Category — Encourage community

I’ve skimmed through, and trashed, my share of incredibly boring newsletters in my time. I fact, these days I try to avoid newsletters as much as possible. But if organisations followed the advice Katya’s Non-Profit Marketing Blog has uncovered the world would be a much better place.

After all, community organisations do great work, making real change in peoples lives. Their newsletters should be don’t miss material. Here are some edited highlights of what Katya says, but read her post for the full monty, all details exposed:

So what’s a nonprofit to do?  How do we take our newsletters from snoring to soaring? … here’s what trainer, writer and newsletter guru Kivi Leroux Miller of Nonprofit Marketing Guide.com had to say. 

Katya:  Why are there no stories, or only milquetoast stories, in so many newsletters?  What gives?

Kivi: Two reasons, I think. First, people are afraid that they can’t pull it off. When you say “storytelling,” most people envision either someone like Mark Twain or Toni Morrison or a wild-haired grandpa on a stage at some mountain storytelling festival spinning some yarn – someone with way more creative juices flowing.  Or they simply don’t think they are good writers, and the thought of writing something that qualifies as a “story” is just too daunting.  It doesn’t have to be that way.  Nonprofits have tons of great stories. Finding material in the nonprofit sector is never a problem.

Kivi: You just need to learn some basic storytelling patterns. …

Kivi: The Challenge Plot is your basic three–act structure that practically every Hollywood movie is based on. These are your classic underdog stories, against all odds stories. …

Kivi:  Creativity stories are those with the “aha!” moments and those “what if we . . .” stories that work out in the end. …

Kivi: [the Connection Plot] is a little harder to pull off without sounding sappy or forced, but once again, with the right elements, it’s easy. These are the bridging the gap stories and big meaning in small events stories. …

[Via Katya's Non-Profit Marketing Blog: How to fix boring newsletters.]

Oh, and the medium doesn’t matter: print, web, email, video, audio, posters — they all need their stories.

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In Jordan Queen Rania is providing clear leadership for the people. See her own website, for example, where she speaks about empowering women, giving a voice to children and youth, and developing the community:

As we in Jordan work hard to develop our own vibrant connections, we look outward and applaud the success that our friends around the world are achieving by building, or in some cases, re-building, their own communities. We understand that all of us have similar hopes and mutual desires - safe places for ourselves and our children, a secure economic base, the freedom to enjoy nature’s bounty, and peaceful interaction with others. By connecting and cooperating, we can build that world, one community at a time.

Read/WriteWeb pointed out a new initiative in their post Queen Uses YouTube to Break Down Stereotypes:

The Queen, who has been an outspoken advocate of women’s rights and education reform in the Arab world, hopes to use the channel to facilitate a conversation with people in the West to dispel negative stereotypes about the Arabs and Muslims that have become especially prevalent over the past several years. …

“I want people to know the real Arab world - to see it unedited, unscripted and unfiltered - to see the personal side of my region - to know the places and faces and rituals and culture that shape the part of the world I call home.”

On YouTube - QueenRania’s Channel, we learn:

Queen Rania has played a significant role in reaching out to the global community to foster values of tolerance and acceptance, and increase cross-cultural dialogue.

Regionally and internationally, Queen Rania has campaigned for a greater understanding between cultures in such high profile forums as the Jeddah Economic Forum, the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and the Skoll Foundation in the UK.

We hope to bring you some of these clips soon, but until then, Queen Rania wants you to join in this conversation to bring down stereotypes and build bridges between our virtual East-West communities.

So far there is one video response and a number of written comments. This is a channel to watch: it has the potential to bring about change in the world.

Sign in. Take a look for yourself.

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The Internet is abuzz with a whole new vocabulary: memes and tags, posts and mashups, LOLcats, tweets and RSS. Friends, characters, flag, subscribe and interesting have a whole new meaning. This article helps you find your way in the new Web 2.0 world.

characters

letters, numbers, symbols, or spaces. When you send a txt message with a cellphone or a tweet through Twitter, you’ll be cut off after about 140 characters.

flag

Seen a photo on Flickr or a YouTube video that you find offensive? Flag it for the staff to review.

Flickr

An online service for storing and sharing photos. Add comments and tags. Subscribe to an RSS feed to automatically catch all photos from friends. Search or explore by many criteria.

friends

On social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn a friend is anyone you set up a connection with, whether you know them personally or not.

interesting

Flickr calculate an ‘interestingness’ score for each photo, based on tags, clicks, comments and so on. Explore the most interesting photos.

LOLcats

pictures of cats, with humorous captions, written to a certain style. LOL is short for ‘Lots of Laughs’ ‘Laugh out Loud’ (thanks Che for the reminder). Example: www.lolcats.com/view/55.

mashups

putting information together from more than one source. For example, combining crime statistics and Google maps CSI-style.

memes

An idea, saying or activity that takes hold and becomes popular. For example, LOLcats.

posts

Articles and other contributions to blogs, forums, etc.

