Why Facebook, Twitter and Google Are Your Non-Profitʼs New Home Page

Until now the prevailing thought among non-profit marketing folks is that your websiteʼs homepage is the primary target in most campaigns. Hence the focus on design, call to action and content. That was then, when the web was all push – all about destination sites.

What is your homepage? 

When was the last time you went to the home page of a non-profit you were interested in supporting? Maybe the first place you went was Facebook, after a friend shared something with you from the non-profitʼs Facebook Page. Or maybe you googled the name of the non-profit after hearing about it at a party. Or maybe you clicked a link someone shared on Twitter. In all cases, your first visit was not the non-profitʼs home page. Frank Reed, of  Hubspot writes: “So many factors go into the creation of that perfect ʻfront doorʼ to your site that many companies forget that visitors donʼt always enter through the front. Search engines have given your prospect the power to find your site based on what keywords youʼre optimized for or based on what social channels you take part in.”

Building more home pages 

Take a look at your web stats and Google Analytics. What words are people using to find your site? What pages are being visited the most? If youʼre not happy with what you find, start optimizing each page on your site with the words you want to people use to find your organization. And if you want to get even better rankings, start blogging!

Google loves blogs 

A blog does two things that helps your non-profitʼs rankings on Google:
 · Google prefers fresh over stale. A blog enables you to regularly create fresh content for search engines.
· Google lets links decide whatʼs valuable. The more inbound links from reputable sites a web-page has, the better chances it will rank high in google. And blogs tend to receive more inbound links than traditional websites. Especially when the content is fresh, remarkable and highly relevant.
· Google loves specificity. A blog allows you to quickly create a single web-page (also called a post) around a specific subtopic. Think about these two search terms: “1952 Red Ferrari” and “Cars made in Italy”. Which one will have the least amount of competition of Google and have higher relevance to the user? Read more about WordPress SEO in  @remarkabloggerʼs post called “ SEO for Beginners“.

Referring Traffic 

After search traffic, look at referring traffic. What sites are referring the most traffic? And are you happy with the amount of traffic youʼre getting? Inbound links, Facebook and Twitter give me the most referral traffic. What about you?

Your homepage on Facebook 

There are 350 million people now using Facebook. If donʼt have a Faceobook Page thatʼs optimized for search and social media, now is the time to get one ( I can do that for you if you donʼt have the expertise or time).

Your homepage on Twitter 

Your homepage on Twitter is the conversations people have about your non-profit. They share links to various sites – sometimes yours. Are you part of these conversations? Your homepage on smart phones Finally, make sure your site is optimized for smart phones. If you are using a WordPress blog, check out the Wapple plug-in. This makes your website more easily consumed and shared on mobile phones. The last thing you want is a potential donor at an event who canʼt read your site on their iPhone.

How to Use Facebook for Business (and non-profits)

An increasing number of non-profits are expanding their social media efforts with Facebook Pages and Facebook Groups.
And for good reason:

 Facebook is one of the largest social media sites on the web: 

· More than 200 million active users 
· More than 100 million users log on to Facebook at least once each day 
· More than two-thirds of Facebook users are outside of college 
· The fastest growing demographic is 35 and older And their users are very active: 
· Average user has 120 friends on the site 
· More than 4 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day 
· More than 30 million users update their statuses daily 
· More than 6 million users become fans of Pages each day Hubspot, an inbound marketing company in Cambridge Ma., recently published a free book for businesses looking to use Facebook.
I was curious how useful “How to Use Facebook for Business” would be for my typical non-profit client, so I downloaded it (no email required!) and read through the 22- page guide.

“How to Use Facebook for Business” includes the following topics – all very useful for any non-profit: 

· Why you should be on Facebook – business value overview (also applies to non- profits!)
· Facebookʼs ad builder can be used to research potential supporters by filtering on age, location and interests.
· How to create an engaging Facebook Page to encourage wall comments – seen by all of commenterʼs friends.
· How to use the FBML application to add HTML content to your page.
· How to get search engine credit from Facebook with the HTML application.
· Using Facebookʼs analytics to measure traffic on your Facebook Page.
· A Facebook reference guide and glossary.

