Grassroots Innovator Award Finalists

Thanks to everyone who submitted entries- there were a number of fantastic innovations that impressed our judges. A brief outline of the finalists follows. Be sure to cast your vote before 12:30 pm EST Friday!

Tom Connell (PMA)- Facebook
Tom shared his experiences using Facebook Ads as a part of the Smoke-Free Boise campaign. The ad, available on Facebook for 2 months, allowed users to click thru to a webform on the AHA site at www.americanheart.org/smokefreeboise. The goal was to recruit advocates that could deliver quality, personalized messages to City Council. Nearly 300 new advocates were recruited with this tactic, prompting Tom and his colleagues to dub the Facebook ad " our little recruiter."

Amanda Ptashkin & Melissa Brown (GRA)- Advocacy Road Show
Amanda and Melissa presented their Advocacy Road Show- a traveling presentation the Great Rivers Advocacy staff shared with their colleagues across the affiliate. Through an engaging game that utilized slogans from familiar companies, they discussed the value Advocacy can bring with AHA staff from other departments. Amanda and Melissa pointed to the staff's increased understanding of advocacy and a greater willingness to engage in discussion of potential partnerships as measures of their success.

Amanda Ptashkin & Melissa Brown (GRA)- YouTube
Amanda and Melissa shared how they've been using YouTube to help them accomplish their goals. First, as a part of the Advocacy Roadshow, they utilized YouTube videos to create excitement and buzz about advocacy prior to the presentation and to motivate staff to create partnerships after the presentation. They've also used YouTube to breathe fresh life into recruitment efforts around federal lobby day. Our technology challenges made it difficult to see their YouTube videos, so the links are included here.
Videos from Roadshow:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHwqqB2hIPc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS1HbDonWy4
Recruitment Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQuS--XhIX0.

Betsy Vetter (MAA)- Advocacy Committee
In response to a need for a pool of highly engaged advocates and a need for a way volunteers could build advocacy and leadership skills within their affiliate, Betsy developed the NC Advocacy Coordinating Committee. The Executive team for the state consists of a Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, Communications Chair, Issues Expert Chair, Immediate Past-Chair; Regional Team Leaders (Mountain, Greater Charlotte, Triad, Triangle and Eastern); and a Youth Engagement Chair. She is currently in the process of developing regional teams that mirror this structure. Betsy pointed to increased grassroots involvement and community building done by these leaders as positive outcomes of the process.

Excited for Tomorrow!

Hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving with family and friends. I know it's always hard to come back to work after a long break, but I'm excited about our virtual training this week. I'm hoping we share great discussions and learn from guest presenters, and that we also have a successful training model to share at the end of the week. With budgets tight, groups all across the organization are looking for alternatives to in-person meetings. I think we have a great week in store!

Tomorrow's presenter, Amy Showalter, sent the following note for me to share with you...

Greetings,

I'm looking forward to hearing of your exploits (and exploits are good where I come from) and reviewing the strategic planning document with you on Monday! This will help you focus your advocacy efforts on your high-priority advocacy goals. Plus, because I get the opportunity to collaborate with a very diverse group of clients, I've noticed a difference in those who achieve their goals and get the recognition they deserve, vs. those who do a "good job" but are stuck. I'll share the common patterns of behavior in those who are moving forward.

Onward,
Amy Showalter

Your Email on the Small Screen

Seems handheld devices such as cell phones, iphones and blackberries are the wave of the future for receiving information. I've gotten some questions lately about formatting emails so they render properly on handheld devices. The ladies at AH&A recently shared this resource.

Much of the content people are receiving on there handheld devices was once considered only applicable to the web. This article is helpful in considering how to set up your emails to render properly in these devices.

http://www.emaillabs.com/email_marketing_articles/best-practices-for-mobile-email-marketing.html

Pew for You

I'm passing along this great source of information shared by our friends at Adams, Hussey and Associates. Thanks, Olga!

