Schipul is incredibly excited to show off some new stamps we’ve had created with the help from our friends at Gowalla.
While we are still trying to figure out everything there is to know about location based social media, we LOVE the way Gowalla allows locations to easily customize their visitors’ experience. These three stamps are our first steps to helping our clients get more out of Gowalla, and help them find new ways to interact with their customers, visitors and patrons.
The Bayou City Art Festival Memorial Park will be held Friday, March 25 through Sunday, March 27 in Memorial Park. The Bayou City Art Festival is produced by the Art Colony Association, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to producing high quality art festivals and events, which provide financial support to local nonprofit organizations. Over the past 39 years, Bayou City Art Festival Memorial Park and Bayou City Art Festival Downtown have raised $2.6 million for local nonprofit organizations.
The 2011 Miller Outdoor Theatre season kicks off March 23 with Swing, Jive and Pop! Into Dance presented by the Houston Metropolitan Dance Company. The performance incorporates history, fashion, music and the arts into an interactive blast of excitement. The company dances through the eras of the 1930’s Lindy Hop, bops into the 1950’s, grooves into the 1970’s and ends into the Hip Hop music of today.
For more information on this and other performances, check out the Miller Outdoor Theatre web site.
The world of the internet is an awesome (um… and really giant) sharing platform; a way for everyone to share, like or favorite almost anything possible, right? And sharing is an excellent way for products, Websites and brands to gain exposure and increase their company’s following and reputation.
But what if you’re not a large company?
What if you don’t even sell anything? Many companies and personal blogs belong to a certain niche. Gardening. Watercolors. Specialty Pet Food. Business Management Techniques. The most widely used method small niche blogs like these use is social media; and social media takes time. Lots of time if you want to do it well, interact with your followers and build reputation and influence. New bloggers sometimes have a hard time with this.
Here comes Social Blogmarking.
Social blogmarking is exactly what it sounds like. Similar to bookmarking a site, social blogmarking sites allow you to write a post, submit it to a blogmarking site and allows users vote it “up” or “down” or to the front of the page depending on how well they enjoyed the content.
Blogmarking is great for niche websites.
Social blogmarking can be utilized to draw more focused attention to your blog. The traffic you try hard to target through social media may find you on their own through a blogmakring site. It is also a great way to network with other bloggers and explore possible competitors.
Many social blogmarking sites, such as Blogengage and DesignFloat have navigation menus that allow you to search other niches, read and vote. This is not to say at all that social media is better or worse. Social media works amazingly for brand building and connecting to your audience, but takes far more time and dedication than blogmarking.
Personally, I believe good results should come from good, hard work’ so more hours poured into Social Media outlets should return favorable results. Realistically, however, not everyone has just a few extra hours laying around everyday to promote themselves properly.
Social blogmarking in the end…
Using both methods of social media and blogmarking may work well for some. If you have written a blog, share it with Social Media like Facebook or Twitter! Let others spread it across the world for you and shout it from the mountain tops! And while you’re at it, submit it to a social blogmarking site.
I suggest Blockube; so far I’ve found this site to be more stylish and easier to navigate than other blogmarking sites . It’s simple to blogmark your own posts and let others vote on its relevance, content and readability (less of a popularity contest, more focused on content). Also, remember to pay attention to the votes you get; you can use social blogmarking sites to learn what you are doing right or wrong by what kind of votes you receive.
Superbowl Sunday is coming, and for many that means chips, dip, friends and football. If you are video guy, like me, then that means the commercials. The Superbowl is well known for the ground breaking and buzz worthy commercials that play every year to an audience of nearly 40 million viewers.
Big corporations make video stars with user generated commercials
Some companies, like GoDaddy and Doritos, have taken the opportunity to promote their brand to an enormous audience and save in advertising expenses by opening Superbowl, Indy 500 and other major sporting event video contests to the general public. By offering large case prizes and a chance to showcase your work, these companies not only harness fresh talent and new ideas, but have entries submitted by top industry production companies.
