Guest Post adapted from an email by Kye Hittle

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You might remember that we threw out the idea of having the entire staff and talented volunteers become “compelling content producers” by way of blog, wiki, etc. That sounds very pie-in-the-sky, but it isn’t and it could offer a part of the solution to one of the immediate problems that we face in the comm arena (content creation). So, I thought maybe a tangible example that hits close to home for you might help.

Imagine you read this article (that came to me via twitter btw) which was just published today. You don’t have to actually read it, the exec summary is that charities often inflate their gifts-in-kind number to get a better rating on charity watchdog websites because it pushes down their cost of fundraising percentage.

The first thing you think is “wow, this reminds me why we are so conservative in our policies and, ya know, there really are some shadeballs out there.” And then “gosh, I hope our donors don’t think WE are like that.”

But, WAIT, how DO they know that we are any different? None of those policies are posted online. We don’t publish them in the annual report. (And even if we did who would ever read boring crap like that anyway?) We kill ourselves adhering to these policies and I betcha that, if surveyed, a bunch of our constituents just assume we are like the rest!  Ugh, we might as well play the game and get the better rating – sure would make our job a lot easier!

That’s not how our organization does things, however. So, you write a blog entry on the website blog linking to the article and going down how our policy handles each point Kathy Kristof levels against us nonprofits. Then you click Post and its done – 15 minutes. Now there’s no magic here – that doesn’t mean every potential donor automatically knows that we are above such shenanigans, but it does IMMEDIATELY put our position out there for the entire world (not just people we have contact info for, mind you, but anyone searching or stumbling across this topic). On top of that, the blog model invites a conversation, so people can say how much they appreciate our approach (sing our praises to the rest of the world for us) or ask further questions (allowing additional education we didn’t even anticipate was needed) or throw out a stupid and incorrect statement (that we can then correct in a public forum cuz you know if one thinks it, there’s a ton more that do too).

Try doing that with a magazine article, annual report or letter – or even a one-on-one phone call with someone that does care enough to call in and get the skinny. The reach would be far less and its a lot harder to refer to in the future when the question comes up again. Plus, when you need content for Foundation Flash or the Foundation e-newsletter, just throw in a blurb and link to your blog post for those that have interest (or didn’t but do now that you’ve brought it up for them). I could go on-and-on about the potential impact of that one simple post, but hopefully that begins to paint a picture.

That’s how it should work. You can probably imagine how this would play out for pretty much any staffer or key volunteer (there would be a ton of different scenarios). I really like thinking of the online content of an organization as its “resume.” Right now ours looks pretty thin and short of hiring someone(s) to beef it up, we’ll remain that way, unless we consider what new media offers.

This is one of the only tech-powered strategies that I would even consider at this early stage if I was in your shoes. Of course start small. What’s the cost? Staff/volunteer training, blog software (free, but there’s some setup), a shared strategy for what messages need to be advanced, strategy on one blog vs multiple. Are we ready for all that now? Probably not, but I’d say it should be in the consideration hopper. It just occurred that we can talk tools or theory, but a story would most likely be the best educator – hope it helped. Come hang out with Joe and I for an hour in that world and we’ll really blow your mind!

-Kye

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Now, the theme of this post is the response from YOU and the ensuing conversation, so both Kye and I would love to see your thoughts on this.  Please leave a comment and let us know what you think of this example and the start of a new more conversational and listening focused strategy.

Post from: Joe Budde Jr. More about social media and Joe can be found at his blog.

Yet Another Futile Attempt to Explain Social Media for Non Profits

What is “Social Recruiting?”

Social Recruiting is the process of using “social” websites to obtain and research candidates for a job opening.  The use of the term social is optional.

Building teams based on trust is one of the most essential parts of running any business and this presentation on social recruiting is important for those searching for jobs and those with jobs to fill.  Both the recruiter and the recruited can use the Internet for finding your next coworker or next employer.  Fred provides this excellent presentation to prove that point.

Post from: Joe Budde Jr. More about social media and Joe can be found at his blog.

Fred Wilson on Social Recruiting: A Guide for the Recruiter and the Recruited

Plus, I am even more glad that what I want to write about today is not about “social media” per se.   Its about how reputation risk management is on the rise.  My friend matt sent it along with this note:   “For your blog that is no longer about social media.”

Perfect.

So everyone out there needs to know the stats from the article:

More than 82% of major companies are making a substantial effort to manage reputation risk, and 81% have increased their efforts over the past three years, according to a survey of 148 risk management executives at U.S. and European corporations.

Though social media are gaining influence among consumers and investors evaluating companies, only 34% of the executives surveyed said they regularly monitor social networking sites for information about their companies, and only 10% participate in them.

All of the social media topics I spoke on until my fall out with the subject are important places to manage reputation risk, so we all better be engaging that because we all have to take care of our personal brands using online tools… right?

Post from: Joe Budde Jr. More about social media and Joe can be found at his blog.

An Article That Isn’t About Social Media

The Test

To start we thought we should compare ChaCha’s responses by asking  ChaCha who my siblings were.

