Online Toolkit

Online ToolkitA BRIEF OVERVIEW OF USEFUL WEB TOOLS

Online Toolkit v1.0 – May 2010 In collaboration with Mohawk Media & Givealittle

The Internet can be an overwhelming but necessary tool for your community group, particularly if you want to reach young audiences. This brief overview exists to make it just a little less scary when venturing into the world of the web. After all, through the yMedia Challenge, that’s what we do.

The yMedia Challenge was conceived to connect tertiary students to community groups through new media initiatives. From yMedia, we’ve learned how community groups can benefit significantly from embracing a few simple Web tricks. We’ve tried to break down the best tips from over the years, into this brief overview for you.

This overview doesn’t cover everything, but we hope that if you take away one thing, it’s this: it doesn’t take a huge amount of technical know-how to make the web work for you. It takes a bit of reading, a bit of brainstorming, and a willingness to experiment. Most of all, it involves you clicking your mouse and just trying out the tips we’re outlining here.

“Old nonprofit marketing is one-way - we talk at people. New nonprofit marketing is two-way - it is a conversation.” <http://www.nonprofitmarketingblog.com/>

We’d like you to use this brief overview as a way of contributing to your own conversation, whether it be with your public through Twitter and Facebook, or within your own organisation, with Skype and Google Docs.

Please let us know what else you’d like to read about, or any changes you’d like to see – you can reach us any time through our website, where you can also always find the most recent version of this document. <www.ymedia.co.nz>

Let us show you around the digital world.

WELCOME FROM yMedia

yMedia Crew 2010: (l-r) Daniel Waugh, Jade Tang, Hayden Hunter, Aurelie Rivalant, Eddy Helm, Lisa Ho, Anthea Whittle, Tim Holmberg, Alexandra Speedy, Emily Shovron, Kyle Glass

Online Toolkit

1 - Online Toolkit v1.0

Doing more with less is a challenge we all face today, especially charities and not-for-profit organisations. With this online toolkit you can take advantage of the communications, publishing, networking and funding opportunities the internet brings.

All of these services are free, accessible and constantly improving while you focus on what is important. We use almost every tool in this list in the day to day running of our business, to help keep us lean and productive.

Helen Baxter is Managing Directrix of Mohawk Media, international keynote speaker, XMediaLab mentor and columnist. She produces the g33k show weekly on Radio Wammo for Kiwi FM and has been reporting on emerging technologies in Virtual World, on Radio New Zealand since 2006.

Helen is a Teaching Fellow for the Design Innovation degree at Victoria University of Wellington, has taught Emerging Technologies in Screen Arts at Unitec, and Business Studies on the Graduate Diploma in Digital Media at Natcoll, Auckland. She has also written a series of columns on online tools for creative entrepreneurs in the MsBehaviour Files at the Big Idea.

Doing more with less

Bio

A WORD FROM Mohawk Media

Mohawk Media logo

Online Toolkit


The internet is now firmly a part of our everyday lives. Even when we think we are not up with this new ‘web stuff’ we are online checking our bank balance, paying our bills, checking the weather forecast, emailing friends and selling our unwanted items on auction sites.

One of the biggest, and most exciting, changes that the internet has made to our lives is the democratization of information. Now anyone with a connection to the internet can share their stories, find others with shared interests and have a voice.

Everyday at Givealittle we see examples where causes transcend geographic borders and gather an immense swell of support from what traditionally would have seemed unusual sources. Why? Because the story is compelling and it has been shared - from what may start as one person to one person, quickly the story is shared by many to many.

The proliferation of clever applications and tools available on the internet also provides everyone with an equal advantage. By using some of the tools outlined in this toolkit you will no longer need to invest in expensive software, and your entire team will be able to access key information from anywhere with an internet connection.

Enjoy learning these new tools and seeing how you can apply them to bring the best benefit to your orgnanisation. The internet is an incredibly generous place so when you have questions jump on Twitter or Facebook and ask - you’ll be surprised what you will receive in response.

