Transcript of the December 14th NPC Meeting Featuring: Lori Sheppard (Skylar Smythe)

[08:36] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Welcome everyone to this week’s Nonprofit Commons Weekly Meeting!

[08:37] Rhiannon Chatnoir: The Nonprofit Commons in Second Life is sponsored by TechSoup Global and is a program of the TechSoup Global Community & Social Media team.

 

[08:37] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Today’s Agenda:

 – 8:30 am Introductions

 – 8:40 am TechSoup Announcements

 – 8:45 am Mentor’s Central 

 – 8:55 am Main Speaker: Lori Sheppard (Skylar Smythe in SL): “Creative Social Strategy for Non-Profit Organizations”

 – 9:30 am Open Mic / Announcements

 

[08:37] Rhiannon Chatnoir: First a few links to start off the meeting.

[08:37] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Here are the many ways to can get involved with the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life:

 

 – Nonprofit Commons Blog: http://nonprofitcommons.org

 – Wiki: http://npsl.wikispaces.com

 – Twitter: http://twitter.com/npsl

 – Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nonprofitcommons

 – Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/TechSoup-Second-Life

 – Google Calendar: http://bit.ly/2tMEYh

 – http://flavors.me/nonprofitcommons

 

About TechSoup the sponsors of the Nonprofit Commons:

 

 – http://www.techsoup.org/stock/howtousetechsoup.asp

 – http://flavors.me/techsoup

 

 

— INTRODUCTIONS —

 

[08:38] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Morning all! Happy Friday and let’s start off with Introductions!

[08:38] Buffy Beale: Buffy Bye, Bridges for Women, Victoria BC Canada, http://www.bridgesforwomen.ca @bridges4women

[08:38] HB Eternal: Harold W Becker, The Love Foundation, Florida, http://www.thelovefoundation.com @lovefoundation

[08:38] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Please state your real name, location, org, and the ways we can find you online.

[08:38] JT Christos: John Goltz, The Love Foundation, Florida, http:www.thelovefoundation.com, @lovefoundation

[08:38] HB Eternal: LOL Buffy

[08:38] Zinnia Zauber: Renne Emiko Brock-Richmond, Sequim Humanities and Arts Alliance, Sequim, Olympic Peninsula, Washington. http://www.sequimartsalliance.org http://www.facebook.com/sequimartsalliance @renneemiko

[08:38] Dancers Yao: Kara Bennett, Elder Voices, Inc. Los Angeles, CA Health Care and Human Rights www.eldervoices.net

[08:38] Loren Alunaia (reeveskd): Keith Reeves, distanSLab Educational Technology Resource Center, Washington, D.C. http://www.distanslab.org.

[08:38] Sarvana Haalan: Sally S. Cherry, Baltimore, MD, http://Facebook.com/CHAREproject, Email: sally@CHAREproject.com

[08:38] Gentle Heron: Virtual Ability, Inc. www.virtualability.org

[08:38] Buffy Beale: hehe HB we both jumped in too soon

[08:38] Andy Evans: Andy Mallon, First Opinions Panel in SL…- Chief Bottle-Washer, Social Research Foundation, New York, NY http://www.socialresearchfoundation.org/

[08:38] Chad Mikado: Chad Gobertwww.serviceandinclusion.org

[08:39] Glitteractica Cookie: Susan Tenby, Online Community and Social Media Director, TechSoup, SF CA USA @suzboop @techsoup

[08:39] Ozma Malibu: Sandra Andrews, Floaters Org and now Floaters @ The Millett House Gallery, tech outreach in AZ, Mexico and On the Road, @ozma

[08:39] Rhiannon Chatnoir is Joyce Bettencourt, Boston MA area, Online Community Manager of NonProfit Commons in Second Life, http://joycebettencourt.com, http://twitter.com/RhiannonSL

[08:39] bulaklak: Michael DeLong, TechSoup Global, San Francisco, CA, USA @MichaelDeLongSF @TechSoup

[08:39] JoJa Dhara: JoJa Dhara, Holland, www.metameets.com www.jojadhara.com @jojadhara

[08:39] Chayenn: Monique Richert, Protect Yourself 1, Inc., protectyourself1.org, facebook.com/PY1US. @PY1US

[08:39] alebez: Ale Bezdikian, Online Community Coordinator, TechSoup Global, SF, CA – @TechSoup, @alebez

[08:39] Skylar Smythe: Skylar Smythe, Freelance Social Media CRM and Writer | www.socialmeskylar.com @skylar_smythe

[08:39] Ethelred Weatherwax: Dave Dexter, Neenah Historical Society, Wisconsin USA

[08:39] CarynTopia Silvercloud: Caryn Heilman, Topia Arts Center, www.TopiaArts.org in the Berkshires of NW, MA

[08:39] AnnaMina Alter: AnnaMina Alter, Digital Navigator

[08:40] Gentle Heron likes AnnaMina’s title.

[08:40] AnnaMina Alter: smiles

[08:41] Rhiannon Chatnoir: any more introductions?

[08:41] Rhiannon Chatnoir: OK

 

 

TECHSOUP ANNOUNCEMENTS —

 

[08:41] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Let’s move on to TechSoup Announcements!

[08:42] bulaklak: Hello, people! So excited to be here today. I love today’s topic – social media. Very near and dear to my heart.

[08:42] bulaklak: First just a little ‘housekeeping’ as they say. We will be around next week, but then TechSoup will be closed from December 24 – January 1. So no NPC meeting on the 28th. And next week I’ll have some more info on what this means for requesting donation for your org during that time.

[08:43] bulaklak: Next, I want to make sure to get in another plug — are you tired of them yet? — for the Microsoft Windows 8 Apps for Social Good contest. Remember there are three cash prizes totaling $40k at stake. We’ve already started to see some excellent submissions rolling in. Check them out and read all the contest details here: http://bit.ly/QKexib

[08:43] bulaklak: And if you’re curious about what makes for an excellent submission to this contest, Susan Chavez, whom you may remember from her visit here last spring to talk about the Facebook time line changes, wrote this nifty blog with loads of good information about what the judges will be looking for: http://bit.ly/TSmeid

[08:43] Sarvana Haalan: woot!!

