Twitter for the little guy

Beth Kantor has another great post about how even modest organizations that don’t have pots of gold can make social media work to accomplish for their own missions. Plus, she wants to hear about any good ideas out there form nonprofits using social media in new and exciting ways:

“And, if you are a small organization and have succeeded, I want to hear about it.

Leave a comment sharing how you're using social media to support your organization's work in a local community or regional effort and using a shoe string budget to do it. And, if you could win a copy of "Twitter for Dummies" that the good folks from Wiley just sent me.”

Doing something cool with Twitter? Facebook? Ning? Drop Beth a line.

The power of layering

According to this great post from Frogloop, the key to a successful campaign builds momentum both offline and online:

“The cardinal rule of offline campaigns is layering: multiple contacts on the doorstep and on the phone build on each other to create momentum. Neighborhoods that have had multiple passes of canvassing tend to deliver higher ROI on each successive pass - the second, third, and fourth contacts aren't "cold calls", they're follow-ups. Adding contacts through online advertising and content, social networks, email, text, mail, etc. can build momentum, too. The more times a voter, donor, or advocate sees, hears, reads, or experiences a message and call to action the more likely it is to penetrate the noise of every day life…”

Face Time

For nonprofits, engaging supporters online is becoming the norm. Emails fly and movements are building on social networks. But nothing will ever replace the power of real, live, human beings standing together for a cause. How do you get online activists not only to show up at real events – but to make those events truly awesome and effective?

Check out One Day, One Planet: A How-To Guide to Orchestrating a Global Day of Action on techpresident.com.

What does the future hold for democracy? For organizing around a cause? 350.org's Global Day of Action might give us a clue.

Recruitment: Turning Media Spikes Into Leads

Getting on the nightly news or in the local paper is one thing – turning that exposure into recruits is another. And your window of opportunity is short – 3-4 days at most to make the most of the exposure.

The blog over at Seachange Strategies is a great one to follow all the time, but this oldie-but-goodie post is a great read if you’re looking to grow your email list:

Seachange Strategies Blog

Are You Ready for the New Consumer?

Over at Katya’s Nonprofit Marketing Blog, Katya is asking: What are supporters expecting of your organization? Three things to consider:

1. Personal relevance
2. Social benefits
3. Tribal benefits

Are you ready for the new consumer?

Publish Post

Flash Mobs for Fitness

Looking for a novel way to get communities fired up about tackling obesity? Consider a flash mob. What’s a ‘flash mob’? Well, for LiveWell Colorado it’s a creative way to draw much needed attention to the problem:

… the campaign kicked off with a flash mob in three cities across the state (see above). In Denver, Greeley and Grand Junction, more than 100 people stripped down to retro, 1980’s-inspired work out gear and performed aerobics, leaving passersby engaged and amused.

You can see video proof of the impromptu workouts here.

Tweet Congress

Are members of Congress hip to Twitter? You bet! The folks over at tweetcongress.org built their site to open up a direct line between twitterers and their elected officials in Washington. Their mantra:

We the Tweeple of the United States, in order to form a more perfect government, establish communication, and promote transparency do hereby tweet the Congress of the United States of America.

See how democracy is functioning in 140 characters or less (with nifty stats and charts, too).