Haven’t We Had This Conversation Before?

One of the biggest lessons I re-learn everywhere I go – in the city or in the world – is that for all the talk about differences, we are often very similar. Whether in my workshops in Romania or in Saudi (or in NYC), I’m often asking myself, “haven’t we had this conversation before?” As social entrepreneurs, innovators, and nonprofit leaders, many of the questions about social media that are always first to be asked have nothing to do with location but about strategy and success. Though, what is interesting to me, is that the question “how can I use this tool?” is usually embedded in the assumption that the answer is based on geographic location and even the specifics of the organization. Remember, these tools are just that: tools. A hammer isn’t fundamentally different in Saudi as it is in Wyoming. But the kind of building we’re interested in or the interests of the users may change. Social media platforms (tools!) should be considered for their functionality and options as part of your overall communications, engagement, and fundraising strategies but not as areas of investment all of their own.

Single Acces Point, to Facebook

Whenever I’m presenting to a group in another country, I spend time investigating any social media data I can find that is specific to that country, especially as it relates to mobile phones, access, and usage per capita. Saudi, again similarly to Romania, has a high percentage of citizens using mobile phones (especially as primary Internet access point) and with Facebook accounts. The power to connect to friends and family beyond our physical location is compelling enough for people to create accounts even when Internet access isn’t always readily available. This is probably not news, but after the first point above, it is a reminder to not make assumptions about who in your community uses which platforms and the kind of information or engagement they may want to have there. Looking only at data about Internet access in the home, one might think that people in your community aren’t online at all, or don’t want to receive email or updates on social media, when this very well may not be the case. It might sound silly or too simple, but I always encourage organizations – no matter their size – to actually ask their supporters which tools they use, and listen to the answers.

Limitations Often Encourage Innovation

During my time at KAUST I was able to meet with various student groups as well as university staff to learn more about their projects, initiatives, and ideas. Just as I experienced in Romania, preconceived ideas about the limitations innovators and entrepreneurs must be under in countries with far less infrastructure and the assumed lack of products and ideas that must exist are squashed immediately. When given no boundaries, it is often much harder to create something useful and new. But given limitations of any kind, people are driven to new ideas and solutions. I was also excited to see incredible openness to feedback and collaboration! Something I often see less of in the US than I think those outside this country think exists.

I’d love to hear your stories and experiences from working outside the US, especially in the Middle East!

(Photo: KAUST and The Beacon, taken by me.)

Location: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

Topic: A Beginner’s Guide to Social Media

Description: Social media presents a confusing blur of personal and professional profiles. In a tightly integrated community like ours, social media use requires special consideration. This 3-hour course showcases real-world examples to help you discover how best to protect, positively promote, and selectively manage your online personal and professional profiles, all while maintaining your connections to family, friends, colleagues and networks. The course will include a lecture providing insight into the best practices of featured tools, and a hands-on learning component to help participants explore the tools directly on their laptops or in small group facilitated discussions.

Related Links:

• KAUST
• Course listing in Acadox
• Slides 
• Blog post reflections

Location: online with Blackbaud Australia

Topic: Social Change Anytime Everywhere: Best Practices to Build a Multichannel Campaign Plan

Description: From your website to social media, email to mobile messages, online to offline, multichannel strategies require coordination and creative thinking across teams and departments and a focus on the core of your work beyond any one specific call to action. Please join us as Allyson Kapin, Founding Partner of Rad Campaign, and Amy Sample Ward show you how to craft an online multichannel campaign plan to meet your mission and campaign goals, and how other organisations are successfully integrating multichannel efforts into their work

Related Links: Get the recording

Location: Lexington, KY

Topic: Community-Driven Planning: Creating a Social Media Strategy

Description: This all-day workshop starts with the real foundation of social media engagement: community and content. Understanding who you are working with and the kinds of content you want to create and share, will help you then build engaging and valuable social media channels. Through a facilitated training, participants will work independently and in small groups to develop and share project plans for using social media to engage supporters. These plans provide a starting point that participants can put into action immediately and build upon for larger projects and plans in the organization.

