Email: still the killer app
06:49, 12 July 2010
.. Posted in Communication, Outreach and General Mngmt.. Link
So-called "online social media" is great, and your nonprofit should definitely be using some of the many tools out there for outreach and interaction with current and potential clients, volunteers, donors, staff and partners.
But don't forget email! And don't forget your web site!
Sure, I use so-called "online social media":
- I have a blog, which you are reading now, and which you can subscribe to via RSS (here's my advice on blogging for nonprofits)
- I have a Twitter account with more than 100 followers
- I have a FaceBook profile you can "like"
- I upload photos on Flickr
- I have my own online network where members can share information on my web site
- and I post updates for my associates a LinkedIn
However, subscriptions to my email newsletter, Tech4Impact, are growing steadily, faster than subscribers to all of the aforementioned OSN tools, and have been for the last year, after being flat for most of the four years before that. In addition, I get far more visits to my web site per a notice in my email newsletter than I do for posts to any of my OSN activities.
I almost abandoned my email newsletter a few years ago, caught up in the hype of "new media" and worried about my flat subscription numbers; my subscribers almost rebelled! They demanded I keep my email newsletter, and I am SO glad I listened to them and not all the social media pundits out there!
Your nonprofit needs to have a text-based email newsletter! A text-based email newsletter (as opposed to something that's attached to an email, usually as a PDF file) is simple, it's quick to send and read, and it can be easily forwarded by subscribers to their own network of colleagues (new readers!), regardless of what email reader they use. It can be read anytime -- you don't have to be sitting at your computer when it arrives in order to experience it. For many individuals, an email newsletter is still the best or preferred choice for receiving online communications. And while everyone still does NOT have a Facebook profile, most everyone has email (I know you're shocked, but it's true; at my workshops, often half of attendees don't have a Facebook account, but there might be one person -- if there is anyone -- who doesn't have email).
My newsletter Tech4Impact features at least one "tech tip" for nonprofits and lists the titles of all my blogs for the previous four weeks. It points to updates on my web site and notes my upcoming speaking engagements. Some people subscribe to to the email newsletter because they don't like using social networking tools (or don't like using them for work). Some people subscribe to it AND subscribe to one of my OSN profiles, to ensure they get my information (that something important doesn't get lost in their information overload). It's proven as essential as any of the the so-called OSN tools out there in getting my message out!
Why do I keep saying "so-called" for "online social media"? Because the reality is that the Internet is, and ALWAYS has been, online networking! ALWAYS!
On a related note: how am I able to have time use all those OSN tools, in addition to my email newsletter? Here's my trick that I've shared in my workshops, and am now sharing here: most of my updates across all these platforms are the same message. Usually, the message is to drive people to my latest blog entry or an update on my web site. I need only about five minutes a day to use all of the online social networking tools I have profiles on (except for my blog, which takes much more time). Yes, that means if you are subscribing to every one of my online networks, you are getting the same message again and again. The reality is that only a tiny group of people subscribe to everything; the rest choose just ONE way to follow you via OSN (via FaceBook, via Twitter, whatever).
The reality is that there there are not only a myriad of ways to communicate with current and potential clients, volunteers, donors, staff and partners, and individuals each have preferred ways of receiving information. That means that if your nonprofit wants to reach a range of people -- not just one particular demographic -- you have to have a blended approach to online outreach. More on how to achieve that blended approach.
