Sometimes we run into some great blog posts with good tips about the frequency, design or purpose of email marketing – but just like many things online, we also run into some horrible, misguided information.

Recently we came across a blog post criticizing the efforts to make email, print and online communications consistent. The author claimed that consistent branding leads to readers ignoring the message because everything looks the same.

This is obviously someone who doesn’t understand how to develop a strong and effective brand.

“For example, a certain association holds a lot of webinars and classes, and they send out a lot of marketing messages about them — each of which follows the exact same template, with the exact same look, written in the exact same style. I get them and before I even read them, I know exactly what each email is about. And I delete every single one.”

He doesn’t realize it, but his example is a great sample of how consistent branding works. Yes, he may delete the emails now, but at some point he read them. Every single one of them, and we know this because he confesses to knowing the association’s brand. He knows the look, feel and tone of their emails. And, more importantly he knows they offer educational courses.

What he calls a failure in email marketing, is in fact, a great success.

• Keep non-attendees informed on conference happenings.
• Keep attendees better informed about the day’s schedule.
• See the conference from a different perspective.
• Inspire non-attendees to attend next year.
• Stay connected to members.

(If you don’t remember, or you’re a new reader check out our newsletter.)

Now we’ve found a very cool, and easy-to-use tool for sharing all of those tweets. TwitterFountain is a Twitter application that pulls together tweets that contain a chosen keyword or hashtag. It also pulls in images from Flickr with a chosen tag.

If we ditch the geek-speak, this means you can have a constantly updating application on your website or blog that shows all tweets and Flickr images related to a certain topic….such as your annual conference.

Here is a TwitterFountain we quickly set up to show tweets containing the phrase “charitytuesday”, and Flickr images tagged “conference attendees”:

In just a few minutes we’ve created a communication tool with real-time updates. Imagine how useful (and fun) this could be for your annual conference.

PURL’s
Personal URLs are perfect for potential attendees to interact with the marketing materials. For example, as you send out your save the date postcard, you can send along with it a PURL for the recipient to log on to. On their personal page, you can have them register early, fill out a questionnaire, or have them choose or suggest topics that they would like to have covered during the conference. By allowing the attendee to participate during the pre-conference stage, the conference value and attendance will increase.

Twitter
During the pre-conference stage, you can begin to setup #hashtags for your conference on Twitter. Invite possible attendees to follow your conference twitter account to receive instant updates about the conference and to begin conversations about what they would like to see at the conference and to start networking with other attendees.

Twitter can be used during the conference as well to let attendees provide their own personal views on subjects and to strike up hot topics throughout the conference. Have the speakers setup their own accounts so they can get involved with conversations through twitter.

For more information, check out our newsletter on Twittering your Annual Conference.

Facebook
Setting up a group on Facebook for your conference is a great tool. As you add friends to the group, you can gauge the potential for attendees at your conference. Utilizing the upcoming events tool, the group will be notified about key dates for the conference.

Check out this blog post about using Facebook for your organization.

Registration Offers
Who does not like a discount or special offer? Why not offer a discount for early registration using PURL’s? Provide special offers to your Facebook Fans who participate in discussions. Conduct contests through Twitter during the conference where you provide information or clues only seen through your Twitter updates.  Providing more options for early registration and participation in pre and post conference sessions will encourage members to take advantage of the situation and in turn it will help with conference attendance and late registration because we know “it’s not just a trend, it’s a fact.”

By incorporating these personalization tools, you will help with the overall value of the conference, but more importantly it will help increase your attendance.

Tweepz

• Search for people based on their name, bio, location and keywords.

Mashable’s Twitter Guide Book

• A great guide for helping new and experienced Twitter users learn how to get the most out of the service.

Twellow

• The Twitter Yellow Pages

Twellowhood

• Provided by Twello, Twellowhood allows you to see how many Twitter users are in a country, state or city – and to also see who those users are.

LocalTweeps

• Directory to help you find Twitter users in your zip code.

