It's a new year and time for many of us to start using our new toys. Over at Channel 8, ABC's affiliate in Dallas, WFAA TV is using Twitter to get the weather out.
The chief meteorologist, Pete Delkus, started sending tweets two days ago - right before the big ice storm.
Is this innovation by the corporation? Or did his teenage daughter embarrass him into using a new tool of the 21st Century? It doesn't matter. It's working. Good for him.
He's now got over a thousand followers. Lets see where this goes. If there's too much info, those tweets will fall into the area of noise. It will quickly get tuned out.
If it's timely and pertinent, that group of followers will continue to grow. Tornado season is still a few months away for Dallas. Check out how many peeps follow the tweets when big, black clouds start forming in the west.
Many nonprofits are already in their tornado season. Twitter may be a great resource for the stormy days ahead.
It's so simple. It's so cheap. Why aren't more nonprofits using it to get the word out??
Whether you want to send a quick update on the day's news to your followers, an urgent message to your staff or volunteers, or a dire plea for funds to your impulse donors you have little to lose and lots to gain.
Maybe it's time to embrace some change for the new year.
Showing posts with label communication. Show all posts
Showing posts with label communication. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Friday, August 29, 2008
You've Got 30 Seconds...
...before their eyes start glazing over. Can you tell someone about your nonprofit and what makes it unique from the other 9,000 nonprofits in Dallas?
Last December I talked about doing your due diligence to prepare the justification (or case statement) of why someone should write you a check. This time, I'll talk about the short and sweet way to get your message across.
It may not earn you a donation right off the bat, but it may keep you in the game a little longer. At the very least it will plant a seed that you can nurture.
A couple of weeks ago I called an old friend from work. Hadn't talked with him in months (maybe more than a year). We exchanged pleasantries, caught up, and when he found out that I was working for nonprofits, his tone changed. He assumed that I was calling to ask him for money. "That's what everyone does," he said.
I wasn't. I genuinely just wanted to catch up. A few weeks later, sitting at the dinner table with our wives, the subject came up again. He wanted to know more about what I did and for whom I wrote grant proposals.
Amazing! I have the opportunity, and I blow it!! I've got reams of important data in my brain (intermixed with old phone numbers, the jersey numbers of the 1974 Dallas Cowboys, and the final approach speeds of a few airplanes I've flown). I've written 50 plus proposals in the last year, and as I start start sifting through the details, I see the "off flags" start flickering in my buddy's eyes.
My advice for you (and my hope that I will practice what I preach) is to have your "elevator pitch" ready. That's a term from a previous chapter of my life (selling computer systems). If you're riding with someone in an elevator, and you want to get your point across, you have about 30 seconds to make it happen.
Unless you're prepared in advance, you will undoubtedly witness the glazing of the eyes and a friendly "goodbye" when the elevator door opens. So think about it now.
Take your mission statement, scrub it into a few words your mom can understand, apply what makes your nonprofit unique, and be ready to state it clearly in 30 seconds.
Keep it simple and direct. I love the catch phrase for the upcoming missions conference hosted by Buckner. "Go. Be. Do." They are saying "go somewhere, be a voice, do something."
Isn't that great?? Three words. Six letters total. Amazing! Easy to remember. Easy to convey! Perfect for getting people to be involved with missions.
You're probably going to have to write all your mission, vision, facts, factoids, and distinctions down to get it right. Then you need to practice. Mark Twain said, "It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech."
Better get started now. Who knows when you'll get that next opportunity. You don't want to blow it like me.
It won't happen again.
Last December I talked about doing your due diligence to prepare the justification (or case statement) of why someone should write you a check. This time, I'll talk about the short and sweet way to get your message across.
It may not earn you a donation right off the bat, but it may keep you in the game a little longer. At the very least it will plant a seed that you can nurture.
A couple of weeks ago I called an old friend from work. Hadn't talked with him in months (maybe more than a year). We exchanged pleasantries, caught up, and when he found out that I was working for nonprofits, his tone changed. He assumed that I was calling to ask him for money. "That's what everyone does," he said.
I wasn't. I genuinely just wanted to catch up. A few weeks later, sitting at the dinner table with our wives, the subject came up again. He wanted to know more about what I did and for whom I wrote grant proposals.
Amazing! I have the opportunity, and I blow it!! I've got reams of important data in my brain (intermixed with old phone numbers, the jersey numbers of the 1974 Dallas Cowboys, and the final approach speeds of a few airplanes I've flown). I've written 50 plus proposals in the last year, and as I start start sifting through the details, I see the "off flags" start flickering in my buddy's eyes.
My advice for you (and my hope that I will practice what I preach) is to have your "elevator pitch" ready. That's a term from a previous chapter of my life (selling computer systems). If you're riding with someone in an elevator, and you want to get your point across, you have about 30 seconds to make it happen.
