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March 9, 2009, Association of Fundraising Professionals — I’ve heard the confused refrain over and over, from friends, colleagues and certainly my wife, “This Twitter thing everyone is talking about … I just don’t GET IT. Who CARES what you had for breakfast this morning!?” They are referring to the 140-character “micro-blog” messages that users publish to a web page for a list of “followers” interested in what they have to say.
There is a growing number of savvy, early-adopters in nonprofit development and communication departments across the country who are taking advantage of Twitter as a “friend-raising” tool. Once they have built up their social capital, they are turning it into a fundraising machine.
(If you’ve never heard of Twitter, a web 2.0 tool, a good start would be to check out the video posted at the site’s sign-up page, http://twitter.com/.)
To get examples of fundraising success for this article, I turned to my own Twitter page, which has 521+ followers (followers are people who have opted to receive to my posts and want to communicate with me via Twitter). I simply “tweeted” to all my followers asking for their experience with the web tool and also targeting ten nonprofits by direct messaging that I especially wanted to interview. I got a great response. To read the full article, visit my blog.
More Feedback, Better Care
Jennifer Parris (@LeBonheurChild), communications specialist at Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center in Memphis, Tenn. writes, “Social media gives us a special opportunity to hear what people are saying about our hospital. Before this technology, we heard about these conversations by word of mouth. Now, we can listen to specific comments parents are making about the care their child is receiving at our hospital. It gives us the unique opportunity act on their thoughts and comments.”
Jennifer sees social media as being on the front lines of patient relations and heading off disgruntled customers and making them whole again before their word of mouth is broadcast far and wide.
“When we find a blog in which a parent talks about a bad experience, we alert our clinical leaders who can look into the matter and help remedy it,” Parris explains. “Twitter allows us to do the same thing. It has a great search function that allows us to monitor what's being said.”
There is a growing number of savvy, early-adopters in nonprofit development and communication departments across the country who are taking advantage of Twitter as a “friend-raising” tool. Once they have built up their social capital, they are turning it into a fundraising machine.
(If you’ve never heard of Twitter, a web 2.0 tool, a good start would be to check out the video posted at the site’s sign-up page, http://twitter.com/.)
To get examples of fundraising success for this article, I turned to my own Twitter page, which has 521+ followers (followers are people who have opted to receive to my posts and want to communicate with me via Twitter). I simply “tweeted” to all my followers asking for their experience with the web tool and also targeting ten nonprofits by direct messaging that I especially wanted to interview. I got a great response. To read the full article, visit my blog.
More Feedback, Better Care
Jennifer Parris (@LeBonheurChild), communications specialist at Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center in Memphis, Tenn. writes, “Social media gives us a special opportunity to hear what people are saying about our hospital. Before this technology, we heard about these conversations by word of mouth. Now, we can listen to specific comments parents are making about the care their child is receiving at our hospital. It gives us the unique opportunity act on their thoughts and comments.”
Jennifer sees social media as being on the front lines of patient relations and heading off disgruntled customers and making them whole again before their word of mouth is broadcast far and wide.
“When we find a blog in which a parent talks about a bad experience, we alert our clinical leaders who can look into the matter and help remedy it,” Parris explains. “Twitter allows us to do the same thing. It has a great search function that allows us to monitor what's being said.”
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