How to Craft a Strategic Nonprofit Online Communications Plan - First Half

Nonprofit Capacity Series
2016-2017
In partnership with
Hosted by the
Nonprofit Capacity Program

Nonprofit Capacity Series
December 14, 2016 Strategic Nonprofit Communications
Trainer: Julia Campbell
January 12, 2017 Strategic Financial Management for Nonprofits
Trainer: Gretchen Upholt
February 15, 2017 Technology Literacy for Leaders
Trainer: Jenn Taylor
March 16, 2017 Fundraising 1.0 (1/2 day) and Grant Writing (1/2 day)
Trainer: Jenn Hayslett
Questions/Assistance:
Michael DeChiara mdechiara@communityfoundation.org 413-732-2858
Margaret Everett meverett@communityfoundation.org 413-732-2858
• All sessions to be held at Hadley Farms Meeting House, Hadley
• Session duration approximately 9:00am to 4:00pm, unless otherwise noted

About Julia Campbell
 I have worked in the nonprofit sector as
a one-woman development and
marketing shop.
 I have worked with small, mid-size, and
large nonprofit organizations.
 I am publishing a book storytelling and
social media (and working on one about
online fundraising).
 I have created online and social media
storytelling programs for my clients,
with much success!

Learning Objectives
 Create a useable Online Communications Plan to focus your message
and prioritize your tasks;
 Draft an Editorial Calendar with a month’s worth of content you can
tailor to your nonprofit;
 Review the metrics that matter and create a Measurement Spreadsheet
to ensure that you are consistently working towards your goals;
 Learn how digital and visual storytelling tactics such as photos, videos,
and infographics can help your nonprofit cut through the clutter;
 Answer your questions about using paid advertising on social media;
 Explore low-cost and free graphic design and video-sharing tools you
can start using today.

 Right message
 Right people
 Right time
 Successful communications result in
an action.
(c) 2016 JCSM www.jcsocialmarketing.com
What is Marketing/Communications?
6

Marketing is finding more people to
pay attention to your cause, and
creating a compelling message to get
them interested.
Fundraising is asking for financial
investment in your organization, and
then building a relationship with the
donor after their initial gift.
Marketing vs. Fundraising
7

The State of Online Communications
Reference: Nonprofit Marketing Guides’ 2016 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report
11

12

13

Reference: 2016 Global NGO Online Technology Report
14

The Reality of Online Communications
 Organic (unpaid) reach is way, way down.
 There is no more free lunch.
 It takes time to be successful on social media and in all online
communications.
 There are many, many, many more distractions to cut through –
think about how YOU consume information and how you use social
media.

Success Requires That…
You become a storytelling
organization.
You stop being organization-centric
and become DONOR-centric.
You incorporate video and visuals
into all communication channels.

Success Requires That…
You always provide value in all your
external communications to
supporters.
You need to be more entertaining
to get people’s attention.
You think in micro-content terms –
“snackable” content.

The 3 Pillars of A Successful
Communications Strategy
Diversification Dedication Dynamic Content

Diversification of Channels
 Communicate with supporters via multiple channels
 Actively use at least 2 social media networks
 Find out where your people are –
be active on those channels!
 Which do they prefer?
 Online does not replace traditional
methods of communication (in-person,
meetings, events)
www.jcsocialmarketing.com @JuliaCSocial

Diversification of Content
 Mix up the content that you post
 Post more frequently
 Video
 Photos
 Articles
 Infographics
 Stories

Dedication
 Don’t give up too easily
 Build trust and affinity
 Spend time interacting
 Address comments
 Answer questions
 Interact with followers
 Don’t set it and forget it

Dedication
 No more free lunch
 Post frequently
 Spend money on advertising
 Try new things

Dynamic Content
 Provide value
 Make it interesting
 Be entertaining
 Share useful info
 Be helpful

Dynamic Content
 What will people share?
 Why do people share?

Goals & Objectives
 Goals are the long-term, overall successes we wish to create with our
communications efforts.
 Objectives are SMART - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic
and Time-scaled. Typically there are multiple objectives for each goal.

Goals & Objectives
When creating goals and objectives, ask:
 Why are we doing this?
 What is the point?
 How will we know when we have succeeded?
 What can we measure that will indicate success (or at least
movement in the right direction)?

Examples of Nonprofit Goals
 To establish our CEO as a thought leader in the field of chronic
veteran homelessness.
 To increase awareness of and interest in our new training program.
 To increase interest in our cause with new potential donors.

Examples of SMART Objectives
Goal: To establish our CEO as a thought leader in the field of chronic
veteran homelessness.
SMART Objectives:
By the end of March 2017, we will have:
 25% increased readership on her blog
 4 media placements/interviews
 25% increased engagement on her Twitter account (retweets,
mentions, favorites)

Goal: To increase awareness of and interest in our new training
program.
SMART Objectives:
 25% increased email inquiries about the training program
 10 new leads for our training program
 25% increased engagement on our social media accounts when we
post about the new training program

Goal: To increase interest in our cause with new potential donors.
SMART Objectives:
 50% increased website traffic
 25% increased email newsletter sign-ups
 25% increased fans/followers on our social media accounts
 25% increased shares on our online content, spreading our message
to new networks/audiences

Think of ONE immediate goal for your organization’s
communication efforts and think of TWO SMART objectives
you can measure that would show success toward achieving
that goal.

