Transcript: New from BookNet Canada for 2024: BNC BiblioShare - Tech Forum 2024
Nonprofit Blogging Sexton
1. Blogging for Nonprofits
A hands-on workshop from
the We Are Media Project:
The Social Media
Starter Kit for Nonprofits
Shirley Sexton
Director, Interactive
Marketing and Fundraising
2. Training sponsored by
See3 Communications We Are Media Project
Web Design & resources about social
Development media strategies and
tools for nonprofits
Video Production
Curated by NTEN
Interactive Marketing
www.wearemedia.org
www.see3.net
Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications | Nonprofit Technology Conference 2009
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4/26/09
3. Agenda
Should we blog? How do we blog?
What is it? Choosing Your Topic
The Obstacles Identity Your Team
The Benefits Reading & Commenting
Building Your Blog
Writing and Publishing
Using Graphics
Measuring Progress
Resources
Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications | Nonprofit Technology Conference 2009
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4. Elements of a blog
Opinion
Links
Feed
Tags
Comments
Blogroll
5. Should We blog? What is it?
All blogs feature common elements
Opinion
Chronological Posts
Comments
Blogroll
Tags
Ways to subscribe to content feed
Links
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4/26/09 Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications | Nonprofit Technology Conference 2009
7. Should We blog? The Obstacles
The Inconvenient Truth (to borrow from Gore)
Significant time investment
Corporate tool
Creates (another) data silo
Loss of brand/message control
Most nonprofits have not mastered other
online tactics that will help them more
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4/26/09 Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications | Nonprofit Technology Conference 2009
9. Should we blog? The Benefits
Yes We Can! (to borrow from Obama)
Easy and efficient way to propagate
content across the Internet
Improves ranking in search engines
Demonstrates
accessibility, transparency, and
responsiveness; builds trust
Blogs (or something like it) are becoming
mainstream. Best start practicing (if not on
a blog, then on Facebook or Twitter) 9
4/26/09 Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications | Nonprofit Technology Conference 2009
11. Choosing your topic
• write your org’s mission on index
card
Activity:
• Based on mission, write org’s 3
most critical audiences on 3 cards
Activity: (e.g. donors, activists, volunteers)
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4/26/09 Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications | Nonprofit Technology Conference 2009
12. Choosing your topic
• Build a profile of your target
audience for blog at
Activity: www.forrester.com/Groundswell/profile_tool.html
• View how your target audience
uses social technologies at
Activity: www.forrester.com/Groundswell/ladder.html
Is there a conflict between your plan to blog
and user behavior of your target audience?
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4/26/09 Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications | Nonprofit Technology Conference 2009
13. Choosing your topic
• Write your chosen topic (one) on
the center of an index card
Activity:
• Around your topic, write as many
related words as you can think
Activity: of, be sloppy!
This activity will help you write your blog
title and tags later in the session
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4/26/09 Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications | Nonprofit Technology Conference 2009
15. Assembling Your Team
A blog post is by a person, but an org is
by definition more than one. Build a team
of voices that represent your org:
Program and subject experts
Strong writers
Board or volunteers with name recognition
Service recipients
Blog manager
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4/26/09 Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications | Nonprofit Technology Conference 2009
16. Assembling Your Team
Getting it done:
Assign days of the week, # of posts per
month or other quantitative commitment
Include responsibility in job descriptions
and evaluations
Keep workflow/approval process flat!
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4/26/09 Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications | Nonprofit Technology Conference 2009
18. Reading and Commenting
Ongoing participation by reading and
commenting on other blogs will provide
you with an influx of fresh ideas and info
as well as credibility in the blogosphere.
Define each team member’s “beat”
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4/26/09 Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications | Nonprofit Technology Conference 2009
19. Reading and Commenting
Using RSS “Really Simple Syndication”
One online location to view all the latest
posts from the blogs you subscribe to
• Bloglines account
Demo:
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4/26/09 Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications | Nonprofit Technology Conference 2009
20. Reading and Commenting
Best practices for commenting on blogs
Add value
Establish authority and trust
Identify yourself and org
Trackbacks
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4/26/09 Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications | Nonprofit Technology Conference 2009
22. Building Your Blog
What to include at launch (static elements)
Layout that does not confuse (visual
integration with org’s mail Web site/brand)
Title that attracts search
About page (blog purpose and org mission)
Code of Conduct
Subscription options
Author bios
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4/26/09 Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications | Nonprofit Technology Conference 2009
24. Writing and Publishing
Ready, set, blog!
One online location to view all the latest
posts from the blogs you subscribe to
• Log-in to Wordpress and create
blog post
Activity:
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4/26/09 Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications | Nonprofit Technology Conference 2009
25. Writing and Publishing
What makes a good blog?
Unique opinionated content
Writing style/tone
Focus (one topic, not many)
Frequency
Relevancy
Dialogue
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4/26/09 Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications | Nonprofit Technology Conference 2009
26. Writing and Publishing
What makes a good blog post?
Search friendly title
Short
Personal (from the “I)
Quotes
Questions
Links! Links! Links!
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4/26/09 Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications | Nonprofit Technology Conference 2009
27. Writing and Publishing
Great NPO blog content
Opinion on mission-related national or world
events
Primary research, resources and stories
Requests (info & referral)
Interviews
Reviews (books, movies, etc.)
Lists
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28. Writing and Publishing
Repurpose content
Use Feedburner to push posts out to org’s
Web site, Facebook page and other Web
properties
Micro-blog on Twitter with link to blog post
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4/26/09 Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications | Nonprofit Technology Conference 2009
29. Writing and Publishing
Interacting with your readers
Respond quickly to comments on your
posts
Watch out for trolls!
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4/26/09 Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications | Nonprofit Technology Conference 2009
30. Using Images
Bernat Casero bernatcasero.com 30
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31. Using Images and Videos
Examples to use in blog post
Subject of story
Screen capture of Web page
Logos of orgs/products you’re reviewing
Images to inspire/illustrate point
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4/26/09 Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications | Nonprofit Technology Conference 2009
32. Using Images and Videos
Where to get images and videos
Take your own
Purchase stock like istockphoto.com
Flickr Creative Commons
What is Creative Commons license
Be sure to tag for search engines and
screen readers!
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4/26/09 Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications | Nonprofit Technology Conference 2009
33. Using Images and Video
• Search for image in Flickr with CC
license related to your blog post
Activity: and download to desktop
• Add image to your blog
post, including alt tag
Activity:
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4/26/09 Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications | Nonprofit Technology Conference 2009
35. Measuring Progress
What to measure and how
Comments (Commentful)
Ego feeds (Technorati, Google Alerts)
Blog traffic (Google Analytics)
Traffic sent to org Web site from blog
Measure trends over time, what caused
spikes
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4/26/09 Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications | Nonprofit Technology Conference 2009
37. Must-read online resources
http://www.wearemedia.org (will include this
training)
http://howtoblog.wikispaces.com
http://nonprofitblogexchange.blogspot.com
http://beth.typepad.com
Photos in presentation from Flickr
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
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4/26/09 Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications | Nonprofit Technology Conference 2009
38. Must-read books
Groundswell: Winning in a World
Transformormed by Social Technologies
Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff
Media Rules! Master Today’s Technology
to Connect with and Keep your Audience
Brian Reich and Dan Solomon
The Corporate Blogging Book: Absolutely
Everything You Need to Know
Debbie Weil
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4/26/09 Shirley Sexton | See3 Communications | Nonprofit Technology Conference 2009