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This Month's topic: New Communications Tools
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| This
Month's Topic: New Communications Tools |
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Sites of the Month
Each
month, this area provides with a number of my favorite and most helpful
sites regarding the topic of the month.
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Management Tip of the Month
Each issue, I start with a
discussion of my management perspective on the month's topic, and give
you a few hands-on ideas to consider.
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Recommended Publications
Here, I provide you with my
recommendations on the materials available that can help you
become more mission-capable in the area of New Communications Tools.
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Technology
I provide you with some good
ideas for uses of tech to better your organization in the area of New Communications Tools.
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Marketing Tip
So much to say, so little space to
say it.....
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Next Issue
In March, we'll turn to an emerging area of interest for many organizations: Greening Your Nonprofit
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Past Issues:
You can see the topics of past Mission-Based
Management Newsletters, and then view those that are of
interest to you, by scrolling to the bottom of the newsletter, or by clicking here. |
Websites of the Month
Here are my recommendations for websites
of interest on this month's topic: New Communications Tools:
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Management Tip of the Month
New Communications Tools
Recently, I've been telling audiences a
story about the speed of change in communications. My daughter Caitlin,
who is a college sophomore and 19, informed me
last summer in no uncertain terms that "no one uses email, no one
listens to voice mail, Dad",
during our move from Illinois to Virginia. Of course "no one" meant no
one in her age group and circle of friends. I was skeptical, but
remembered her admonition when, during a Q & A session after a
lecture in Minneapolis in September, a woman stood up and said:
"I'm
the director of student volunteering at a local college and you're
right: our students are fabulous volunteers. But last year, about
in March, all my freshman stopped answering their email. This is
continuing this year. I thought they were high tech....where are they?"
The answer was, of course, that the 19 and 20 year olds were (and are)
on Facebook.
That's where they visit each other, leave messages for
each other and "talk". They use their phones to text message until
their thumbs turn blue, but voice mail? That's so....old. (I was going
to say, so 20th Century, but even that joke is out of date). The moral
of
the story? If you want to get donations or volunteers from the 19 or 20
year olds, you better leave your cell number on your website so they
can text you, and have regular presence on Facebook so that you
can connect.
I thought more about this last October when I was with my 25 year
old son Ben, who is a computer science major, high tech, self-described geek.
I asked him and his software startup partner about Facebook and how
they like it. Their answer floored me. "Facebook? I don't get it. I
mean I've been there, I understand the idea, but why spend time there,
why use that to communicate? Just send and email or voice mail."
That answer blew me away. Here
was a seismic divide in communications not between generations, but
between brother and sister who are just 6 years apart in age! They are using
different methods to reach out to friends, colleagues, and to recruit volunteers and donors!
The story is meant to highlight the issue of how rapidly changing
communications techniques can affect our ability to recruit volunteers,
find donors, and reach people to help.
Here are some reasonably new communications tools that I see more and
more of on nonprofit websites that are reaching people. Each is
followed by a link to a how-to article at TechSoup.
Blogs and user comment:
Blogs allow someone on your staff and/or board to let people know
what's going on in the organization regularly. Combined with regular RSS feeds
to users, you make your presence more regularly known. I combine this
area with user comment, an increasingly important feature of a website.
If I'm a person under 30 and I hear your nonprofit is a good place to
volunteer, when I go to your website (which is where I'll ALWAYS
start), do I see comments from other volunteers right on the site about
their volunteering experience? If not, I may well not volunteer. User
comments from donors, volunteers and, of course, the people you serve
are increasingly important. (TechSoup on Blogs)
Podcasts:
Hot 10-12 months ago, waning to some degree due to the emergence of
YouTube and other video sharing sites. Podcasts are still
valuable for consumer education, orientation and outreach. But video
rules.....(TechSoup on Podcasts)
Video.
With higher bandwidth and more and more people spending time on
YouTube, video is becoming a key part of outreach. And, here's the good
news: it's cheaper than ever. Readers in their 50's and above remember
when video was absurdly expensive--even out of reach of many
nonprofits. Not any more. Cheap cameras, great (sometimes free) editing
software, and YouTube have all lowered
the cost. How has YouTube lowered the cost? By making "good enough"
video, well, good enough. You don't have to produce a video that would
look good as an ad on the Super Bowl. It just has to be good enough to
tell a story and hold people's attention. (TechSoup on Video)
Email:
Still there, still great, but having problems getting lost in space:
Spam filters are grabbing millions of legitimate emails every day and
not notifying the sender....the email just vanishes. As a sender, you
assume it's arrived, but it didn't. But, there are some good new tools
to use. (TechSoup on email)
Take a look at the referred articles on each of
these areas and consider adding them as part of your tech planning,
which is the focus of my Technology Tip.
