An EPIC Solution for Economic Hardships in NPOs Part 7 (Conclusion)

April 8, 2010

So… get out there and get people to know, like, and trust you. Ensure that this is done EPIC-ally.

If you already have a reserve – great! Implement this strategy and nurture the relationships you have at this time of hardship.

Just starting, or can’t figure out how the next bill will be paid?  Then stop!  Take the next few days to figure out what you can do to immediately have people experience, participate, be filled with images of your organization and its cause, and ultimately connect with you, your cause, and with like-minded people that support you.  This will build a resource engine that is unstoppable due to vitality. This strategy will accomplish the non-profit’s mission because it is viable; and (rightfully so) will build a foundation of success through sustainability in order to accomplish the future vision…and to make it through those hardships that come our way.

Read: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Get the Full Article

References

Jantsch, John (2008).  Duct tape marketing: The world’s most practical small business marketing guide. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.

An EPIC Solution for Economic Hardships in NPOs Part 6 (Connective)

April 1, 2010

The key to surviving is to focus on time and brand. Get people to know, like, and trust you. But how? EPIC-ally!

People become supporters of non-profits when the organization approaches them EPIC-ally.

Experiential
Participatory
Image-Rich
Connective

People need connectivity. If this is doubted, then look at Facebook, MySpace, Google’s introduction of Buzz, the explosion of dating sites, Plaxo, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Every major brand has communities surrounding its products and storefronts. Project management systems now integrate social components.  Blogs themselves connect speakers and their audiences.  Most modern churches use numerous aspects of technology and the web to connect the members of their congregations locally and as they travel on missions trips. There is Kiva.org which allows micro lenders to travel into the field to meet with other like-minded lenders whom have helped fund the same project.  Even education’s transition to the online environment for courses as well as simply collaborating and sharing with other students that are on the other side of the globe; proves that people need connectivity.

People want to feel as though they are a part of what the organization is doing, and they want to see the results thereof.  Connectivity transitions a person from merely liking the organization and its cause, to actually trusting it.   With this new found trust through connectivity comes the inherent results of effective marketing, which have not yet been mentioned.  After someone gets to know, like, and trust you; they will contact, repeat buy/support, and refer others. By providing avenues by which people may connect, on all levels and in all possible ways, with the organization; knowledge is gained, favor is given, loyalty is birthed out of trust, and the resource engine will begin to sustain itself as well as gather new fuel. It will even replace broken or missing parts through people who contact, repeat support, and now refer their friends and contacts to support your organization’s cause.

Read: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Get the Full Article

References

Jantsch, John (2008).  Duct tape marketing: The world’s most practical small business marketing guide. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.

Sweet, L. (2007). The Gospel according to Starbucks: Living with a grande passion. Colorado Springs, CO: WaterBook Press.

The EPIC acrostic is adapted from Leonard Sweet’s “The Gospel According to Starbucks: Living with a Grande Passion”, 2007.

Facebook Now Drives More Traffic to Websites

February 16, 2010

Reposted from http://www.steverubel.com/facebook-now-drives-more-traffic-to-web-sites

UPDATE: A couple of notes to clarify this post. First, the chart above, which I pulled from compete.com, shows the top sites that Facebook drives traffic to. Also the headline has been updated to reflect that Facebook is driving more traffic to portals than Google. The San Francisco Chronicle story, linked below, notes that Facebook is only starting to encroach on Google for other sites. The trend, however, still holds.

We’re at the beginning of a major shift in how we find, consume and interact with information. If the 2000s was the Google decade, then the 2010s will be the Facebook decade. Already, you can see the writing on the wall – pun intended. Case in point: a search for “google decade danny sullivan” pulls up his Facebook note higher than a blog post (an item I wanted to include here for context). But that’s nothing. Look at the data.

According to new stats from compete.com Facebook is becoming the web’s top source of traffic (link via Jeremiah Owyang on where else, Facebook). The image above is a snapshot I pulled from compete.com. It shows where Facebook is sending traffic…

“According to Web measurement firm Compete Inc., Facebook has passed search-engine giant Google to become the top source for traffic to major portals like Yahoo and MSN, and is among the leaders for other types of sites.

This trend is shifting the way Web site operators approach online marketing, even as Google takes steps to move into the social-media world.

Some experts say social media could become the Internet’s next search engine.”

That last line is key. I see Facebook starting to look more like Google while Google tries and stumbles at becoming more social. Bing will start to play a central supporting role here. I see Facebook and Bing becoming an “Axis of FTW” that will disrupt Google on every front. (Microsoft is an Edelman client.)

You can already see it coming…

• Titan/Facebook Chat will challenge Gmail in communications
• Facebook pages will disrupt Google – especially if they were to integrate Bing Maps and location technology a la Foursquare. This can quickly position Facebook as the Web’s Yellow Pages, an area that Google and Yelp currently dominate
• Facebook will make search more social, allowing it to become annotated and curated. This up-ends Google’s core business. It also makes the Facebook self-serve advertising model smarter and more effective as it collects more data about where it sends traffic. This threatens Adwords

Social networking is here to stay. It’s where attention spirals are flowing and no one looms larger than Facebook. (Link sharing on Facebook rose 500% in six months.) And while Facebook has plenty of critics and they run into the occasional privacy concerns, I believe that they will dominate the landscape the next few years. In fact, I see them becoming the number one web site in the world in under three years. It could eat the web.

Now a lot could go wrong. It is possible that Facebook will become AOL the sequel. But I don’t see it. There’s no alternative and the more we put into Facebook the more value we gain from it. This is a different era where vertical integration (e.g. owning and controlling the whole experience) is a major plus, especially if it’s elegant and simple. There’s too much information and things vying for our attention today. This turns vertical integration and simplicity into a competitive advantage.

So what does this mean? I believe business web sites will become less important over time. They will be primarily transactional and/or for utility. Brands will shift more of their dollars and resources to creating robust presence where people already are and figure out how to activate employees en masse in a way that builds relationships and drives traffic back to their sites to complete transactions. Media companies will do the same – they will be “headless.”

Google and search will remain important for years to come. However, what we’re seeing is the beginning of big changes where social networking and Facebook will further disrupt advertising, media, one-to-one and one-to-many communications, not to mention search.