Using Competitive Intelligence to Stand Out

NPOwk-logo4Welcome to Non-Profit Week on the Pixel/Point Press blog! We’re featuring guest posts this week from around our community. Our fourth post comes from Ephraim Gopin. Enjoy!

 

“The wise learn many things from their enemies.” – Aristophanes

In normal times, the job of U.S. intelligence agencies is to mine data in order to thwart attacks, carry out tactical operations and keep American interests safe at home and around the world. Remember Benghazi? Remember General Petraeus? The word “intelligence” took a beating. [Read more...]

How to Stay Sane When Social Media is Your Job

NPOwk-logo4Welcome to Non-Profit Week on the Pixel/Point Press blog! We’re featuring guest posts this week from around our community. Our third post comes from Laura Ben-David, social media coordinator at Nefesh B’Nefesh. Enjoy!

In an ideal world we would all do what we love, and love what we do. Imagine being one the lucky few who are paid to do what they truly enjoy, and happen to be doing all the time anyway. It’s perfect. Well, it’s almost perfect. [Read more...]

Perfecting the Act of Not-For-Profit Task Juggling

NPOwk-logo4Welcome to Non-Profit Week on the Pixel/Point Press blog! We’re featuring guest posts this week from around our community. Our second post comes from non-profit pro and community manager Mordecai Holtz. Enjoy!

“I’m the marketer. The fundraiser. The volunteer coordinator. The case manager. The…”

Anyone who works in the nonprofit sector can relate to this laundry list of responsibilities. When we add social media into the mix, do we also have to throw all of our time management skills out the window?

We’re all jugglers. Juggling is not easy; it takes a lot of practice.

When balancing so many different roles in an organization, it’s hard to excel in anything. It seems as if we’re always working hard to maintain the status quo without really progressing or completing our tasks.

If social media truly is such an integral part of the nonprofit marketing mix, how do we incorporate its strengths and stabilize a schedule without getting sucked into it all and causing our other ‘juggling balls’ to land on the floor?

attractive young woman juggling with social network iconsHere are 5 ways to achieve non-profit marketing balance

1. Strategize: The best tool is a clear plan. Use the tactics and platforms that generate the best results for your organization to succeed. In this case, it’s ok to “drop” the rest. In most cases, there are tools that help streamline your social media workflow.

2. Identify: Before you can really focus on the important things, you need to pinpoint distractions. Turn off alerts from Facebook and Twitter . If you get the urge to be distracted, take note, pause and return to your task. Hold yourself accountable to stay away from social media when you know that you should be concentrating your efforts in other areas of your work.

3. Socialize: social media requires active listening. It’s not about posting a clever tweet or spamming. In order to continually see growth, don’t forget to make time to meet new people on Twitter, leave comments on new blogs and add Facebook friends. Build time in your daily schedules for expanding your network, too.

4. Be Consistent: Whatever time you can allocate to social media, make it count. The point is not to give up, but keep your presence visible and genuine. Checking social media, for a limited amount of time in the morning, noontime and in the afternoon before the end of day is a good recipe.

5. Share: This is a tough one. Rather than try to continue to juggle alone, try passing some of the responsibilities or sharing with a co-worker. With social media, sharing can actually have a positive ROI. Others in your organization can help increase the number of posts by finding their groove at different times than yours.

Has social media been added to your juggling routine? If you’re spending too much time on social media marketing and not seeing a return on your investment, it’s time to reevaluate your strategy.

Take control of your day and get more done! Be accountable and in charge of your time.

Mordecai Holtz is an experienced nonprofit professional in the fields of community organization, program development, administration and management for almost 8 years. Mordecai is well versed in social media and enjoys consulting with small businesses and nonprofit organizations to reach their fullest online potential. Follow Mordecai by reading his blog noholtzbarred.com or on twitter@mordecaiholtz.

More posts from NPO Week at Pixel/Point Press:

 

What’s Wrong With This Facebook Screenshot?

Sometimes it can be difficult to parse the “right way” of going about social media. There are tools and tutorials, assessments and analytics. What works on one network may not play on another. But beyond the rules of “know your audience” and “engage with your followers,” good social media takes practice and finesse.

Conversely, the wrong way to do social media is easily spotted. [Read more...]

How to Target Company Page Updates to Followers in LinkedIn

LinkedIn company pages have seen a steady amount of development over time, but the most recent revamp rolled out in early October was perhaps the biggest shift since the pages debuted in December 2011. Pages now feature status updates, comments, likes, shares, followers and cover images – similar to pages on both Facebook and Google +.

linkedin, company, page, cover photo

AT&T Company Page with Cover Photo on LinkedIn

Also, pages now have dedicated areas for Products and Services, Careers (a paid option when listing in LinkedIn) and basic page and follower insights provided to the administrators. While much of this existed in previous iterations, the new layout is a big step forward for an otherwise stodgy user interface. [Read more...]

Get ready for Google + Business Pages

google plus pages, google+ pages, best practicesGoogle announced that Google + business pages will become available over the next few days as the new feature is rolled out.

While you might not be able to create a page right now, it’s only a matter of days until your company or organization can get started. What can you be working on in the meanwhile?

Here’s a quick list of links that might help you prepare:

When you do decide to create your page, a few links directly from Google will help you understand the terms and policies associated with your new page:
And finally – we hope you’ll join us at the Pixel/Point Press Google + page when you have time – always a work in progress.

Boosting product sales via Facebook – a case study

wildfire app sweepstakes facebook campaign promotionOn Tuesday, I had the pleasure of presenting at the Jerusalem Web Professionals monthly meeting at the AACI in Talpiot. We had a great panel and sharp attendees who asked great questions!

I presented a case study of a three-month campaign we built and managed on behalf of one of our clients – Dane Elec – and their NAS product my-Ditto using the Sweepstakes app provided by Wildfire.

My goal was to show some of the great lessons we learned during this campaign, as I think they apply to so many situations and some of the challenges we had to overcome.

Enjoy – and please let me know if you have other questions we can answer for you!


The Problem with Privacy (or Lack Thereof) Online

google + privacy, facebook privacy, facebook photo sharingIt’s been a few weeks now since Google + shook up the social world online. Love it, hate it or haven’t yet tried it, it’s clear that Facebook now has a bit more direct competition.

Privacy has been touted as one of G+’s hallmarks. Having connections sorted into circles means that all content shared on the network is likewise filtered as it is posted. When a user attempts to share content that another user has shared with a smaller group, they see a warning message that encourages them to think twice before sharing. [Read more...]

An Introduction to Facebook – Tips for the Beginner

I had the pleasure of speaking for ESRA, the English Speaking Residents’ Association, today in Raanana. My presentation was an introduction to Facebook for absolute beginniners, and offers some tips on privacy settings and pitfalls to avoid.

You can view the presentation here and I hope you’ll give your feedback.

Get Started: Five blog post ideas to market your small business

Image credit: techiemania.com

When you decide to dive into blogging, the plain white screen in front of you can be a bit intimidating.

What should I say? How do I start? Do people really want to read about that?

Good question. A good blog will look different after six months. It’s a development process. You’re in infancy now, you’ll go through a gawky teen period with every conceivable social bookmarking icon and changing themes as often as your retainer color, and evolve into a functioning adult. [Read more...]