Email Marketing and Social Media for NonProfits

Jill Bastian Training and Education Manager Follow VR @VR4SmallBiz

Agenda
Email marketing for Non-profits Content ideas for your email Social Media for Non-profits Resources Q&A

Why Have an Email

Emails build relationships, retention and loyalty It helps grow your organization & get referrals Stay in front of your audience Send reminder emails as events near Establish yourself as an expert Promote your products & services Send thank you emails to keep in touch and get referrals

Anatomy of Email Marketing!

A list of people who want to hear from you (opted in of course!) Find the goal or objective for your email Create and send your email Your recipients open and read your email Your message is compelling and they take action after reading your email* Reporting metrics measure the effectiveness of your email to help send out more successful emails in the future

Non-Prot Call-to-Action!
Donation to your non-profit Advocate for specific legislation send an email to politicians, sign a petition, etc. Call for volunteers Donation to other related organizations Attend an event Buttons.verticalresponse.com

Building Your Mailing List

Quality Lists are NOT built in a Day!
Leverage existing network Customers past/current

Build & Grow

Constant process You can lose up to 28% of your list each year to attrition Purchased lists arent a good way to start a relationship

Give Then What You Promised

Relevant content Frequency at least once a month

No purchased or rented lists!

Be Good to Those Sign Ups!!

Mail regularly at least once per month Send what you promise! Adopt an email privacy policy - Fear that their email addresses will be sold is one of the reasons people dont give out their email addresses to non-profits. Respect all unsubscribes - Its better to lose a subscriber than to be marked as a spammer.

Basics of Email Design

Design for quick downloading not too many images Make it easy on the eyes Arial, Times New Roman & Verdana fonts Use reverse text sparingly Dont do this. Avoid text over distracting backgrounds Emphasize with bold Italics are hard to read online Underline text often mistaken for a link Less is More, Keep it Simple

Content Basics
Keep readers coming back for more Limit to 3 to 5 topics/articles Include links! Personalize your message Assist in scanning Bold headlines and keywords Bullets Whitespace is a good thing Columns

Getting Started - Ideas for Inspiration

Anything New? Any Advice? Stories to Tell? Exclusive Content? Got Any Advertising?

Content Ideas!
Success Stories - Report back to your donors and supporters on what you are doing with the money raised by sharing some success stories. Behind the Scenes - Tell stories and report back on what your organization is doing from an insiders perspective. Thank Yous You can send out an email follow-up thanking people for donating time or money. And if you send out a newsletter give a shout out to those who helped at a recent event. Whats Up Next Remind your supporters whats happening in the next few days or weeks. If you have a big event coming up in a few months, create intermediate dates of importance such as early bird discounts, or a sneak peak at keynote speakers, to create interest and a sense of urgency. Inspiring How-Tos - Give your supporters some suggestions and show them the impact that their actions can have, even when they arent at a volunteer event.

More Content Ideas!

Take Action - Email is great for asking people to take action on an issue, whether its completing an online petition, emailing a member of Congress, or donating to a specific fundraising campaign. Be sure to include specific and easy instructions on how to do just that. Include People - Include your staff, donors, volunteers, clients and others by name in your articles. Go beyond the text and show your readers whos talking and who you are talking about. Tell stories - Use them in your emails to engage your donors in what you do, to inspire them to do more, and to encourage more word-of-mouth marketing on your behalf.

Real Life Examples!

By using email marketing for an annual conference PEAK saw pre-registeration numbers go way up and printing and mailing costs go down. Large increase in on-line donations using emails for Buddy Walk VR reports make data collection for grant writing and grant reporting a breeze

Social Media

!!

You never know who your friends are! - Julie Harmon, PEAK Parent and Colorado Springs Down Syndrome Association

Social Media: Simpler Than You Think

Strategy: Conquer 2-3 Social Platforms
Save time by getting the most out of your social presence
- Choose platforms best suited to your objectives
What are you hoping to get out of your efforts? Recruiting volunteers, spurring activism, donor appeals

- Choose platforms where your supporters already are

Survey them Test platforms for most engagement Search - if the conversation is already happening, become a part of it!

Dont be afraid to ask for advice

Universal Social Media Strategies

Be consistent! - Users constantly consume so content gets stale quickly Listen, respond, and converse - Dont be afraid to take it offline Moderate as little as possible - By publicly (and gracefully!) handling feedback, you gain more than you lose People like to share make it easy - Share Buttons for your website, blog & emails - VR Social Sharing Feature Content cant be all about you - Tap into your audiences interests Dont silo social media and email

Most Importantly
Promote your social presence across all your marketing channels
- Email, traditional, cross-platform - Your supporters cant find you if they dont know youre there

But
Dont just lead with the ask, give them a reason why
- Social media exclusives, up-to-date news, giveaways, free downloads/ white papers, expert knowledge

Content: Use What Youve Got!

Promote your page to current customers: send an email, put links in emails & blog, website etc. Post often, with relevant & useful material that you already have:
- Hosted link of your emails - Twitter messages - Videos & photos - Statistics - Program success stories

Content: Next Steps

Encourage a community environment
- Ask questions - Post to other fan pages - Include calls to action whenever possible
Likes and shares User generated content videos, pictures, etc Polls and questions

- Incentivize engagement
Contests, events, features

- Enable newsletter sign-ups

Get creative with tabs and visual layout

Relevant news Engaging content

Tag other pages

Share others status

Facebook Tools for Success

Leverage tools for data and efciency:"
- Facebook Insights"
Gauge the success of your page & develop a plan"

- Compare traction and activity across different posts/ types of content" - Update on the go with a mobile app"
Real-world happenings provide an ongoing stream of new content"

- Facebook non-prot resources" - Social plugins" - Use apps for enhanced functionality & custom tabs"

Facebook Non-Profit Resource Page

Twitter Tips
Repurpose content whenever possible: - Tweet your emails via the Social Sharing feature - Tweet blog posts, org news, fundraising drives, etc - Share media that you consume as well
Industry trends and studies Relevant blog posts and articles Twitter is a news source for many

- Follow people and orgs you like for good content, and retweet them often - Thank people for mentioning you & RT positive mentions! - Thank followers when they RT you
People love to be acknowledged

Tips To Increase Engagement

Listen! Be consistent
- Supporters dont follow if you dont update

Make the most out of every tweet:

- Use hashtags (#) - Be relevant & timely - Dont be too promotional - Ask for RTs

Ask questions and initiate a dialogue Search for conversations you can add value to

Twitter Tools For Success

Measure engagement "
- RTs, mentions, follower retention - not just follower count"

Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, Seesmic:"

- Search for brand name, mentions, keywords & hashtags" - Schedule tweets & have members of your team collaborate"

Tweet Meme, Trendistic, Twitscoop "

- Find useful Twitter trends and hashtags"

Klout, Twitter Grader, Twitter Counter, Tweetstats"

- Measure engagement and your own Twitter activity "

WeFollow, Twellow"
- Twitter account directories"

Resources
VR Non-profit program - http://www.verticalresponse.com/non-profit/pricing Promote Your Non-Profit Freely! Help Site help.verticalresponse.com Free Recorded Webinars Free Guides www.verticalresponse.com/education-support/guides 50 Ways to Grow Your Email List 5 Steps to Newsletter Success Get Social and Get Results NTEN Benchmark study http://www.nten.org/research/2011-enonprofit-benchmarks-study Social media resources for NPO - www.johnhaydon.com - www.bethkanter.org - www.nonprofitfacebookguy.com