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Our first million pound banjo.

As things tend to in this office, it all began with a discussion about music. Both Adam and I play guitar. Him brilliantly. Me, less brilliantly (a lot less).  But it’s a passion, which means Rachel often has to endure one of us twanging away in the background, while she tries to get on with something more grown up.

“I’ve always wanted a banjo,” one of us said. Conversation ensued about the generally unsung nature of the banjo in these modern times. If you want to hear some real nice plucking and some damn fine country singing, let me recommend Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys’ album: Man of Constant Sorrow.  Guaranteed to put the “yeeha!” back into your day.

“We should buy a beautiful world banjo.” The other one of us said.

In the thoughtful silence that followed a rather nice idea was born.

“Let’s buy one as soon as we raise a million pounds for one of our clients.”

“The million pound banjo!”

Now, that was a thought worth holding onto. And we did. I’m not saying that the incentive of a banjo was the only thing that spurred Adam on to work his recent data analysis magic, but, gosh-darn-it, it must’ve helped. The appeal in question turned out to be a record breaker for our client, and a banjo earner for us. We’ve called our new instrument “Lucky”, though Adam insists there was no luck involved.

Now, it turns out that a banjo tunes differently from a guitar (tricky).  And plays quite differently (even trickier).  So there’s a lot of practice needed (poor Rachel!). The other problem is, we only have one banjo between two of us.

Guess we’ll just have to earn another million for another client. Any takers?

 

Charity begins online

The centre spread in the Independent today is an article entitled: Charity begins online. It recognises that in these recessionary times, it is becoming harder and harder for charities to get their messages across, which is inevitably leading to them to re-evaluate their approach as to how to connect with people.  Basically any charity that knows its onions is now developing an online strategy, but how well are they doing it?

Expert opinions are provided by John Carnell, Steve Bridger, and our own Rachel Beer.  In Rachel’s opinion: “There are already huge numbers of charities on Twitter, but there’s a lot of uncertainty, and most of them are just trying it out – there might be one person in their office who’s set it up – and it’s certainly not integrated into their overall strategy.”

Steve Bridger can see charities tentatively waiting for the “gloriously disruptive” world of digital media to settle down. “But they should stop waiting for things to be perfect, and just embrace the messiness of the web,” he says. “They have no choice but to change their mind-set.”

John Carnell, founder and chief executive of Bullying UK, points out that “This approach has been at the heart of our work since the beginning, so it’s interesting to watch it become the next big thing. The public appreciate honest dialogue, and that’s one of the reasons our Twitter feed is often ranked in the top 1,000 worldwide.”

Rachel is quoted as saying:  “Charities are much more sensitive than brands.”  The point she wanted to make is that they know their supporters individually, by name, in a way most commercial brands never will, and those supporters are emotionally involved.

These are carefully nurtured relationships.   Charities are in it for the long term and they need their donors to be as well.   It’s not about volume.  As Rachel said: “A community of 15,000 people who are genuinely interested in a cause is worth a lot more than 100,000 people who are only mildly so.”  In other words, quality always wins out over quantity.

 

Marketing on Twitter: how to lose friends and alienate people

Twitter has become omni-present.  A lifeline for Iranian protesters; kept open at the request of the Whitehouse.  Quoted on the Today programme.  Dropped into sitcoms to make them feel up to the minute.  Even my, 80-year-old, mum wants to know what it’s all about.

These days we’re constantly meeting bewildered people who feel under pressure to enter what, to them, looks like a geeky world of impenetrable #tags, re-tweets, and tiny urls.  They know that if they don’t join in, they’ll get left behind.

One recent tweet summed it all up: “Saying you don’t use Twitter is like saying you don’t use email.”

Inevitably as more people are tweeting, other people, with dollar signs in their eyes, are trying to harness Twitter for commercial (or charitable) gain.  Yet, despite the attentions of growing numbers of experts, it’s hard to isolate techniques that will guarantee success.

Twitter is frustratingly resistant to marketing.  And that’s part of the appeal to most of its users.  Even with it’s huge popularity, Twitter still feels guerrilla-like.  A bit underground.  I love the fact that it’s got so many marketeers stumped.

Of course, that doesn’t stop them trying.  Companies are springing up all over offering to tweet on behalf of their “too busy” clients.  Personally, I think that money spent in this way is wasted.  No-one is fooled by these corporate tweeters pushing a party line.  It’s a bit like charging into the middle of a private party and yelling: “BUY BUDGENS BISCUITS!!!”  You may interrupt the conversation for a moment but you’ll be ignored for the idiot that you are.