Who is “my brother’s name”? ChaCha replied: “He is from the class of 2006 at Dublin Coffman High School. He is 6′4″ 180 lb. and played forward in basketball. ChaCha!”  Nice work ChaCha right on.  He might be bigger now tho, he is starting to scare me.

Who is “my sister’s name”?  ChaCha again on the money replied: “is a professor for Teach for America. Before that he Was a researcher for The Ohio state University. Keep on Chaing”  Again, ChaCha is right on – she did some awesome reserach at OSU.

So ChaCha knew my siblings, so I thought this was going to be the end of my blog’s idenity crisis because ChaCha would tell me!

The Moment of Truth

We asked ChaCha – “Who is Joe Budde Jr.?”   Frankly, I thought they would have just copy pasted from my about page.  But did ChaCha?

ChaCha responded with:  “No results were found for Joe Budde Jr. in the United States. Can we look up another person for you? ChaCha!”

Blog idenity crisis status: Blog Identity – Still Lost.

I feel like I am running around asking, Are you my mother?

Post from: Joe Budde Jr. More about social media and Joe can be found at his blog.

Can ChaCha Find my Blog’s Identity?

1. Realize that your closet is cluttered.Yes, your online closet is your blog’s side bar.  When it starts to look like the bottom of my college roomate’s messy closet, you know its time for a change.
2. Give your content and ability more credit.  You are raking in 30 visitors a day to your blog. 80% of them are new people, so give them a good first impression.  When we are at a networking event we don’t have a name tag with your name written in crayon by a 4 year old.  Make sure your blog isn’t written in crayon. You have amazing content, and amazing ability.  Have a classy looking name tag!
3. Don’t neglect about your permalinks.  Your content might be great.  You wrote a great post about all the different location aware social networks.  But your link looked something like this:  http://www.joebuddejr.com/p?=3243255312623  and frankly, that means nothing to anyone, including me.  So give your post a great title. http://joebuddejr.com/spring-cleaning-how-to-refresh-a-blog Now thats something we can read and deal with! (I was 73 posts overdue for this spring cleaning chore!)spring-cleaning-how-to-refresh-a-blog
4. Find a great theme!  There are more amazing and FREE themes out there by the day for us wordpress users. Find one and make it yours with a few tweeks you can have a super customized theme that is all yours! You can start by looking for free themes here, or checking out a listing of top free themes, or another list of amazing wordpress themes.

So what do you think of my blog’s new look?  If you spring clean your blog, let me know so I can go check out the before and after!

Post from: Joe Budde Jr. More about social media and Joe can be found at his blog.

Spring Cleaning- How to Refresh A Blog

Anyways, I thought I might use Twitter to ask my followers and the Twitterverse what they thought the pros and cons of twitter were.  Use the medium to defend the medium, I thought it had the potential to be brilliant or a huge flop. 

I tweeted my question:  “Sharing twitter’s pros and cons to my coworkers. What is the biggest plus you see from connecting on Twitter?”

Best part about it is that within seconds I was able to share with my co-workers so many different perspectives instantly.  Which just so happens to be the reason why Twitter is so valuable to me.

What were the responses?

Meet my twitter friends and see what they had to say about the pro’s and cons of twitter:

Ram180 said:  @joebuddejr getting ideas and quick answers.

jhillohio said:  @joebuddejr The biggest pro is able to gather expertise from outside your organization and possibly outside your field

jhillohio also said a con of twitter was:  @joebuddejr the biggest con is the spam porn followers.  (Editor’s note: I must say I have never had this issue, twitter usually deletes spam accounts quickly!)

Best response of the day:

A former joebuddejr.com guest blogger, life_enthusiast said:  @joebuddejr Biggest plus I see on Twitter – I get to play with some seriously awesome people all day long. The community Rocks!

What are your reasons twitter rocks? or why does twitter stink?

Post from: Joe Budde Jr. More about social media and Joe can be found at his blog.

Pros and Cons of Twitter

Little Traverse Bay and Nubs Nob in lights

Last weekend, I remembered just how much I love to ski.

My wife and I, my friend Matt and his wife, all went up to Harbor Springs, Michigan to ski for the weekend.  While there, eating lunch in a packed Boyne Highlands lodge, I was suprised to look over to see an old friend from college sitting there eating lunch with her husband.  We had a great reunion and got to chat for a few minutes, which was wonderful.  It was right then and there I decided that everyone needs to be on a location or travel aware social network. YES! GO SIGN UP NOW!

Where Do I Sign Up?

I am glad you are reading this because I can tell you a few location and travel related social networks to rush out and sign up for. 

Travel Related

Tripit – This is @khit ’s favorite service. It’s for the traveler who uses itineraries from companies and wants an easy way to track where you are, and when your friends will be there too!  LinkedIn also has a widget you can add of your travels.

Dopplr – Its alot like Tripit, but the cool part here is that they give you a year end summary of your travel. You can see an example by looking at Obama and McCain’s travel schedules from last year.