[08:43] bulaklak: Speaking of our blog — as well as the NetSquared blog, TechSoup for Libraries, and the TechSoup Global blog — don’t forget that you can subscribe by RSS and never miss an update: http://bit.ly/Z5PvO3

[08:44] bulaklak: Last, I just want to let you all know that we are revamping our weekly newsletter By the Cup a little bit, and will be featuring more community-driven content. So, just as for the Local Impact Map, I want you all to think of great stories you might want us to feature. This will be a little less formal than the LIM, so have a little fun with it, too. More on that later, but just wanted to get you all thinking about stuff we could surface.

[08:44] bulaklak: And that’s all I’ve got for today!

[08:44] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Thanks Bulaklak!

[08:45] Rhiannon Chatnoir: do we have anyone for Mentor’s Central today?

[08:46] Zinnia Zauber: We have Sar today!

[08:46] Buffy Beale: cheers for Bulaklak!

[08:46] Rhiannon Chatnoir: great!

 

 

— MENTOR’S CENTRAL —

 

[08:46] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Then let’s move to Mentors Central & welcome Sarvana up!

[08:46] Buffy Beale: wooot Sar!

[08:47] Rhiannon Chatnoir: and if you joined us late, feel free to introduce yourselves still

[08:47] Sarvana Haalan: just rezzed back in

[08:47] Will Burns (aeonix.aeon): Aeonix Aeon | Will Burns – Vice Chair for IEEE Virtual World Standard Group P1828

[08:47] CarmenLittleFawn: GM Sar, Lorna Hawkins, Drive By Agony, (Keeping Kids Safe), California

[08:47] Sarvana Haalan: seats are not rezzed yet 🙁

[08:48] Buffy Beale: welcome to the new folks 🙂

[08:48] Zinnia Zauber: No worries, you can be outstanding! Instead of sitting.

[08:48] Sarvana Haalan: can you see me

[08:48] Zinnia Zauber: Yes!

[08:48] alebez: looking good, sar

[08:48] Orange Planer begins hearing the rock opera “Tommy” in his head.

[08:49] Sarvana Haalan: ok… I will start while I rez 🙂

[08:49] Sarvana Haalan: As gadget loving ava, I am always checking out new gadgets and links. I am currently testing… the Lumiya Viewer

[08:49] Mia (praxislady.witt) grabs headphones off Orange, hmm

[08:49] Rhiannon Chatnoir: we can see you – so all good on our end and thanks Sar

[08:49] Sarvana Haalan: lagging

[08:50] Sarvana Haalan: A little about… About Lumiya

Lumiya Viewer is a Second Life grid client for Android phones and tablets. It is recognized as a Third Party Viewer by Second Life. Lumiya runs entirely on the phone without requiring you to use special in-world objects or external services.

[08:52] CarmenLittleFawn: aww she crashed

[08:52] Zinnia Zauber: aww

[08:52] Zinnia Zauber: Well, we wanted to do discuss different phone apps and this was a start.

[08:52] Rhiannon Chatnoir: 🙁

[08:52] Orange Planer: hey, I can throw in an informational tid-bit while she relogs.

[08:52] Rhiannon Chatnoir: sure

[08:53] CarmenLittleFawn: 🙂

[08:53] Brena Benoir: Brenda Bryan, Preferred Family Healthcare, Kirksville, MIssouri, www.pfh.org, @brenabenoir

[08:53] Rhiannon Chatnoir: we have had a few crashes in SL today it seems

[08:53] Zinnia Zauber: info nugget away Orange

[08:53] Mia (praxislady.witt) giggles

[08:53] Rhiannon Chatnoir: we can give a minute and if she can’t make it back in.. we can swap things around

[08:54] Orange Planer: A security company recently did a manual inventory of android apps on Google’s site that use SSL, which is what http”s” means. SSL is the security layer used to encrypt your data between your computer and the website in question. 41 of the 100 apps they found that use SSL had weak implementations and are unsecure.

[08:54] Orange Planer: So, the next time you’re looking for a cool Google app…

[08:54] Orange Planer: think twice.

[08:55] CarmenLittleFawn: I heard this the other day Orange

[08:55] Orange Planer: Technology is awesome: but technology used blindly is not awesome.

[08:55] Mia (praxislady.witt) nods head at Orange

[08:55] Gentle Heron: That is a great saying, Orange.

[08:55] Rhiannon Chatnoir: btw Sarvana is trying to log in.. she pasted me her text though into skype in case not

[08:56] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Why don’t we move to our Main speaker and then we can have Sarvana pick back up before Open Mic if she is back 🙂

[08:56] Shirley Márquez Dúlcey (shirley.marquez): Hi everyone… I’m Shirley (in both worlds), I was a track leader at SLCC 2010 and 2011, right now I’m figuring out what is next in my life

[08:56] Loren Alunaia (reeveskd): Lumiya is a handy Android app for mobile use, but even minor connectivity interruptions can pull the avvie off the grid. Handy for quick conversations and check ins, though! I use it regularly. 🙂

[08:56] Orange Planer: More info: http://www.darkreading.com/vulnerability-management/167901026/security/news/240144260/top-mobile-vulnerabilities-and-exploits-of-2012.html?cid=nl_DR_daily_2012-12-12_html&elq=053d04bcd7d645408adb060399588f08

[08:57] Rhiannon Chatnoir: but I do love the talk on apps.. really dovetails with TechSoups app challenge – do you have the contest link handy Bulaklak?

[08:57] AnnaMina Alter: ty Orange

[08:57] Rhiannon Chatnoir: and yes, thank you Orange

[08:57] Orange Planer: Moral of the story: “Do you have antivirus protection on your android phone?”

[08:58] Zinnia Zauber: Great Orange

[08:58] CarmenLittleFawn: very good info

[08:58] Orange Planer: Welcome back, Sarvana.

