
Below are Aaron’s slides and some insight from his presentation on how we use insight from Analytics in our designs.
Traffic patterns tend to be highly correlated year after year after year. Online traffic should reflect what’s happening offline. If your busiest times are during Spring Break and Summer – your online traffic should reflect that pattern.
Incorporate These Traffic Patterns Into your Web Marketing Strategy:
Take advantage of peak times with seasonal content
Consider boosting low times with special offers or campaigns
Track your progress by looking at year over year data (if you measure your success comparing month to month, you may miss these seasonal shifts)
Plan in advance! Start your website redesign project early so you don’t miss out!
Tip: When comparing timelines in Google Analytics, choose “Compare to: Previous year” from the drop down to automatically select the same time frame last year.
2. Mobile Traffic Has Increased
Across the board, our clients are seeing increases in Mobile Traffic year over year. Our nonprofit clients saw an average 30% increase in mobile traffic from 2012 to 2013. Make sure you are accounting for mobile in your designs.
Don’t Ignore this Mobile Stat: According to Google, 57% of users say they won’t recommend a business with a poorly performing mobile website.
Make sure your site at a baseline “works” on a mobile device. Better yet – design it to be mobile and tablet optimized!
Use Analytics to Discover:
What percent of traffic comes from Mobile Devices
Filter down to the device level – does your audience primarily come from iPhone, Android, or Tablet?
Tip: In Google Analytics, navigate to Audience Tab > Mobile > Devices to see specific devices
Navigate to Audience Tab > Mobile > Operating System to view your traffic breakdown of Android vs. iOS
3. Consider Responsive Design
Responsive Design is the most modern and scalable way to handle mobile and tablet browsers – and a best practice as recommended by Google and other search engines. A site with a Responsive Design uses one style sheet and the content adjusts fluidly based on the width of any browser.
This means that a mobile, tablet, or desktop device serves up the same content on your website – which in turn means you only have to update content in one place to account for all devices.
Look at Analytics for top visited pages and navigation paths. Make sure you are making your most popular content easy to find.
Tip: Drill down into the Content Tab > All Pages and select your homepage. Click the “Navigation Summary” tab to see which pages people visit most after your homepage.
5. Discuss Content Improvements with Clients
It’s not all about the design – the website’s content has to support the design to really be successful. Educate clients on content best practices and how they can improve their content strategically.
For instance, Google’s recent Penguin and Panda algorithm updates punish low quality content and overoptimization. Discuss what “High Quality Content” means and ideas for creating that type of content.
6. Remember – You Can Pay Your Way
Search Engine Optimization takes time – it takes about three months for Google to fully index a new website. You can use online PPC advertising to drive traffic to your site immediately – but note that it can get expensive, especially in a crowded or competitive space.
Use tools like the Google Traffic Estimator to see estimates of how much your keywords might cost. Remember to target ads by geography to get the most for your money.
There is an abundance of resources and research on what makes a good landing page that converts well available. Take into account all of these best practices like:
Start with an attention grabbing headline
Use third party validation like testimonials and validating logos
Use the data you have to look at what your audience is interested in. Where do they spend their time and money on your site? If you are getting most of your traffic through photos or revenue through events, make sure those items are easy to navigate and find on your site.
In this example, 21% of traffic and over $1 million in revenue comes through Events. It was an easy decision to make Event content (including content on upcoming events and photos and video from past events) easy to find on the site!
9. Tap Into the Three Motivations of People – Social, Material, Ideological
Social Motivations – Identity, relationships, a sense of belonging
Material Motivations – This is the most straight forward of the three, you give something (time, money, etc.) to get a material gain
Ideological Motivations – Identifying with a cause or higher purpose
Think about what really motivates your audience when designing. Your audience may initially be Socially Motivated to attend your events because their friends are involved before they know anything else about your organization – or they may be looking for Material discounts or special offers. Particularly for nonprofits – tap into Ideological motivations with storytelling focused photos and visuals to compel them to donate!
Set up Goals in Analytics and track them. This adds Conversion data to any report and allows you to see not just where traffic is coming from – but which keywords, sources, content, etc. are actually converting.
Note that you can only see retroactive Goal Tracking data in Analytics – so don’t wait to set up these Goals so you don’t miss any data!