Tips on winning a Superbowl commercial contest
Last year Francis De La Torre and his team entered and won the $100,000 top prize GoDaddy Indy 500 video contest with their entry ‘Go Mammaâ€. They utilized mass emailing, social networking and word of mouth to get in one of the top spots for judging. GoDaddy made this simple by utilizing Vimeo and YouTube links for entering your video. They also made it easy to share your video online by placing Facebook, Twitter, and other sharing options on each entry to send to your friends and family.
Francis says there are three key things to keep in mind when entering an online video contest:
1. Know your contest
This is vitally important when submitting your video. Some things to consider are: Will a panel of judges be picking the winner, or will it be by community vote? This can greatly affect how you produce and target your video. If it’s a panel of judges, you may want to research who will be watching the video to better understand what they may be looking for. If it’s the general public, you may want to go for a broader approach that appeals to the masses.
2. Use Social Networks
Francis considered this the base for garnering votes for his video. He also encourages people to visit non-mainstream site (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Myspace etc..) and visit film making / video online forums, and user groups to gain exposure.
3.Think outside the box
Create a Facebook event that encourages people to watch the video together and vote together at the same time. Host a small party to premiere your contest entry and hand out information on how to vote for your video. Create and online presence for the characters in the video. There are a number of ways to promote your entry. Be creative!
If you would like to enter a video contest, a great place to start is Poptent. Poptent gathers online contests from all over and puts them in one place for you to choose from.
There are many factors when entering a video contest for a large company. So do you research, build your support base, get creative, and win some sweet cash!
As we come to the end of 2010, I’d like to take a look at the fastest growing segment of social media this year, Location.
There are 3 you should know, but you only need 2
Location is dominated by three major companies, Foursquare, Gowalla and SCVNGR. You only really need Gowalla and SCVNGR. Gowalla now allows you to check-in on Foursquare. All that means is you no longer have to choose between the two, and Gowalla has always been more fun and had more functionality, although Foursquare’s recent update evened that playing field.
As for SCVNGR, I see it becoming the eventual winner of all three. It gives users more freedom to create ways to interact with different locations, and is just more fun to use.
It will NEVER be okay to check-in to your house
Do NOT, under ANY circumstances, add your home to any of these services. This would also include never checking into your apartment complex or building. It’s irresponsible, dangerous and just plain STUPID. Get your home off these services ASAP if you were ignorant enough to create the location. It should go without saying that you should never add your friend’s home either.
Seriously, don’t be an idiot.
Privacy shouldn’t be an issue
Of course, you don’t want everyone to know where you are at all times of the day. Using these services effectively does not require you check in EVERYWHERE. The whole point of these of the check-in is to share an experience at or with a particular location. If you’re not in the sharing mood, don’t check in! 🙂
Share on Facebook and Twitter . . . sparingly
All of the apps will allow you to share your activity via Facebook and Twitter. #1 thing to know is you should turn off ALL automatic updates. Everything you do one these services is of interest to your friends and followers. Generally speaking, you only want to share those instances where there is a point to you being at a particular location. This is a really gray area, and one that even I don’t really get right all of the time. However, you need to go into using these apps with the understanding that sometimes the activity is for these apps only. Common sense should be enough for you to figure this out on your own.
Those people annoy me too
You, I, someone we all know are one of those people from time to time. And that makes the thought of checking in everywhere you go another opportunity to be one of those people. I’ve been thinking about this lately as I have started using Gowalla and SCVNGR more and more. My tip for you here is to check in BEFORE you walk into somewhere. Before leaving your car, do all of your checking in.
One of the goals of these services is to provide insider information for different locations like bars and restaurants. What to order, what to drink, etc. If you take the time to peruse this information BEFORE you walk in, you look that much better when you walk in like you own the joint.
Always remember, Location, Location, Location
The purpose of these services is to share your experiences at a particular location. Use them when those stories happen. Have a great meal? Share a special memory? Share it with your friends! And as always, HAVE FUN!