[08:58] CarmenLittleFawn: wb Sar

[08:58] Skylar Smythe: wb Sarvana.

[08:58] Rhiannon Chatnoir: oh – she is back!

[08:58] Tori Landau: Yay, wb Sarvana

[08:59] Rhiannon Chatnoir: am sure the world is probably rezzing around her

[09:00] Rhiannon Chatnoir: OK – well still a good idea then to invite up our main speaker

 

 

— FEATURED PRESENTATION: LORI SHEPPARD (SKYLAR SMYTHE) —

 

[09:00] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Let’s welcome Lori Sheppard (Skylar Smythe in SL), who will speaking to us about the importance of content, appropriate social channels and multimedia tools to create qualitative interaction with your community online. She will also answer questions regarding outsourcing and social media best practices.

[09:00] Rhiannon Chatnoir: First a bit about our speaker…

[09:00] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Bio: Lori Sheppard (Skylar Smythe) is a freelance marketing professional from Toronto, Ontario Canada. Actively engaged in online communities since 1995, she provides social media management and onboarding to organizations in the UK, Canada and the United States and is a Senior Writer for ShesConnected.com, Canada’s largest network of business bloggers and brand ambassadors. 

[09:01] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Lori – Please come up and grab a seat in front!

[09:01] Zinnia Zauber: Rah Skylar!

[09:01] Mia (praxislady.witt) claps for Lori

[09:01] Skylar Smythe: haha managed to sit without falling… woot!

[09:01] Gentle Heron applauds for Skylar

[09:01] Buffy Beale: Cheering!!!

[09:01] Skylar Smythe: Thanks very much Joyce, and thank you for inviting me to talk with everyone today. It’s a great pleasure to be here leading the discussion on social media for the Non Profit Commons.

[09:02] Skylar Smythe: Good morning everyone. Welcome to what I hope is a less like a lecture and more like an idea sharing opportunity. For those of you that use Twitter I would like to encourage you to follow along in the Non Profit Commons feed @NPSL. For this presentation we are going to be using the hashtag #NPCSocial.

[09:02] Glitteractica Cookie: we are happy to have yo uhere

[09:02] Skylar Smythe: Thank you Glitter!

[09:02] Skylar Smythe: I’m going to be posting some questions to engage everyone in discussion on Twitter, and I will be responding to questions there after we are done. If you know someone who was unable to attend, be sure to give them the hashtag so they can review later if they’d like.

[09:02] Glitteractica Cookie: i don’t think we’ve ever had a live tweeting backchannel for an NPC presentation. Good idea

[09:03] Rhiannon Chatnoir: yes

[09:03] Skylar Smythe: So let’s begin.

I’d like to start by taking a poll of our non-profit agencies to determine who is using social media within their organization. If you are, type YES in the general chat so we can see.

[09:03] CarynTopia Silvercloud: yes

[09:03] Rhiannon Chatnoir is

[09:03] CarmenLittleFawn: yes

[09:03] Skylar Smythe: Yes.

[09:03] Coughran Mayo: Para Espanol, 2

[09:04] Dancers Yao: yes

[09:04] Buffy Beale: yes

[09:04] Skylar Smythe: Okay great. To get a sense of how long you have been using social media professionally, please tell us the year that you set up your social media channels by typing the year into general chat.

[09:04] Jen (jenelle.levenque): YES

[09:04] Jen (jenelle.levenque): 2011

[09:04] Skylar Smythe: 2006

[09:05] Buffy Beale: 2009

[09:05] CarmenLittleFawn: I think 2005

[09:05] Jen (jenelle.levenque): Unless you count SL

[09:05] CarmenLittleFawn: wb Sar

[09:05] Rhiannon Chatnoir: if I think back to media to forums 1995, if I think back to media and social sites 2005

[09:05] Tori Landau: 2009

[09:05] Dancers Yao: 2007

[09:05] CarynTopia Silvercloud: 2007

[09:05] Mia (praxislady.witt): 2006

[09:06] Will Burns (aeonix.aeon): I decline to say on account it would reveal my age, and it’s impolite to ask an avatar their age. Unless you’re in the Amsterdam sim.

[09:06] Buffy Beale: lol Will

[09:06] JoJa Dhara: 2007

[09:06] CarmenLittleFawn: giggles

[09:06] Skylar Smythe: That’s wonderful. So we know that non-profits are engaging on social media channels almost unilaterally. But what we are going to take a look at is HOW well you are engaging and what you might do differently.

[09:06] Skylar Smythe chuckles at Will

[09:06] Orange Planer: Eh, I don’t care. I started using chat rooms in 1985.

[09:06] Rhiannon Chatnoir: or in an AOL forum.. though that sates an avatar too

[09:06] jacmacaire Humby: Hi everyone.. sorry to be in late.; A lot of problem to connect today in SL from France..

[09:06] Mia (praxislady.witt): @Will, we won’t tell (crossing fingers)

[09:07] Will Burns (aeonix.aeon): Depends on what you define as social media.

[09:07] Buffy Beale: good point Will

[09:07] Will Burns (aeonix.aeon): Modern incarnations?

[09:07] Orange Planer: If I’m being social, it must be media!

[09:07] Will Burns (aeonix.aeon): Or the original precursors

[09:07] Skylar Smythe: For this discussion, I mean formal communication platform on Twitter, G+, Facebook etc. Not specific to online communities like SL or GeoCities, mIRC et al.

[09:07] Shirley Márquez Dúlcey (shirley.marquez): Compuserve and AOL forums were certainly precursors of modern social media

[09:08] Mia (praxislady.witt): yes, good question Will, I would side with Orange at 1985

[09:08] Will Burns (aeonix.aeon): Modern Social Media. gotcha

[09:08] Rhiannon Chatnoir: nod – anyone who was using online forums and MUDs / MOOs is direct precursor to varied social channels of today

[09:08] Shirley Márquez Dúlcey (shirley.marquez): and Usenet

[09:08] Will Burns (aeonix.aeon): forums, BBS systems, etc

[09:08] Skylar Smythe: Most virtual world users are enterprise users of online communities dating back to the late 1980’s and early 90’s

[09:09] JoJa Dhara: when internet started

[09:09] Glitteractica Cookie: i was on bbs in early 90s

[09:09] Skylar Smythe: I want to share my rockstar moment with you.