Short video on setting up Goals in Analytics and tips for determining what your goals should be:
In Conclusion: Analytics are Powerful!
Website Analytics give us powerful insight into how an audience is engaging with a website. Use this data to shape how you think about any design work – even if it is as simple and reworking one piece of the website.
Make sure Analytics is installed and Goal Tracking set up now to start using this data to shape your design!
We had a wonderful time attending and presenting at NTEN’s annual Nonprofit Technology Conference last week in Minneapolis! We got a ton of knowledge on the latest and greatest trends in the NPTech world, got to meet great people, and see some snow!
We will continue to post here to keep the conversation going by recapping some of our favorite panels and trends we saw. We’ve also posted a special page on our website aggregating NTC 2013 Resources and Recaps! We’re starting with a recap of our panel – Level Up Your Fundraising, Understanding the Psychology Behind What Motivates People to Give.
We had a packed house(!) – which tells us that this is a topic that gets people excited. We’re sharing our slides and presentation recap below!
We now have over ten years of data on online giving and we have seen online giving continue to grow. According to the 2012 Digital Giving Index, 65% of people gave in 2012 vs only 4% in 2002. The average donation through social media is growing as well as people are more comfortable with social giving, and one study found that giving campaigns that integrated social media raised TEN TIMES more dollars than those that didn’t.
And your website supports more than just an online donation form – your website can increase revenue for your NPO through channels like event registration, sponsor directories, job board listings, and more. (Sidenote – In May we are hosting a webinar on Increasing Your Earned Revenue through Tendenci Modules. Register on our events calendar free!)
Social – Identity, relationships, a sense of belonging
Material – This is the most straight forward of the three, you give something (time, money, etc.) to get a material gain
Ideological – Identifying with a cause
We often hope or assume that donors are motivated purely ideologically, but it is important to note that sometimes people start interacting with a nonprofit based on other motivations like social events, material membership benefits, etc The challenge is to nurture the relationship with them and convert them to an ideological supporter!
What Motivates People Online?
Tap Into Visitor Motivations in 7 Seconds
On the web, there is the added challenge of timing – you only have about 7 seconds to tap into these motivations before they make a first impression. If the visitor isn’t hooked in these first few seconds, they won’t continue onto other pages of your site – and certainly won’t donate.
Visitors are Skeptical of Nonprofit Websites
Researchers from Stanford University studied how people evaluate credibility of different types of websites, and found that when it comes to Nonprofit Websites, visitors are generally skeptical.
Evaluating Website Credibility: Design vs. Motive
The credibility study found that on average, visitors use design to evaluate credibility 46.1% of the time. For nonprofits, this percentage is lower than average at 39.6%. Design is still important, but less so for nonprofit websites than other industries.
On the other hand, the researchers found that people use company motive to evaluate credibility higher than average for Nonprofit Websites. Nonprofit websites visitors look for company motive to evaluate credibility at 20.2%, versus 15.5% of the time for all websites on average.
Build Credibility Online Through Content
We’ve presented the challenge – visitors are skeptical of nonprofit websites and you only have a short time to change their minds. But there is some good news! NPOs can build credibility online through content.
Tips for Creating Credible Content Online:
Make it Visual
Visual matter because:
Visuals show that you are “real” – a photo of your real volunteer is much more powerful than a stock photo of a “volunteer”
Visuals can be processed more quickly – the average person reads 200-300 words per minute, but can process a visual image in as little as 1/20th of a second
Visuals aid in STORYTELLING
Emotions drive Buy Decisions.
Recent studies have shown that despite our preconceived notions about rationality driving decision, that actually emotions drive buy decisions- to the point that the human brain can’t make decisions without emotional influence.
Neurologist Antonio Damasio observed this phenomenon through the peculiar behavior of one of his patients. Elliot had suffered brain damage to a part of the brain known as the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which is implicated in the risk and benefit analysis of decision making.
Elliot ostensibly seemed normal, with one glaring exception. He lacked the ability to make decisions, deliberating endlessly in the face of simple, mundane choices such as whether or not to use a black or blue pen or when to schedule his next appointment. Because brain damage had severed the connection between his emotions and his rational thinking, Elliot was strangely devoid of feeling and even emotionally numb to his own tragic inability to make decisions.
