My group and I are piecing together the final details of our project and to say that I am happy with the results would be an understatement. I am proud that my group members were able to remain calm amongst changing project assignments, dysfunctional computer programs and balancing a social life/other classes; could this situation be more real life?
After meeting today to discuss our presentation, I am confident with what we put together. We all wish the client, Safe Harbor, could be in attendance so that we could receive immediate feedback from our most important audience, but at this point, we believe we have produced something to be proud of and are happy to share it with anyone that will listen!
In addition, I am really excited to see what the other groups in my class have produced. I know they have been working as hard as we have and have run into their own problems as well. Judging by track record, I am pretty sure their end results will be fabulous.
All in all, I have really enjoyed this class and working with a legit client. I know feel somewhat experienced and not as if I am entering the working world blindfolded. Do I have a career in non profit communication? Who knows. Am I ready for it? Yup.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Sailing Around Safe Harbor
Our class' interaction with the non profit Safe Harbor this semester has been anything but ordinary. I like this fact, though. Because in the real world, no business relationship is perfect and you can never be
quite sure what the day may bring.
I really appreciated this project that our class took on. Dealing with a real-life client made this class less textbook and more hands on. Because we had actual clients to report back to, we couldn't slack off on assignments or put forth half effort performances. Timeliness regarding emails and dues dates became much more important. My group was assigned the task of generating the Safe Harbor Christmas mailer. Because the Christmas season comes once a year--and certainly flies by--it was pertinent that we get a draft done, sent out for approval and allow ourselves time to make necessary changes. By the request of Safe Harbor, we were asked to make some adjustments to our first draft. We were also inconvenienced by several technical difficulties with Adobe and Photoshop--all real life dilemmas.
I have learned first hand how you will be held accountable by your clients and rightfully so. Hearing Becky and Samantha speak about Safe Harbor was a fantastic way to start our projects because you could really see that they cared about the cause and their organization. Like our textbooks recommended, Safe Harbor was emphasizing a story and immediacy. By reaching out to our class for extra help, they were utilizing their resources/networks.
I think this experience was extremely valuable from both standpoints. We were able to get a glimpse into how real partnerships work as well as the strategic moves of an organization/business.
A 'Refreshing' Take on Social Media
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| http://dlburnes.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/ |
Facebook was definitely the most beneficial tool. I found it addicting to see how many of my "friends" were going to attend to event created as well as how many "liked" Safe Harbor. It was funny that I never had a conversation about the project with my friends before the Facebook event was created, but after the invitations were sent, many of my friends brought it up in conversation claiming, "I voted for your class!"
I also heard several circumstances where people saw the event/link/status update on friends walls and decided to pass the news on to other outside parties because they thought they would be interested. Social networking at it's finest!
Aside from Twitter and Facebook, we made use of emails. While a more ancient form, it's still social networking nonetheless. Contacts are endless when sending emails are it is sent directly to your audience, so you can be almost certain they will see it (unless they are rude and delete unread mail!) Anyhow, we sent out numerous batches of emails: some formal, some casual, some brief, some lengthy. It's important to tailor your message to the specific audience. Some people don't have time to read a detailed message, whereas others may not consider helping you out unless they know exactly what they are dealing with.
Had we not spent significant class time planning and crafting the most strategic messages and avenues, I don't think we would have seen as much success was we did. While the outcome was not ideal, we were still in the top half of entries-that's pretty impressive! In this day and age, little can be tackles successfully without the help of social media.
Friends that Fund and the Importance of Governance
One way to judge an organization on this is through their use of Facebook and Twitter. Do they allow audiences to write on their Facebook wall? Do they respond to inquiries? Do they tweet back at followers? Just because an organization has a Facebook page does not make them involved with their audience. A sincerity must be present to be taken seriously and to be respected. This interaction also helps to build an organizations credibility.
I found chapter ten to be quite repetitive, but I think it's due to the importance of the message. Today's non profits need to be open to the changes in today's world if they want to gain the audience and donations they are seeking, ultimately making an impact in their overall cause. Non profits are not increasing the number of donations received because they are not taking advantage of the benefits social media can provide. It's also crucial that these organizations start to reach out to the younger generations. Reason one being they are they future. If they deem a cause important now, there are more chances that they will continue to support said cause throughout their lives. Also, the younger audiences are those who are active in social media and who use it to actually seek out information.
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| http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/ 2010/11/03/everything-you-need-to-know-about- todays-facebook -announcements/ |
These donations just don't happen, though. It's crucial that an organization develops a relationship with its audience and donors. These relationships take time and definitely more energy from the organization's side. Your non profit needs to look at partners as people, not just a dollar bills. Often times partners can add a lot to an organization's details rather than through monetary support. These contributions are even sometimes more important. To do this, it's important to establish 2-way conversations with partners and donors. If they feel like they truly play a role in an organization, their dedication will increase drastically.
Credibility is huge in the world of non profits. If an organization's reputation in questionable, why would someone trust them enough to hand money over? It just won't happen.