[09:09] Skylar Smythe: When I was in New York city in May, I attended the Mayo Clinic’s conference “Connecting Healthcare and Social Media” at the Roosevelt Hospital. I was there with my host, a Second Life non-profit called Southern Tier HealthLink (NY HealthScape). I have been working with NY HealthScape and assisting their Executive Director Christina Galanis for three years now using virtual worlds, machinima and social media to expand their scope of communication and educate on the benefits of electronic health information exchange.

[09:09] Will Burns (aeonix.aeon): oh the sweet sound of the dial-up modem… I remember it fondly with bleeding ears.

[09:09] Skylar Smythe: The first night when we were in New York, I had my rock star moment. I sat beside this really cool guy who was even more passionate about social media than I was. He made the big mistake of asking me if I had any ideas HOW non-profits and health care institutions could use social media. I talked his ear off that night at Rosa’s Mexicana in Manhattan, and after I was done giving him about a million different ways non profits could integrate social into their marketing, Christina let me know I had been talking to Lee Aase, who as you know is the director and head hauncho of social media for the Mayo Clinic.

[09:09] Rhiannon Chatnoir nods to Will

[09:10] Skylar Smythe: I think I almost choked on my churro. (heh heh)

[09:10] Loren Alunaia (reeveskd): LOL

[09:10] Loren Alunaia (reeveskd) laughs!

[09:10] Buffy Beale: lol

[09:10] Will Burns (aeonix.aeon): oh nu!

[09:10] Sarvana Haalan: smiles

[09:10] Skylar Smythe: I have worked with the Ontario College of Pharmacists since 2005 and was responsible for setting up and outlining best practice for their member feed on Twitter. Like most non-profits, they understand that there is the potential to engage qualitatively both within the profession as well as externally to the public and media.

[09:11] Skylar Smythe: The College is going through what most non-profits in Canada and the United States are experiencing at this exact moment. The realization that they SHOULD be social but a fear that they may not do it “the right way”. Other institutions I have talked to are frustrated because they don’t know how to approach social engagement, and are not seeing any quantitative results from their investment in social media communication.

[09:11] Skylar Smythe: Is that true for your organization?

[09:12] Buffy Beale: somewhat yes

[09:12] CarmenLittleFawn: yes

[09:12] JoJa Dhara: yep

[09:12] Mia (praxislady.witt): yes

[09:12] Gentle Heron: We polled our community members. They pretty much don’t use social media. So we aren’t going there at this time.

[09:12] Shirley Márquez Dúlcey (shirley.marquez): Quantitative results are always a challenge unless you do direct selling or solicitation

[09:13] Skylar Smythe: That is a good point Gentle. Social is not a perfect fit for every niche but some engagement is still expected by your audience and community. It varies depending on the sector.

[09:13] Sarvana Haalan: many orgs do not want to wait for the “engagement”… they want instant results or they stop support th eongoing effort

[09:13] Ozma Malibu: (Regardless, without social media we don’t reach our audience. It’s how we communicate.)

[09:13] Skylar Smythe: You are right Sarvana 🙂 That is the challenge for CRMs such as myself to show that ROI.

[09:13] Will Burns (aeonix.aeon): Suppose you ask them if they’re that nervous about attending a cocktail party. If not, tell them that’s how to approach it.

[09:14] Sarvana Haalan: *supporting the ongoing effort

[09:14] Coughran Mayo: so “pre-loading” helps, Will?

[09:14] Skylar Smythe: Let’s take a look at a great infographic I found called “How Non-Profits Relied on Social Media in 2012”. It was published two days ago on Mashable and I really recommend sharing this link with others because it has some amazing stats. 

http://ow.ly/g6Bju

[09:14] Skylar Smythe: Fact: 98% of non-profits are on Facebook. #NPCSocial @NPSL

[09:14] CarmenLittleFawn: ty

[09:14] Sarvana Haalan: awesome

[09:15] Skylar Smythe: Fact: 68% of individuals will investigate a non-profit their friend shares or discusses the organization through a social channel. #NPCSocial @NPSL

[09:15] Skylar Smythe: Fact: Fundraising that is integrated with Twitter yields almost ten times more revenue than other types of campaigns. #NPCSocial @NPSL

[09:15] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:15] Skylar Smythe: Fact: #GivingTuesday is a non-profit movement on Twitter designed organize requests for support #NPCSocial @NPSL

[09:15] Will Burns (aeonix.aeon): I mean – It’s not a passive communication of push, it’s actual engagement dictated by the whims of the crowd and what they feel is important to share. Just be the conversation instead of trying to dictate it.

[09:15] Will Burns (aeonix.aeon): which is why Lori is awesome at it

[09:16] Skylar Smythe: Exactly Will! I’m going to get more into the importance of two way conversations in social.

[09:16] Skylar Smythe: The real gem in this infographic is the “how”. When non-profits who are experiencing a lot of success using social media were asked how they were achieving their communication goals and harnessing the power of social, they gave three top reasons.

[09:16] Skylar Smythe: 1. Coming up with a detailed social media strategy

2. Having Executive Management make social media a priority

3. Dedicating a current or new (personnel) position for social media

[09:16] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:16] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:16] Skylar Smythe: A few things to think about as you are developing your strategic plan for the new year. If you want to see some tangible results from your social media engagement, you have to not only put organizational effort into it but you have to formally integrate it into your overall marketing and communication plan.

[09:17] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:17] Skylar Smythe: Q1: What do you think are some of the administrative challenges to formalizing social media strategy for non-profits? #NPCSocial @NPSL

[09:18] Skylar Smythe: Even with these encouraging statistics, we know that social media is still being under utilized in social, health and educational sectors. It’s not working as hard as it could for most of the organizations that use it. Frequently I see non-profits who have disproportionately high expectations of their social media efforts without putting in the necessary attention and effort to making their online sharing engaging.

