Is what you are doing now not working any longer? Brian Reich, principal of EchoDitto Inc. and Ed Schipul, president and CEO of Schipul-The Web Marketing Company discussed how not-for-profit public relations professionals can maximize relationships by developing and implementing social marketing into strategic communications planning.
Key take-aways from this session:
- 59% Congressional staff say they prefer to use online resources when preparing for a vote.
- By 2010, an estimated 2/3 gift donations will be completed online.
- New technology is changing social expectations.
- Little (m) media rules.
- Information (timely and relevant)
- Experiences
- Stuff (new technology)
- Technology facilitates the transfer of experiences.
- Play on your substance.
- Prime time for experimentation.
- Define motivation.
- Material Incentives
- Social Incentives
- Ideological
- Create a personal brand.
Brian Reich, principal, Echoditto, was previously the director of New Media at Cone Inc., and a senior strategic consultant for Mindshare Interactive Campaigns (now Virilion). From 2000–2004, Brian ran his own consulting business, Mouse Communications, which helped political and non-profit organizations use new technology to improve communications, drive action, and support fund-raising. Brian launched Mouse Communications after serving two years as Vice President Gore’s briefing director in the White House, handling both official and political activities during his 2000 presidential campaign. He is the editor of Thinking About Media, a blog examining media consumption habits around the world (among other things). His book, Media Rules!, was published by Wiley & Sons in December 2007.
Read Brian Reich’s comPRehension blog post “Why Media Rules! and What You Are Doing Isn’t Working Anymore”
For coverage on the PRSA 2008 International Conference: The Point of Connection, visit www.prsa.org/conf2008.
A number of the people in the room asked about how a nonprofit PR person or department without adequate personnel or funding could leverage social media tools effectively. I thought a great suggestion from the speakers was that nonprofits should identify volunteers and others who are already out there active in the SM arena and engage them to help. One idea (by memory, so I’m sorry if I get this wrong): if you’re a museum, search Flickr for people who have posted good photos of your museum, reach out to them and offer a free membership in exchange for them managing a Flickr group for the museum and picking a handful of the best Flickr photos of the museum each month. If a nonprofit did that with just a few of the SM sites, it would radically improve its presence with virtually no commitment of staff time. Disclosure: my firm does some work for Schipul – The Web Marketing Company.