Lagniappe!

A lagniappe (pronounced lan-yap) is a little gift given by a merchant at the time of a purchase such as a 13th donut when buying a dozen. The word is used in the Carribbean and southern parts of the United States and has been traced back to the Quechua word yapay (‘to increase; to add’). In Andean markets it is still customary to ask for a yapa when making a purchase. The seller usually responds by throwing in a little extra. This ancient custom is still widely practiced today around the world and I felt it was time to bring it into the digital age! For clients who pay on time,  I will try to do something for you as a little freebie or extra service so watch your invoices for a lagniappe!

Bloggy Goodness for Nonprofits

One of my favorite blogs is by Wild Apricot’s Rebecca Leaman. She does a great job sharing podcasts, articles and tidbits from around the web – all on ways to promote and efficiently run nonprofits and small businesses. Recent articles have included how to evaluate the usefulness of your social media marketing and Amazon.com’s new free donation progam for nonprofits. Check it out!

Social Media Marketing – What Good Is It?

A client of mine recently asked me if I thought that having FaceBook, MySpace, and LinkedIn pages was “valuable” after they let their profiles at these services languish and finally die. My answer is an emphatic YES! But you get out of these services what you put in.

Think of them as small garden patches. When you set them up you are planting seeds. If you go back and attend to your garden it will thrive. Then if you are having an event or launching a new service or product, you can tell all of your new friends at FaceBook, Twitter, MySpace, etc. about it. You can instantly communicate updates and share links to things you think your network will find valuable. In turn, they will share your information with their networks. You can communicate with an unlimited number of people without spending a penny on postage, or phone service, or printing fancy mailers. If you think about it, the potential is amazing.

Conversely, if you plant your garden but never return to attend to it, you’ll find that it simply dries up and dies. This not only yeilds nothing, it presents a negative image of your organization. Imagine having a dead patch of weeds outside your lobby doors.

The bottom line is that Social media marketing is an unbelievably valuable, absolutely FREE way to promote your organization. All it requires is a bit of consistent attention.

Some things to consider:

1. Create a plan for how your organization will use social media and what you intend to share on those sites.

2. Build your profiles intelligently using a dedicated email address (NOT an individual’s email address). Document when the site was created, by whom, and with what email address, username and password. Make sure that at least two people in your organizatioin have this information. It should be noted that any changes must be communicated to both people.

3. Assign the “gardening” responsibilities to someone who will enjoy it. An overburdened employee is not going to be able to adequately maintain the profile, it needs to be someone with the energy and interest to approach it with freshness and creativity.

4. The ultimate goal of your profile pages is to inspire action. Do you want your viewers to attend an event? Make a donation or purchase? If so, you MUST set up the necessary infrastructure to enable that action. If you have a big “Register Today” button but no online, efficient, fast method to accept online registratons or payments you have just wasted time and energy, and potentially annoyed a future supporter.

5. Use reporting tools such as the Social Media Metrics Plugin for Google Analytics or SociafQ to see how many viewers are visiting your social media profiles and, where possible, what they are doing when they visit.

Those are a few ideas to get you started, I hope it is a helpful overview. Just one example of social media marketing success; Paul Potts went from being a debt-ridden cellphone salesman to an international opera star in a few months. Since then he has sung for the Queen of England, released two top-selling albums and travelled the world many times over. See what he says about how YouTube changed his life.

Freebies

5 totally FREE things you can do to save money and/or promote your website right now:

1. Try Skype. It’s free phone service. Really. Totally free. And if you love it their advanced services are amazing for what they charge.

2. Get inspired. Whether you are a nonprofit or small business, the Wild Apricot Blog is chock full of great ideas.

3. Do some networking on LinkedIn. Social networking is taking off and sites like LinkedIn and Facebook give you an opportunity to link back to your own site.

4. For nonprofits: see if you qualify for discounted software at TechSoup, or cheap SEO assistance at SemCares.org, or free e-newsletter services at Constant Contact.

5. Start a blog! Another way to send links back to your site. It doesn’t have to be a daily diary, just talk about your endeavors, write articles about your industry, or promote yourself as an expert advisor in your field.

Just remember, never add your email address visually on any of these services. If you want to invite viewers to contact you, direct them to the secure contact form on your site (and if you need one, drop me a line).

Be creative! And if you find more cool things to share, send them back to me. Cheers! ~ Ame

Web Promotion 101: The Power of Web 2.0 Services

Start a blog
For busineses and nonprofits a blog is a way to post archival material, get feedback and generally add to the value of your site. Google LOVES blogs and linking your blog to your website boosts your search engine rankings. My favorite blog service is easy to use and costs only the time spent playing at WordPress.com.

eNewsletters
Inexpensive and green, eNewsletters are a great alternative to mailings. When concise and filled with valuable info or coupons, it is welcomed by clients, rather than tossed as junk mail. My fave has a free 30 day trial and after that it starts at a $15/mo. That’s a mere 35 stamps! ConstantContact.com.

Facebook
Social networking is here to stay, why not see what it’s about? Facebook is free, painless, and offers amazing ways to network with other individuals and organizations. The event promotional tools alone are worth the time. Facebook

Twitter
Wouldn’t it be great to make a quick little announcement to a bazillion people all at once? Maybe about a fundraising event or holiday promotion that’s coming up? Twitter it!

Jott
Jott provides the simple but useful ability to say things into your phone and have them show up online. Want to make a quick note? Need to text someone while driving? How bout returing emails – by speaking? Speed dial Jott, say what you want and where you want it to go, and it’s done. And it’s free! Jott

These services are easy to use but if you just don’t have the time to explore them, I offer packages and training and can match your new goodies to your existing website’s colors, logo, etc. Feel free to contact me.