[09:18] AnnaMina Alter: Lack of admin buyin

[09:18] Orange Planer: 1) Who does it? 2) What are they communicating? 3) Which platforms would be most effective? 4) Deciding it’s relevant to the business.

[09:19] Gentle Heron: finding the TIME!

[09:19] Jen (jenelle.levenque): Amen Gentle

[09:19] Skylar Smythe: Very good point AnnaMina. Bang on there. Care to elaborate?

[09:19] Chad Mikado: keeping up with it

[09:19] Orange Planer: Skylar – I’d like to comment on that, too.

[09:19] Skylar Smythe: Please do.

[09:20] Orange Planer: “Lack of admin buyin“: “We aren’t doing it because the administration didn’t buy in to it.”

[09:20] Orange Planer: That’s a copout comment:

[09:20] Orange Planer: The administration decided it wasn’t relevant.

[09:20] Skylar Smythe: Not always.

[09:20] Orange Planer: the point is to look at why the adminsitration didn’t agree.

[09:20] AnnaMina Alter: In our setting admins are fully occupied and not SM literate themselves… their world does not yet include that element

[09:20] AnnaMina Alter: Time / staffing issues

[09:20] Skylar Smythe: My experience is that high level decision makers frequently are less socially educated on communicating using these new channels. So they don’t see the value in it because they don’t understand it.

[09:21] Orange Planer: That’s not “buy in.” That’s “I am too busy.”

[09:21] Skylar Smythe nods at AnnaMina

[09:21] Orange Planer: Saying “someone doesn’t buy in” is a blame thing. it doesn’t look at the reason why someone isn’t doing what one wants.

[09:21] Orange Planer: I never use that phrase for that reason.

[09:22] Skylar Smythe: When I approach non-profits and executives, the first thing we hurdle is the value proposition. Once they understand what is to be gained from it, they jump on board pretty fast. Often it just takes some translation and “proof” of it working successfully in the sector for other organizations.

[09:22] Jen (jenelle.levenque): “buy in” is a symptom not a cause

[09:22] Buffy Beale: It adds more workload on already overworked staff so it’s been a lower priority

[09:22] Skylar Smythe: Often social can be easily added to a communication designate.

[09:22] Orange Planer: in my company’s case, the vast majority of the target audience doesn’t use computers

[09:22] Skylar Smythe: Or affordably outsourced (shameless plug)

[09:23] Buffy Beale: grins

[09:23] Skylar Smythe

[09:23] Loren Alunaia (reeveskd): ( Nicely played, SS. 😉 Stone cold killer! )

[09:23] Skylar Smythe: Outsourcing is (while we mention it) a great way for SMEs to get professional social account management.

[09:23] Skylar Smythe: And it is an option many explore. You’ll have to take my word on that 😉

[09:24] Skylar Smythe: Q2: How many hours per week does your non-profit organization spend communicating on Facebook, Twitter or other social networks? #NPCSocial @NPSL

[09:25] Will Burns (aeonix.aeon): There is always an army of kittens with tineh netbooks willing to post cat pictures on Facebook for you

[09:25] Skylar Smythe: I spend 4 hours per week (for example) managing the Twitter stream for @nyhealthscape

[09:25] CarmenLittleFawn: not enough these days about three hours

[09:25] CarynTopia Silvercloud: 2

[09:26] Buffy Beale: 3

[09:26] CarynTopia Silvercloud: I had a lot of trouble with Google + and primarily use Facebook

[09:27] Skylar Smythe: Facebook and Twitter are the top channels for most businesses.

[09:27] Skylar Smythe: Augmented by other social feeds including Instagram and Linkedin

[09:27] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:27] Skylar Smythe: Q3: How would you rate your current satisfaction with your organizations overall social engagement? #NPCSocial @NPSL

[09:28] CarmenLittleFawn: low satisfaction

[09:28] Jen (jenelle.levenque): On a 1 to 10 I’d say 2

[09:28] Mia (praxislady.witt): Facebook is questionable these days due to security issues and excessive ads, hmmm

[09:28] CarmenLittleFawn: true

[09:28] Skylar Smythe: Do you find you are talking and few people are listening?

[09:28] Skylar Smythe: or reacting?

[09:28] CarynTopia Silvercloud: less costy than direct mail and as a result more valuable in climate of uncertain fundraising

[09:28] CarmenLittleFawn: wb Rhi

[09:28] Skylar Smythe: WB Joyce xo

[09:29] Loren Alunaia (reeveskd): For those of us working in education there’s also a stigma with Facebook that makes it challenging. Not to say we shouldn’t use it – huge user base – but there are some concerns there.

[09:29] Rhiannon Chatnoir: thanks and crashed all – sorry

[09:29] Shirley Márquez Dúlcey (shirley.marquez): It’s in the nature of communication from organizations that a lot of it is one way…

[09:29] Shirley Márquez Dúlcey (shirley.marquez): people are listening but feel that they don’t have anything useful to add to the conversation so they stay quiet

[09:29] Skylar Smythe: There are always concerns regarding best practice. And they are legitimate. Each agency will formulate their own guidelines.

[09:30] Skylar Smythe: You are 100% right Shirley. Don’t base the success of your engagement on reactions alone. Many people like to read, and learn but may not respond.

[09:30] Skylar Smythe: Sharing of information is valuable to create the centrifugal viral effect. That’s always the hope for some of your content is that it “catches fire” that way and creates awareness for your organization.

[09:31] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:31] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:31] Skylar Smythe: Like most organizations you probably realize that your social engagement is more broadcast in nature. If you are posting links of information in your Twitter feed or interesting industry articles in Facebook, you are simply broadcasting. You are not engaging with your audience. And frankly if your audience wanted to find those links themselves they could.

[09:31] Mia (praxislady.witt): sometimes lurking is a sport, yet benefit from data shared?

[09:32] Skylar Smythe: You got it Praxis. I’ve seen data that suggests 60%+ are intuitive lurkers.