If
you found this hint helpful, there are lots more management, marketing,
and technology ideas for you in the "Ideas" section at www.missionbased.com.
Check them out--they're free.
And, remember to take a look at the Mission-Based
Management Blog.
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Print Resources
My recommendations for texts and other
readings on New Communications Tools:
Nonprofit Essentials: Managing Technology, by Jeanette Woodward
The Accidental Techie; Supporting Managing and Maximizing Your Nonprofit's Technology, by Sue Bennett
Mobilizing Generation 2.0: A Practical Guide to using Web 2.0 Technologies to Recruit, Organize and Engage Youth, by Ben Rigby
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Technology Tip
New Communications Tools...and Technology
First and foremost, keeping up with new communications tools need to be
part of your regular technology planning. In many cases, a regular
review can inexpensively add usability or visibility to an existing
format (for example, posting your blog on an aggregator site like FeedBurner for free).
Also think through the benefits of very focused social networks. While much has been written (for good reason) about using websites like MySpace and Facebook,
what about smaller more focused user networks that are set up just for
you. For example, I have a number of clients who have set up social
network groups just for their boards, or just for their fund raising
committee on sites like Ning, which allow you to do that setup easily and for free. If you prefer a larger site, here's a TechSoup article on using Facebook.
Some changes, like adding video, or online comment, cost more in terms
of time, bandwidth and software, but they can be "Killer apps" in terms
of user use and commitment to your organization.
Again, use your online resources in this area, the most prominent of which are TechSoup and NTen. Learn from what other organizations are doing before you jump in.
If
you found this hint helpful, there are lots more management, marketing,
and technology ideas for you in the "Ideas" section at www.missionbased.com.
Check them out--they're free
Back to Top
Training Schedule for Peter Brinckerhoff
Below you'll see the date, location, and
topics of public
training I'm
currently scheduled to do in the next few months. For more information
on a particular speaking engagement, get in touch with the contact
person listed in the right hand column, or email me.
For more information on my availability
throughout the next 12-18 months, available topics, sample agendas, and
fees go to www.missionbased.com/training.htm
| 2/5/08 |
St. Paul |
Generation Change |
Wilder Foundation
Ronnie Brooks
RLB2@wilder.org |
| 2/7/08 |
San Antonio |
Generation Change and Change Management |
National Kidney Foundation
John Brown
johnb@kidney.org |
| 2/20/08 |
Tampa |
Nonprofit Stewardship |
DTI
Kristina Sampson
ksampson@dtinational.org |
| 2/26/08 |
Phoenix |
Generation Change |
Faith In Action Conference
Ramonda Kyser
rkyser@wfubmc.edu |
Marketing Tip
New Communications Tools and Marketing
What do
I always tell you: Ask, ask, ask and listen. One tool that more and
more nonprofits are using to ask their customers what they want is SurveyMonkey. It's cheap (even free at first) and allows you to get real time feedback and reporting quickly and easily.
SurveyMonkey
(with which I have NO financial or business relationship) is, in my
mind, the best of the online surveying tools. I use it a lot.
For example, I have a survey each year of my training clients
that I use to find out how to be a better speaker, but I also post it
on my website as a validator of the quality of training I provide.
Potential clients can check it out (and do) before they hire me. Here's
my 2007 training survey report.
Think about this: You can ask the people you serve, or donors, or
volunteers about their experience and post the results quickly. As the
results change (as more people respond) the report is automatically
updated.
Talk about a win-win: you are most transparent, and potential donors or
volunteers or users will feel better about being involved with your
organization.
If you found this hint helpful, there are
lots more management, marketing, and technology ideas for you in the
"Ideas" section at www.missionbased.com.
Check them out--they're free.
Back to Top
Future Topics for
The
Mission-Based Management Newsletter....
| March |
Generation Change and Finance |
| April |
Greening
Your Nonprofit |
| May |
New Approaches to Social Entrepreneurship |
| June |
Leadership Development |
| July |
Technology Planning |
| Send me your topic suggestions at: peter@missionbased.com |
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You asked, so here they are:
Past Single-Topic Issues of the Mission-Based Management Newsletter...
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Copyright
2008, Corporate Alternatives, inc.
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