Be sure to connect with all of these AMAZING nonprofits online
Thank goodness we relied on the ever-handy Random Integer Generator to pick our winner, as we never could have made a decision with such great organizations represented. If you haven’t read through the great comments, you really must connect with these nonprofits online:
And just because we are geeky, here’s a screenshot of our randomly selected integer:
As always, we love hearing from you! If you work with a nonprofit that deserves some recognition, leave a comment below so we can add them to the list.
UPDATE:We have a winner!! Congrats to Rebuilding Together San Francisco! We are beyond moved to learn about so many amazing nonprofits, thanks to all who participated – stay tuned for more upcoming NPO online marketing training!
In keeping with the feel good’ giving spirit of the season’ we want to help a non-profit with their web marketing efforts. We want to help an organization focused on doing good to do even more good by giving away 5 copies of ‘The Networked Non-Profit†as well as a half day ‘Social Media Book Camp†Training.
The Networked Nonprofit
Beth Kanter’s blog describes Networked Nonprofits as:
‘… simple and transparent organizations. They are easy for outsiders to get in and insiders to get out. They engage people to shape and share their work in order to raise awareness of social issues, organize communities to provide services or advocate for legislation. In the long run, they are helping to make the world a safer, fairer, healthier place to live.â€
Networked Nonprofits don’t work harder or longer than other organizations, they work differently… read the full post here >>
My Top 3 Take-Aways from the book are:
LOVE the very clear, direct way the book is written. Not full of fluff… it gets straight to the point and let’s nonprofits know what they need to be doing to be successful.
The examples make what can seem like an intangible topic very do-able.
My favorite thing about the book is it does not focus on the tools of today that may be gone tomorrow… it focuses on the fundamentals for how to use the social space to bring about change.
Wanna be a Networked Nonprofit… we wanna help!
How to Win
Enter to win by leaving a comment below and let us know:
What ‘Do Good†your Non-Profit is focused on.
What is one way you are using Social Media for your organization right now… not using Social Media right now? No problem. Let us know one way you see you could incorporate it in the coming year.
We will use a random integer generator to pick a winner on December 30th.
Training is available either here in the Schipul Office or in a webinar format.
Looking forward to reading what all kinds of Do-Good Stuff you guys are up to… so comment away and win!
I got an email in my in-box last week from Schipul’s own Ms. Katie Laird with a quick note letting me know the up-coming NetSquared Houston Meet-Up might be of interest to me… let’s just say, long story short… HappyKatie knows me well indeed.
For those who have not heard of NetSquared before:
NetSquared is focused on the intersection of technology and social impact. We create opportunities for all those involved in creating change to connect: whether you are a nonprofit or a foundation, a designer or a developer, a changemaker or an entrepreneur.
The Houston NetSquared Meetup is focused on ‘Social changemakers and technological forerunners coming together at Net Tuesday events to mix, swap stories and ideas, build new relationships, and reinforce the online NetSquared community.â€
Ryan (Ryan Marsh, president of the Layla Grace Foundation) speaks geek and can talk to the more technical challenges facing online non-profit organizations from a technology and a human perspective.
Having spent a lot of time over the last 15 years involved with Non-Profits, I can say the way they function has changed substantially over the last 3-5 years with society’s rapid adoption of new technology and the introduction of Social Media into the mix. In order for a NPO to stay viable, I believe they have to passionately embrace technology and the social-sphere in order to overcome challenges, meet goals, and, most importantly in today’s economy, do more with a LOT less.
The Layla Grace Foundation was founded by Ryan and Shanna Marsh in April 2010 in honor of their daughter Layla Grace Marsh who gained her eternal wings on March 9, 2010. You can learn more about the foundation at their site: http://laylagrace.org/ . With more than 16 thousand Facebook Fans, I was keen to hear what a very successful and VERY young Non-Profit had to say about the technology choices they had made.