[09:32] Gentle Heron: That is a good point, PraxisLady.

[09:32] CarmenLittleFawn: nods

[09:32] Second Life: Items successfully shared.

[09:32] Skylar Smythe: Here is what is critical to remember.

[09:32] Skylar Smythe: Don’t be a one way social conversation! Non-profits can engage qualitatively by responding to questions, providing clinical or educational informatics and still keep it real by being conversational in their social feeds.

[09:32] Mia (praxislady.witt): 🙂

[09:32] Shirley Márquez Dúlcey (shirley.marquez): it can be useful to check how often your posts are being retweeted or shared on Facebook… though if they’re really specific to your organization you may not see much of that

[09:33] Loren Alunaia (reeveskd) must politely excuse himself, as his enthusiasm for this topic is outpacing his laptop battery; Cheers, friends! Great topic, will follow in backchannel!

[09:33] Skylar Smythe: Thank you for joining us!

[09:33] CarmenLittleFawn: tc Loren

[09:33] Skylar Smythe: Metrics are useful but they are only part of the sum of your ROI for social media engagement.

[09:33] Orange Planer: That’s true, Skylar. If yo ubecome a one-way conversation, people will tune you out.

[09:34] Orange Planer: “They aren’t talking to me, so they aren’t important.”

[09:34] Skylar Smythe: Exactly!

[09:34] Glitteractica Cookie: Is there an easy automated way to see how things are re-shared that you are aware of? What tool do you use to track this stuff across your networks?

[09:34] Mia (praxislady.witt): agree, Orange

[09:34] Skylar Smythe: I apologize I do not have the link, but recently wrote on a piece where it revealed that 80% of major brands do not even take the time to respond to questions, comments or discussions on their social feeds.

[09:34] Skylar Smythe: What kind of impression does that make?

[09:35] Glitteractica Cookie: i am always incredulous when I tweet to a company and they don’t respond

[09:35] Orange Planer: You mean like the sub shop I complained to on their facebook page when their delivery food stank?

[09:36] CarmenLittleFawn: this is true skylar and it makes you wonder are they reading any of the info or just using it for marketing

[09:36] Skylar Smythe: I am offended when they don’t respond to me. And I often let them know 😉

[09:36] Skylar Smythe: In your social you have a responsibility to engage in a two way conversation with your audience that acknowledges their attention and their feedback.

[09:36] Ethelred Weatherwax: And do they respond when you let them know?

[09:36] Skylar Smythe: Yep 🙂

[09:36] Rhiannon Chatnoir: well that poses the question, specially if you do make the jump for your business/org into social media.. that it shouldn’t be something passive, you have to engage with those that reach out if you can. Even a negative response can be turned around

[09:36] Orange Planer: Yeah, I called them. They put a comment into my record stating “talk with manager.”

[09:38] Skylar Smythe: Social media strategy and content planning is part of your communication mix. It requires a formal action plan and thoughtfulness toward your target audience, consistency of posting (frequency) and a touch of “human” always in your conversation.

[09:38] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:38] Skylar Smythe: So how do we do it better?

[09:38] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:38] Dancers Yao: For health care, we’ve found that because medical insurance in the US doesn’t often cover things like telehealth, it is hard to use social media to suggest possible places to find health care that is online, eg people who are homebound.

[09:39] Gentle Heron nods to Dancers.

[09:39] CarmenLittleFawn: mmmhmmm

[09:39] Skylar Smythe: You can provide links and ask your audience to provide feedback on the relevancy or usefulness of those links… to create conversation.

[09:39] Gentle Heron: I think that’s what Skylar means by “thoughtfulness toward your target audience.”

[09:39] CarmenLittleFawn: like that sky

[09:39] Skylar Smythe: I want to provide a few tips before we wrap up for you to consider.

[09:39] Skylar Smythe: 1. Focus efforts to grow audience on Twitter first. It is the easiest social network to develop a solid follower base. Include your Facebook and other social channel links weekly in your Twitter feed, and invite your followers to join you there.

[09:40] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:40] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:40] Skylar Smythe: 2. Develop a hashtag [#] in Twitter that is unique to your organization and use it consistently with your communication campaigns or topic matter to build following.

[09:40] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:40] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:40] Skylar Smythe: 3. Host weekly Twitter parties that allow your organization to communicate within the profession and with the people it serves. By allowing your followers that direct conversational access, you build community around your social presence. Click here to learn more about hosting a Twitter party: http://www.twitterpartyguide.com/what-is-a-twitter-party

[09:41] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:41] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:41] Skylar Smythe: 4. Shake up your communication mix! Don’t rely on text based engagement, blog posts or articles alone. Use multimedia such as music, video and interactive presentations in SlideShare or Prezi that can be imbedded in your content for interactive sharing. Be the opposite of boring and put some effort into making your sharing personable and fun.

[09:41] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:41] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:41] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Glitteractica posed this question earlier, what are your favorite tools to measure and interact with your social media outreach

[09:41] Skylar Smythe: 5. Get your staff involved! Keep the ‘social’ in your social media. If you are having a major event, utilize your internal staff to promote the event in their own social channels using an appropriate #hashtag. Ask for positive contributions from staff members about the day-to-day things that make your organization exceptional or “moments” and have them post to Facebook.

[09:42] Skylar Smythe: .]

[09:42] Skylar Smythe: .

[09:42] Skylar Smythe: Sorry between windows 😉

[09:42] Skylar Smythe: I use Hootsuite reporting to gather metrics for my clients on a monthly basis Glitter.

[09:43] Skylar Smythe: I can tell how many impressions or clicks each link has received for them, as well as evaluate monthly growth of their audience, retweets, shares and other statistics.

[09:43] Mia (praxislady.witt): curious, how does that help the educational community plz?

[09:43] Glitteractica Cookie: oh you use the hootsuite report they send you?