Power of the Internet

A WORD FROM Givealittle

Givealittle logo

Online Toolkit


For the tools below that you don’t know about – Search them, and have a play.

They don’t take long to learn.


Quick FindFind what you’re looking for... Quick smart!


Find a technology scout for my organisation

Raise some money

Install an online payment system

Organise Events

Advertise to new potential members

Put photos online

Keep track of members

List resources online

Find new resources online

Have a free email account

Send out an online survey

Collect data online

Prepare, share, collaborate, and edit documents online.

Send out an email newsletter

Keep a database

Build a website

Communicate nationally/internationally for free

yMedia Challenge

Givealittle

Paypal

Facebook, MySpace, Bebo or Ning


Flickr or Picasa; or Facebook, MySpace, Bebo or Ning



Diigo, Delicious or Technorati

Gmail

Google Forms. Another option is PollDaddy or surveymonkey although they’re not as easy to use.

Google Forms

Google Documents (Word documents can be uploaded online, edited, and ‘shared’ between members.)

Gmail, using the BCC tab to protect emails’ addresses; or Mailchimp

Mailchimp

Can they accomplish this through Bebo, Facebook or Myspace? If not, try Wordpress.

Skype

THEN TRY...I WANT TO...


Building a website/blog & online donations:Wordpress <www.wordpress.com> Tumblr <www.tumblr.com> Posterous <www.posterous.com> GiveaLittle <www.givealittle.com> PayPal <www.paypal.com>


What is the difference between getting a Wordpress site and a whole new separate website?

You have to pay for website hosting with a whole new website... With a Wordpress blog/site, you don’t have to pay a thing, you have to stick to the given templates - though you can brand them by customising pre-designed themes.

A Wordpress blog is similar to a fully furnished apartment - you can move the furniture around, but there’s limited room for experimentation. A whole new website is like an empty house - sure, you have plenty of room to move and change things however you want to, but furniture costs and you can’t do much in an empty room.

Wordpress allows you to tag content and syndicate your content using Really Simple Syndication or RSS ‘feeds’ which allow people to read your content at your blog or through a feed reader or news aggregator.

<www.whatisrss.com>

Wordpress <www.wordpress.com>

Online Toolkit


Tumblr lets you effortlessly share anything: Tumblr is a micro blogging platform that allows users to post text, images, video, links, quotes, and audio to their Tumblelog, a short-form blog. Users are able to “follow” other users and see their posts together on their dashboard. Users can “like” or “reblog” posts from other blogs on the site. The service emphasizes customizability and ease of use, with very flexible customisation options and a raft of free themes as well as the ability to use your own domain name with your blog.

Tumblr blogs can have multiple contributing authors, and posts can be contributed by email, a “bookmarklet”, or even dialed in by mobile phone. You can find other not-for-profits using the service, and get your own blog listed, in the Tumblr directory: <http://www.tumblr.com/directory/non-profit>

Tumblr <www.tumblr.com>

Posterous<www.posterous.com>

The dead simple place to post everything:Posterous is a simple blogging platform started in May, 2009. It boasts integrated and automatic posting to other social media tools such as Flickr, Twitter, and Facebook, a built-in Google Analytics package, and custom themes.

Updating to Posterous is similar to other blogging platforms. Posting can be done by logging in to the website’s rich text editor, but it is particularly designed for mobile blogging. Mobile methods include sending an email, with attachments of photos, MP3s, documents, and video (both links and files). Many social media pundits consider Posterous to be the lead-ing free application for lifestreaming. The platform received wide attention when leading social media expert Steve Rubel declared he was moving his blogging activity entirely to Posterous. Posterous also has its own URL shortening service, which as of March 2010 can post to Twitter.

Posterous allows users to point the DNS listing for a domain name or subdomain they already own to their Posterous ac-count, allowing them to have a site hosted by Posterous that uses their own domain name.