This does not refer to making it visually pleasing, but more about making it consistent with your branding. The 2012 Digital Giving Index showed that branded donation pages raise up to 6x more dollars.
Make it personal
Peer to Peer fundraising was a trend we saw lots of people talking about at NTC. The premise of P2P fundraising is that the ask comes from an individual instead of the organization. Race organizations have been doing this for some time, and now other social causes are creating fundraising kits where a volunteer can set up a donation page and ask their friends individually for donations. This new framing immediately makes the potential donor more connected to the cause, and builds trust because the ask is coming from a friend. Giving is all about trust. And who do you trust? Your friends.
2. Develop Trust
Think about Content you can add to your site that immediately develops trust. Examples of content that builds trust:
Showcase your people – volunteers, board, staff – through photos, video, bio content
Show the outcomes of your donations
Ask for more than money – include other ways to give back like volunteering, in-kind donations, etc.
Incorporate third party validation
3. Apply Social Pressure
Social is a powerful motivation of people. Use social pressure to:
Start with the people who already love you
Host a kickoff event or special experience and invite them to share photos and videos with their friends
You then reach their extended networks
Engage new supporters
Engaging supporters is sort of like dating, you have to work harder in the beginning
Start by tapping into material or social motivations, offer them something
Create shareable content and make it easy to share – think about content people love like photos, video, infographics, statistics, etc.
Easy places to start
Incorporate social aspects into your website
Show photos from past events to show how many people came, how much fun it was
Display the names and photos of people registered for an event on the registration page
Incorporate Add This (addthis.com) or Share This (sharethis.com) buttons to your pages to make content easily shareable across social media channels
4. Give Back First
As we mentioned before, in the beginning you have to give back first to build trust. There are other ways to do this beyond offering material goods:
Content Curation
Be a trusted source on your cause. Curate content with a resource library on your site. You don’t have to create all of the content, provide value with your time and expertise by curating content from other organizations as well and link out to the great work they’re doing.
Listen to your visitors and give them what they want
Review your analytics to determine what content your visitors care most about – and give them more of that!
5. Aim for Slow Change
Meet people where they are. Don’t assume they will start being ideologically motivated – you may have to start with material or social motivations to get them in the door and begin to build a relationship with them. Some examples:
Popular Content Like your Job Board
Tendenci Client PRSA Houston gets 60% of their traffic to the Job Board. They do a great job of using this real estate to cross promote other programs like membership.
Young Professionals Groups
Many NPOs have a Young Professionals Group that meets for networking and happy hour events. These young professionals may not be ideologically motivated by your cause yet… they may just want to drink beer with their friends. That’s ok! Tap into those motivations and offer interesting experiences for them to keep them coming back, and continue to conversation to deepen their relationship to the cause.
6. Inbound Marketing
Inbound Marketing means using content marketing to bring traffic in to you through search engines and social media. Inbound Marketing is based on the idea that your audience (especially Generation Y) no longer gets information “pushed” to them through traditional advertising methods – they read the news and watch television online, and use Google to search for information they want. The challenge is to have your content appear when they are looking for it.
There are two parts to this: Content Marketing and Analytics Tracking. More resources on NPO Content Marketing Strategy.
Recognize the value you provide and charge for it! Many of our clients are membership organizations who offer exclusive benefits like member only events and special member pricing in exchange for membership fees.
Even if you don’t have membership, your Events are a great place to charge for your value. Think about ways to provide value through events and don’t be afraid to charge for these events.
Want More NTC?
We’ll be posting more NTC Recaps and Resources here!
Last week Derek Key and I had the opportunity to travel to Baton Rouge, LA for the Louisiana Food Processors Conference, which was held on the LSU campus. Derek was a guest speaker and laid some knowledge down on how to grow your community online via social media.
Derek Key – Speaking on Social Media to Louisiana Food Processors Conference
The night we arrived in Baton Rouge we met up with our friends from Red 6 Media (@RedSixMedia) and Cancer Services of Baton Rouge. They showed us around downtown Baton Rouge (where the Red 6ers new office digs are located) and the LSU campus. The majority of the group were LSU grads and knew the culture within the campus and the city. It was a real treat hanging out and getting to know the group and the city of Baton Rouge.
As a Louisiana staple, our clients ad friends from Tony Chachere’s (@tony_chacheres) were front and center at the conference.
Who doesn’t love Tony’s?