Sometimes, the consequences of this kind of disconnected tweeting are downright disastrous.  Habitat’s ‘social media agency’, noticing the trending discussion on Iran was attracting huge numbers, added keywords (with hashtags), like  ‘#Iran‘ and ‘#Mousavi‘ to its tweets, so people watching the twitterstream and discussing those subjects would see the firm’s marketing messages.  Result: mass offence was taken at such crassness.

Far from selling products, Habitat found itself at the receiving end of a consumer backlash.

Personality, emotion, authenticity – the sense that a real person is talking – these are the drivers at work on Twitter.  The paradox of Twitter is that it is a massive collection of private conversations being held in public (like a great big party). Be sensitive about how you join them.

Remember, it’s a social medium.  It offers the possibility for social alchemy – the right statement at the right moment, to the right group of people, with the right emotional ring to it can result in actions that become social gold.

If you want people to be interested in you, you need to give them a reason.  You need them to like you.  Marketing rules don’t apply here, more the rules of the schoolyard.

 

The revolution may not be televised but it could very well be Twittered

Anyone keeping an eye on Iran in the aftermath of the (rigged?) election could not help but be struck by the role that social media is playing in the unfolding events.

As Dan Rather, anchor and managing editor of HDNet’s ‘Dan Rather Reports’, has written: “When a regime exercises its power to repress, it first turns out the lights: If it can’t control the story, it tries to make the story disappear.”

The authorities in Iran would undoubtedly like to keep the unrest and riots erupting throughout the country off our news screens.  Equally, they would like to keep the population as a whole in ignorance.

Ten years ago they might have succeeded, but with the proliferation of social media in the form of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter such a move is impossible.  They can stop the presses, shut down the TV networks, revoke press licences but they are powerless to stop the Tweets of ordinary citizens.  (To enter the Twitter stream use #iranelection.)

There are two revolutions going on.  One local and political, the other global and social.

The social media revolution is made spectacularly evident in the face of a repressive government, but let’s remember that the same revolution is quietly taking place here.

Not too long ago we were the obedient recipients of a broadcast culture that kept us enthralled with the Ten O’Clock News, commercials, posters and ads.  We either liked what they had to say or lumped it.

Now it’s a two-way conversation.  The newscasters rely on citizen journalists – people like you and me.  If something doesn’t add up, we tell each other within seconds.  Social media has given us a freedom of information and self-expression we’ve never had before.  The question is: what are we going to do with it?

 

Is it me, or has charity become cool?

Well, I’ve just checked with a few people and apparently it isn’t me.  According to my daughter I score “zero” on the cool-o-meter.  So it must, therefore, be the world of charity.

At the weekend, business woman, Mary Portas observed in the Observer that: “Our cultural G spot has moved. It used to be greed. Now it’s giving.”

Only a couple of years ago, when I mentioned that I did work for charities it brought a quick, embarrassed silence to the conversation.  Now the same people look at me as if I’m some sort of saint (if only they knew!).

Charity, it seems, has become like rehab – everybody who’s anybody is going there.

So what’s happened?  Well for one thing the rich and famous are still at it.  This morning the papers were full of Madonna adopting a second orphan from Malawi.  Comic Relief has just had its best year ever.  Everywhere you look someone famous is involved in a little judicious giving.

In an article in the New York Times, Naomi Levine, an expert on philanthropy at New York University, said young people, “more than ever want to do something.”  Judging from the calibre of the people who want to come and work with us, this is definitely true.

Of course, social media is playing a role in this as well. Earlier this year Hugh Jackman (better known to many as Wolverine) offered to giveaway $100,000 to whichever charity could make themselves most appealing in 140 characters:

This is exciting stuff.  Anyone could play and many of us did.

Politicians are also doing their bit (albeit unwittingly) by making such a public display of  greed and incompetence.  Enough to drive anybody in the opposite direction.

Then of course there is the recession, forcing all of us to re-examine our values. Finally there is the environment.  The once cranky idea that you don’t just consume but need to put something back is now mainstream.

These may be hard times but, in many ways, people want to give back more than ever.  Now that’s cool.

 

You can’t please all the people

It’s very far from being a secret that we have been plugging our entry for Bullying UK in the CBS Outdoor bus side competition. If, by some freak of nature, you’ve missed it go and vote for us immediately (please). It’s a slightly odd voting system – you can vote every day, not just once. Trying to keep our percentage of the vote has been like running a mini-general election where polling day stretches into polling month. We have used Facebook, Twitter, email and even the telephone to persuade friends, acquaintances and total strangers to lend us their support. It is, after all, in a good cause. Not just good, vital. A little boy of only 11 killed himself recently in total despair – a result of bullying he received at school. Bullying UK is a tiny charity doing a massive job. It really needs the oxygen of publicity that some free bus sides could bring.