Online Toolkit


Smart online donation management for your causes: Givealittle.com provides very clever but very simple to use online engagement mechanisms: real-time donations, cause campaigns, supporter fundraising pages, online events, 2.0 donor communications and social network integration. Givealittle provides donation tools (widgets) to allow you to accept donations on your own website, other webistes and blogs as well as Facebook. Donations are automatically credited to your bank account monthly (less a small transaction fee) and Givealittle issues donation receipts on your behalf.

Givealittle Platform

For those looking for a broader solution, Givealittle also provides a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) product called the Givealittle Platform. This product provides all the tools and smarts of Givealittle.co.nz but customised to reflect your brand and requirements. Being a SaaS product Givealittle Platform owners receive the benefit of a hosted product that can be accessed form any internet connection and share in the ongoing development of the product.

GiveaLittle <www.givealittle.com>

PayPal <www.paypal.com >

Install an online payment system:PayPal, the trusted leader in online payments, enables buyers and businesses to send and receive money online. PayPal has over 100 million member accounts in 190 countries and regions. It’s accepted by merchants everywhere, and integrates with bank accounts so your donors can choose to make a simple bank transfer to your PayPal account, or pay by credit card.

PayPal has reduced fees for NFP’s, and offer tools like a donation button for you to embed on your website or blog to easily promote your PayPal donation facility.

Is it safe to use?

PayPal helps protect your credit card information with industry-leading security and fraud prevention systems. When you use PayPal, your financial information is never shared with the merchant.

Why use PayPal?

• Make purchases or send money with PayPal – it’s free

• Shop and pay conveniently by saving your information with PayPal

• PayPal is accepted by millions of businesses worldwide and is the preferred payment method on eBay

Online Toolkit


Social Networking Sites:Twitter <www.twitter.com> Facebook <www.facebook.com> Linked In <www.linkedin.com> Bebo <www.bebo.com> MySpace <www.myspace.com>

Online Toolkit


What’s social networking? Social networking websites help you to uncover the links between people in your network. This visibility helps you to spread your message and connect with more people while keeping track of those interactions for the most value to you or your organisation.

By each member of your offline community – your shareholders, the public, your fans – holding an online profile, you can keep track of your members, inform them of news and events, and keep in touch. Those contacts can then also pass on your messages to their own networks, increasing your following.

What’s the difference? Twitter is a mix of business and personal ‘tweets’ with the main age range in early 2009 in the 25 - 54 age group. Myspace and Bebo are popular high school students, and Facebook started out for college students though is now an open system for any age range. Twitter connects people via short messages, while Facebook, Bebo and Myspace have much more complex profiles including photo albums and commenting. When choosing the right social network for you, consider your goals and the audience you are seeking to connect with.

What’s it like around the world? Top 3 Social Networking Sites, by Country:

• Australia: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter

• Canada: Facebook, MySpace, Flickr

• India: Facebook, Orkut, Hi5 (Twitter is a close fourth)

• France: Facebook, Skyrock, MySpace, China: QQ, Xiaonei, 51

• Germany: Facebook, StudiVZ, MySpace

• Italy: Facebook, Netlog, Badoo

• Russia: V Kontakte, Odnoklassniki, LiveJournal

• Spain: Facebook, Tuenti, Fotolog

• United Kingdom: Facebook, Bebo, MySpace

• United States: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter

<http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/post_2.php> Written by Doug Coleman / June 7, 2009

We want to try out Facebook and all these other new tools but how safe are we on these sites?

Very safe - it’s all in how you use them. Be aware of your privacy options with your personal accounts, to ensure your details are private. If you are competing in the yMedia Challenge, your student team can help you find your way.

Online Toolkit


Twitter <www.twitter.com>

Twitter is a powerful communications platform for two way information flow, and it’s simple to set up an account, all you need is an email address.

The simple idea behind Twitter is to send messages or ‘tweets’ in 140 characters or less. The limit is from the maximum number of character possible in a mobile SMS message, and tweets can be sent from mobile phones as well as the web and a range of Twitter applications that run on your computer.

These applications provide extra tools or add ons to the basic Twitter service such as shortening web links and sending photos.