Twubble

• Expand your Twitter bubble. Twubble searches your friend graph and picks out people who you may like to follow

WeFollow

• Popular Twitter user directory, which you can use to add yourself or find people to follow.

Twitterel

• Find Twitter users with related interests.

NearbyTweets

Happn.in

• Shows you what people are twittering about in your city. Here’s a peak at what people are all atwitter about in our city, DC.

Tweetdeck

• Tweetdeck is one of the more popular desktop clients for Twitter that allows you to easily manager your Twitter conversations.

Also, be sure to check us out on twitter at http://twitter.com/rottmancreative!

Fairly soon your lives will be enriched with another edition of our newsletter, White Space. This month’s topic is on integrating social media marketing and direct mail – safely and effectively! But, we thought it might be best to have a quick and dirty lesson on social media marketing.

Let’s start with seeing what Wikipedia has to say:

“Social media marketing is an engagement with online communities to generate exposure, opportunity and sales. The number-one advantage is generating exposure for the business, followed by increasing traffic and building new business partnerships. Common social media marketing tools include Twitter, Blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.”

Social media marketing is…

• A conversation. Brands/companies/organizations talk to consumers, consumers talk about, – most importantly consumers talk to each other.
• Word of mouth advertising.
• A chance to hear what people are saying about you, because whether or not you join the conversation – they are still going to talk about you.

Social media marketing is not…

• A trend. It’s a shift in how we communicate.
• Simply joining Facebook. You have to participate.
• Going to ruin your reputation (if you are wise about it).
• Controlling online conversations. It is about listening and engaging.

Bringing awareness to social issues and supporting charities is the fastest growing trend we see in social media. And lately the most successful campaigns have been ones that involve a friendly competition.

You are probably all aware of the recent Twitter challenge between popular TV star Ashton Kutcher and CNN. The heavily-publicized contest started with Kutcher and CNN battling to be the first to obtain 1 million Twitter followers, and ended with Kutcher, CNN and Oprah Winfrey purchasing mosquito bed nets to combat malaria. Kutcher also donated $100,000 to the Malaria No More Fund. The contest was talked about on everything from morning news shows to late night TV. It aided in boosting Twitter’s popularity, but also brought awareness to an important social issue.

A Facebook Contest worth $3 Million

A more popular way of using social media for online competitions is to have various charities compete for funds. Yesterday Target launched an online contest through Facebook called Bullseye Gives. The premise is that Facebook users can go to Target’s profile and vote once a day between May 10-25 to determine how Target distributes $3 million among 10 charities. The participating charities are:

American Red Cross
Breast Cancer Research Foundation
Feeding America
The HandsOn Network/Points of Light Institute
Kids In Need
National Parks Foundation
Operation Gratitude
Parent Teacher Association
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
The Salvation Army

Although it was just launched yesterday, nearly 6,000 votes have been cast, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the lead. At the end of the contest Target will tally the votes and allocate the $3 million based on the percentage of votes each charity received. The contest will result in each of the nonprofits earning some percentage of the funds, raising awareness about their organization and learning a new use for social media. As for Target, the contest is an opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to supporting nonprofits, which will enhance their brand.

The opportunity for nonprofits to win money through online contests is growing exponentially, adding another viable option for fundraising. Most of these contests will require nonprofits to sharpen their social media skills. Starting a blog, learning how to “tweet” and starting a profile page on Facebook are just the beginning. But, besides winning money through these contests, nonprofits are raising awareness and support through social media just by participating. To us it seems like a win-win situation.

There were countless great discoveries and advancements in 2008, but one that peaks our interest is about changes seen in usage of social media. Social media sites experienced exponential growth in 2008. In addition to seeing a continual growth in usage, many social media sites are also having a shift in their user demographics.

Let’s take a quick look at some stats from 2008 for the increasingly-popular Facebook. We’re choosing to examine Facebook because it is one of the largest social networking sites with over 200 million users around the world; therefore, we feel confident that whatever assumptions we make from Facebook’s stats, will be true other social media sites.

