Offline, Multi-generational, Multi-media, Social Media Marketing, Mash-up Meetup

My daughter, Tara is 26, and I’m 56. Tara grew up in a world with cell phones, the Web, instant messaging and Google. I was born into a world when TV had just been introduced, manual typewriters were in use, man hadn’t walked on the moon and we shared a telephone line with our neighbors (party lines). Our interests in life are very different. However, we both share many common interests: art, cooking, reading, philanthropy, social networking, and “making a difference”.

Tara and I just made a presentation about Social Media Marketing at the Northwest Development Officers Association (NDOA) Winter Conference in Seattle. More than 350 nonprofit development professionals from the Pacific Northwest were in attendance at the full day meeting. The audience was a mix of NPO executive directors, development directors, marketing communications managers, event managers and others. Senior and junior non-profit professionals from different organizations represented at the conference.

The conference theme was “Stability in an Unstable Economy“ and it was clear from the beginning that everyone in attendance was very worried about the impact the economy was having on "business".

Our break-out session, “Return on Engagement: Leveraging the Web to Make New Friends, Engage Communities, Build Lasting Relationships and Increase Donors”, was well attended with more than 125 participating. The focus of the presentation was the Web, specifically social media and social media networking, and the profound impact on nonprofit organization fund raising. The interactive presentation shared tips on blogging, podcasting, online polling, photo sharing, tagging, social networking, vidcasting, wikis, etc. I think the presentation was well received judging from all the questions, comments and requests.

After the session was over Tara and I were struck by a couple of things.

1. Social Media Marketing is a Hot NPO topic. The audience was really interested in the topics we touched on (from a personal and professional point of view) and is hungry for more information, tips, ideas and case histories.

2. NPO Social Media Marketing is still at a very early stage. It was clear from the beginning of the session that web/ social media experience among our session attendees was all over the map. The younger, less seasoned NPO managers were old hands with Facebook, LinkedIn, blogging,meetups, mashups, Twitter, Flickr and de.li.cious. Others in the session had much more limited experience beyond email, awareness of YouTube, and searching with Google. The range of perceptions, apprehension, knowledge, trial and use is all over the map but falls along generational lines.

3.Questions about privacy, ethics, transparency and use need to be addressed. There were many questions raised about the use of Social Media Marketing as NPO communications and fund raising tools. These are rich topics for future workshops and blogs.

Partnering with Tara was a great idea. Her perspective about communications, community engagement, social media applications and networking provided the group with a generational perspective I wasn’t able to provide. My perspective was similar in some respects, but very different in others. I may try to convince my youngest daughter, Erica (20) to join us next time. Her social media use and perspective is vastly different from mine (at this point she won’t “friend” me on Facebook because it’s lame). I’ll text an invitation to join us.

More to follow. I’m going to blog about the presentation topics over the next couple of weeks. Please share comments, thoughts, and ideas. Thanks.

Cheers!
Dave

You made a difference in my life....

Who do you appreciate? This video says it all. Make a difference in their lives by letting them know you care.



If there are people who have made a difference in your life, reach out and let them know that you respect them, admire them, recommend them, and appreciate them.

Go ahead. It's easy.

Cheers!
Dave

Sharp Consulting Group, LLC

Cause Marketing Continues to Grow...

Finally some good news: US Sponsorship spending on cause related marketing will grow at a rate 40% higher than the overall sponsorship industry in 2009, according to the latest IEG Sponsorship Forecast Report.

The new sponsorship report projects corporate cause related sponsorships will reach $1.57 billion in 2009, a 3.1% increase over last year. Cause marketing's share of the overall sponsorship market remains at 9%. IEG expects the total industry to expand by 2.2%. Sports marketing, which accounts for 68% of total sponsorship spending is expected only to rise by 1.8%.

Projected sponsorship spending and category share in 2009 are:
1. Sports: $11.4 billion, 68%
2. Entertainment Tours/Attractions: $1.66 billion, 10%
3. Causes: $1.57 billion, 9%
4. Arts: $848 million, 5%
5. Festivals, fairs, annual events: $786 million, 5%
6. Associations, membership orgs: $503 million, 3%

The new IEG projections disguise the fact that many nonprofits will experience significant reductions due to corporate cutbacks while others will grow thanks to new initiatives.

It should be noted, that back in 1990, cause sponsorship spending was only $120 million.

More later.
Cheers!
Dave
Sharp Consulting Group

How to Promote Your Organization Using Podcasts

Podcasting is blogging with audio instead of a text entry. Essentially, you post an audio file (MP3) instead of an article.

Although long-time podcasters (3 years or more) are tired of hearing this, there is no question that a lot of people who might be interested in podcasts believe that an iPod or other MP3 player is required to listen. The fact is a lot more people listen to podcasts on their computers than on their iPods and the number of people listening continues to sky rocket (according to Arbitron and Edison Media Research).


Five Reasons Why Podcasts Are Great for Marketing your Organization
1. An increasing number of people are downloading new podcasts every day (nearly 1 in 10 people have listened to an audio podcast in the last month according to Arbitron).
2. Unlike Radio, podcasts can be played whenever the listener wants.
3. People can listen to them in their cars on their way to work or when they go for a run..
4. There is a lot less competition in the podcast market than there is in the “article” market.
5. Podcasting is a lot easier and less time-consuming than blogging and getting your articles published.

Six Steps to Planning and Producing a Podcast
1. Start by getting a good digital recorder with a good microphone (they run about $50 at Radio Shack).
2. Download an audio editing tool like Audacity or Recordforall
3. Content is King! Write a tight script (so the podcast doesn’t sound amateurish or improvised).
4. Practice (a couple times).
5. Record it in a relatively quiet environment. Try different "reads" and pick the best “take”.
6. Apply the noise-reduction filter in your audio editing software and save the MP3 file to be uploaded

Posting your Podcast
Once you have completed and edited your Podcast you are ready to submit it to Audio Sharing sites:
PodPusher
Pod Submitter
PodOMatic
Podcast Alley
iTunes
Yahoo Podcasts
Digg Podcasts
Podcast Directory
PodFeed
Odeo
Digital Podcast
Podcast.net
Singing Fish
Blog Universe
Collectik
PodNova

Have fun.
Dave