Facebook Pages and Facebook Groups – The Ultimate Nonprofit Cheat Sheet

Youʼre curious how Facebook Groups can compliment the work youʼre doing with your Page. Or, you may have a Group and want to “move your fans”over to your Facebook Page. Or, you mistakenly created a Facebook Profile for your organization and now realize that you should have started a Facebook Page. If youʼre confused by all the moving parts within Facebook, you are not alone. Last week, I presented a webinar on for a small group of nonprofits, and wasnʼt surprised that the most popular slide was a  cheat sheet on Facebook Pages and Groups.

The Difference Between Facebook Pages and Groups 

The best way to think about the difference between Pages and Groups is to consider the users they serve. Groups serve the needs of individuals just like you and me. Pages on the other hand, serve the needs of celebrities, businesses, brands and nonprofits. If you keep this basic framework in mind, Facebook will make a lot more sense

What Are Facebook Groups Used For? 

Iʼm no expert on the short history of Facebook, but Iʼm guessing that Groups arose out a need for individuals to organize around common interests. Facebook fulfilled this need with functionality that enabled users to organize and communicate quickly and easily.

· Represents a cause or idea – Without groups, organizing on Facebook would be impossible.
· No customization or apps – Connection is the prime point, not branding.
· Received as “message” – The same as if a friend sent you a message. If you ever wondered why Groups get to send messages directly into your Facebook Page inbox, but Pages have their updates sent into a secondary inbox, watch “Why do Facebook Page updates and Group messages go into two different inboxes?” on the Inbound Zombie Facebook Page (become a fan).
· Wall - Everyone like to share, be seen and comment on what others have shared.
· Users share many media types- And they like to share many different things.
· Some private, some public - Groups can be private (invite only, not publicly viewable to non-members), semi-private (invite only, publicly viewable to non- members), or public (anyone can join, anyone can view). Feel free to download this  cheat sheet on Facebook Group settings.

What Are Facebook Pages Used For? 

Facebook Pages are intended for brands, businesses and nonprofits who want to reach users. Page functionality focuses on creating brand awareness, targeting specific types of users (35 year-old men living in Boston who spend their money on sushi and live music, for example). Some features unique to Pages include:

· Customized user experience – Pages allow administrators to build custom tabs using FBML and add widgets to create a unique experience for their fans. My Facebook Page displays two custom tabs.
· Target updates – Updates can be targeted by gender, location and age.
· Received as “updates” – As demonstrated in the video above, Page updates are received in a separate inbox.
· Wall – Same as Groups and Profiles, although admins can parse posts by fans into a separate stream.
· Fanbox and Facebook Badge – Enables admins to easily promote their page on their website or blog.
· Custom URL – If you have more than 25 fans.

Facebook Groups and Pages – Features, Benefits And Killer Tips

Today I was asked again about the difference between Facebook Pages and Groups. The same question came up a couple of times during the Philanthropy.com chat that Chris Garrett and I conducted back in February. Pages, Groups and Profiles Facebook created Pages, Groups and Profiles – three separate applications – to help individuals and organizations achieve three separate goals:

1. Create a presence for a business, brand or non-profit on Facebook (Facebook Pages).

2. Organize a group of people around a common issue or interest (Facebook Groups).

3.Create a home base on the web for individuals to express themselves and connect with others (Facebook Profiles). Facebook Pages vs. Facebook Groups We know that profiles are for individuals, but whatʼs the difference between Facebook Pages and Facebook Groups?

Facebook Pages 

 

Facebook Pages are used to promote businesses, non-profits, celebrities and artists to Facebook users. Facebook states that “only the official representative of an artist, business, or brand may create a Facebook Page.” In other words, Pages are intended to be an “official” web page for your organization on Facebook.