Some people prefer to use Twitter clients rather than the Twitter website itself, and we recommend hootsuite.com as a good online option that also syncs with Facebook and Linked In alerts.

Twitter users can ‘follow’ other twitter users, send “@mentions” or “@replies” to converse openly or Direct Messages if both members are following each other.

Mention of key subjects can be tracked by following ‘#hashtags’ using search.twitter.com. Many companies and not for profit organisations now use hashtags to generate conversa-tions around campaigns, or events - always check to see if a hashtag is in use before publicising it.

Useful information and relevant links will often generate ‘re-tweets’ where followers can use the RT code to forward a message to their own twitter stream.

The more RTs you get the more you know that you are providing content your audience wants to read and the new list function allows you to collect together your favourite Twitter streams for others to follow.

Twitter also provides widgets to embed into your website or blog.

Media Monitoring infohttp://search.twitter.com

The Twitter Guide Bookhttp://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/


Basic Twitter commands:• @<username> – to send a public message

• d <username> – to send a private message

• RT – when followed by @<username>, this is convention for “retweeting” a message to your own followers

Twitter Page Design:

• Always add your logo / avatar to stand out on your Twitter web page.

• Add your logo to the design background and adjust the colours to fit with your branding.

• Write a description using relevant keywords and add a link to your website.

Twitter Etiquette:• It is good to tweet regularly but not so often that you come across as spamming.

• Look at lists of people to follow but don’t follow everyone who follows you, follow those users who are relevant to your brand or who interest you.

• It is better to keep your Twitter feed input relevant to your subject and audience.

• If you can, leave some space at the end your tweets for other people to RT your message.

• Use #hashtags to connect your tweets to other conversations on the same subject.

Online Toolkit


Facebook <www.facebook.com>

Once you have a personal Facebook account set up, you can set up pages and groups to promote your cause or campaign to the 300 million members of Facebook across the world.

Should I create a Facebook Page or a Group?

Pages are a great way to be found on Facebook, used for sending news to fans of your organisation or brand and inviting them to events. Groups are more like ‘clubs’, allowing for personal interactions where you can set up people as administrators and choose an open or closed membership.

Groups are limited to 5,000 members whereas pages can have an unlimited number of fans. Both pages and groups allow you to invite people to events, and for them to RSVP their attendance, add pictures and wall entries.

NB: Use Facebook to target a global audience in the 35 -55 age range.

To set up a page for your organisation, make sure you’re logged into your personal Facebook account, then go to:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php


Linked In <www.linkedin.com>

Linked In is like Facebook, but for business networking and communications. It is worth getting every member of a cam-paign team to join, ask questions and join Linked In groups. Linked In alerts can be set to appear in your twitter stream, saving time cross posting.

NB: Use Linked In to position a personal brand, campaigns, network professionally, and to target high net worth individu-als and corporate donations.

Bebo <www.bebo.com>

Bebo is popular with a younger demographic, especially in New Zealand but numbers have been falling recently.

NB: Use Bebo to reach a younger audience.

Online Toolkit


Myspace <www.myspace.com>

My Space is popular for music, arts, comedy though membership numbers have been falling recently with the uptake in Twitter and Facebook.

NB: Use MySpace to access a young demographic with a music / performing arts focus.

Ning <www.ning.com>

Ning is a free service that lets’ you create your own social network, with branded pages, themes, and allows you to sign up members who can then contribute and comment on videos, photos, chat, music, groups, events, and blogs – member profile pages, friends, messaging, email notifications, and RSS support.

NB: Use Ning if you want to set up your own social network for a campaign or cause without needing hosting or a web development team.

Online Toolkit


Whichever tools you choose, a social media campaign needs to be planned and executed as carefully as a traditional media campaign; with the added complication that social media tools create conversations that need to be managed. You are entering into a two way dialogue with your audience and your messages must be consistent with your brand and campaign.

