Social Media In Plain English

Understanding social media is critical for the success of your business or nonprofit. Learn from our expertise in a fun, friendly environment.
August 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Get Your Blog On

Does your organization have a blog?  What are the barriers keeping your nonprofit from blogging? Do you know of a nonprofit blog that is remarkable?

We’re going to dive in to nonprofit blogging over the next few weeks, but in the meantime, I recommend Corporate Blogging for Dummies. Written by Douglas Karr and Chantelle Flannery, it is a treasure of blogging best practices and practical advice. Don’t let the “Corporate” in the title scare you. The ideas in this book can easily be adapted to the nonprofit world.

Source: Blue Trolley Press

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July 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Ten Social Media Reads, Vol 1

Here at Watershed Studio we’re always scouring our RSS and Twitter feeds to see what’s going on in the world of technology and social media. Starting today we’ll share some of the top reads we come across in nice, easy to digest, posts. Enjoy.
  1. 7 Surprising Statistics About Twitter in America (Jay Baer – Convince & Convert)
  2. Delivering Wow! (Jeff Stanger – Blue Trolley Press)
  3. Five ways to integrate social media into your overall marketing mix (Catherine Parker – Memeburn)
  4. How to be the Life of the Social Media Party (Darren Rowse – ProBlogger)
  5. How to Use Proactive Social Customer Service to Build Your Brand (American Express OPEN Forum)
  6. IndyCar Drivers now tussle through Twitter posts (Curt Cavin – Indy Star)
  7. More small businesses use Twitter, Facebook to promote (Jon Swartz – USA Today)
  8. Social media: why there’s no point trying to escape (Shane Richmond – Telegraph Media Group)
  9. The Power of Social Media: Educate Embrace and Empower (Kyle Lacy)
  10. When Someone Blindsides You With a Negative Blog Post (Liz Strauss)
If you have any social media reads that you’d like to suggest, please contact us or Tweet us @watershedstudio.

Original post from Watershed Studio, LLC » Social Media

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July 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Delivering Wow!

Has your organization delivered Wow today?  Have you exceeded the expectations of your clients, your volunteers, or your donors?  Have you done something remarkable?  Tony Hsieh and the team at Zappos have given us a marvelous insight to how they do this everyday with the best selling book Delivering Happiness.

Foundational to their approach are the 10 Core Values. Take some time on your own to dive into them, but today I wanted to touch on #1: Deliver Wow Through Service.

Service seems to be a dying art in America. I can remember my first job in high school working for The Finish Line. At the time, they had less than 50 stores and the four original founders were still actively involved. I can remember being intimidated that one of them came to the store for a visit. That day, he helped me unload a truck full of shoes. I was terrified! But, I learned he was a terrific guy and that listening to him would teach me a lot.  The Finish Line stressed product knowledge and excellent customer service back then.

Today, I rarely see the type of service they preached in retail stores (sadly, even at the Finish Line). Zappos is different! Much different. So different, they shouldn’t even call it customer service. Calling Zappos is like calling a good friend for a quick favor. There is a peacful, playful, interchange that makes you forget your handling a transaction. And that’s the magic!

Here is how they describe delivering Wow:

WOW is such a short, simple word, but it really encompasses a lot of things. To WOW, you must differentiate yourself, which means doing something a little unconventional and innovative. You must do something that’s above and beyond what’s expected. And whatever you do must have an emotional impact on the receiver. We are not an average company, our service is not average, and we don’t want our people to be average. We expect every employee to deliver WOW.

Insert nonprofit for company and either donor, client, or volunteer for customer.  Are you delivering Wow to your stakeholders? How would it transform your organization? How would it reenergize your career, your team, your organization?   How much more fun would work be?

Please share your feedback on Delivering Wow.

Thanks for taking the Trolley.

Source: Blue Trolley Press

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June 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Introduction to WordPress for Nonprofits and Small Business

Is your nonprofit looking for personalized instruction for WordPress?  Learn how to use WordPress in a safe intimate setting at Indy Media School.  Learn more about the course here.

Indy Media School offers small class sizes for more personal attention. Learn from the same team that brings you Blue Trolley Press!

Source: Blue Trolley Press

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April 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Are There Too Many Nonprofits?

Check out this post over at the Donor Power Blog, written by Stephen Ferrando.  It raises some interesting questions about the sustainability of the 1.5 million charities in the United States.