Benefits of Defining A Target Audience
Why you must identify a target audience for each of
your online communication goals:
 You will spend your limited resources and TIME
more efficiently.
 You will create a deeper level of engagement on
social networks.
 More people will be able to find you because you
will know exactly what keywords and search terms
to use!

Target Audience
 Who do you need to reach to accomplish your goal?
 What are some common characteristics of this audience?
 What else are they passionate about and interested in?
 Where do they like to spend their time, online and off?

Message
 What message will resonate with this
audience?
 In their words - why do they say they like
working with you, donating to you,
volunteering with you?
 What would help them take the action that
we want them to take?
 What would happen if you closed your doors
tomorrow?
 What sets you apart from your competitors?
 What do you do best?

1) Think of three characteristics of your target audience and
three potential ways to reach them.
2) Answer this question: “What would happen if you close your
doors tomorrow?” Pretend you are speaking to a member of
the community who is not familiar with your organization.

Tools & Technology – The Sexy Part!

Tools & Technology
 Which tools will help us reach our target audience and help us
accomplish our objectives?

Tools & Technology
 Blogging is great for building a
reputation as a thought leader,
increasing website traffic, and sharing
longer, visual stories with donors.
 Social media is great for commenting
on current events, asking
immediate/urgent advocacy actions,
sharing brief stories through photos
and videos, and acknowledging
supporters.

Tools & Technology
 Email works well for fundraising and
relationship building.
 Events work well to connect with
supporters in-person.
 Brochures and reports work well for
in-person visits and meetings.
 Direct mail works well for once or
twice annual fundraising appeals.

What Tasks Are Necessary?
 25% increased readership on her blog
 Write 2 blog posts per week.
 Create a sharing strategy to share her blog posts with all social
networks.
 4 media placements/interviews
 Create Twitter list of reporters and contact them directly.
 25% increased engagement on her Twitter account (retweets,
mentions, favorites)
 Tweet 5x per day about issues relevant to chronic homelessness and
veterans issues.

 25% increased email inquiries about the training program
 Create a landing page with a contact form on our website.
 Pay for social media advertising that leads to this landing page.
 10 new leads for our training program
 Create a special committee to contact potential partners.
 Go through the database and reach out to past customers, asking them
for testimonials and referrals.

 25% increased engagement on our social media accounts
when we post about the new training program
 Post daily on all of our social media accounts.
 Actively tag, retweet, share, and comment on the content of others.
 Look at analytics to see what types of content get the most
engagement.

 50% increased website traffic
 Start a blog and post regularly.
 Purchase social media advertising that leads to the website.
 25% increased email newsletter sign-ups
 Put a pop-up on the site to capture emails from website visitors.
 Purchase social media advertising that leads to email sign-up.

 25% increased fans/followers on our social media accounts
 Purchase social media advertising to get more fans/followers.
 25% increased shares on our online content, spreading our
message to new networks/audiences
 Start a Social Media Ambassador program.

List at least THREE online tools that you can use to help you
accomplish your SMART objectives.

Hierarchy of Online Tools
1) Website – HUB of all communications, off and online
2) Email – to stay top of mind, to fundraise
3) Blog – for search engines, to house your long-form evergreen
content, to encourage people to sign up for email
4) Social media – to stay top of mind, to share stories and photos, to
build trust and affinity, to encourage others to spread the word

How to Use Your Nonprofit Website
The best nonprofit websites:
 Have eye-catching, colorful photos
 Showcase authentic stories
 Are laser-focused on an action
 Capture information from their visitors
(sign a petition, sign up for our email
list, donate now)

Examples of Great Nonprofit Websites
http://www.linkhouseinc.org
http://acumen.org/
http://www.bmcstories.org

Even Small Nonprofits Can Do This!
 Focus your website on stories and photos.
 Cut out all the clutter and unnecessary information.
 Streamline and cut out unnecessary information.
 Use a low-cost/free solution like WordPress and SquareSpace so
you can manage the website, instead of a tech person.
 Look at your website analytics (Google Analytics is a free tool you
can use) to see what your website visitors are interested in. What
pages do they visit most?

Your Website is an Employee
 It needs to work for you!
 Write a “job description” for your website. What do you want it to
do for your organization? What benefits should it provide?
 Give your website benchmarks to reach and evaluate it’s
performance every 3 months.

