Social Media in the time of Crisis

As you all know by now, the bombs set off during the Boston Marathon yesterday were a horrible thing. People were injured. People died. Our world has changed again.

Many took to social media to share news quickly to say that they were okay, instructions on how to find help and how to give help. Some posted prayers and comforting quotes. Pictures and videos were shared. News from individuals, media, and authorities was pushed out quickly.

Because so many people take to social media in a time of crisis, individuals, organizations and companies that have automated postings should consider changing the messages in their posts until there is some sense of normalcy again. Some say turn them off completely for a while. Mostly benign, the social media posts can make one look uncaring, unfeeling, and uninterested. For instance, during the Boston crisis, Virgin Airlines was sending promtional tweets about the London Marathon this weekend. If you don’t turn off the automated tweets and don’t change the message, be prepared to hear negative comments from the people that read the posts and don’t realize that the posts are automated.

Some people posted items that they quickly deleted after quick reflection while others saw it as an opportunity to be sensationalist for their own benefits. Some even saw it as an opportunity to set up spoof social media pages to build awareness for themselves. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you see it, tweets like these can not truly be deleted. What happens on Twitter stays in the Library of Congress.

What would your agency do in this time of crisis? Do you have a crisis communications plan in place? Who is speaking on your behalf? Does your staff or volunteers know what to say? It is increasingly important for you to be able to share your information quickly, accurately, and through the most channels as possible.

Update: 4/17/13 – here are a couple more examples of automated tweets failing:

• Conde Nast – Epicurious
• Artie Davis

Top Ten for 2011

It would be the end of the year without another Top Ten list. NCE Social Media is no exception.

Here are the top 10 posts from the past year.

10. Google+
9. Social Media Etiquette
8. 10 Commandments of Posting Online
7. Facebook’s EdgeRank
6. Megaphones
5. Social Media as a Fundraising Tool for 2011
4. Setting Up Facebook Fan Pages
3. New Facebook Groups
2. Share Buttons and Bars
1. Is YouTube Making You Money?

What were your favorites?

Beware the Chaff

An article from TalentZoo written by folks at HootSuite got me thinking about how to separate out the good stuff on social media from the bad. It also got me thinking on how to make my own social media posts wheat and not chaff.

Here is a list of things you stated in the article that you can do right now to help you in this endeavor.

• Begin Listening – hear what people say
• Outreach to Influencers – engage people that influence you online
• Amplify by Sharing – find a good story – share it with others through your stream
• Ask Opinions of Your Followers – your followers are a built in focus group, use them
• Use it as an Early Warning System – see any complaints about your agency? Head them off here.
• Be the Party Host – keep things in check and moving to your desired outcomes

Checking In or Checking Out?

The Pew Internet Life Project has release a new study related to location-based check in services such as Gowalla, Foursquare and Facebook Places. It found that adults are 8 times less likely to use a location-based check-in application. Overall, 4% of Americans use location-based check-in tools.

What does that mean to you? It probably means that you should really consider who your target audience really is, and if they are using smartphones prior to embarking on a full fledged location-based program. If your target audience is comprised of younger adults who use smartphones then you should give more serious consideration to location-based check-in applications. If not, then perhaps you should use those energies in your other social media efforts.

If you want to revisit one of my previous posts on the launch of Facebook Places, visit it here.

image from NY Times

2 Minute Influence Test

Every wonder how your Twitter postings influences others? Free online tools such as Klout analyze your use of Twitter and gives you recommendations to be more influential. Try it out and see what ideas it may spawn…

Influence

Simple Awareness

Often I get asked how you can raise awareness and/or funds with social media tools. I think one of the easiest things to do is to make sure your social media pages have as much about your cause on them as possible. Now I don’t want it to look like this

from Million Dollar Home Page

But rather you should make sure to include your logo, website, phone number and mission statement in your backgrounds. This is but a subtle way to remind visitors what it is you do, your contact information, and in some cases perhaps a call to action.

What we can learn from the Haitian Earthquake

There are several things we can learn from the Haitian Earthquake that are socialmedia-related.

With the recent Haitian earthquake, texting donations has garnered new media focus. While popular in Europe for some time, texting donations has finally broken through as a promising fundraising tool here. The Red Cross has collected more than $22 million in donations via text messages in one week. Could this be a fundraising tool that you can promote for your own agency?

Charities are being scrutinized more than before. Wyclef Jean, a highly regarded musician, was brought to tears during a press interview defending his charity’s use of funds. Are the decisions you are making now up to ethical standards? Do they pass the sniff test? If something happened and next year someone questioned your decisions from today, would it make you look bad?

Wyclef Jean discussing Yele

What type of emergency communications plan do you have in place? How do you get in contact with staff? Can you text them? Can you call a cell phone if phone lines are down? Can you contact staff and consumers all at once?

Social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter have proven to be a way for people to communicate during a crisis. It is how some of the major charities providing relief and news outlets are broadcasting their stories and information.

Take a moment and think what you would be doing right now if your agency was in a situation like Haiti. How would you provide services? How would you communicate? What steps do you need to take to make sure your agency is prepared for a natural disaster like this.

Please feel free to share your feelings on this in our comments section.

Video Fridays #24 – Catching Up

Seth Godin has a great blog post on how to catch up if your company (or agency) has not embraced technology as a means for communication. It’s not too late!

One of the points he makes includes using bulk email tools and he mentions MailChimp specifically. Email marketing through tools such as MailChimp can be a low-cost communication tool that you should be using. A few advantages of using a bulk email marketing software tool versus your MS Outlook account includes more formatting options, better list management, and less occurrence of your email landing in a spam folder, thus placing your domain on a blacklist. Many of these companies have a nonprofit discount that isn’t listed on their website.

Here’s a video on how to integrate MailChimp into your social media tools.

Other major bulk email marketing companies, in no order, include:

MailChimp
Mad Mimi
Bronto
Verticle Response
Constant Contact
iContact

And a comparison chart of ten of the top email marketing tool features can be found here.

If you already use one or more of these tools, tell us which ones and your impressions of them in our comment section.

Video Fridays – 2009 Arc Convention Edition

The 2009 Arc Convention is happening right now in Pittsburgh. If you’re reading this I hope you are here at the convention.

I wanted to share a special video with you for this installment for Video Fridays. This is a video from Flame, the band that played at the Opening Dinner. If you’d like to see more of their videos, here is a link to their YouTube page and one for their videos and music files from their website.

This is a great example of how a YouTube video can share one of your myriad programs. How are you using videos for your online marketing and advocacy efforts?

Megaphones

Seth Godin, a marketing guru, wrote a post recently titled “The Problem With Non”. It details the noticeable lack of nonprofit organizations that are in the top 100 list of Twitter users. As nonprofit organizations, we should be at the absolute top of the list. Social media tools, such as Twitter are free resources that allows you to post information, news, comments and links in real time. It’s a free megaphone that has been handed to you! So why are you broadcasting?

Are you using your megaphone?

Here are some key questions to consider when looking at how you use social media -

Why are you using social media like Twitter, Facebook, etc.?
What is the goal of each of your social media tools?
What information is being posted?
How often do you update your posts?
Who is your targeted audience?
Have you engaged the people who are commentators, followers or fans on your social media sites?
Have you seen any outcomes or changes as a result of your social media efforts?

If you have additional questions that should be on this list, please let us know in the comments section.