RSS

Automatically delivers information from websites and other sources. For example, subscribe to the RSS feed for a particular person’s Flickr photos and any new photos appear automatically in your reader. Example National Library (NZ) photo feed.

subscribe

Usually free of charge. When you subscribe to something you add it to a list of items you will check regularly or receive automatically. For example, you might subscribe to the BBC Worldwide YouTube channel.

tags

Words that help describe something. A photo might be titled ‘Solace in the wind’, but have tags such as: wellington, waterfront, sculpture, statue, and so on.

tweets

Messages sent through the Twitter service.

Twitter

A service for broadcasting short text messages. People use it as a way to keep in touch and up-to-date with friends and colleagues, or news. Example: twitter.com/StuffNZ_World.

User generated

this means that you do the work. If you visit a website you may leave comments, upload images or movies, add information

that is all ‘user’ or ‘consumer’ generated.

Web 2.0

Websites and services that make it easy for people to connect with one another by rating items, marking favourites, sharing, commenting and so on.

YouTube

An online service for storing and sharing short videos. Add comments and tags. Subscribe to an RSS feed to automatically catch all new videos from a given topic. Search or explore by many criteria. Example, WildlifeDirect.

Written for and reproduced from CommunityNet Aotearoa Panui, March 2008.

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In February 2008 Nielsen Online revealed that most New Zealand Internet users are generating web content. (Source: 02/26/2008 Consumer Generated Media: Evolution or Revolution?. )

We like photos, videos, music, blogs

In plain English: we share photos, links and videos, through websites such as Flickr, YouTube, MySpace. We read and write blogs and wikis. We download and stream audio and video content. We like photos, movies, music, and probably podcasts. We edit and comment; we upload.

The report also found that once people are comfortable online, they then often become more involved — they actively edit and comment on content from others and upload video and music to the web.

It’s a revolution in relationships

“We are seeing a revolution in the way in which consumers here in the Pacific and around the world are interacting, communicating, creating and nurturing personal and professional relationships, expressing and publishing their opinions and thoughts, creating and distributing content for and to one another, and entertaining themselves,” says Melanie Ingrey, Market Research Director, Asia Pacific, Nielsen Online.

Nielsen Online found that people tend to take up these activities if their friends and peers are doing them. They join services (such as Bebo) if their friends recommend them.

Problems facing us here in New Zealand are lack of time, slow Internet connections and concerns about security.

Kiwis want to reconnect

A further report tells us that 62% of online New Zealanders have browsed other people’s online profiles within the past 12 months, and 49% have actively updated their own online profile. (Source: 02/12/2008 New Zealand Surfers Ride Social Networking Boom.)

Old Friends, Bebo and MySpace

Their profiles are on Old Friends, Bebo and MySpace. Kiwis want to reconnect with people from the past such as former colleagues and old schoolmates.

” … different social networking platforms cater to varying online identity desires,” notes Melanie Ingrey, Market Research Director, Asia Pacific, Nielsen Online. “Sites such as MySpace essentially promote a fantasised identity where relationships are based on common network interests while Facebook is grounded in real identity and online connections are simply an extension of real friendships. Then you have sites such as LinkedIn which promote social networking for business and career advancement purposes.”

What are you doing?

So, that’s what Kiwis are doing this year. What’s your organisation doing in response?

Do you have a blog where visitors can comment on what you’re doing? Bloggers can also track your activities and write about you on their own blogs.

Do you share photos and videos from your events, using services such as Flickr and YouTube? If you do, then visitors will spread the word about your organisation when they tell others about your content.

Do you recruit volunteers by means of a MySpace or Bebo profile?

Kiwis want to participate. Do you know how to Engage your Community?

Written for and reproduced from CommunityNet Aotearoa Panui, March 2008.

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Register now for the Engage Your Community conference.

Engage Your Community: using blogs, YouTube, and other cool tools to achieve your group’s goals aims to help tangata whenua, community and voluntary organisations.

Experts and community group leaders who are currently using new internet-based tools will lead a series of practical workshops.

Sample topics:

• Set up a project website in 10 minutes flat
• Use the internet to cut costs and raise funds
• Use blogs to develop an online support community for clients
• Use Moodle as a virtual office

Venue and date

• Tuesday 22 April, 2008.
• Start at 8.30am; close at 5pm.
• Waikato Management School of the University of Waikato, Hamilton.

Register now

Register at: engageyourcommunity.eventbrite.com.

The registration fee includes admission to all workshops, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, and a conference bag.

Register before 15 March 2008 for $75; after that it’s $100. Bring another person from your organisation for $50 per person.

5 free registration scholarships

5 free registrations are available to groups who:

• agree to participate in a follow-up case study
• and / or have a low budget.

Apply before 1 March directly to Prof Ted Zorn.

Contact information

Contact: Prof Ted Zorn, Waikato Management School, chair of Waikato 2020 Communications Trust.

Office: 07 838-4776

E-mail: tzorn@mngt.waikato.ac.nz.

The conference is organised by Waikato 2020 Communications Trust.

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