Social media helps you...– Organise events – Advertise to new potential members – Put photos online – Communicate with all members – List resources online

Online Toolkit


Welcome to the Google WorldGmail <www.gmail.com> Google Docs <docs.google.com> Google Calendar <calendar.google.com> Google Analytics <analytics.google.com> Google Reader <reader.google.com> Google Alerts <alerts.google.com>


Google Gmail<www.gmail.com>

Have a free email account

Gmail is a web-based email service, which means that you can check your email from any computer, anywhere in the world, for free.

We like Gmail out of all other similar services because Google has made it very easy to use – all your emails appear in ‘conversations’, a format which means that you can view your history of messages with a person.

It is also easy to search for past emails, with the search toolbar in the inbox. Gmail also helps with project management, as we can see below. Sign up for gmail by going to www.gmail.com and clicking on ‘Register’.

Google Docs <docs.google.com>

Write, share, and collaborate on documents for free

Google Docs (short for “Google Documents”) can be helpful for a number of reasons, mainly around project management and collaboration. However, it can also be helpful for preparing meeting agendas online in a format that everyone can read and edit before the meeting.

You can access Google Docs by first of all signing up for a Google account - all of the documents you have access to or which you create will be stored against your account.

Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and Powerpoint presentations can be uploaded to your Google Docs online, edited, and ‘shared’ with other collaborators.

Google Calendars<calendar.google.com>

Your schedule, anywhere

Create a calendar for yourself, your project, your organisation, or your family and share any of them with whoever you like.

Google Calendars let you keep track of your appointments online, you can accept meeting requests just like with Microsoft Outlook.

Colour coded appointments help you to keep track of different engage-ments, and you can view all calendars at once to easily see any conflicts.

Just like your Google Documents, your caledars are stored against your Google account.

Online Toolkit


Google Analytics<analytics.google.com>

Google Analytics is a web analytics solution that gives you rich insights into your website traffic and marketing effectiveness. Powerful, flexible and easy-to-use features now let you see and analyze your traffic data in an entirely new way.

You can use Google Analytics for free to see who’s using your website, how many people are visiting over any timeframe, how long they are looking at your site, how they found it, and much more.

Google Reader<reader.google.com>

Have trouble keeping up with the sites you visit? Read them in one place with Google Reader, where keeping up with your favorite websites is as easy as checking your email.

Using RSS (Really Simple Syndication) in Google Reader, you can subscribe to your favorite websites to be notified when they update their content.

Google Alerts<alerts.google.com>

Monitoring brands and campaigns is vital and Google Alerts is a use-ful tool for tracking online mentions. Specify the search terms, type of search (comprehensive, news, logs, web, video or groups), the keywords or phrases (which you specify within quote marks) that you’d like to track, how often (as it happens, once a day, or once a week) and whether you want the results emailed or added to an RSS feed.

Online Toolkit


“How can you squander even one more day not taking advantage of the greatest shifts of our generation?

How dare you settle for less when the world has made it so easy for you to be remarkable?”

– Seth Godin, Seth’s Blog


Clever communicationsMailchimp <www.mailchimp.com> Skype <www.skype.com> Basecamp <www.basecamphq.com>


Gmail | MailchimpIf you want to send out an email newsletter, you can use Gmail, as long as you enter all the addresses in the “Bcc” field. This protects your network’s email addresses as the recipient can only view their own address; without viewing the other email addresses.

Mailchimp<www.mailchimp.com>If you’d like something a bit more customised, we’re a fan of Mailchimp. However, with Mailchimp, there’s a limit of 100 recipients when you sign up for a ‘free’ account, so make sure you split the database into sections of less than 100 people if you’re on a free account. For example, with yMedia, we would have students in one list, community groups in another, and businesses in another.

Mailchimp is a free email mailing list manager for designing, sending and tracking HTML email campaigns for up to 500 subscribers and 3,000 emails a month.

Please note that if you are manging an email list then you must be aware of your obligations for data protection under the New Zealand Privacy Act 1993, and anti-spam guidelines from the NZ Department of Internal Affairs.

www.dia.govt.nz/DIAwebsite.nsf/wpg_URL/Services-Anti-Spam-Index


Using the internet to make phone callsSkype uses your internet connection to help you talk to another person, through your computer. It’s similar to talking to someone on the phone, except you can see them through your computer as well. If you’re not interested in using the audio/video aspect of it, you can just use the text side of it, similar to an instant messenger like MSN chat or Yahoo chat.

