What’s the best way to pick the right nonprofit social media to invest in, given limited resources? I’ll tell you the WRONG way: Guessing. I’ll tell you an even worse strategy: Being absent entirely. It’s 2018, and people get there information more and more from online sources. The best way to build your brand and…
About Claire Axelrad
Keeping Up with Nonprofit Content Marketing and Social Media Tools
We’re well into the second decade of the 21st century, yet many nonprofits still operate like it’s 1999. There’s a pervasive anti-technology bias that’s causing well-meaning organizations to shoot themselves in the foot. Why? The reasons I’ve heard from nonprofits include: Technology is expensive. Our current staff doesn’t have technological expertise. We don’t have the…
21st Century Nonprofit Content Marketing & Social Media
By now, whatever your business – for- or non-profit — you shouldn’t have to be persuaded that content marketing and social media are essential strategies to survive and thrive in the current zeitgeist. The digital revolution won. Digital communications are a part of our daily lives. It’s fundamentally changed how people find you and communicate…
Are You a Nonprofit Content Marketing Idiot?
Two of the 7 core strategies nonprofits must master in the post-digital age are: (1) Building a robust content marketing strategy, and (2) Becoming proficient with online social marketing and fundraising. These strategies are equally important and must be integrated. I’ve written numerous times on the subject, both here [see “How to Build a Well-Oiled Nonprofit…
The 9 Signs of a Successful Social Media Strategy for Nonprofits
If you think social media strategy for nonprofits is a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing, think again. Or read Why Schrewd Nonprofit Fundraisers Need to Own Social Media. Ever hear the old advertising adage that folks need to see/hear something at least 7 times before they notice it? Our airspace is so congested…
10 Reasons Nonprofits Should Blog
Does your nonprofit have a blog? If not, why not? A recent 2016 Global NGO Online Technology Report reveals that 45% of North American NGOs have one. Why should you care? Because they’re competing for donors with you — and they’ve got a weapon you don’t have! Actually, I take that back. Let’s not think…
Master Storytelling to Boost Nonprofit Content Marketing
Storytelling today is ‘hot.’ And why not? It’s the fundamental human activity – we even talk to ourselves! We tell ourselves stories all the time to inspire, goad, cheerlead and persuade. “I’ve been knocked down, but I’ll pick myself up.” “This cake will be even better than my mother-in-law’s.” “The deck seems stacked against me,…
6 Ways Nonprofits Can Use Social Media to Strengthen Donor Relationships
To survive and thrive in the current zeitgeist, all nonprofits must master online social fundraising. Why? Because almost everyone – including my 97-year-old father-in-law — is online. And not just for the purpose of trolling the internet or using email. No! People are online to be social. To build and sustain relationships. Per Pew Research,…
Future of Nonprofit Marketing & Fundraising: Technology + Social Tools + People
Wondering where social sector content marketing and fundraising is heading in our post-digital revolution world? I recently listened in to a conversation on the Cause Vox blog on this very subject, and the consensus was this: Bad News/Good News: The fundraising environment is altered. Technology has made it easy to build a well-oiled online content…
How to Build a Well-Oiled Nonprofit Online Content Marketing Strategy
Chances are you have some sort of content marketing and online social engagement strategy in place. Right? Which kind is it? We do stuff pretty randomly. We work according to a plan with stated goals, measurable objectives, and operative strategies. Our plan is a collaboration between development, marketing, program and other executive and administrative staff…
11 Ways Small Nonprofits Can Stand Out Using Social Media
When you’re a small or medium-sized nonprofit, keeping up with all the latest developments on social media can seem daunting. Fear not! You don’t have to do it all. You simply have to do what you do well. So if your social media experience has evolved into something of a runaway train – a little…
Why Nonprofit Fundraisers Need to Own Social Media
The majority of nonprofits are not paying enough attention to social media. This may have been understandable five years ago. Today, it’s just plain dumb. If You’re Absent No one Can See You Nonprofits constantly talk about their need to “build awareness.” In our digital world, it should be patently obvious that if you want…
Social Media: The New Nonprofit Advertising
I worked for 30 years in the nonprofit trenches as a fundraiser and marketer. We rarely went the route of paid advertising. It was just too gosh-darn expensive. Every now and then we’d get a nonprofit rate on a billboard or bus shelter ad, but that was about it. And they were never located in…
Why Nonprofit Content Marketing Should Help; Not Sell
One of my favorite marketing strategists is Jay Baer, author of Youtility. He says the difference between “helping” and “selling’ is only two letters. But what a difference those two letters makes! Sell something and you create a customer today. Help someone and you create a customer for life. If you substitute ‘h’ and ‘p’…
10 Killer Ways to Get Your Nonprofit Shared on Social Media
What do you do when the majority of your audience utters one of these phrases — “I’m swamped… “I’m way behind”… “I’m overloaded”… “My email is out of control…” a half dozen times each day? You have to work around it! Because there’s no stopping it. You receive five times as much information daily as…
Nonprofit Content Marketing, Storytelling & Social Media
The digital revolution has brought about some big changes in how effective nonprofit branding, marketing communications and fundraising is done. If your nonprofit has not yet embraced these changes, you’re going to soon become irrelevant. That would be sad, because it’s eminently avoidable. So… let’s examine three of the memes du jour – (1) content…
Nonprofit Social Media Without a Content Marketing Strategy Sucks
I still see too many nonprofits muddling through social media without any real sense of direction. A Facebook post here. A random tweet there. And not a whole lot else. And if they do use other than the most “normal” sites, their purpose appears decidedly unclear. Very few have given much thought to, let alone…
Messages Nonprofits Can Use to Raise Awareness
Last month I encouraged you to stop focusing on the medium (the package into which you stuff your content) and to begin making the message (the “goods” you have that will be useful and relevant to your target audiences) your center of attention. I told you to stop thinking “marketing communications” and to begin embracing…
How Social Media Toppled the Donor Pyramid – What that Means for Nonprofits
Digital toppled the donor pyramid. Actually, it crumbled it… slowly, surely, until there was nothing left but an empty frame. A triangle on paper. The donors no longer fit inside of it. Now we have a vortex — an energy circle. But first, let’s give a nice eulogy to the golden triangle. The donor pyramid…
Does Your Nonprofit Need a Social Media Manager?
This is a question I’m asked a lot. And for 2013 it’s kind of a funny question. In fact, late last year Mark Schaefer wrote a blog post that had me laughing out loud. He titled it: Your 2013 Social Media Strategy: Grow a Pair. He was writing about for-profits who haven’t a clue where…
How Social Media Complements Nonprofit Donor Moves Management
How can social media complement nonprofit donor moves management? I’ve said this before. It bears repeating. You are stuck. Yes, you. You may have been the best major gift officer on the planet five years ago. But that was then. This is now. The buying/giving market has fundamentally changed. Why it’s the end of business…
24 Ways to Use Pinterest Trends to Drive Fundraising and Cause Awareness
Years ago, while working for a human services agency, I stumbled upon the fact that the most clicked-on item in our e-newsletter was the ‘Recipe of the Month.’ It really had very little to do with our mission, but we wanted to offer something ‘tasty’ that would assure folks opened our emails. The recipes were…
10 Truths about Social Media’s Impact on Nonprofit Fundraising and Marketing
Nonprofits wanting gifts should give them. Relationships work that way. And relationships count for everything. Getting and retaining donors (and, really, any type of constituent) is all about building and stewarding relationships. Satisfying, long-term relationships; not quick transactions. And lasting relationships are measured by the mutually sustaining benefits experienced by all parties over time. Give…