Is there anything Pew can't do? The Pew Internet & American Life project is a great (and credible!) source of information. http://www.pewinternet.org/reports.asp Their studies cover demographics of internet users, online activities & pursuits, and government's use of internet.

I just took a look and loved the report on page 2 about the use of internet in the 2008 Election. I guess I've been longing for a little election coverage over the last few weeks. If you're like me, check this one out! Even if you're thrilled the political chatter is dying down, there's surely a report here that'll interest you... try the report on e-patients, the one about teens writing for the internet, or the report on privacy concerns in the fast-paced internet era. These reports provide an interesting backdrop to our ongoing discussions about social media.

Oh, how I love the Ellipsis

If you've ever exchanged emails with me, there's a good chance you already know... I love the ellipsis! It's something about the way it jumps off the page and catches your eye, or the way it creates suspense in a sentence. I'm just wild about this peculiar punctuation mark.

So, you can only imagine how delighted I was when someone sent me this article a few months ago proclaiming "The Glory of the Ellipsis." I felt justified in my constant usage and excited at the prospect of seeing the ellipsis scattered throughout our action alerts. It's such a great way to grab your readers' attention.

Check out this article... then embrace the ellipsis in your own writing!
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=30370#

Training Opportunities

By now, you should have recieved a welcome message from NTEN, the Nonprofit Technology Network. The National Grassroots Team is happy to extend this membership to all AHA grassroots staff. NTEN offers a number of resources, including some great training opportunities in the next few weeks- all at reduced cost to members. I encourage you to check them out!

Writing for the Web: Less is More (Nov. 13)
10 Tactics for Growing Your Online Community (November 20- FREE for members!)
"Managing" Your Brand in Social Media (Dec. 4)

Enjoy your NTEN membership and be sure to take advantage of their great offerings!

Measuring Success on the Web

A good follow-up to the last post on open rates, this blog post dives into web metrics. What should you measure? How do you know if something you're measuring is a truly valuable metric? Follow the link for answers.

http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/2007/12/web-metrics-demystified.html

Email Open Rates

We all want 100% of our advocates to open our emails every time, but that just isn't going to happen, folks. What is a good open rate, you ask? Read on...

I thought you might enjoy this blog entry all about email open rates. Open rates are one of several measurements you should keep an eye on to gauge the success of your communications with advocates. The post includes some good tips on increasing open rates if you're concerned they're too low.

http://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/archives/2007/01/all_about_email_open_rates.html

Choosing the Right Social Technologies

Blogs and Widgets and Wikis, Oh My!

How do you decide which social technology is right for you? Set your objectives first! Check out this document for great advice on choosing the right technology, and measuring succes with whatever you choose.

http://www.communispace.com/communications/forrester/How_to_Choose_the_Right_Social_Technologies-Bernoff_March_2008.pdf

50 steps to Social Media Success

This is a great article on establishing a consistent social media program. As so many of you think strategically about implementing your own social media programs, consider these 50 tips to give your efforts even more oomph!

http://www.chrisbrogan.com/50-steps-to-establishing-a-consistent-social-media-practice/

Keeping up with the Blogs

Keeping up with all the great resources on the web isn't easy, and aggregators are becoming very popular. An aggregator is a site that allow you to monitor your favorite content on one simple page rather than visiting a bunch of different sites every day.

Bloglines is just such an aggregator- it allows you to keep up with postings on your favorite blogs in one place, so you can quickly scroll through the latest posts and see if anything merits a further read (sure is a lot quicker than having to go to a dozen plus different blogs). You might also find this a great way to monitor your local political chatter in the blogosphere. The set up is super easy - you simply sign up for a free account, compile the blog feeds you are interested in, and set preferences like if you want headlines only, summaries, or entire posts displayed. Bonus - you can 'clip' and save useful postings for later.
http://www.bloglines.com/

Give some thought to how you can use this to enhance your own learning. Also, think about the implications if our readers are using an aggregator. How does that change the content of your posts?

Passive Blog readers? SNAP out of it!