[09:43] CarmenLittleFawn: likes this idea

[09:43] Glitteractica Cookie: the PDF one that hootsuite emails to u

[09:44] Skylar Smythe: Educational communities, Health providers, Regulatory Colleges are all engaging for different reasons Praxis. Increase awareness, fund raising, education, increase enrollment… there are are quite a few practical applications and benefits.

[09:44] Ethelred Weatherwax: Staff?

[09:45] Skylar Smythe: Yes 🙂

[09:45] Skylar Smythe: Staff can contribute posts to the social media designate for approval, and then publishing.

[09:45] Skylar Smythe: When your audience sees contributions from your staff… it creates a personal relationship between your organization and your audience.

[09:45] Ethelred Weatherwax: That was a rhetorical question. There is no staff.

[09:46] Skylar Smythe: Oh hah 🙂

[09:46] Skylar Smythe: Poor fellow.

[09:46] Skylar Smythe: xo

[09:46] Skylar Smythe: Get Creative!

• Have staff contribute their favourite holiday recipes on Facebook. Include a sentence about the contributing staff member and what they do within your organization.

[09:46] Skylar Smythe: • Create a holiday play list in YouTube of your favorite songs. Instructions for creating a playlist in YouTube: http://ow.ly/g6Arp

[09:47] Rhiannon Chatnoir: we have to wrap things up with today’s conversation shortly

[09:47] Rhiannon Chatnoir: so any last points or comments from everyone

[09:47] Skylar Smythe: Thanks everyone.

[09:47] CarmenLittleFawn: ty sky 🙂

[09:47] Skylar Smythe: I hope I’ve inspired some new ideas and thoughts.

[09:48] CarmenLittleFawn: 🙂 yes u have

[09:48] Rhiannon Chatnoir: this has been a great conversation though and think would be great to have you back for a deeper, part two of this!

[09:48] Dancers Yao: thank you

[09:48] Buffy Beale: That was fantastic Skylar thank you, it’s given a lot of food for thought!

[09:48] Tori Landau: Have learnt a lot, thank you.

[09:48] Gentle Heron: Thanks Skylar.

[09:48] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Let’s thank Skylar for presenting today!

[09:48] Shirley Márquez Dúlcey (shirley.marquez): Thank you, Skylar

[09:48] bulaklak: thank you!

[09:48] Glitteractica Cookie: I think it would be a great blog recap

[09:48] Skylar Smythe: I’d be happy to Rhia. Thank you for the invitation.

[09:48] Tori Landau: Applauds

[09:48] Zinnia Zauber: Wonderful!

[09:49] Mia (praxislady.witt): Thank you Skylar :)) *claps*

[09:49] Zinnia Zauber: Thank you Skylar!

[09:49] Namaara MacMoragh: thank you Skylar

[09:49] Skylar Smythe: I’d be happy to write a guest post for you Rhia if you like in follow up.

[09:49] Chayenn: very interesting thank you

[09:50] Skylar Smythe: I did not knock Rhia off the grid for more air time 😉

 

 

— OPEN MIC & ANNOUNCEMENTS —

 

[09:50] alebez: I wanted to see if there were any more announcements, as Rhi comes back to us.

[09:50] Rhiannon Chatnoir: thanks Ale

[09:50] Rhiannon Chatnoir: lol no Skylar

[09:50] Skylar Smythe: wb Rhia.

[09:50] alebez: welcome back

[09:50] CarmenLittleFawn: wb Rhi

[09:50] Gentle Heron: I have an event for tomorrow I can announce.

[09:50] Rhiannon Chatnoir: so any quick announcements.. feel free to share

[09:50] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Gentle 🙂

[09:50] Gentle Heron: December Holiday Poetry delivered in voice and text. Saturday, Dec 15, 1pm SLT.

[09:51] Gentle Heron: Come get in the mood for Hannukah, Winter Solstice, Yalda, Yule, Christmas, New Years….

[09:51] Gentle Heron: whatever we celebrate in winter is shared through poetry.

Cape Serenity Library

[09:51] Gentle Heron: Cape Serenity (84,123,23)

[09:51] Rhiannon Chatnoir: thanks – anyone else?

[09:51] Gentle Heron: (done)

[09:51] Tori Landau: I have two if I may please

[09:51] Namaara MacMoragh: Etopia is having a holiday hunt. I have a giver I’d like to put out if that’s okay.

[09:52] Zinnia Zauber: me, please.

[09:52] Rhiannon Chatnoir: sure TOri

[09:52] Namaara MacMoragh: oops… so sorry

[09:52] Rhiannon Chatnoir: and then Zinnia

[09:52] Rhiannon Chatnoir: that’s ok Namaara

[09:52] Jen (jenelle.levenque): Raises hand

[09:52] Tori Landau: Firstly, if you wish to participiate in the festive gift exchange that is cross group/community, please give me your name br Sat 15th and…

[09:53] Tori Landau: *Tuesday 18th – Open Session at 1.15pm slt / 9.15pm GMT

Informal discussion exploring how joining virtual worlds can impact upon identity, to what extent do we role play, perhaps even without being aware of it and the extent to which changes are a natural adaptation to experiencing a new world. Location is the rooftop of the communal building at Deep Think West.

[09:53] Tori Landau: Deep Think West (74,53,37)

[09:54] Rhiannon Chatnoir: ok

[09:54] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Zinnia?

[09:54] Rhiannon Chatnoir: then Jen

[09:54] Zinnia Zauber: Thank you!

[09:54] Zinnia Zauber: CommonGround is Dec 20 from 5 to 7 PM SLT!

[09:54] Zinnia Zauber: GOLD!

[09:54] Buffy Beale: oooooo

[09:54] Zinnia Zauber: CommonGround is a fun and informative networking party here at the Nonprofit Commons to promote about what nonprofits, educators, humanitarians, scientists, and artists accomplish in Second Life.

[09:55] Rhiannon Chatnoir: woo hoo – great color

[09:55] Rhiannon Chatnoir: Jen?

[09:55] Zinnia Zauber: So dress up and get down in GOLD!

[09:55] Rhiannon Chatnoir: oops

[09:55] Zinnia Zauber: Thank you!

