nonprofittech

[nonprofittech]

This is tangentially related to the last blog post (with the Clark Shirky TED Talk) and features Clay yet again. It's definitely worth a listen. Freakonomics is a fantastic podcast and this episode talks about the Internet on a larger social scale. 

We didn't talk about podcasts in class, but holy crap are they awesome. Here's a list of amazing shows that you might like:

Public Radio Shows (US)

Radiolab

Freakonomics

99% Invisible

This American Life

Independent Shows

Back to Work (kind of about productivity, but much more than that)

You Look Nice Today (probably the funniest podcast ever, start from episode 1)

Roderick On The Line (interesting, funny, weird and thought provoking conversations between two guys)

The Truth (basically audio short films - really neat)

If you listen to any great podcasts, share them!

[nonprofittech]

You can download the slides from today's lecture.

Thanks for all your great discussion about email, collaboration and productivity. Try turning off your email notifications and practicing some of the process that we talked about...you might like it!

[nonprofittech]

We pulled information on 12 billion email sends from earlier this year and analyzed subject line length versus open and click rate. The results are straightforward...

This is a great post from Mailchimp (an example of some of the useful info they share on email marketing) about subject line length. 

Great job on your campaigns, I've really enjoyed going through them.

[nonprofittech]

Since weaversworld7 asked... I'd have to say this one is my favourite. As an introvert, I appreciate this technique and may have to try it out.

Also, this woman is an audience building master. What she does may seem fluffy and ridiculous to some, but there's an awful lot of strategy going on here. Kudos to Jenna.

Hope everyone is having some fun with Mailchimp. I've really enjoyed your emails so far - keep them coming.

[nonprofittech]

Planet of the Male Chimps

Yes, I realize that headline is not funny at all.

Thanks for a great class today - hope you came away with some value. You can download the PDF slides if you wish.

Here is the dummy copy that you can use if you wish when creating your Mailchimp email.

Headline: You're Invited to a Rubber Chicken Gala Dinner

Subhead: Help us raise lots of fake money by eating a mediocre meal.

Content: Because you probably have too much money, come and moderately enjoy our Rubber Chicken Gala Dinner on Saturday, December 7, 2013 at The Bus Station. We'll have corporate, dry, enteraintment and a microphone with lots of feedback. Plus, check out not-unique items at our really loud auction.

Button: Buy your ticket today

Use this image:

Feel free to get creative and make up your own content as well. Remember to add me as a subscriber to your list (you have my permission!).

Email me if you have any issues. I'm off to watch Jenna Marbles videos...

[nonprofittech]

sjudd4 mentioned Acer computers today after class and what do I happen to see on Daring Fireball (the blog I was showing in class)...

[nonprofittech]

Content Marketing & Social Media

Have a great week off guys, see you November 5.

You can download a PDF of the lecture slides if you wish. The blog post assignment is below. Check out Hootsuite, Sprout Social and Buffer to get started. Do some research on your assigned platform both on their site and through other's posts about them. Setup a free account, get a sense of the features and give us your opinion on how it might be useful within a non-profit to have a platform like this to post across platforms, measure engagement and manage multiple users.

You can view a sample of a social media acceptable use policy if you wish. I'd encourage you to cover how your assigned social media management platform addresses some of the issues covered in the acceptable use policy.

Resources

Check out some content marketing resources:

Content Rules by Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman

Content Strategy for the Web by Kristina Halvorson

Content Marketing by Rebecca Lieb

Seth Godin's blog

I'm happy to answer any questions you might have. Just send me an email.

[nonprofittech]

Your assignment this week should you choose to accept it is to take a picture of something that portrays technology to you. Write a few sentences explaining what it is and why you chose it.

This is my cable graveyard box, where all the various cables and random little accessories that go along with electronics and computers go to live out the rest of their lives. They get to intermingle with each other, creating a giant snakes nest that is nearly impossible to break apart.

You can download a PDF of today's lecture slides if you wish. See (some of you) on Thursday.

[nonprofittech]

Week 4 Lecture Slides - Blog Post

Hope you've had a chance to start looking at the websites of the non-profit organizations that you're following. I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts on their websites. In case you need a refresher, here is the blog assignment again:

You can download a PDF of the lecture slides as well.

[nonprofittech]

The link above is the cloud report I referenced on Tuesday. 

You can download week 3's lecture slides here.

[nonprofittech]

"The best speakers know enough to be scared... the only difference between the pros and the novices is that the pros have trained the butterflies to fly in formation."

Edward R. Murrow

[nonprofittech]

In this hilarious and highly practical book, author and professional speaker Scott Berkun reveals the techniques behind what great communicators do, and shows how anyone can learn to use them well. ...

This is an excerpt and well worth reading. Scott brings an interesting way of looking at fear of public speaking. What strategies have you developed for managing anxiety when it comes to speaking in public?

[nonprofittech]

A great link and interesting example of a privacy catch 22 from from mahtechblog:

They [the CCLA] have the ability to track which links the recipients open, which would allow them to gauge their members’ interest in various issues and focus their efforts accordingly.  However, on principle, they do not use this tracking function.

I understand in principle why the CCLA don't do any link tracking to see what their members are looking at but isn't this similar to what Dan Pallotta was talking about? They're unnecessarily limiting their ability to engage and grow their audience which hurts their cause and mission over the long-term.

Tracking open and click rates on email campaigns is extremely common (which in itself doesn't make it valid) but it's reasonable to expect that your behaviour related to the email will be tracked when you sign up for a newsletter. This behavioural data should be stewarded and safeguarded no differently than any other personal data held by the organization and ultimately requires the trust of each individual who signs up.

Would clearly (perhaps more clearly than most?) warning subscribers that they will be collecting and acting on behavioural data related to the email be good enough to satisfy the CCLA's principles while still enabling them to provide better service and value to their subscribers and donors?

[nonprofittech]

Philanthropy is the market for love.

Dan Pallotta (via mahtechblog)

[nonprofittech]

This is the password management tool I referenced in today's class. The other one I mentioned was LastPass.

Here are the slides from today's class. 

Next week we'll talk about media monitoring, cloud computing and presentations. It'll be a mixed bag of topics, but we'll tie them together.

If you have a laptop, please bring it. We'll be doing some research as a group.

[nonprofittech]

Class Blogs

Everyone has done a fantastic job with getting their blog up and running. Thanks for taking the time to introduce yourself further and share the two organizations you'll be following technologically this semester. I'm really impressed by the diversity of the choices, it's going to make for some really interesting final presentations. 

If you aren't already, please take a minute to follow each other:

Aaron

Ny

Ali

Tania

Susan

Izabella

Lindsay

Sienna

Sunni

Jessica

Kevin

I also love that many of you have jumped in customized the template and appearance of your site. Nice job!

A special shout-out to Kevin for his extra post on PIPEDA. It's a great warmup to what we're going to talk about tomorrow. See you then.

[nonprofittech]

Week 1 - Lecture Slides and Follow-Up

You can view a PDF of slides from our week one lecture. Feel free to email me with any follow-up questions.

If you have any issues getting your Tumblr site set-up, I'm happy to help. Please make sure your blog and first post are up by Sunday night. On Monday, I'll post a list of everyone's Tumblr sites and we can all follow each other.