Location Related

Loopt - It can tell you when friends are close by to your phone and if you want, when strangers are as well. Random meetups? Yes please!

Google Latitude – Googles new offering lets you know where your friends are based on their phones location.

Moximity – Makes things easier by pulling in your friends from your existing social network relationships on facebook or twitter vs. the hassle other location aware networks have by creating new friends within moximity.

Whrrl – This one focuses more on reviews of close by eateries than it does on finding close friends. I respect a great dive of a food joint, so if you are a foodie, I’d go here first.

Where – This is an iPhone app that more or less does everything you can think of related to your location. If you are one for gizmos and gadgets, this app is for you!

Conclusion

So now that you know where to head for these crazy fun location aware, location based, and travel related social networks, Go Join Em!

Hopefully we can meet up soon!

Post from: Joe Budde Jr. More about social media and Joe can be found at his blog.

Travel and Location Aware Social Networks

• Don’t hold contests on friday evenings. Typically, the only comment you’ll get is from the founder of the company you are talking about.
• Not posting over the holidays hurts your views. I know I should prepare my blog for christmas, but hey, its my first year blogging and I dropped the ball. I can assure you, come next december, I will be prepared!
• Twitter and FriendFeed are distracting to bloggings essence: thinking, composing and analyzing. A super smart guy named Ben said it best:

“Blogging is the single most effect way of getting your message out, building reputation, creating authority and demonstrating thought leadership.”

• When you have a post idea, save a draft, or make a note.  Writing one point is not enough. Writing the main idea and three points with it makes pounding out a post come much easier. 

Am I missing something here?  And what have you learned in your blogging experiences?

Post from: Joe Budde Jr. More about social media and Joe can be found at his blog.

Lessons Learned after Blogging for a Year

The 80/20 rule applies for websites too.  Especially ones who have potential to share a truck load of content.  We should be spending 80 percent of our time getting content out the door, and 20% on technical implementation.  Content on websites helps you connect with your audience and engage them in conversation as well as keep them informed.

So what did I suggest to my friend?  I told him to keep the existing website for now and cross-integrate the old content with the new using a content management system, which just so happens to be what I use; a free blogging software called Wordpress.  But I didn’t want to send him on his way without a few tips, so here they are for all you!

1. Consider using the blog to replace the site

Is your current site have so much content it is just too much to change? If yes, just add the blog on, if no, seriously consider using a blogging platform to manage your content.  Lots of people are using wordpress as a content management system for their entire site. 

2. Enable your colleagues to create content

Wordpress lets you have many different logins. Don’t waste them!  Give your boss and your coworkers a log in so they can help write posts!  Make sure they understand how it works, and use the permissions to let them write, but not publish, so as the administrator you can control where the content goes!

3. Think of the site as the communications platform

If your organization is currently making fliers and PDFs for delivery via attachments on emails you are behind the times!  Use that content to create blog posts and then an email news letter linking to the content you have been creating.  Snail mail is good for PDFs, email is not.  Technologies like RSS and content management systems make a great starting point for newsletters and communicating with constituents.

4. Start off with some solid content before going live

Problogger tells us we should have at least five posts created before we launch a blog.  It takes some work setting up a blog so don’t let all that pain be for no gain.  Many folks are just interested in starting a blog just because, make sure you have a purpose behind it. 

5. Put the word out – Let them know its there!

I am sure you put a ton of time into getting your blog set up and ready to go, so don’t let it sit in the background!  Put a link on your sites homepage, nay a link, a HUGE button!  Also, let folks know in real life. Put it on your business cards, your email signature, everywhere your website is, hustle your blog!  Let your customers know that they can interact with you!

With five tips you can only get so far.  What would you have suggested to my friend?  What have you suggested before?

Post from: Joe Budde Jr. More about social media and Joe can be found at his blog.

Five Things to Know when Adding a Blog to an Exisiting Website

But how can web based tools be utilized at other levels of government?  One great example of the use of online tools with a social aspect is the state  of Kansas’ transportation department website: Kansas T LINK Calculator. 

The calculator lets “you to create your own theoretical Kansas transportation program [by] developing [a] budget by making assumptions about current funding sources and choosing from a variety of potential new funding options [and]  allocate funding on a variety of transportation modes.”

Basically the calculator lets you adjust where the money comes from and where it goes to in transportation policy by adjusting many different assumptions to achieve your personal best policy plan for the department.  The site then lets you submit your plan so that the department can gauge public sentiment and understand the user’s values and priorities for setting policy.

It is a specific and real way that you can engage a specific state agency and provide feedback.  The transparency President Obama jives on is one concept that lines directly to the principles of Gen Y and the relationship revolution.

I can’t wait to see how the government begins utilizing online tools as a way to increase efficiency and transparency to the government services area. 

How do you think the government can get online and increase interaction, transparancy, and effeciency?  The comments section is yours!

Post from: Joe Budde Jr. More about social media and Joe can be found at his blog.

Social Media at the White House and at the State House