• By mid-2008 the fastest growing age demographic was 35-54 year olds
• The 24-35 age population doubles every 6 months
• Over 66% of all Facebook users are over the age of 21

What can we take away from these numbers?

First, social media is obviously not just something for teenagers. Second, more young professionals and Gen-Xers found their way in the jungle of social media. They figured out the tools, downloaded apps, learned new lingo and joined the online conversation…or in many cases, started new conversations online. These are people who are full of energy and want to get involved in worthy organizations, say, like your association or nonprofit!

Identify networks of users and online conversations that make sense for your organization. Ask yourself what is it about these social media/networking sites that are attracting millions and millions of people? Take it a step further and brainstorm how you can join the party in effective and strategic ways to help engage younger members.

We’ve come up with a few tips to help you engage younger members of your association through the wonderful world of social media.

Social Networking

If you hang out with a group of young adults between the ages of 21- 34, you’ll notice an interesting trend. They are more likely to say, “I’ll Facebook you”, instead of asking for a phone number or email address. Social networking sites, like Facebook, give users the ability to communicate with others, share pictures, videos, blog posts, articles of interest and more. Users can also create events and invite others. A major benefit is that it allows users to keep lots of information in one place, combined with a simple way to communicate with others. Create a Facebook page for your association, and use it to inform younger members about upcoming events, share your newsletters and any other organization news, add videos and pictures and show a little bit of personality and passion – two of the most attractive qualities young professionals enjoy in any group they associate with.

Through trial and error, young professionals are setting the etiquette for balancing their personal life and professional life using social media tools. LinkedIn is considered the professional version of Facebook. It allows users to interact with each other and share information, but it has the reputation of being more serious about networking and being a place for people to build community around their career.

Multimedia

There are several sites that allow you to share multimedia with others. Nearly everyone has at least heard of YouTube and Flickr, which allow you to post and share videos and pictures. Creating an account for your organization with each of these sites is free, and allows you the opportunity to allow younger members to watch videos from previous events – which may help them RSVP to your annual conference; or, allow them to see all the great photos from the last event they attended.

Blog

Whether it is a new product, a restaurant, an event or your organization – young professionals are going to Google it before giving it a try. In addition to wanting more facts about their new item of interest they also what to get a “feel” for it before they make a decision. We recently read a statistic that said nearly 40% of consumers place more trust, and have a more positive view of brands that have a blog. There are several guides with tips on how to start a blog, if you don’t already have one. Besides posting news information about your organization, make it social as well by sharing pictures, videos and information your younger members may find interesting. Not all blog posts have to be serious and directly related to your organization’s mission – they can be fun, with the sole purpose of trying to engage readers.

At first glance it might seem like some of these suggestions don’t directly relate to your organization’s mission, and might even seem like a waste of time. But, this is how your younger members are using social media to interact with everyone (and every organization/business) that is important to them. Understanding how your younger members consume, manipulate, produce and communicate information through social media will bring you much closer to understanding them, and how to get them more involved in your organization.

For more tips on using social media, check out these blog posts:
Social Media Goes Corporate
Fitting Social Media into Your Schedule
Managing Your Professional Relationships
Using Twitter at Your Annual Conference
Twitter to the Rescue

One of the things we love about working at RCG is that we get the opportunity to meet and connect with amazing nonprofits that are making a positive difference in the lives of others. Recently we had the pleasure of “meeting” another influential nonprofit over Twitter.

Cradles to Crayons (@C2CPhilly) provides low-income and homeless children the basic essentials they need to be safe, warm, ready to learn, and valued. They also set a foundation for lasting change through the meaningful, tangible volunteer opportunities that they provide to thousands of youth and adults each year. Cradles to Crayons is not a client of ours, but we greatly respect the hard work they are doing to enrich the lives of deserving children. What a great way to impact a community! Connecting with them over Twitter has taught us another valuable lesson about social networking.