We met other Louisianan food processing companies such as Blue Runner Foods and Camellia. A highlight of the conference was hearing two iconic Louisianan chefs, Dickie Brennan and John Besh speak about integrating local ingredients in markets/restaurants and micro farming of Louisiana.
Here are my top takeaways from Derek’s talk on growing your web presence with social media:
Social Media matters more now than it did a few years ago. Broader demographic – not just adolescents, but Mom Bloggers, CEO’s, etc.
Facebook has over 1 billion users, Twitter – 200 million, LinkedIn – 160 million, Instagram – 100 million, Flickr – 75 million, Pinterest – 25 million
Know your audience and cater to them. Meet them at the appropriate platform.
Social Media gives you a chance for interaction and reaction with your audience.
90% of what people say on Social Media is positive. Have a policy for replying to positive and negative feedback.
These platforms give you a chance to listen to your audience. Learn their interests so you can better serve them.
Nothing will go ‘viral’ if you don’t put it out there.
Keep your website as your home base, connecting all your platforms together.
Remember the 4/5 Rule: 4/5 times you post, post about someone or something else other than you and your product.
Measure effectiveness and then adjust to what you’ve learned.
Keep an eye out for new apps such as Vine, Instagram and Over
Our time in Baton Rouge was short and sweet. Final thoughts?
Louisiana is always a good time! I’m a die hard Texan/Aggie, but I enjoyed my stay on the LSU campus. This video/song sums up the spirit there:
This week is Social Media Week – a week of events held worldwide with a mission to bring social media to the real world!
The Houston marketing community is hosting its own events this week, and we were happy to attend Monday night’s happy hour at the beautiful Okra Charity Bar in Downtown Houston.
Located downtown, Okra Charity Saloon donates its proceeds to a different local Houston charity or social cause each month.
For each drink purchased, you receive a ticket to vote for the charity to be supported that month. The wooden ballot boxes are lined up along the side wall, where you drop your ticket for your favorite.
The space is beautiful – it feels like a hidden spot tucked away in between the buildings of downtown Houston. The ceiling is a skylight of glass that is wide and open but somehow doesn’t take away from the cozy atmosphere.
It was a great event!
More Photos From #SMWHOU Okra Happy Hour
More Social Media Week Events!
Be sure to check out the rest of the week’s #SMWHOU events:
Thursday February 21 – Cactus Music Asks “Have You Heard?” Hear the first-ever community curated playlist inspired by Houston! 5 PM – 7 PM
Friday February 22 – Social Media Breakfast This fantastic panel will discuss the hottest trends in social media that will impact Houston in 2013 and beyond! 8:30 AM – 10 AM
Saturday February 23 – Houston Instagram #Instacrawl Join Houston Instagrammers for an informal city crawl to some of Houston’s favorite spots! 10 AM – 2 PM
Last night at our monthly NetSquared Houston meetup, Felicia Bates and I presented on Injecting FUN Into Your NonProfit through visual, interesting, shareable content! We discussed several new free tools to help you generate this content and connect your community online.
See the slides below and we’ve included a presentation recap in this post as well!
When we say “FUN” we mean interesting content that people want to share! The more fun content you create online, the more your community will want to share it and help you broaden your reach online.
Social Giving is on the rise. In 2002 4% of donors gave online, while in 2012 65% gave online.
The average donation through social media continues to increase each year as well, as people are more comfortable donating online and more non-profits are taking advantage of new online tools.
Sharing Increases Donations – And People Want to Share NPO Content
Nonprofits who incorporate Social Media into a fundraiser generate almost 10 times more money raised than those who don’t.
And the best part? People want to share cause related content!
A New York Times Survey found that the number one reason people share something online is to give others a better sense of who they are and what they care about. This includes nonprofit causes and content!
Content: Think Interesting, Visual, Shareable – And Strategic!
When planning the substance of the content you can create online using these tools, remember to always keep strategy first. Focus on the goals for your online efforts with every plan you make. Whether you are increasing donations, volunteers, or awareness – establishing credibility and showcasing your motivations are key.
Ideas for shareable nonprofit content to create:
Show who benefits and the impact
FAQs & Q&A topics
Showcase your people – staff and volunteers
Cover Events
Stats & Education
Think Real Time
Say “THANK YOU!”