In our haste to support a cause we care deeply about, we have upset some. One recipient of regular tweets urging him to vote finally protested. “This is e-chugging. Stop it.” Hmmm. He’s right of course. As someone who regularly ducks and dives chuggers, like an ageing rugby winger, I know how he feels.

So, should we stop? Should we just rely on people to remember to vote? Unfortunately, I don’t think we can. So, in this instance, we just have to accept that we risk upsetting some of the people. If one of those people is you – I’m truly sorry.

The overall point is a good one. It’s too easy to to fall into robot mode and keep pushing out messages like commands. This isn’t the way to make social media work. It’s a conversational medium. One where you need to be interesting to get people’s attention. Repetition just gets duller by the minute. As one of the Apprentices fired by Alan Sugar last night said, “Thank you for your input. I will try and take it with me and be a better person.”

This blog post is part of Zemanta’s “Blogging For a Cause” campaign to raise awareness and funds for worthy causes that bloggers care about.

 

NFP Tweetup Live Streaming & Collaborative Slideshow

We’re very excited about the third NFPTweetup tonight, which is hosted at Christian Aid in Waterloo.

There are plenty of people coming along from a wide range of charities and nonprofit organisations to learn how to use Twitter, and other social media, more effectively.

Tonight’s theme is ‘Developing your Twitter Voice’, but there will be plenty of opportunity to explore, learn and share experiences more generally on anything and everything that might relate to social media, digital, mobile technology, more traditional media and how to integrate these to get the best results.

If you can’t attend, you can follow the event online and join in by tweeting.

We’ll also be live streaming video from the event between 17:30-20:00 this evening for everyone that can’t be there in person.

Please tweet along with us, asking and answering questions, and adding your views.  And remember to include the event hashtag (#NFPtweetup) in all of your tweets, so they all appear in the stream and are easy for everyone to follow.

And here’s the the collaborative slideshow, so you can view it online at the same time as we’re running through it at the event:

See you later!

 

Proof: social media works

So here we are.  Day three, since our official launch.  Slightly breathless from it all.  From the outset we knew we’d use social media for our “hello” to the world.  As the zealots we are, how could we do anything else?  We thought our launch might make a good case study to prove our expertise to potential clients.  Pretty cunning huh?

So here’s a progress report.  Howard Lake said our launch story on UK Fundraising has received more views than most of the news stories on the site for a while.  At the time of writing we’re receiving around seven or eight tweets per minute from well wishers and people interested to know more about what we do.  Our Facebook page looks set to top 100 fans any time now (Not joined yet? Shame on you).  Our followers on Twitter (and people we are now following) is mushrooming at a faster rate still.  We have been found by two formidably qualified interns and have a whole host of other talented people to talk to.  Our sofa has attracted a cult following all of its own.

It feels a little like someone pressed the “warp speed” button on Monday morning.  Far from slowing down, the sense is that the whole spread of our launch is gaining momentum and pace with every hour that passes.  It’s an extraordinary feeling to be so instantly in touch with so many interesting people.  The reach of social media is awe-inspiring.  When it works, boy does it work.

Posted by Simon

 

First Beautiful Post

Staring out of our new office windows at sheeting rain.  I don’t give a damn.  It’s sunny in my head as I write this first beautiful blog post.  The fact is that after six months of planning and working covertly to get our agency set up, it’s just great to be here.

You will notice a kind of sofa thing going on.  We’re making a special offer to the sector during our launch phase: one hour on the sofa for free.  Yes, you can come and sit there for a whole hour!  And if that isn’t exciting enough we’re also throwing in tea or coffee and biscuits.  Oh, and also an hour’s free consultancy on any subject you like.  Can’t contain yourself?  Want that hour right now?  Call Rachel and fix up a time.

So what might be a good subject to pick our brains on?  Well, Rachel is constantly being asked to consult, and speak at conferences, about social media.  Once you get her started on this you’ll easily fill an hour (or three) and you’re almost bound to learn something useful.  Adam is a kind of data Tiger Woods.  It really is a beautiful thing hearing him talk about it.  More than that, it could save you a lot of money and make your fundraising more effective than ever.  I’m a creative with a long history of brand building and fundraising.  In this sector the two often go hand in hand.

Oh and while I remember, our shiny new logo was designed by Laurence Collings, a young creative from another fresh new venture: Creative Orchestra.  We couldn’t pay him much but we did promise to sing his praises when the time came.

See you soon on the sofa.

 
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