This semester my PR class is working for a client, Safe Harbor. In addition to the Pepsi Refresh Project, the class has split up into groups to produce deliverables for our client. My groups is working on a social media best practices guide including a calendar of when to post to Facebook, Twitter and the blog and a section on how to launch a social media campaign. We are also creating a document with recommendations for their website including the addition of a press room and a discussion forum. The first step in completing these deliverables was research. We looked extensively at Safe Harbor’s Twitter, Facebook and blog. We also looked at other nonprofits and specifically domestic violence shelters to see how Safe Harbor compared to the competition. We found that the American Red Cross was a great example for nonprofit organizations hoping to get involved in social media. This organization is very active with social media and even has a social media plan and how to for its branches. We are using this organization to help us give suggestions to Safe Harbor. Safe Harbor is doing a fairly good job with social media. We have just a few suggestions on how to make their Twitter, Facebook and blog more effective and align them with each other. We think that these social media sites need to be more conversational and work as a team to promote Safe Harbor and domestic violence. Many of our tips include marketing their social media accounts, how to make posts on these sites more strategic and how to increase followers, friends and comments. We hope that our suggestions help Safe Harbor to become more involved and a better networked nonprofit.
Working with Crowds
16 11 2010This chapter discusses how nonprofits can utilize crowds to inexpensively lift some of the weight off the shoulders of staff members. This process is known as crowdsourcing or the process of organizing people to participate in a joint project, often in small ways.
The chapter discusses 4 different types of crowdsourcing:
- Collective intelligence or crowd wisdom: This is the concept that more heads are better than one when it comes to problem solving.
- Crowd creation: crowds can help create original works of knowledge or art
- Crowd voting: crowds love to vote for their favorite things
- Crowd funding: Crowds have a collective pocketbook and can help to fund ideas that benefit others
Working with crowds takes practice and trust. The organization should break their strategic goals into smaller pieces that the crowds can help with. First the organization must make it clear what they want their crowds to accomplish/do. Second, Organizations need to connect with the right crowd for the job. Last, the organization needs to make it clear to the crowd how their input will be used.
After reading this chapter I realized that my Communication class serves as a crowd for Safe Harbor. They have given us small goals that they would like accomplished and then have given us the freedom to expand and add to these goals. Safe Harbor has a lot of trust in our class and has allowed us to act as free agents on their behalf. I would categorize our crowdsourcing as collective intelligence, crowd creation and crowd voting. We are creating content for them to use, collectively solving problems on their behalf as well as voting for them to win a $25,000 Pepsi Refresh Grant. This semester Safe Harbor has benefitted greatly from crowdsourcing.
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Tags: crowdsourcing
Categories : Reading Notes
Pepsi Refresh Project: Do Some Good
8 11 2010The Pepsi Refresh Project is a single year-long marketing campaign that was launched January 2010. Instead of participating in Super Bowl advertising, Pepsi has allocated that money to embark on this project. By the end of the year Pepsi estimates that it will have given $20 million in grant money to winners of each monthly competition. I think this has been a bold and successful strategy for Pepsi. It has used this online campaign to build new relationships and strong ties with the groups who have received the grants. To read more check out this article.
Our class is competing to win $25,000 for Safe Harbor, our class client. We are utilizing all of our social networks to ask friends, family and acquaintances to vote for our project. If we win we will use to money to purchase new mattresses, carpet and playground equipment for the 2 shelters located in upstate South Carolina. To learn more about our project and to vote please visit: http://www.refresheverything.com/studentsforsafeharbor
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Categories : Personal
Building Trust through Transparency
8 11 2010Transparency is one of the hardest things for organizations to embrace, but also one of the most important if the organization wants to embrace a larger network of individuals and organizations. Transparency is a way of thinking and being for organizations. It is often very difficult for organizations to embrace being transparent because they do not want to reveal their mistakes and flaws to their audiences. Also, being transparent allows someone to say anything they want about the organization and everyone can see it. This chapter compares a transparent organization to a sponge. The organization is anchored, clear about what they do and know what they want to accomplish. They let people in and out easily and both are enriched by this ebb and flow.
Transparency builds trust. It allows audience members to learn whatever they want about an organization. It allows audience members to trust the organization because they are not hiding anything from them. In addition to building trust, being transparent takes a lot of trust by the organization. The organization has to trust that by being transparent its audience members will not be out to get them. In a sense the organization needs to jump off the edge and hope that its audience members will be their to catch them and support them.
However, transparency can be difficult for some organizations because of the line of work they do. For example Safe Harbor, a domestic violence shelter, would have a much a harder time being completely transparent because it needs to protect the confidentiality of its clients. It can be transparent in other ways. For instance, a news room on its website with fact sheets, press releases, photos, ect. would help audience members have better insight into this organization. Also, I think Safe Harbor can be more transparent by sharing success stories of clients and by allowing a place for people to comment. These would offer transparency while still protecting the safety and confidentiality of its clients.
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Tags: transparency, trust
Categories : Reading Notes
Learning Loops
16 11 2010This chapter discusses learning loops and how nonprofit organizations can use this to help them elicit social change. Learning loops monitor and analyze a process as it unfolds. Learning loops involve tracking, monitoring and reflection of a project. There are different steps in the process of learning loops. These include:
I found this chapter particularly helpful. My group is designing a Social Media How To Guide for Safe HArbor. In this guide we are including tips for Twitter, Facebook and blogs. The section that discusses measurement and engagement on blogs is very helpful to organizations that are just getting their feet wet in the social media world. I am going to incorporate these tips into our How To Guide. Also, I found this blog post on generating comments, which the chapter states is the easiest way to measure engagement, very helpful. Please visit this post to learn more about increasing comments and online engagement.
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Tags: comments, measurement, online engagement, social media
Categories : Reading Notes