There is no YOU in Twitter. Stop thinking of it as a way to get more donations and start thinking of it as a way to engage and build relationships with others.
You can follow Mark Horvath on twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/hardlynormal
Creative and Strategic Communication for Charities
Mark – great post! I’ve always told non-profits “No one cares about your non-profit! However, they do care about your cause. And they want you to listen when they talk about it.” Again – thanks!
Oops! Meant John…
Very provocative discussion, John…but you have touched on an important distinction between – Asking for money, and driving conversation. I agree with you completely.
To the same extent, people use varying traditional conversation tools (phone, letters, etc), social media is a way to continue meaning conversation SO THAT when the time comes to ASK, the relationship has been built in such a way that they take the ask seriously.
Thanks john – I agree – that’s an important distinction… and a good one to hammer home…
I also agree Mark. And I also agree in a perfect world we would see more charities utilizing all of their channels to keep donors and engaged and to continue meaningful conversation… that’s the real beauty of twitter – you can SO easily do that… but sadly, with every new channel created, it seems that it is viewed as just one more place to just start asking for help.
Thanks for your comments gentlemen.
Hi John-
Great discussion. Cone recently researched how consumers are using new media to engage with causes, and found although consumers are using these channels, they are hesitant to open their wallets. The findings sparked a dialogue similar to the above, and I encourage you to check out what About.com’s Joanne Fritz and blogger Nancy Schwartz had to add.
http://www.coneinc.com/money-where-their-mouse-is
An interesting debate tapping into donor behaviors and motivations.
Thanks!
Casey Brennan
Insights Coordinator
Cone