Topic: Strong Connections: Linking Strategy, Goals and Metrics

Description: When it comes to social media, email marketing, or even online engagement in general, we often have a feeling when things are going well or when they aren’t. Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, or something else, you don’t have to be satisfied with a feeling: use your organization’s strategic plan to identify real goals and then track the data to show your impact.

Topic: Social Media Boundaries: Personal/Personnel Policy

Description: As our networks expand, our profiles get more public, and our work requires a human face, where do we draw the line between personal and professional identities online? How do we maintain those boundaries for our community members? How do we respond to attacks, opportunities, and over-shares online? When does over-sharing hurt the community? When should you share your own personal stories as a manager, or personally reach out to community members? Growing and cultivating an active community also requires that the community manager walk the fine line of personal and professional sharing. Every community manager wonders when and how to professionally cultivate leaders and members to create a thriving community while still being personal. On the reverse side, sometimes community members share too much, which can hurt the health of the community.

Topic: Social Media Done Right in 30 Minutes/Day

Description:  Even if you have only 30 minutes for social media in each day you can use these methods to be strategic and make the most of your engagement. From content planning to really listening online, you’ll find that the more you look for ways to interact, instead of broadcast, the more you can do with those 30 minutes.

Topic: Social Media ROI

Description:  Whether you’re raising money online directly or building connections to foster potential donors, social media is a growing space for fundraising. Measuring the ROI of these new tools can be tricky for many organizations, especially those not yet measuring the ROI of their other technology tools and investments. This session will explore the basics of measuring the return on investment you make in all technology, and provide an overview of the changing [increasing] fundraising landscape online.

Related Links: Kentucky Nonprofits website

Location: Harvard College, Boston, MA

Topic: Social Media for Social Good

Description: This panel included Arthur Grau, One Economy; Laurent Adamowicz, Bon’App; Amy Sample Ward; and moderated by Kelsey Overby, Account Executive at MRY.

Related Links: Igniting Innovation Summit

Location: Washington, DC

Topic: Designing Online Engagement to Collaborate with Your Community

Description: You can design online engagement to unleash your evangelists. In this workshop, we’ll focus on all aspects of designing high-value, engaging, and participatory content that creates a partnership with your fans. A true evangelist is moved to create, is a seamless co-creator with your organization, and is motivated to spread content. Successful organizations intentionally design and construct multiple online channels that enable access for all fans and develop paths for relationship reciprocity and trust, fostering true evangelists. In this session, we will discuss how co-creation unleashes online evangelists and strengthens cause-centric communities, and we’ll help you to do that as well. Specifically, we will reveal the latest research about designing online engagement, highlight the connection between the theory of relationship ties and online evangelism, and offer examples of organizations with successful co-creation strategies. Toward the end of this workshop, we’ll work together to design a co-creation strategy to engage and motivate your online community and evangelists.

Related Links:

• BBCon website
• Blackbaud nonprofit blog

Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Topic: Cross-Channel Donor Engagement: Creating a Strategy to Build Relationships Online

Description: To build relationships with supporters and donors in this hyper connected world, we need to create multichannel strategies to ensure our messages are connected and people are positioned to take action and make a difference together with us.

Related Links: 2012 Conference page

Location: Research Triangle Park, NC

Topic: Finding the Right Mix: A Strategic Look at Mobile, Social, and Web

Description: Given budget constraints and growing technology demands, how can the average nonprofit keep up?  The key is finding the right mix!  This session will provide a strategic look at how to integrate nonprofit communications – mobile, social, and web.  Panelists will uncover how mobile is changing nonprofit communications strategies, share best practices for an integrated approach, and discuss the benefits of a communications plan.

• Panelists included:
• Shaheen Syal, Director of Communications, Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation
• Kim Lanphear, Program Manager, Apparo  (formerly NPower, Charlotte Region)
• Amy Sample Ward, Membership Director, NTEN

Related Links: North Carolina Center for Nonprofits

Location: NY, NY

Topic: Social Media and Philanthropy

Description: This private session with PIF staff will explore the options and opportunities for philanthropic organizations using social media to build their reputation, support the community, and contribute to the general knowledge and impact of the sector.

Related Links: PIP