Governing boards within non profits need to follow the lead of social media. The traditional avenues of governing boards will no longer be effective in today's world. One common trend seen is that current board members recruit their friends to the board. Boards then become like-minded cliques, which is never good for an organization, non profit or not. These boards should be networked and conducted mostly online so an increased number of individuals have access and can donate their input. All of this will increase an organization's chances of becoming transparent, which is another avenue to increase credibility.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Connecting with the Crowd: Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing.
According to The Networked Nonprofit, "crowdsourcing is the process of an organizing many people to participate in a joint project, often in small ways. The results are greater than an individual or an organization could have accomplished alone."
This concept is very common in this day and age, one that is dominated by the influence of social media. I found it very interesting to apply this concept to our class's current partnership with Safe Harbor.
WHY?
Safe Harbor has reached out to our class as a resource. They wanted to gain intelligence or crowd wisdom. When an organization does this, they are basically in search of a melting pot of ideas. It is common sense that ideas from a group of people will be more affective than a singular individual or organization. Crowd creation means crowds can create their own--original--works of knowledge. Crowd voting definitely applies to our situation. In out partnership with Safe Harbor, we are reaching out to extended crowds to gain votes. Granted these votes are not geared to provide Safe Harbor with knowledge on how to improve their trade, but they are still votes from an assortment of crowds working towards a certain outcome.
WHAT?
Once you have establish an extended crowdsource, it's important to utilize this crowd effectively and not waste any assistance they are able to provide. What do you want your crowd to do? Safe Harbor wanted us to 1. initiate an entry for the Pepsi Refresh Grant 2. create a video for the Web site/youtube 3. create Christmas mailers 4. improve the organizations use of social media. Within our first task, we had to reach out to additional crowdsources in order to achieve as many votes as possible. In this case, we wanted our crowds to vote daily as well as pass the word along to friends and family.
WHO?
It is also pivotal so establish which crowds are the most fitting. We, a Comm Studies/pr class, was a perfect fit for Safe Harbor. We are young and have grown up utilizing social media. Also, we are constantly learning about how to reach crowds, the best communication tactics and best of all, we're free!
We, as a class, had to find the best crowds to reach out to for Pepsi Refresh votes. Who is going to care? Who is going to take the time to vote everyday? Who won't care? After much thought, we were able to establish a handful of crowds both on and off campus that seemed to be promising allies.
Crowdsourcing is a crucial tool in the business world today, especially the world on non profits. It provides willing sources that want to help and will help to the best of their ability. It would be in the best interest of any non profit to take advantage of this phenomenon that social media has bestowed upon us.
According to The Networked Nonprofit, "crowdsourcing is the process of an organizing many people to participate in a joint project, often in small ways. The results are greater than an individual or an organization could have accomplished alone."
This concept is very common in this day and age, one that is dominated by the influence of social media. I found it very interesting to apply this concept to our class's current partnership with Safe Harbor.
WHY?
Safe Harbor has reached out to our class as a resource. They wanted to gain intelligence or crowd wisdom. When an organization does this, they are basically in search of a melting pot of ideas. It is common sense that ideas from a group of people will be more affective than a singular individual or organization. Crowd creation means crowds can create their own--original--works of knowledge. Crowd voting definitely applies to our situation. In out partnership with Safe Harbor, we are reaching out to extended crowds to gain votes. Granted these votes are not geared to provide Safe Harbor with knowledge on how to improve their trade, but they are still votes from an assortment of crowds working towards a certain outcome.
WHAT?
Once you have establish an extended crowdsource, it's important to utilize this crowd effectively and not waste any assistance they are able to provide. What do you want your crowd to do? Safe Harbor wanted us to 1. initiate an entry for the Pepsi Refresh Grant 2. create a video for the Web site/youtube 3. create Christmas mailers 4. improve the organizations use of social media. Within our first task, we had to reach out to additional crowdsources in order to achieve as many votes as possible. In this case, we wanted our crowds to vote daily as well as pass the word along to friends and family.
WHO?
It is also pivotal so establish which crowds are the most fitting. We, a Comm Studies/pr class, was a perfect fit for Safe Harbor. We are young and have grown up utilizing social media. Also, we are constantly learning about how to reach crowds, the best communication tactics and best of all, we're free!
We, as a class, had to find the best crowds to reach out to for Pepsi Refresh votes. Who is going to care? Who is going to take the time to vote everyday? Who won't care? After much thought, we were able to establish a handful of crowds both on and off campus that seemed to be promising allies.
Crowdsourcing is a crucial tool in the business world today, especially the world on non profits. It provides willing sources that want to help and will help to the best of their ability. It would be in the best interest of any non profit to take advantage of this phenomenon that social media has bestowed upon us.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Never Underestimate the Power of a Friend
Friendship is one of the first things touched on in kindergarten. Why is it important to have friends? How do you make friends? More importantly, how do you keep friends? Relationships take a lot of work and are two way streets; they won't be successful if both sides do not make a conscious effort to be there for one another in times of need. This same logic holds true when it comes to relationships in the business world.