We have our first guest blogger! Today's post was sent along by Terri Broussard, VP of Advocacy for the South Central Affiliate. Terri shared this post from Pro Blogger- a blog all about... Blogs, of course! (What a concept- I love it!)

Calls to Action - 12 Tips To SNAP Readers Out of Passivity, provides great advice on getting your blog readers to interact with you. Check it out, and incorporate some of the great tips in your own blog posts.

As more and more AHA staff begin blogging, Pro Blogger can be a fantastic resource.

What do you think of this new resource? Leave a comment!

Make People Act

The Activation Point Website says...
"If knowledge alone was enough to inspire action, the world would already be a better place. Real change requires action, and the key to moving people from knowledge to action is persuasion."

I was recently introduced to these two great resources to help persuade people to act. The Activation Point and its companion Smart Chart are guides to good communications strategy. They focus on the fundamentals of building a good plan- and you can download both for FREE!

http://www.activationpoint.org
http://www.smartchart.org

The Long and the Short of It

When it comes to email, how long is too long?

Short paragraphs? Yes! Short sentences? Please! Short simple words? Absolutely! Short emails? Not so fast.

Here is a great article posted ClickZ, Who Says People Don't Respond to Long E-mail Copy?. Author, Karen Gedney tells us "don't write short copy because everyone tells you it's the only way to go. Instead, try testing long copy vs. short copy in a head-to-head test to find out what your audience responds to best." We agree with this approach, Karen. We are also reminded that placement of links is important and sidebar (callout or hotbox) is particularly important in generating clicks.

Have you got what it takes?

The most important part of a social-media strategy
Michael J. Puican | August 11, 2008

This is an exciting time for mission-based, nonprofit organizations thanks to the explosion in social media.

Unlike e-commerce, which has been the huge Internet focus over the past 10 years, social networking is about connecting and getting involved, and not about buying and selling. Thanks to social media this is the perfect time for nonprofits to step up and ensure their mission is one that people are talking about.

So what is the best way to do this?

There is so much discussion about the mechanics of social networking: to blog or not to blog, MySpace vs. Facebook, creating videos for YouTube, etc. I want to focus on a crucial aspect that doesn't have anything to do with the technology. It is the human factor. Very practically, who will do this and how much time will it take?

The first thought is often to look for a young, energetic college intern since all young people are into social networking, right? But even if you find the perfect intern who is a Facebook/MySpace/Twitter wiz, you need to ask how well they will represent your organization.

Social networking requires interaction with other individuals, bloggers and organizations. It requires someone who knows your organization thoroughly and can represent it well.

The best candidate has a combination of these traits:

Knows and enjoys social media
Is tech savvy (but doesn't have to be a geek)
Knows your organization and is committed to its mission
Has a personable, outgoing writing style
That person may be a staff member or an involved volunteer, but it should be someone who is already involved in your organization.

The next question is how much time to allocate to the enterprise. Unlike working with your website, which may only involve responding to inquiries and thanking those who donate online, social networking is much more active.

It requires getting involved and participating in the various discussions about the issues most important to your organization. As a result, it requires much more time.

Here are rough guidelines to begin your planning:

Two hours a day (10 hours a week): Post bulletins on your organization's sites, visit other sites and respond to postings on other sites.
Four hours a day (a half-time staff person): Establish a regular blog, become an active voice on the internet about the key issues involving your mission.
Eight hours a day (a full-time staff person): Now you are social networking. Create thoughtful dialogues about key issues, develop opportunities for volunteers to interact and become involved, lead e-advocacy campaigns, regularly interact with bloggers, thought leaders, media and key organizations.

Social networking can become a major new resource for your nonprofit. However, it requires a strategic commitment of resources to tap into it. If you can make that commitment, you will find an exciting, new opportunity to build awareness and significantly improve your base of volunteers and donors.

Online Terms

Here is a link to a glossary of commonly used online terms. This is sure to come in handy!

http://www.emailexperience.org/resources/email-glossary/

Words that Work

This is a terrific reminder found on another blog. It summarizes "Words that Work," a book by Frank Luntz, a well-known-strategist. This reinforces a lot of suggestions from our style guide! You can also always turn back to our Value-Messaging for inspiration around message structure.