Unless you're prepared in advance, you will undoubtedly witness the glazing of the eyes and a friendly "goodbye" when the elevator door opens. So think about it now.
Take your mission statement, scrub it into a few words your mom can understand, apply what makes your nonprofit unique, and be ready to state it clearly in 30 seconds.
Keep it simple and direct. I love the catch phrase for the upcoming missions conference hosted by Buckner. "Go. Be. Do." They are saying "go somewhere, be a voice, do something."
Isn't that great?? Three words. Six letters total. Amazing! Easy to remember. Easy to convey! Perfect for getting people to be involved with missions.
You're probably going to have to write all your mission, vision, facts, factoids, and distinctions down to get it right. Then you need to practice. Mark Twain said, "It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech."
Better get started now. Who knows when you'll get that next opportunity. You don't want to blow it like me.
It won't happen again.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Twitter Your Nonprofit ?
Do you "tweet?" That's the language of Twitter.
Twitter is the relatively new micro blogging service offered by our friends at twitter.com. These guys let you send very short (up to 140 characters) updates (tweets) to anyone that signs up to get them. Those people are called "followers." You can also restrict delivery just to your circle of buddies...or coworkers.
Followers can receive these updates on a variety of web sites or via email, instant messaging, text messages to your cell phone, etc. It all starts with a simple question: "what are you doing?"
Think of it as simple social networking on a small scale. Then again that small scale has nearly a million users right now. Some are just teenagers standing in line for a movie sending updates to friends. Others are much more sophisticated and frankly, more interesting. (Don't tell the teenagers.)
Whole Foods Market, Comcast, and Dell are using Twitter at an enterprise level. If you're having trouble with your Comcast service, blast a tweet of your frustrations to the world (the default delivery option). Customer support at Comcast monitors Twitter 24x7 for "damage control." See more on this at TBR (The Bivings Report).
Whole Foods is giving Twitter a serious try. They use it as a means of marketing and customer support. It's another way to enhance relationships with its customers. Hmmmm ..... seems like I've mentioned the importance of relationships somewhere else on my blog.
Universities, government agencies, news organizations, and significantly, the Obama campaign are all starting to use Twitter to keep people informed. Can your nonprofit make this work? Sure you can. But do you want to?
Think of two things. Who will be tweeting for your cause? Who will be the followers (the ones interested in your updates)?
If you Twitter just for internal purposes - to schedule or announce visitors for a tour, prepare for the arrival of volunteers, make a late change to an internal function - your followers will just be your staff. But if you plan to Twitter to the board, volunteers, or donors, you really need to have your act together.
Your "tweeter" needs to be informed, interesting, and able to find the balance of being consistent with new tweets without flooding the followers with drivel. Depending upon your cause, you may also have to be sensitive to certain privacy needs.
Your followers need to not be afraid of new technology. That probably means they'll be under 30, but not necessarily, and they may be some of your best candidates for volunteers and new donors.
Will it work at the nonprofit level? Why not? It's a free service, and chances are you want to improve your communications and you're looking for more volunteers and more donors. It's worth a try.
A caveat. Twitter is not especially fast. Look for competitors to get into this game soon.
Twitter is the relatively new micro blogging service offered by our friends at twitter.com. These guys let you send very short (up to 140 characters) updates (tweets) to anyone that signs up to get them. Those people are called "followers." You can also restrict delivery just to your circle of buddies...or coworkers.
Followers can receive these updates on a variety of web sites or via email, instant messaging, text messages to your cell phone, etc. It all starts with a simple question: "what are you doing?"
Think of it as simple social networking on a small scale. Then again that small scale has nearly a million users right now. Some are just teenagers standing in line for a movie sending updates to friends. Others are much more sophisticated and frankly, more interesting. (Don't tell the teenagers.)
Whole Foods Market, Comcast, and Dell are using Twitter at an enterprise level. If you're having trouble with your Comcast service, blast a tweet of your frustrations to the world (the default delivery option). Customer support at Comcast monitors Twitter 24x7 for "damage control." See more on this at TBR (The Bivings Report).
Whole Foods is giving Twitter a serious try. They use it as a means of marketing and customer support. It's another way to enhance relationships with its customers. Hmmmm ..... seems like I've mentioned the importance of relationships somewhere else on my blog.
Universities, government agencies, news organizations, and significantly, the Obama campaign are all starting to use Twitter to keep people informed. Can your nonprofit make this work? Sure you can. But do you want to?
Think of two things. Who will be tweeting for your cause? Who will be the followers (the ones interested in your updates)?
If you Twitter just for internal purposes - to schedule or announce visitors for a tour, prepare for the arrival of volunteers, make a late change to an internal function - your followers will just be your staff. But if you plan to Twitter to the board, volunteers, or donors, you really need to have your act together.