The pot of charitable dollars that the U.S. population is willing to contribute annually is rapidly approaching its threshold, which means that either charities need to redefine what a successful year means – where growth from one year to the next might not be possible – or larger organizations may need to begin to consider acquiring or absorbing smaller organizations of similar mission to eliminate the competition for charitable dollars. At the very least small organizations will soon need to band together to leverage the “strength in numbers” approach, in order to manage an ever-increasing cost to market to their donors. If not just for the benefit of the industry, for the good of the donors across the United States who are being flooded with donation requests.  ~Stephen Ferrando, Donor Power Blog, Feb 3, 2010

Source: Blue Trolley Press

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April 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Make-A-Wish On Verge of Bankruptcy!


Child Bankrupts Make-A-Wish Foundation With Wish For Unlimited Wishes

Happy April Fools Day!

Source: Blue Trolley Press

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March 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Mobile Giving To Haiti Relief

A recent study of mobile giving during the Haiti crisis shows how effective “text to donate” campaigns can be. Convio, Edge Research, and Sea Change Strategies collaborated on the project and it is available to download in pdf format.

Some of the key findings include:

•77% knew that they could donate via texting to support Haiti relief work
•17% of Gen Y & 14% of Gen X donated to Haiti via texting
•3% of both Boomer and Mature donated via texting
•36% of all respondents would consider texting a donation after a crisis
•31% would text a donation if a friend was raising money for a charity

One of the drawbacks of mobile giving is the lag time from donation to recieving the funds. Nonprofits can expect up to a 90 day delay to recieve the donation. For disaster relief, that can be a big problem. Expect to see creative solutions over the next 6-12 months to reduce the wait time.

Source: Blue Trolley Press

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March 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Eventbrite Makes Managing Your Event Easy

Need a simple solution to manage your event? Consider Eventbrite for Causes as your do-it-yourself event management solution.  This web based application allows you to create an event page with a customized URL, sell tickets, and conduct online registration. You can even sell from your own site with their customizable widgets.

Once your event is created, the real fun begins. You can leverage social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to promote your event and send emails to prospective attendees. All of these features are available via their easy to use dashboard (screen shot).

You can use PayPal or Google Checkout to process payments, create waiting lists, and even generate name badges and check-in lists.  They even have a feature to reserve a spot for people who would rather pay at the door! It’s an event planner’s dream!

If your nonprofit has used Eventbrite, please tell us about your experience.

Source: Blue Trolley Press

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October 5, 2009 By Leave a Comment

2009 America’s Giving Challenge

giving challengeFacebook’s Causes Exchange is helping nonprofits leverage social media to participate in this year’s America’s Giving Challenge.

The competition is sponsored by the Case Foundation and Parade magazine and it launches October 7th.

Nonprofits can compete for awards of up to $50,000.  More details can be found on the Case Foundation Blog and in the October 11th issue of Parade. 

Causes Exchange has provided several useful tips to help nonprofits be more competitive:

  • Gather together your best videos, pictures, and links so you can start your Giving Challenge campaign with a clear case for the importance of your work.  Since we redesigned the Media Board about six weeks ago, we’ve seen a tremendous increase in the number of daily media views.
  • Draft milestone and progress reports you’ll send to your cause members: Raised $500?  Hit the 100 people donated mark?  Highlight the individual contributions of your super cause members when the cause as a whole reaches a goal or milestone.
  • Think about the kinds of clear and compelling messages you will send to your cause members.  Educate them about the nonprofit you support and be specific about how the organization uses the money they donate.

    • Visit Causes Exchange for their complete list of tips for successful Giving Challenge campaign.

    Source: Blue Trolley Press

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    September 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment

    Sometimes It Takes An Outsider

    I’ve preached this sermon. Over and over again, as I’ve worked for one of the nation’s largest nonprofits, I have pushed us to move into the new millennium. As I have spoken to groups and fundraising professionals, I have hear them lament the same issues. Well, on behalf of all of us, thanks to Seth Godin for his post today.

    We’ll blog about it, forward it to our Nonprofit Boards and Executive Directors and hope that this is the time they listen. Sometimes it takes an outsider with the marketing chops and the publishing pedigree for the top decision makers to listen.

    Source: Blue Trolley Press

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