Skype can help you to communicate with other members in national or international offices for free. All you need beyond an internet connection and computer is:

• A microphone

• Speakers (many come built-in with the computer)

• A webcam if you want video-conferencing capabilities

Using Skype is completely free, the other party must have it installed on their computer for you to talk. It’s great for keep-ing in touch with family members also, and works best over a faster internet connection.

Skype <www.skype.com>

Online Toolkit


Basecamp <www.basecamphq.com>An online Project management tool with a free option for managing milestones tasks, messages and to do lists. Basecamp is designed to let multiple people collaborate on the running and working of a project. It includes email notification and task allocation, and is part of 37 Signals’ suite of tools.

37 Signals also offer a contact management solution called Highrise, where you can keep track of your contacts and the communication you and your organisation have with them.

Another offering from the same organisation is Campfire, for general communication and team collaboration. You can find out more about each of these tools on the 37 Signals Websites:

<www. 37signals.com>

Dropbox <www.dropbox.com>Dropbox is software that syncs your files online and across your computers.

Put your files into your Dropbox on one computer, and they’ll be instantly available on any of your other computers that you’ve installed Dropbox on (Windows, Mac, and Linux too!) Because a copy of your files are stored on Dropbox’s secure servers, you can also access them from any computer or mobile device using the Dropbox website.


What is yMedia?yMedia connects students, industry and not-for-profit organisations to develop and implement new media initiatives for collective growth.


yMedia connects students, industry and not-for-profit organisations to develop and implement new media initiatives for collective growth:

Now in its’ fourth year of development, yMedia has established an eight week challenge, which provides not-for-profit organisations the opportunity to increase their knowledge and use of information communication technology, with tertiary students implementing live new media projects, allowing them to gain tangible experience, while being supported by an industry professional.

To further support the students and not-for-profits participating in the challenge, yMedia also runs a series of workshops which have been carefully designed to help provide an understanding of the importance of building brands and making genuine connections with audiences and supporters. The yMedia workshop series will be delivered through presentations from industry leaders giving insightful demonstrations and running engaging exercises.

yMedia Challenge <www.ymedia.co.nz>

Online Toolkit


TERTIARY STUDENTS

NOT-FOR-PROFIT ORGANISATIONS

INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS

TERTIARY STUDENTS

Are often uncertain of their career path after study and therefore need practical experience and an introduction to the industry to help increase their employability.

Are often lacking in time, funds, resources and expertise to explore the benefits of new media initiatives and therefore need dedicated support to help increase their competency online.

NOT-FOR-PROFITS

Have a wealth of knowledge and experience and can therefore provide guidance and insight to talented students, while gaining a strong understanding of their capabilities for potential employment opportunities.

INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS

yMedia Challenge 2010


yMedia Challenge <www.ymedia.co.nz>

How does it work?

yMedia:

• Matches students with not-for profit organisations to form a team.

• Appoints a talented and insightful industry mentor to each team.

• Runs an eight week challenge each year — in which students help improve community groups marketing or operations through ICT based projects — like building websites, developing CMS, improving internal documentation systems, introducing a social media platform — the options are as endless as your imagination.

• Throughout the challenge we also run fun and informative workshops and provide helpful resources to assist with both community group development and student growth and education.

Throughout the first three years of the initiative, we’ve had numerous success stories. yMedia Challenge graduates have been employed at Saatchi & Saatchi, Chrometoaster, Sun Microsystems, gardyneHOLT, Touchpoint, Terabyte, Brave New World, Consortium, SlamXHype, Porter Novelli, and many other industry leaders, as a result of the relationships formed through the challenge. And it goes without saying that community groups have also had great results growing their online profile, networks and capabilities.

Online Toolkit


www.ymediachallenge.co.nz [email protected]

How do I get involved?

yMedia Challenge 2010

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