www.mediacause.org | connect@mediacause.org | @mediacause

DIGITAL COMMUNITY BUILDING FOR NONPROFITS

Cody Damon @codydamon

Digital Community Building

1. Community Building 101

2. Community Building Tools• Google Ad Grants

• Email List

• Social Networks

• Website/Blog

What Is Digital Community Building?

A group of individuals and/or organizations that support your organizations mission. Supporters have actively subscribed to one or more of your organizations digital channels.

Quick Poll

A.1B.2C.3D.More than 3E. Don’t Know

How many interactions does your nonprofit typically have with donors before asking them to give?

How Not To Do Community Building

You don’t ask for a

donation within

the 1 minute of

meeting

someone. Why do

so many nonprofit

do that online?

Community Building Vs Advertising

Advertising is

expensive

$1 Cost per Click

5% Conversion Rate

1 X 100 X .05 = 5

$100 to reach 100 people

$20 to drive 1 important action

The Power of Community

mediacause.org | connect@mediacause.org | @mediacause

The Revolution Will Be Tweeted

Want to know the secret to successful community building?

Review and prioritize your GOALS before starting

The COMMUNITIES’ GOALS are more important than yours.

But don’t forget…

How It Works

1. Get permission to

continue the

conversation

2. Connect on issues the

community cares about

3. Share content that

informs and inspires

4. Celebrate wins and

progress together

5. Ask for participation

Community Building In Action

Meet New Supporters:

Grow Community

Engagement: Focus On

Community Goals

Active Community

of Supporters -- Driving Org Goals RSS

(blog)

Social Conten

t

Email & Newslet

ter

Google Ad

Grants

Shared Content & Social Ads

Blog (seo)

Community Building & Essential Tools

1. Community Building 101

2. Community Building

Tools• Google Ad Grants

• Email List

• Social Networks

• Website/Blog

Program Overview $10,000/mo free ad credit

on Google.com $2 max cost per click Ads shown below paid ads 1000’s of new potential

supporters on your website each month

Sign up IMMEDIATELY at Google.com/nonprofits

Google Ad Grants

Your #1 Goal is Donations, but…

Email List Building with Google Ads

Homepage Vs. Targeted Landing Page

Conversion Rate = 12.59%

1,000 + email address / mo

Case Study: Cornell Lab – Inbound

Google “screech owl” and land on the AllAboutBirds.org species account

May receive direct mail

Begin receiving monthly eNews and email solicitations

Learn more about the Lab through triggered emails

See offer to download owl sounds in exchange for email address

Donate/Join for the first time via email or direct mail

Community Building With Email

Tips:• Don’t forget to thanks

and welcome supporters

• Remember to focus on

the communities’ goals

• Over 50% of emails in

2013 were open on a

mobile phone (use

responsive templates &

mobile friendly donation

tools)

The secret to building community:

ENGAGEMENT

Facebook: likes, comments, and

shares

Twitter: retweets and replies

Email: open rate, clicks, forwards

Blog: subscriptions, comments, and

shares

Community Building With Social Media

Tip #1. Leverage High-Arousal Emotions

Physiologically high arousal emotions fire

people up.

They drive people to action and spread the word:

• Awe• Excitement• Anger• Amusement• Humor

Learn more:

bit.ly/FirePeopleUp

Tip #2. Share Content That Achieves Community’s Goals

Futures

Without

Violence

Audience size

37,579

Post reach

89,984

Tip #3. Share Progress & Victories

Water4

Audience size

2,435

Post reach

14,336

Tip #4. Encourage Participation

Cornell Lab’s weekly quizzes help maintain its audience engagement

Community Building With BloggingOur Goal: Become the industry leader.

Community Goal: Become educated and protect children.

Research: Identified 50 keywords that would boost Thorn’s organic search results.

Execution: Created keyword driven content calendar.

Results: After 1st month, 24% of all traffic was from blogs. After 3rd month blog posts had been shared over 500 times on Facebook and 200 times on Twitter

Community Building With Blogging

Tips:• Focus on your

communities’ goals

• Do your SEO keyword

research

• Use titles that draw

readers in

• Make it easy to subscribe,

share, and comment

Case Study: Cornell Lab - 2013 Results• Year over Year Facebook

• Likes increased 78% (171,037)

• Engaged Users Increased 52% (102,706)

• PTAT* Increased 67% (50,208)

• Increased our email file by 56% to 522k

• Increased unique users to website by 31% (2.5mm)

• Doubled online fundraising over prior year ($537K to $1.1mm)

• 60% of first-time donors are coming from online

• Average “sales” cycle – 78 days from lead to donor

Case Study: Cornell Lab Fundraiser

Email Subscribers

:Reach – 31,043

Donors – 5

Facebook Fans:

Reach – 46,533

Donors – 9

BOTH:Reach – 24,160Donors

–19

Thank You!

Learn More: www.mediacause.orgEmail: cody@mediacause.org

Questions?