Ask for help from your community – ask them to share their stories!
The #1 Communications Challenge for nonprofits in 2013 is lack of time to produce quality content.
We have gathered a list of tools we are enjoying using to create content that will hopefully help you create some FUN interesting visual shareable content in a relatively short time!
Wordle (Wordle.net) generates visual word clouds based on content you plug in. You can plug in an RSS feed like your organization’s Twitter account or Blog to show what topics you post the most about, or copy and paste text from any document like a press release or yearly report to see what topics are most prevalent!
Tweet Charts (TweetCharts.com) provide real time data about any topic, hashtag, user, or phrase across Twitter. Use it to monitor and showcase what is going on around your primary focus topics or brand name – or to find influencers across those topics as well.
If YouTube were a search engine it would be #2 in the world. More people search YouTube each day than Bing or Yahoo.
Apply for the YouTube for Nonprofits program to gain access to additional features like graphics customization and clickable calls to action in your videos.
Don’t have video footage from your last event? Animoto (animoto.com) lets you quickly and easily turn images into video by creating animated videos based on images you upload. The interace is extremely easy to use – you choose the images, the transition options, and design theme and create a video that you can upload to YouTube.
This tool is free for up to 30 second videos and a pro account allows you create longer videos.
Vine (vineapp.com) is the newest Video Sharing app created by the team at Twitter. It is billed as the “Instagram of Video” and lets users post 6 second videos that play in a loop similar to an animated GIF. Videos are quick to make, watch, and share by your community!
GroupMe (Groupme.com) is a group SMS text messaging tool. You can use it to coordinate volunteers, committees, and board members by creating groups for each of those audiences.
Causes (causes.com) is a tool for driving change. You can start a cause for your nonprofit and manage anything from petitions to fundraisers, to polls.
Google Hangouts are on air video chat sessions between multiple people. With Google Hangouts you can create Circles, have conversations, and get your community and nonprofit talking and working together regardless of location. automatically records your session and posts to youtube. More on getting started with Google+ Communities
Analytics are showing that not only has Pinterest exploded in growth over the last year, but also that users of this site tend to purchase things they share on it more than any other social network… which means revenue for marketers who can take advantage of this tool!
According to Comscore, Pinterest buyers spend more money, more often, and on more items than any of the other top 5 social media sites.
81% of U.S. online consumers trust information and advice from Pinterest.
The most popular categories of sharing are Food & Drink, DIY, and Home Decor (source)
Most Popular Categories Shared on Pinterest
Pinterest Demographics
80% of Pinterest users are Women
50% of Pinterest users have children
28.1 percent of Pinterest users have an annual household income of $100,000. (source: Ultralinx)
Monitoring Pinterest Brand Activity Online
So you got it: Pinterest rocks and you’ve started using it as part of your social media strategy. You’ve created branded boards, added Pinterest Sharing widgets to your website, and are reading everything you can about best practices for Pinterest marketing (I recommend this great post from HubSpot: “The Ultimate Guide to Mastering Pinterest for Marketing“). Now what?
With all of the new Social Media Tools out there, it is getting more and more difficult to keep track of all of things people are saying about your brand online.
We recently discovered the tool PinAlerts – an easy to use tool that sends you updates when content from your domain is pinned on Pinterest!
Getting Started with Pinterest Brand Monitoring in 3 Easy Steps
Step 1 – Create an Account
The form is really simple – just a name and email and you can get started.
Step 2 – Add Domains
Add as many domains as you like, separated by a comma, that you want to monitor Pinterest posts for. You have options to receive emails once an hour, one a day, once a week, or as it happens (similar to Google Alerts).
Click “Create a Pin Alert”
Step 3 – Receive Emails!
PinAlerts will send you emails at your specified frequency. The emails contain the image that was pinned, the name of the person who pinned, and a link. The nice thing about this is that on Pinterest people use their real names – so you can figure out who your influencers are fairly easily (instead of having to decipher usernames).
Note: I did notice that the first email came through with some older things that it discovered for the first time when I signed up.
Sample Email Alert:
Manage Your Alerts
Log back in to edit, add, or remove alerts you have set up. The interface is really easy to use – so you can add and edit your alerts as much as you like!
What other tools and resources are you using to aid in your Pinterest efforts? Share them in the comments below!