[09:55] Jen (jenelle.levenque): I have a menorah in my office (# 1) and will be lighting the candles each night at sunset (EST) which is approximately 14 SLT. Everyone is welcome.

[09:55] Jen (jenelle.levenque): Done

[09:55] JoJa Dhara whisper bye and thks for great meeting…of to dinner..hugzz xx and great weekend

[09:56] Rhiannon Chatnoir: good to know – lots of great ways to share community here during the holidays

[09:56] Rhiannon Chatnoir: well Let’s wrap things up for this week’s meeting

[09:56] Rhiannon Chatnoir: And again, here are the many ways to can get involved with the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life:

 

Nonprofit Commons Blog: http://nonprofitcommons.org

 

 – Wiki: http://npsl.wikispaces.com

 – Twitter: http://twitter.com/npsl

 – Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nonprofitcommons

 – Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/TechSoup-Second-Life

 – Google Calendar: http://bit.ly/2tMEYh

 – http://flavors.me/nonprofitcommons

 

About TechSoup the sponsors of the Nonprofit Commons:

 

 – http://www.techsoup.org/stock/howtousetechsoup.asp

 – http://flavors.me/techsoup

 

 

Thanks everyone and see you next week!

[09:56] CarmenLittleFawn: Bye Joja

[09:56] Rhiannon Chatnoir: and thanks again to Skylar

[09:56] CarmenLittleFawn: ty for the information again sky

[09:56] Buffy Beale: thanks Rhi, another great meeting!

[09:56] Skylar Smythe: Thank you all. It was a real pleasure.

[09:57] Shirley Márquez Dúlcey (shirley.marquez): Thank you Rhiannon!

[09:57] Jen (jenelle.levenque): Thank you Skylar

[09:57] Rhiannon Chatnoir: I will put up photos on our facebook group – so if you see your avatar – tag yourself!

[09:57] Zinnia Zauber: Thank you!

[09:57] Zinnia Zauber: We have the Mentors Meeting at 10 right here!

[09:57] Tori Landau: Thanks Rhiannon

[09:57] Rhiannon Chatnoir: and the transcript will be going up of course on the NPC blog http://nonprofitcommons.org

[09:57] Rhiannon Chatnoir: thanks all

[09:57] Glitteractica Cookie: thanks!

Written by: Rhiannon Chatnoir

Infinite Vision Media announces pro bono SL marketing services for non-profits

I just got word that Infinite Vision Media is launching a Social Responsibility Initiative, an effort to allow non-profit and academic institutions to benefit from Infinite Vision’s SL marketing and networking expertise. IVM’s is launching this new initiative at the same time that they announce the creation of the American Cancer Society’s headquarters in SL created by IVM. According to IVM builder Hiro Pendragon, they plan on offering most of their services pro bono: “Part of the SL Social Responsibility Initiative is to assist these non-profits and good causes to secure funding from other sources to fund development of projects. i.e. Helping to come up with proposals with them for the potential funding sources.”

See below for the full press release:


Infinite Vision media CREATES SOCAL RESPONSIBILITY initiative

LAUNCHES PROGRAM WITH CREATION OF american cancer society’s second life presence

APRIL 27, 2007 — Infinite Vision Media (IVM), an interactive and emerging media studio specializing in developing social media in the 3D web space, today announced the creation of its social responsibility initiative. The program is being launched with the firm’s pro-bono creation of the American Cancer Society’s virtual headquarters in the popular 3D virtual world known as Second Life®.

IVM, well-regarded for its development of three-dimensional presences for corporate, non-profit and academic clients is launching the social responsibility initiative as a way of giving back to the community that afforded the firm’s creation and success. Drew Stein, chief executive officer of IVM, explains: “We think it’s important for the non-profit community to have at its disposal the level of Second Life marketing and networking expertise that corporate brands enjoy. The 3D web space offers marvelous opportunities for non-profit organizations to build community that expands their mission to a global audience.”

The firm, which has most recently developed a presence in Second Life for top brands Dell and The Weather Channel, has been involved with Second Life since its inception and is uniquely positioned to understand the power of the 3D web space as an outlet for an organization’s message and mission. “We’re honored to bring the American Cancer Society’s mission to Second Life residents. Cancer awareness and education messages need to be delivered in Second Life in a way that respects the American Cancer Society’s brand as well as understands the SL audience. We are able to bring expertise from both worlds to the table,” says June Peoples (Quirky McArdle), IVM’s chief operating officer.

One of the challenges for any non-profit looking to develop a present in a virtual world is the ability to demonstrate the effectiveness of that approach to potential funders in government and in corporate philanthropy. IVM will work with non-profit clients to envision the best possible use of the 3D web space, then help develop a proposal that can be floated to existing and likely funding sources.

The American Cancer Society’s headquarters will include office buildings complete with presentation and meeting rooms for cancer education sessions, a staffed link to the Society’s National Cancer Information Center , fundraising components, and green space and gardens that will showcase user-created art as an expression of the personal fight against cancer.

“The American Cancer Society has been engaged in Second Life through our signature fundraiser, Relay For Life for over four years,” said Randal Moss, the American Cancer Society’s manager of futuring and innovation-based strategies. “In building and opening a virtual headquarters in Second Life, the Society will be able to provide cancer information to more than 5 million Second Life residents and engage them in the fight to eliminate cancer as a major health problem.”

The American Cancer Society Virtual Office is being designed by IVM Creative Director Ian Tepoot (SL: Ethan Therian) with programming by IVM Chief Technology Officer Ron Blechner (Hiro Pendragon). Also consulting on the project and on IVM’s Social Responsibility Initiative is Dr. Karen Urbas (The Sojourner).


About Infinite Vision Media

Infinite Vision Media Inc. is a leader in virtual world development and interactive experience design. A full-service interactive marketing and emerging media agency, IVM develops three-dimensional presences for corporate, non-profit and academic clients. IVM works with clients individually to envision the creative possibilities of the 3-D environment and how it can help realize the potential of each mission or brand.

Written by: rikomatic