- Facebook Pages are indexed in search engines – increasing the likelihood of folks finding your organization through a Google search.
- A Page can have multiple administrators. This lightens the workload of maintaining a page (groups also allow for multiple admins). Analyze Traffic. Facebook Pages captures data on visitors.
- There are no limits to the number of fans you can have on a page.
- Sending messages and updates to all your fans at once is quick and easy. And fans receiving those messages can easily forward the message OR post the message to their Facebook Wall. Tips For Using Facebook Pages:
- You can add Facebook Applications like Video or Static FBML to enhance the experiences fans have with your Facebook Page (Groups donʼt offer this option).
- Since each tab has its own URL, you can choose any of them as the landing Page for off-site promotion. You can also choose which tab to set as the default when users find your Facebook Page.
- Work your status! A frequently updated status with useful and interesting content keeps fans coming back. - Pages now have the same multimedia functionality as the Wall tab on a user Profile – encourage posting!
- Encourage fans to “share” Notes or Photos with their friends or post to their Profile.
- Using the notes application, you can import an RSS feed to drive more traffic to your blog.
- Using Static FBML, you can include an email web form to capture subscribers.

Facebook Groups 

 

Facebook Groups can be anyone interested in promoting and organizing people around a specific interests or cause. All members of a group have the ability to contribute content that appears on the Groupʼs wall – photos, videos, discussion threads.
- Active participation: Because members of the group actively contribute content and participate in informal but meaningful discussions, they are more likely to keep coming back.
- Groups come in three flavors: Open (anyone can join), Closed (group admin approves requests to join) and Secret (Only members and those invited know that the group exists).
- The Group name should make people want to join. Which name would make you join: “Letʼs talk to Coca Cola about saving the Worldʼs children” or “ColaLife“?
- Invite your raving fans to start a discussion on the group (you know who these people are, right?). Theyʼll feel a sense of pride and will likely invite new people to join the group.
- Upload photos and videos – encourage members to post these to their profile so that their friends can easily join the group.

3 Ways Facebook Will Radically Change Your Nonprofit

A few weeks ago, we had a conversation about the Facebook win against Google and what it means for you. We spoke about how weʼre now sharing more than searching, and how to create content thatʼs optimized for this change in behavior. Fast forward. The Age Of Facebook In case youʼve been living under a rock for the past week, Facebook was the only thing anyone was talking about. At F8, Facebook announced new tools and plans for how theyʼre going to make “people at the center of the web”. Just like when Microsoft dominated tech in the 90s, Facebook will dominate how you and your constituents not just share information, but how you experience the web. But donʼt take my word for it. Read Michael Arringtonʼs take on this new Age Of Facebook. 3 Ways Facebook Will Radically Change Your Nonprofit

The first steps will be to allow users to share their preferences all over the damned internet with the  implementation of “like” button (users take note of the privacy issue), a Recommendations Plugin and a Social Bar.

1. Instant Recognition. Facebook announced the Open Graph API, which will allow nonprofits to integrate a variety of Facebook user data into their website – without requiring users to be logged in to your site. This means that users will instantly share their Facebook data with your website site simply by visiting. For example, visitors could simply “like” a petition about an issue before congress instead of having to fill out a lengthy form.

2. Personalized Recommendations. Facebook has released aRecommendations Plugin, which allows your nonprofit to automatically recommend content on your site based on what a visitorʼs Facebook friends liked. In Mark Zuckerburgʼs words, “The power of the open graph is that it helps to create a smarter, personalized web that gets better with every action taken.”

3. Stronger Communities. Facebook will soon release a Social Toolbar allowing visitors to your website the ability to meet other people with similar interests, invite them to be friends, view and comment on their walls and even chat live. This will make it much easier for you to create a Facebook community space right on your website.The new Facebook Social Graph open API also means that developers all over the world will be creating new tools and plugins that you can integrate in your website – for free. This is very similar to the WordPress model, which has been very successful. And this is only the beginning…