Each year in January, I spend time researching different market reports from 2012 to identify the upcoming trends within the technology industry. I use this information to predict what technology and marketing trends will most likely matter to the nonprofit association and open source community so I can give you insight without having to spend the time researching all of this data yourself.
I’m really excited about 2013 because I see a dramatic shift coming this year in the way we all interact with and think about information technology. Knowledge that was once proprietary or extremely difficult to gain is being pushed out onto the web in a volume that we can’t consume fast enough.
Take Coursera.org, for example, where you can take courses from Universities like Stanford, CalTech, and John Hopkins. For Free!!
Coursera is just one of dozens of online education platforms that have free (or nearly free) classes on virtually any topic. Add to this the important details that because the classes are offered through your web browsers – you also can access them anytime and any place with the added bonus of an online community from connecting with the other students who’re taking the class. Personally, I prefer the learning experience I get when I’m on Lynda.com or Codeacademy to that I received back in college. I predict that as more people gain access to the web through cheaper and faster mobile devices, more people are going to these online learning sites instead of paying tens of thousands of dollars in tuition.
Knowledge is Freedom
Knowledge is power when someone else knows how to do something you need done and don’t know how. When you know how to manage your own website, for example, then you can choose whether or not you want to pay for someone to manage your site. You also have the choice of how much you want to manage and how much you want to outsource.
Schipul Technologies has always believed that education is key, and provides tons of free training and resources for our employees and our community. This year, we’re really ramping up our training opportunities for clients and web developers looking for more Tendenci training. Keep an eye on our Events Calendar to find new webinars, in-person workshops, and other classes we’ll be adding this year. We’ll also be sharing more nonprofit website success stories and technology tips and tricks in our email newsletters and here on the blog.
What topics do you want to learn more about? Tell us in the comments below or send us an email. Now, here’s the 3 tech trends I predict will be the biggest nonprofit boosters in 2013.
Avoid the “ooh shiny!” Syndrome in 2013
All three of my top trends are going to be familiar to you. There’s no surprise tech hidden in this blog post… and that’s because 2013 is going to be the year we all focus on simplification and education. Marketers are overwhelmed trying to produce enough content and users don’t have time to read it.
This year, instead of creating a new account for every “next big social media app” – spend time looking into your analytics to see what’s not working that well and cut it out. That’s why each of my predictions include some of the things to consider before you jump into the newest web trend. You’ve got a lot on your plate this year if you’re going to change the world, so be selective with your time.
Trend #1 – Online Video Becomes Mainstream
In the 2012 report released by the NPD Group, 45% of people in a survey said that the TV was their primary screen for watching online videos. In 2011, that figure was 33%. The report also discovered that online video viewing from PCs is declining, because more people are watching internet videos on their TV’s, instead of watching traditional television and cable programs. It’s pretty obvious to me that in 2013, we’ll see that number rise well above the 50% and online video becomes something families watch together.
Google’s been preparing for this for years and you can apply for the Google for Nonprofits program to get a premium YouTube Brand channel that offers additional tools to customize and promote your stories through video. If you already have a YouTube Brand Channel and are trying to figure out how to better utilize it, then check-out this cool YouTube Brand Channel Interactive Show And Tell Google and TED developed. Download the Playbook Guide: Youtube for Good to get started with Youtube for your nonprofit with great tips, examples, and advice specifically developed for nonprofit’s seeking to boost their engagement online through videos.
Should You Focus on YouTube This Year?
Videos are a great platform for telling engaging stories and driving action from people and are a perfect tool for nonprofits. Videos also take time, money, and a fair amount of expertise with filming and editing. Before you dive into a YouTube Brand Channel, you’ll want to evaluate your resources and compare them to the costs involved with managing the production process to create new and engaging videos regularly.
Large organizations probably want to get serious about allocating a portion of your budget for video marketing and make this the year you commit. Smaller and mid-sized organizations who haven’t done any online video marketing yet may want to start with making one video that they can embed on your website and share on your Facebook page to get an idea of what an ongoing video campaign would entail.
I wrote about nonprofit video storytelling in a blog post last year with great advice that still holds true. In addition though, new online video tools have been popping up almost daily that are inexpensive and easy to use. Here’s a few video apps I recommend that will introduce you to online video production and marketing:
Animoto’s Video Maker How- To
Animoto – I love how EASY it is to use Animoto and they offer free upgraded features for nonprofits. Check out the Animoto blog to watch other nonprofit videos created with Animoto.