We do, and receive, a lot of preaching about how social networking can increase your business opportunities and resources– but a benefit that is often overlooked is the power of social networking to encourage and inspire. Connecting with Cradles to Crayons over Twitter allowed us to learn about their mission, which inspired and encouraged us in the work that we do for our clients who are also nonprofits. It’s a connection that served as a great reminder of the good in the world today, and for a few moments inspired us as we connected with the world beyond our desks.

I recently read the book “SocialCorp: Social Media Goes Corporate” by Joel Postman. The book covered every aspect of incorporating social media into the corporate world. There was a SocialCorp Readiness Quiz that assisted in identifying leadership, innovation, industry, business objectives, engagement, and culture. The goal of this quiz was to identify strong and weak points in your company to determine your social media readiness. We scored a 90%. Take the quiz yourself to see where you stand.

There were six valuable attributes discussed:

1. Authenticity
2. Transparency
3. Immediacy
4. Participation
5. Connectedness
6. Accountability

I strongly agree with #4, participation. When I first started out using twitter, facebook, and linkedin, there was a lack of participation. I did a lot of reading and following with no participation. As I became more familiar with the structure of each platform and the benefits of each, I began to send @replies through twitter, started to respond to questions being posted on linkedin, and updated my status regularly on facebook. As a result of participation, I have received more followers, connections, and friends that are relevant to my interests, which in turn lead to 3 new business opportunities for our company.

How I use social media.

I am following a number of associations via twitter and the tweets are very diverse. Some tweets promote an upcoming event/conference while another tweet will discuss how to donate and will post the progress of the donations. The information is instant and brief. The great thing about it is that I do not have to search for it. If I am following the right associations/people, the information will be directed to me.

Tracking what is being said about your association or yourself is important. You need to respond to positive comments but most of all, you need to respond to negative comments. Responding to your negative comments will show that you are engaged with what your members/followers are saying, it shows you value the opinions of others, and it gives you a chance to be involved in the discussion to remedy the situation.

As with any new endeavour, you will need to develop a strategy. Take your time. Make sure you have the resources to implement your new social media strategy. Choose the right tools to use for your associations social media.

Be sure to follow me and Rottman Creative Group.

@Digirob316, @Rottmancreative

The most common objection we get when encouraging people to learn more about social media is, “Who has the time for that!?” But for those of us who experience the benefits of social media and networking we wonder, who doesn’t have the time! This is especially true since a recent round of Nielsen research showed that online member communities such as Twitter and Facebook have moved ahead of personal e-mail to become the fourth most popular way people spend time on the Internet (after search, portals and software applications).

Could the time you put into social media and networking give you more ROI than how you currently spend your time? To help you figure that out, here’s a list of tips to help you get the most out of social media and networking even if all you can spare is 15 minutes a day.

Listen to what people are saying about your association.

• Get familiar with the search options on LinkedIn, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Flickr, YouTube, Wikipedia and niche blogs to see what others are saying about your association. If you can’t find conversations about your association, look for ones about similar or competing organizations. What are members saying? What do they like? Dislike? What keeps them active? What needs do they have that your association could meet?

Identify which social media/networking sites have the greatest potential.

• After some research you will identify which sites or networks are worth your time. You will see that some are already being used by your members, and may already have conversations in which you should be participating.

Give new sites a 30-day trial.

• If you’ve created a Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook account, or started commenting on a new niche blog, give it 30 days before you make a decision whether or not the time you are investing is giving a good return.

Add or reach out to at least one connection.

• Make contact with at least one current or new connection on whichever social media/networking site you decide to use.

Keep notes.

• Along the way take notes of what sites you participate in, connections you make and what results you experience.

Set a time limit and stick to it.

• Before you dive into learning more about how social media/networking can benefit your association, decide how much time you can devote each day or week to this endeavor. Stick to that time limit for at least 30 days.

Social media and networking is growing rapidly. Leaders of associations must at least attempt to find out if their organization can benefit and increase value to their members by using these tools. Lack of time can no longer be an excuse.