No, Email is NOT Dead
56% of emails are now opened on
a mobile device and the number
one activity on smartphones is
reading email, not gaming or
social networking.
Resource:
https://litmus.com/blog/tag/stats-2

Email Has High ROI
 For every 1,000 fundraising emails
delivered in 2015, nonprofits received $44
in revenue.
 Email revenue grew by 25% in 2015,
faster than the 19% overall rate of online
revenue growth.
Reference: 2016 M+R Benchmarks Study

How to Use Your Email List
 Use your email marketing and
fundraising campaigns to tell stories and
show your subscribers the impact of your
work!
 Do not just use it to ask for money.
 REMEMBER: “People are invisible until
they are visible again.” – Chris Brogan

Examples of Great Nonprofit Emails

Think Mobile When Writing Emails

Ideas for Emails to Send
Online fundraising expert John Haydon recommends sending 5-7
fundraising emails in December. Topic ideas:
 The year in review
 A personal message from the executive director
 The "State of the Union" video message from the CEO
 "Why I give" message from benefactors
 Notable milestones for 2016
 Thank you for everything you've done in 2016
 A matching gift with an expiration date
 Last chance to make an impact in 2016
 Get started early on your 2017 resolutions

Even Small Nonprofits Can Do This!
 Use a low-cost/free solution like MailChimp and Constant Contact
to manage email campaigns and contacts.
 They also have wonderful, easy-to-use email templates for you to
customize!
 Send more emails, especially during December.

How to Use Your Facebook Page
**Facebook is always changing, go to https://nonprofits.fb.com and
https://www.facebook.com/nonprofits for the most up-to-date
info.**

How to Use Your Facebook Page
1. Build awareness by using Facebook posts to tell your story.
2. Share both stories and statistics about how previous donations
have helped your organization create impact.
3. Promote a specific call to action.
4. Encourage supporters to help spread the word.
Think back to the Facebook Ladder of Engagement!

Facebook Best Practices
 Remember that getting immediate post engagement is KEY on
Facebook –likes, comments, shares, clicks on the post.
 Facebook prioritizes friends and family updates over pages.
 Facebook users love video and photos of people. (Think about why
they are on Facebook in the first place!)
 Create each post for maximum engagement.
 Facebook uses engagement as a way to determine whether a post is
relevant to people.

A Word On Social Media
 All social media platforms are their own country.
 They have their own language, etiquette, and best practices.
 Social media is best used to stay top of mind, to tell stories, build trust
and affinity, and to show a human face.
 Actions on social media should drive people to your website and email
list to make deeper, longer-term connections

When Choosing New Platforms
Ask yourself these questions:
1. Is my target audience there?
2. Can I add value on this platform? What
content will I create and share?
3. Do we have the staff capacity to learn the
language and etiquette of a new platform, to
consistently create great content that works
for this platform, to respond to comments, to
actively participate, and to measure and
improve?

10 Best Types of Social Media Content
1. Stories
2. Video
3. Photos
4. Quotes
5. Thank Yous
6. Advocacy
7. Current Events
8. Education
9. Compelling asks
10. Paid social ads

What works:
STORIES

5 Types of Stories
1. Creation Stories
2. Continuous Improvement
Stories
3. Behind-The-Scenes Stories
4. User-Generated Stories
5. Impact Stories
80

1) Creation Stories
 What was the need?
 What is the need now?
 Story of the founders
 The real WHY you exist

Pencils of Promise
It began with a question. A small boy begging in the streets of India.
“What do you want most in the world?”
“A pencil,” he replied.
I reached into my backpack,
handed him my pencil, and
watched as a wave of possibility
washed over him.

2) Resilience Stories
 Continuous improvement
 Show that your org is always
trying to adapt, change, evolve
 Challenges faced
 Mistakes made
 Lessons learned

Resilience Stories
“…Resilience may be an underappreciated quality of organizations in the
social sector. So I’m starting a club for those of us who want to
champion and support them.”
~Darin McKeever, Gates Foundation, on the Tactical Philanthropy blog
http://www.tacticalphilanthropy.com/2010/04/grantmakers-for-
resilient-organizations/

3) Behind-The-Scenes Stories
 Feature donors
 Feature Board members
 Feature staff
 Feature volunteers

Behind-The-Scenes
Carolyn Miles of Save the Children
Pinterest Board:
http://www.pinterest.com/savethec
hildren/carolyn-s-corner/

Behind-The-Scenes Stories

4) User-Generated Stories
(c) 2016 JCSM www.jcsocialmarketing.com http://www.care.org/get-involved/international-womens-day/iamcourage 88

5) Impact Stories
 Showcase the difference you are
making
 Showcase the lives changed
 Doesn’t have to be sugary sweet

Impact Stories
 Always show donors where their
money is going.
 Make them smile when they see the
results their gift helped achieve.
 https://www.facebook.com/
BostonChildrensHospital

What works:
STORIES

What works:
VIDEO

What works:
PHOTOS

What works:
PHOTOS
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/79446380904541754/

What works:
QUOTES

What works:
THANK
YOUS

What works:
ADVOCACY

What works:
CURRENT
EVENTS

What works:
EDUCATION

What works:
COMPELLING
ASKS

What works:
PAID
SOCIAL

1) List THREE ways that you can improve your nonprofit
website, email marketing, and/or Facebook Page.
2) List ONE story type that you are going to collect and tell
in your nonprofit communications.

How to Craft a Strategic Nonprofit Online Communications Plan - First Half

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