GoAnimate! Videomaker – Sign-up for their basic plan (it’s free) and try your skills at making animated videos. GoAnimate also has a ton of Video Maker Tips on topics like selecting animation software and directing voice overs in your videos.
Wistia – Host your online videos here instead of YouTube when you need to keep your videos privately accessible by members or specific people. Wistia has a free plan that includes 5 videos, and integrates with other tools you’re already using like Salesforce, Google Analytics, and many social sharing sites, including Facebook.
Trend #2 – Leave Your Wallet at Home, Just Remember Your Smartphone!
Mobile Payments just might be the biggest disruptive tech in 2013. This technology is changing the economy in Africa at a pace never before seen, and Africa isn’t the only economically disadvantaged country that’s benefiting from mobile technologies. Ironically, the U.S. is one of the slowest countries to adopt mobile payments technology, primarily because the US banking industry already had a very large technical infrastructure in place that wasn’t compatible with mobile payment tech.
Americans are gradually adopting mobile payments, and Starbucks, in a partnership with Square, is leading the pack of businesses who’ve discovered how to profit from mobile payments, with a reported 7 million users paying for their morning cup of coffee with their smartphones. Mobile and web merchant account providers have been learning from the early adopters, like Starbucks, that the key to increasing consumer adoption of mobile payments means designing a better experience via “virtual wallet” apps for iOS and Android devices.
Square, for example, offers a free mobile wallet app that includes features for earning and tracking loyalty points from participating vendors, sending and receiving virtual gift cards, and reporting tools on how you’re spending money. Square wants to increase adoption of mobile payments by creating that emotional connection between a consumer and their virtual wallet; evident when you visit their website:
“A wallet holds credit and debit cards, half-punched loyalty cards, wrinkled checks, and ancient receipts. But a wallet should do more. It should help you discover great places and earn you rewards. It should help you build relationships, not just pay for things.”
A wallet that helps you build relationships? That sounds exactly like the kind of wallet a great donor is going to have, and that’s why nonprofits should start incorporating mobile payment options that go beyond the web page.
Things to Consider Before Jumping into Mobile Payments
Of the three trends I list here, mobile payments is the one that you definitely shouldn’t ignore. Why? Because it’s relatively cheap, easy to set-up and manage, and you don’t want to ever miss a donation opportunity. Gen Y and Millenials are growing up and growing ever more attached to their mobile devices, and they don’t have the barriers towards adopting new technology.
If you haven’t been taking online payments through your website, then this could be a great opportunity to jump into digital payments for donations. That being said, you still want to do the research to determine if and how your organization can benefit from mobile payment adoption. Here’s some tips to help you evaluate mobile payments:
If you aren’t able to or don’t need to accept financial contributions, then it’s probably safe to say you don’t need mobile payments.
You probably don’t need to spend the money to have a custom mobile app designed, however if you’re looking for options then you might want to check out LevelUp’s white label option which saves you time and money by giving you a custom designed app built on a pre-existing platform.
Sixrevisions has a great article that provides an overview of online payment processing including definitions of commonly used terms and reviews of 10 most common online merchant account providers.
Trend #3 – Tablets are More than Just Mobile, They’re Everywhere
Many nonprofit organizations have been using tablets for engaging with their constituents over the past couple of years. Museums, like the Smithsonian and Children’s Museum of Houston, incorporate tablets into their exhibits to increase interactivity with their members. Humanitarian organizations, like the Red Cross and FEMA, are using tablets for their mobile staff who need access to email and online tools while working in remote locations or regions that have had their infrastructure destroyed from natural disasters.
Even though many nonprofits have readily adopted tablets for mobile engagement efforts, most haven’t taken a look at how their own .Org’s website looks on a tablet, or more importantly, tried to complete their online donation form from a tablet. This past year, tablets were repeatedly out-purchasing smartphones, and I’m predicting that nonprofits will miss out on potential fundraising opportunities if their websites aren’t donation-friendly for tablet users.