Ryan did a wonderful job of balancing the very tender topic of childhood cancer with talking about the tech tools the Layla Grace Foundation has used to serve their mission:
“The Layla Grace Children’s Cancer Research Foundation is a non-profit organization focused on the discovery of new treatment options for children with high-risk cancer. We empower parents with the tools to become effective advocates for their children and raise public consciousness about our cause.”
In fact, Ryan offered up such a phenomenal top 10 list for Non-Profit Technology choices’ I was taking notes like a mad woman in order to be able to share them here. What I really like about this list is that it came from someone who has a history in the Tech Industry and has also tested, evaluated, tried and failed fast with a lot of the technology options out there today. This is a tried and true list of options that have floated to the top of the list for a functioning Non-Profit Organization and it can save other organization out there a lot of time and money.
So, without further ado, here is the Non-Profit Top 10 Tech Tools Recommended by the Layla Grace Foundation:
Gathers and stores audience information from everywhere
Want to know who you are talking to? Check them out in Flowtown.
My biggest take-away from the evening was not actually one of the items on Ryan’s list. It was a suggestion for what Ryan referred to as essential reading for any organization looking to raise funds online (who is not?!)… I will be ordering and consuming Jakob Nielsen’s ‘Donation Usability: Increasing Online Giving to Non-Profits and Charitiesâ€
For any Non-Profit out there looking to hone their technology skills or wade through the over-whelming options… the above list is great way to getcha started.
Looking for more helpful tech tips and tricks to help your Non-Profit succeed? Well, come on and join us at Net Tuesday!
If you are an Admin on a Facebook Page you may have noticed already the new ‘Spam†option on your pages. You may also already seen it at work hiding those pesky sales pitches for Magic Acai Berries and the like.
Facebook is now helping Page admins ensure that the most valuable content posted by users on their Page wall is more visible to anyone viewing the Page. We are now offering automatic content filtering on Page walls that will ensure that posts soliciting spam are removed from public view as well as ensure that posts containing good content remain more visible.
If you have your page setting such that posts to your page are separated by your organization’s and then all others, you will see the ‘Spam†link as the 4th option in this list. Not to worry’ only Page Admins can see this link.
Clicking the ‘Spam†link will show you all the content Facebook as deemed spam worthy and moved off your page.
Mouseing over the spam post will reveal a little ‘X†to the top right of the post. Clicking the ‘X†will reveal several options:
1. Remove the post
2. Unmark as Spam
3. Report as Abuse
If the post does really belong in the general content of your organization’s Facebook page… then by all means click that Unmark option. If however the post does fall into that dark side of the internet category called spam, then I suggest you report as abuse and then remove it. This will alert Facebook to the insidious nature of the offending poster and may hopefully save a fellow organization admin a few moments of time later on down the line.
If you have a mixed wall, meaning you show all posts from your organization mixed with other’s post, you won’t see the spam link. You will want to first click the ‘Options†link, then following the same instructions above.
Thanks to popularity of Facebook we can use it connect with like minded people and promote, support and grow our non-profit and for profit organizations alike… and… due to the popularity of Facebook the spammers will start to show up more and more. Thankfully, Facebook is putting measures into place to make the Facebook experience a good one for both admins and users.
In an effort to lure users back to their site and away from 3rd party clients, Twitter is rolling out a slew of new features. The most important feature of the #NewTwitter will allow users to embed videos, photos and other multimedia directly into their streams. Followers will now be able to view these media-rich tweets without having to click on any external links. Instead they will access video, photos and live streaming content from the Twitter interface.
The new UI (user interface) uses a two panel design that allows users to view their feed on the left and media content on the right. If the design looks familiar don’t be surprised. It is essentially the same design as the Twitter Ipad app.
This new design will allow users to integrate multimedia far more easily in their tweeting experience. The #NewTwitter has essentially taken the best features of 3rd party clients like Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, and Seesmic and combined them. Here is a list of some of the new features:
Streamlined user interface w/ tabs
Ability to view photos, videos and other media content without clicking a link
Access to mini profiles
Access to meta data: location, number of mentions, @ replies, etc
If all these features sound great to you, you will probably have to wait to use them. Twitter is rolling out these changes over the next several weeks. In the meantime, check out this video showcasing the new Twitter design and features.