Your "tweeter" needs to be informed, interesting, and able to find the balance of being consistent with new tweets without flooding the followers with drivel. Depending upon your cause, you may also have to be sensitive to certain privacy needs.
Your followers need to not be afraid of new technology. That probably means they'll be under 30, but not necessarily, and they may be some of your best candidates for volunteers and new donors.
Will it work at the nonprofit level? Why not? It's a free service, and chances are you want to improve your communications and you're looking for more volunteers and more donors. It's worth a try.
A caveat. Twitter is not especially fast. Look for competitors to get into this game soon.
Monday, June 18, 2007
So What's Next?
There's always something next. Okay, so this isn't one of those really profound blogs. What'd you expect from an Aggie?
The bigger question is how do you prepare for and react to what's next? You can prepare so much that you don't get anything else done. "Be Prepared" (p. 96 of the Boy Scout Handbook) is sometimes easier said than done.
Do you have a business continuity plan? It's very important, but even commercial businesses with tons of money tend to ignore preparing for really stormy days.
There are lots of components to lose sleep over. What will you do for emergency fundraising? I'm not talking about making up for lousy funding because your development people are afraid to ask or write grant proposals like a remedial English class. (That sounds more like an HR issue.)
I'm talking about things like Texas tornadoes, runaway cars, plumbing leaks in the attic, criminal acts in the front door...all the things that probably won't happen. They always happen to someone else. Right?
What's your crisis communication plan? If you suddenly have a missing child, do you have anything in place better than the PA announcement that birthday cake is ready in the kitchen? Who's prepared to be the voice of your nonprofit? Who's authorized to be that voice?? Think about it.
None of this is fun. Business interruption...life interruption can be a real hassle. How you react is as important as being prepared. It's part of the preparation.
If you're a basketball fan, watch the Krzyzewski coached team at Duke react to things when something doesn't go their way. There's no time lost throwing their arms in the air or yelling at the refs (as if we even have refs in our game). Their immediate reaction is "what's next?" They focus on getting back in the game right now...preparing for what's next. That's a pretty healthy way to live your life or run your nonprofit.
There are ways to prepare both physically and mentally for that curve ball that's suddenly heading towards your nose at 85 mph. (Can ya tell I'm a guy who loves sports?) Physical preparation may be as simple as just thinking about your nightmares and writing down the first two or three things you'll do. That's a good start.
With that, you've also begun your mental preparation...thinking about what things might get in the way of your normal life so that when you react...when you jump out of the batter's box...you're the only one who knows that you're about to croak inside.
When you're prepared, you'll be amazed at what you can do (and who you can inspire) when you stay cool and rapidly adjust to the "new normal." It can make all the difference in the world to you, your organization, and to the people you serve.
The bigger question is how do you prepare for and react to what's next? You can prepare so much that you don't get anything else done. "Be Prepared" (p. 96 of the Boy Scout Handbook) is sometimes easier said than done.
Do you have a business continuity plan? It's very important, but even commercial businesses with tons of money tend to ignore preparing for really stormy days.
There are lots of components to lose sleep over. What will you do for emergency fundraising? I'm not talking about making up for lousy funding because your development people are afraid to ask or write grant proposals like a remedial English class. (That sounds more like an HR issue.)
I'm talking about things like Texas tornadoes, runaway cars, plumbing leaks in the attic, criminal acts in the front door...all the things that probably won't happen. They always happen to someone else. Right?
What's your crisis communication plan? If you suddenly have a missing child, do you have anything in place better than the PA announcement that birthday cake is ready in the kitchen? Who's prepared to be the voice of your nonprofit? Who's authorized to be that voice?? Think about it.
None of this is fun. Business interruption...life interruption can be a real hassle. How you react is as important as being prepared. It's part of the preparation.
If you're a basketball fan, watch the Krzyzewski coached team at Duke react to things when something doesn't go their way. There's no time lost throwing their arms in the air or yelling at the refs (as if we even have refs in our game). Their immediate reaction is "what's next?" They focus on getting back in the game right now...preparing for what's next. That's a pretty healthy way to live your life or run your nonprofit.
There are ways to prepare both physically and mentally for that curve ball that's suddenly heading towards your nose at 85 mph. (Can ya tell I'm a guy who loves sports?) Physical preparation may be as simple as just thinking about your nightmares and writing down the first two or three things you'll do. That's a good start.
With that, you've also begun your mental preparation...thinking about what things might get in the way of your normal life so that when you react...when you jump out of the batter's box...you're the only one who knows that you're about to croak inside.
When you're prepared, you'll be amazed at what you can do (and who you can inspire) when you stay cool and rapidly adjust to the "new normal." It can make all the difference in the world to you, your organization, and to the people you serve.
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