Relationships can exist between individuals--such as employees--or on a much larger scale, between two or more organizations/companies. Such relationships can really make a difference between a successful company and a failure.
But why are these relationships so crucial?
Because they provide a whole other network of resources along with other people who are ready and willing to help YOUR organization out. These relationships need to be strong, though, if they are going to make a lasting impact. How does that happen?
Listening, engaging and transparency.
Whether another organization or the general public, you need to be willing to listen to what they have to say. This includes advice, criticisms, flattery, etc. It's extremely important to realize what the people want so you can provide it. If they feel like they are not listened to, why would they continue to support you?
Engagement goes hand-in-hand with listening. If your organization does not respond to what the public says, then people will start to feel ignored. Whether you are in agreement with a statement made or will not even consider a certain recommendation, it is pivotal to let the people know that you are listening and taking things into consideration. This makes your organization seem more personable.
A lot of organizations are utilizing social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, to engage with their audiences. These tools are perfect because an organization can start a certain conversation OR respond to one started by another.
Larger companies may find it harder to respond to every Facebook post or Tweet, but this is where being a smaller organization has it's benefits.
Engagement--whether positive or negative--are really where relationships are built.
Finally, transparency plays into the strength of a relationship. While it's not a detrimental aspect, it does help to build trust. If people feel like your organization is hiding something, why would they want to work with/for you? This is not to say anything and everything should be made available to the public, but the more you are willing to share, the more your audience will trust you and your intentions.
Relationships can exist between individuals--such as employees--or on a much larger scale, between two or more organizations/companies. Such relationships can really make a difference between a successful company and a failure.
But why are these relationships so crucial?
Because they provide a whole other network of resources along with other people who are ready and willing to help YOUR organization out. These relationships need to be strong, though, if they are going to make a lasting impact. How does that happen?
Listening, engaging and transparency.
Whether another organization or the general public, you need to be willing to listen to what they have to say. This includes advice, criticisms, flattery, etc. It's extremely important to realize what the people want so you can provide it. If they feel like they are not listened to, why would they continue to support you?
Engagement goes hand-in-hand with listening. If your organization does not respond to what the public says, then people will start to feel ignored. Whether you are in agreement with a statement made or will not even consider a certain recommendation, it is pivotal to let the people know that you are listening and taking things into consideration. This makes your organization seem more personable.
A lot of organizations are utilizing social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, to engage with their audiences. These tools are perfect because an organization can start a certain conversation OR respond to one started by another.
Larger companies may find it harder to respond to every Facebook post or Tweet, but this is where being a smaller organization has it's benefits.
Engagement--whether positive or negative--are really where relationships are built.
Finally, transparency plays into the strength of a relationship. While it's not a detrimental aspect, it does help to build trust. If people feel like your organization is hiding something, why would they want to work with/for you? This is not to say anything and everything should be made available to the public, but the more you are willing to share, the more your audience will trust you and your intentions.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
The Ins and Outs of a Political Social Media Campaign
Over the past two weeks, I have been analyzing the use of social media in Andrew Cuomo's campaign for governor of New York. Social media has become one of the most dominant forms of communication. The fact that Cuomo's campaign is using Twitter--the most recent social networking tool to sweep not only the nation, but the world--signifies just how big of an impact social media can have.
As I have learned in this class though, just because someone is utilizing social media does not mean they are doing it right and reaping the most benefits. You have to have the right message and use the right media tool to reach the appropriate audience. Messages can't be too long due to lack of reader patience, but messages that are too short will not get your intentions across.
I thought it was really interesting to analyze the numbers of Cuomo's campaign to those of his Paladino's his opponent. Cuomo's Twitter followers and YouTube subscribers were significantly less compared to Paladino, yet Cuomo seems to be winning the in pre-election polls. This can be solid proof that social media doesn't necessarily tell the whole story. Since Paladino is known for losing his cool, perhaps more people follow his social media updates as a form of entertainment.
I am interested to see what my fellow classmates have to say about their candidates and if they're social medial stats are are off as mine.
As I have learned in this class though, just because someone is utilizing social media does not mean they are doing it right and reaping the most benefits. You have to have the right message and use the right media tool to reach the appropriate audience. Messages can't be too long due to lack of reader patience, but messages that are too short will not get your intentions across.
I thought it was really interesting to analyze the numbers of Cuomo's campaign to those of his Paladino's his opponent. Cuomo's Twitter followers and YouTube subscribers were significantly less compared to Paladino, yet Cuomo seems to be winning the in pre-election polls. This can be solid proof that social media doesn't necessarily tell the whole story. Since Paladino is known for losing his cool, perhaps more people follow his social media updates as a form of entertainment.
I am interested to see what my fellow classmates have to say about their candidates and if they're social medial stats are are off as mine.
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