PROJECT CURE 2016 VIDEO

Hello Friends, 

Today I'd like to share with you a YouTube video about a nonprofit close to my heart, Project C.U.R.E. I volunteer there, along with about 20,000 (yes 20 thousand!) other people. We have ten distribution centers all over the U.S., so perhaps there is one where you live and you can come help out! Project C.U.R.E. is the largest distributor of donated medical supplies in the world. Surplus medical supplies and equipment from the U.S. goes to help doctors and patients all over the developing world. 

Project C.U.R.E., Delivering Help, Delivering Hope.

My Favorite Nonprofit Marketing Vlogger

Hello friends!

Today I'm going to share with you my very favorite blogger/vlogger/social media marketing guru-person, John Haydon. For some time now, I've been following his The Hump Day Coffee Break vlog, which is a weekly half-hour training on social media marketing specifically for nonprofit organizations! Here is a link to one Hump Day Coffee Break video: "3 Tips to Growing a Passionate Online Community".

Having worked and volunteered in the nonprofit world for many years now, I can tell that he really gets it; our strengths, our biggest challenges and our passion for our causes. The best part about John's posts is that he is so real, and just tells it like it is. The posts are chock full of informative, usable content for any social media marketer (not just nonprofit folks).

In terms of channels or platforms; he posts across all the different platforms. His posts are on YouTube, on his own website, and all social media channels, as communities and as RSS feed.
This guy is worth following.

5 Blogs to Guide Your Social Media Strategy

Hello Friends!

There are a huge number of blogs relating to social media marketing, branding and strategy.
Here are 5 that I have found the most interesting, fun and helpful so far in my fledgeling social media marketing studies.

1. HubSpot marketing blog
HubSpot Link
I just love HubSpot! They are a company who have really taken the inbound marketing concept to the max. There are simply hundreds of helpful articles available for download. The is even a social media marketing class that you can take for free. All they want is some basic info about you and your company (if any).

2. The Blogger platform's own blogging blog
Buzzfeed Link
There are many interesting articles and tips about blogging, and plenty of links to other interesting blogs. It's important to read other blogs to find your own voice. Buzzfeed also tells you the latest on blogging on the Blogger platform.

3. Personally interesting to me is the Colorado Gives Day blog.
Colorado Gives Blog Link
It has information for the nonprofit professional and it is well designed and updated on a regular basis. It is important to network within your professional area, so I have left a comment (so far) on this blog and will continue to read it and comment regularly.

4. Another nonprofit specialist blog is the Nonprofit Marketing Guide.
Nonprofit Marketing Guide Link
 I follow this blog for excellent advice on social media marketing for nonprofits, but also on how to present your blog in a way that is ideal for inbound marketing. I don't want to, nor can I afford to, spend resources on disruptive marketing techniques, and this blog gives me lots of advice on how to serve my target audience (in the future) with content that is valuable for them.

5. This guy is a genius. Really.
Brian Solis Link
He is a futurist and a big picture thinker about marketing/social media/PR/communications as a whole. He has written several books on those topics and is a sought after lecturer. His posts are on a whole different level from anyone else I have ever read. Mind.Blown.

5 Step Strategy for the Blogosphere

Social media engagement requires a two-way conversation; it is based on building and maintaining relationships with your stakeholders. Consider these 5 factors when crafting your blogging strategy.

1.    Listen. Listen to the community to determine who your key audience is and what their key challenges are. Search for blogs and communities where conversations happen online. Listen to offline conversations about social media.

2.    Engage. Engage with the online/offline conversations. Leave comments on communities’ blogs/communities. Respond to comments left on your blog. Publicize your blog to your constituency in your newsletters, email communications and offline conversations.

3.    Solve problems. Target your blog posts to solve problems for your key audience. Educate, inform and add value with your posts.

4.    Be consistent. Post new, thoughtful content on a consistent schedule. 

5.    Be a good neighbor. Social media is about relationships, so insert links to the blogs you like to read in your blog posts, and hope for reciprocity!

More about social media strategy on http://coloradogivesblog.blogspot.com/2016/06/three-tips-for-how-to-answer-should-we.html

The ideas on this post have been synthesized from reading chapters 1-6 in our text: groundswell (Li & Bernoff, 2011).

Source:

Li, C., & Bernoff, J. (2011). groundswell. Boston, MA: Harward Business School Publications.

Introduction

Hello!

My name is Lea Wilson and I started this blog as an assignment for my Social Media Marketing class at Columbia College.

I'm a nonprofit industry veteran and a volunteer, and plan to launch a consulting business sometime in the next couple of years to help small nonprofits with management, fundraising or volunteer issues.

The purpose of this blog is to create content that gets my ideas about social media marketing for small nonprofits into words, and to receive practice in writing a blog. My classmates will be reviewing the blog and offering constructive feedback on my ideas and execution.

Thanks for reading!