What does your website look like on an iPad? How does it look on a 7″ screen vs 9″ or 10″? These are the kinds of questions you should have been asking in 2012, because there’s a great chance that visitors are looking at your website from a tablet now more than their smartphones. If you’d like to see some examples of great mobile sites for nonprofits, check out Nonprofits.org’s article on Nonprofits.org has a great article that shares three great mobile nonprofit websites http://nonprofitorgs.wordpress.com/2012/10/08/three-nonprofits-pioneering-responsive-web-design/”>Three NonProfits Pioneering Responsive Web Design.”
Tablets give you a faster browsing experience and longer battery life compared to smartphones, without sacrificing their portability. In addition to providing a better mobile experience than smartphones, tablets also tend to have lower prices for features than smartphones. You can spend $600+ for an iPhone5 or you can spend $400 for a Google Nexus and get a higher performance tablet that comes with more storage, longer battery life, and a bigger screen. Tablet prices are dropping fast too, with $100 prices being touted at CES this year.
Granted, the tablets don’t come with the ability to make phone calls – but who cares? We can download one of the numerous free (or nearly free) apps that allow us to have voice over IP chats and just hunker down in the nearest Starbucks or McDonalds for the free wi-fi. Check out Viber’s app, for example. I find it interesting that the only “downside” I can think of to a tablet versus a smartphone is the size – and if we go back to trend #1, you’ll recall that we’re rapidly moving our online video experience to the larger tv screens. We want the larger screen.
Tablets seem to have found their niche as the perfect balance between mobility, performance and screen size.
Should You Invest in Tablets and Mobile Tech?
I highly recommend you head over to Beth Kanter’s blog to find the in-depth answer to this question in the post: How and When Should Your Nonprofit Organization Invest in Mobile. It recommends you look at your site’s traffic sources and if you’re getting more than 20% traffic from mobile devices, then you should prioritize getting a mobile-friendly website design. If you’re getting less than 20% mobile traffic but the vast majority of your online community is reporting issues with using your site on mobile devices, you might also want to look at a redesign.
Tablets come with an entirely different interface from other devices, navigating the web using gestures. Finger swipes and taps interact with web pages different than a mouse and keyboard. Most websites, even those with responsive or mobile stylesheets, weren’t designed to engage with visitors that way. A recent survey done by Compuware.com on tablet user web experience expectations shared that not only did tablet users expect a website page to load in 2 seconds or less, tablet users also expected their tablet to perform as well as their laptops.
If you don’t own a tablet, I recommend heading to your local Best Buy or Fry’s and playing with some of the different models. Find one that has access to websites and go look at yours and other sites and try clicking through the sites and performing the same functions you would normally perform from your PC and Smartphone. In particular, try making a donation on your website from a tablet and see if you run into any roadblocks.
Did you run into problems testing your donations form using a tablet? If so – you probably will want to look at updating your site to a responsive designed theme. Want to go more in-depth with tablet design for websites? Here’s some great articles I recommend:
Find out the “Do’s and Don’ts” for tablet website design in this article on 1stwebdesigner.com, which includes tips like keep your website design simple, don’t use flash animation, and consider the information tablet users are looking for when they visit your site so you can highlight this on your homepage and in your site’s headers or footers.
Webdesign.tutsplus.com has a great article that teaches the 6 tips to remember when designing for tablets. The article gives realistic advice like how to design for fingers instead of mouse clicks, and designing for multiple orientations.
Check out the results of a 2013 Consumer focused survey by Accenture which evaluates the devices that are going to be the most popular, and shares the best tactics to use based on your audience’s preferred devices – download the PDF of the Survey and Read the Full Article on TechCrunch.com.
What Trends do You See Coming in 2013?
My predictions are based solely on my experience and research, and you most likely have a different perspective that I haven’t thought of yet. What trends do you see coming in 2013 that nonprofits should be paying attention to?
This month’s Netsquared Nonprofit + Technology Meetup was a lively discussion on Mobile Apps. We talked both Mobile Apps we can’t live without and Apps ideas we would love to see created.
This week, Schipulite Aaron Long was a Guest Lecturer for the Art Institute of Houston, where he currently serves on the Advisory Board, on the topic of 
Each year in January, I spend time researching different market reports from 2012 to identify the upcoming trends within the technology industry. I use this information to predict what technology and marketing trends will most likely matter to the nonprofit association and open source community so I can give you insight without having to spend the time researching all of this data yourself.