I don’t know about you but I am perfectly happy with my 3rd party app. I have been using Hootsuite for over a year now and I love it. I can manage several accounts, assign users, view multiple streams, review account analytics, schedule tweets, attached files, images and watch video directly in the stream. Most importantly, I can access Hootsuite from any web browser. I wonder what took Twitter so long to adopt these basic functions to their site.
Don’t get me wrong, once I’ve been upgraded to the new version, I’ll give it a go but something tells me that I will return to my beloved twitter app. How about you? Which twitter apps do you use and will you abandon them for the new twitter? Let us know in the comments.
An expression from the mid 1950s, which fell from favor by the early 1960s….until now..
Majority of corporate blogs are boring fairly informative and only transparent in the fact that they paid ‘anonymous†to write their posts. There is a complete lack of vigor and let’s be honest, if I wanted to continue reading textbooks, I would have elongated my college curriculum. Basically, I want to hear your story; I want companies to convey transparency, I want to know the people behind the brand and most importantly, I want to talk about a company that is actually doing it right…
New Media Strategies
The team over at New Media Strategies (NMS) have successfully positioned themselves as an industry leader in social media marketing and measurement; completely embracing transparency and putting the individuals that make up NMS front and center. Admittedly, a portion of this information came from their ‘About’ Overview†page while the latter was discovered when I could not stop reading the NMS corporate blog…and yes my friends, it is very boss.
Seemingly so, the NMS blog has become one of my favorite online reads. One day I am sipping a Sprite on the rocks reading about the Q3 ‘Ass Kicker’ and the next I am learning that the terms ‘Snuggie†and ‘Pelosi†actually can find common ground on Twitter. There is a different voice, opinion and face to every single post and you are given the unique ability to relate with the individuals that make up NMS. Seriously, how else would I know that one of their gals has an extreme crush on Jake Pavelka? You can’t make this stuff up and you know what, I totally dig it.
A lot of people are probably wondering who in the world would let their employees’ blog on company time; better yet, write posts that do not directly sell the product. Well folks, his name is Pete Snyder, Founder & CEO of NMS…and undeniably, the biggest advocate for employee blogging.
“It’s not about technology, it’s about the people. So many are concerned with site traffic. We don’t pay attention to that; the blog is for our people – positioning them as thought leaders within the industry in order to educate our clients.”
By simply going to the NMS homepage, you immediately understand what Pete is talking about. I am not one to shout out absurd statistics, but I would venture to say that over 50% is dedicated to the blog posts, NMS clients and each individual that make up the NMS team. It is quite obvious that these people are not robots and I, for one, greatly appreciate that.
“We give people the option to be front and center. It shows the world we really are eating our own dogfood. Our goal is to put the best and most interesting content out there through our blog and who better to do that then the people that are living it every day.”
Unlike many companies, NMS fully supports the NMS team fostering their own personal brands. There is no need for blogging ninja style in fear of receiving the pink slip on Monday. The NMS folks are out there blogging about what they love because it is not just a job, it’s a lifestyle.
“We want them to be the brands that we hired from day one. We only want people who have a passion for this industry, so when they begin developing their own blog, we encourage it on and off the clock. NMS is comprised of unbelievable minds and truly talented writers…putting it front and center and embracing personal interests are important to our success.”
You can’t help but admire and respect a company that says, ‘Here are our people, we love them and so should you!†Ok, maybe Pete didn’t say that exactly, but being able to understand that simply by reading their blog…well, that speaks volumes my friends.
While we are still trying to figure out everything there is to know about location based social media, we LOVE the way Gowalla allows locations to easily customize their visitors’ experience. These three stamps are our first steps to helping our clients get more out of Gowalla, and help them find new ways to interact with their customers, visitors and patrons.