1. Simplicity - Use small words. You’re trying to connect with your audiences, not impress them with your vocabulary. If you use a word they don’t understand, they will stop listening AND think that you’re pretentious.

2. Brevity - Use short sentences. If you can’t say it in a breath, folks won’t understand it. You may be willing to re-read your sentences to make sure you get the point, but your audience won’t.

3. Credibility Matters – as much as if not more than philosophy. I call this believability. Stephen Colbert calls it “truthiness.” It doesn’t matter if your message is true. If it sounds “unbelievable,” it won’t be believed.

4. Repetition – Consistency Matters. You will have to hammer home your message over and over before it sticks. So it better roll off your tongue (see #1 and #2).

5. Novelty – Offer something new. In product marketing, we call this “differentiation.” In politics, it’s the reason to NOT vote for the other guy. Within the non-profit world, it’s the reason someone should bother listening to you.

6. Sound – Good words sound good. I often tell clients to read their messages aloud. If they sound boring, they are. Luntz cites a lot of tag lines and product ad copy to prove his point (M&Ms melt in your mouth, quicker picker upper, etc.) But I think this makes sense for all messages. Use alliteration. Create an appealing cadence for your messages. Treat your OpEds like they are speeches.

7. Speak Aspirationally. (For the record, "Aspirationally" is his word, not mine, and seems to break rule #1, no?) No one likes a downer. (Read that again.) Aspiration is more attractive and memorable. It inspires. Focus on the promise of what could be, not how bad things are. In fact, check out a few Obama speeches. He clearly rips the current state of things, but he offers hope, promise, etc.

8. Visualize – Make them see it. Use language that conjures up mental images. One of Luntz’s favorite words is “imagine.” Tell a person to imagine something, and he will – using his favorite images and his favorite memories.

9. Ask a question. Sounds corny, but it works. It immediately engages people in a conversation whether they want to be included or not. State a fact and they look at you with a blank stare. Ask a question and people answer it.

10. Provide Context and Explain Relevance. Finally, a point I can argue with Luntz. “Relevance” is one of my Top 5 message rules, and I think that if you have to explain it, you’ve already lost the audience. The best messages are INSTANTLY relevant to audiences. If you have to explain a punch line, the joke isn’t funny. If you have to explain a message, it’s not as strong as it needs to be.

What Grade Are You In?

You've probably heard before that writing for the web should be at an 8th grade level (10th grade tops). That's not because our audience isn't smart, but reading on a computer screen is fundamentally different from reading in print. So how do you gauge the grade level of your writing? There is a nifty tool built into MS Word that can help.

Here is how to activate it (Please keep in mind, MSWord 2007 might have a slightly different way to activate it):

Go to Tools menu >
Select Options in the drop down >
Click on Spelling & Grammar tab >
Check off Show Readability Statistics

Next time you run spellcheck, you will see readability statistics!

I Heart Google

I admit, I am a Google lover, it's innovative, it covers many online needs, and it's free. I even blogged about it last year. And there is much to like, Google is really stepping up its outreach to not-for-profits, check out their page devoted to not-for-profits: http://www.google.com/nonprofits/

Just to highlight a few of the goodies that you can find on Google that could be useful to your work:

~Google Alerts - you can monitor news related to your issues, your organization, or even a board member! Scroll all the way down on this page and you'll see a link that allows you to set an alert. Each time your search term appears in the news you'll get an email letting you know about it. (think carefully how you define the terms though to make sure that you are monitoring relevant content). http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=wn&ned=us&q=american+heart+association

~In the same venue, Blog search allows you to look for blogs you are interested in or content of the blogs that's relevant. http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en

~This is new to me, so I have not had a chance to explore all its merits, but setting up group pages sounds most intriguing to me! https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=jotspot&passive=true&continue=http%3A%2F%2Fsites.google.com%2Fsite%2Fsites%2F