One Reason Nonprofits Should Use Video :: Testimonials :: Two Video Examples

For almost three years, Camp ASCCA has been using blogs, podcasts and now a full blown niche social network - ASCCA Friends - to connect with ASCCA’s campers and their parents.

Danika Kmetz, a great PR intern from Illinois State University (and President of her PRSSA chapter), has created two very fun videos with the best kind of testimonials possible. The first is from Hope, a camper at ASCCA’s Teen Week taking place this week on Lake Martin. The second is a mashup of clips from last week’s Adult Mentally Disabled camp.

There are many ideas at work behind these sites. The most important is to provide a look inside camp that will reach out to our campers, their parents and anyone that has yet to consider a therapeutic recreation opportunity. Read more

Flickr Massage Feels Strange

Flickr is one of my favorite sites. Truly, they have a wonderful interface and hosting service for photos. It is my favorite of all the photo hosting sites - hands down.

Yet, tonight the site went down for one of their maintenance “massages” and that’s cool. Hey, I knew it was coming and wasn’t the least bit miffed. I’m still not miffed. But, I think there is a lesson here.

Flickr always seems to do this maintenance at good times. It is usually about midnight here when they take the site down. OK, no problem. But, still I thought I’d watch how they do the explanation of down time.

It is the little things that matter when dealing with your customers. I have at least two Pro accounts.

Currently, 15 minutes into their 30 minute massage, the site shows this message.

Yet, when you click on their visit the Flickr Blog for updates message, you actually get the top post for Tag-O-Rama. Hmm? Ruh Roh! You see, it is the little things that count.

Let’s mark this up to a little site maintenance and customer service lesson. It is the little things … like pre-posting an explanation to the blog … that makes that little extra special difference to your visitors. After all, if you’re going to send them somewhere for info … have it ready for them.

Once again, Flickr is still the coolest of photo sharing sites. And, the site is back up now. It only took 26 minutes, not 30. Flickr’s still good.

Yahoo! Yodel Anecdotal and Paul Stamatiou :: Score! Big Time

Yahoo! and intern Paul Stamatiou unveil Yahoo!’s new official corporate blog - Yodel Anecdotal.

Paul descibes the new blog as:

It’s what Yahoo! is all about - the culture, the traditions and some dabbling of current hot topics in the general tech realm. You don’t have to be a Computational Media major at a top 10 public university to understand what’s going on. User interaction is encouraged on Yodel Anecdotal.

Please note that we’re talking about Yahoo! - a corporate giant - giving this kind of responsibility (and opportunity) to an intern. I think that’s amazing, admirable and to be saluted. Now, Paul doesn’t seem like your average intern, so that may play into this a bit. But, the willingness of a company like Yahoo! to offer this to an intern just blows my mind. Yahoo! has won me over in yet another area.

Sounds like a good idea for a corporate blog, too. Looking forward to reading this one.

Paul’s work (and his group) is quite impressive. Congrats!

A little side story is the choice of the blogging platform used for Yahoo’s corporate blog. MovableType’s ProNet discussion group - mostly developers - are a little bummed that Wordpress was chosen. But, the unique aspect is that Yahoo! let the intern go with a platform he felt comfortable with - instead of one that was suggested (but not demanded) by IT. I think that’s commendable. Also, Yahoo! offers hosting for both platforms. So, either platform would be fine for the blog.

Is it a coup for Wordpress? Sure. Wordpress is now the platform of the Official Yahoo! corporate blog. That’s pretty cool. But, both platforms have gained from acceptance and adoption by Yahoo! over recent years. See Yahoo! Web Hosting and WordPress.

I do think that Wordpress is continuing to erode Movable Type’s market share and if I were Six Apart, I’d be worried. Even the latest version of Movable Type 3.3 is encountering problems. The rebuild function of Movable Type makes it a “clunkier” platform than Wordpress, in some/many instances. We’ll see how Movable Type’s viability plays out in the future.

Links:

The blog and discussion:
Introducing Yodel Anecdotal - PaulStamatiou.com
Yodel Anecdotal
About Yodel Anecdotal
Yet another self-serving corporate blog!

Discussion about the blogging platform chosen (Wordpress):
Photo Matt » Yodel Anecdotal
http://www.sixapart.com/mailman/private/pronet/ - Discussion at ProNet (registration required)

Two Reviews:
IMlog: Corporate blog: Yahoo! vs Google 1 - 0
Yahoo Yodels With New Blog

Customer Relationship Management and Marketing :: Campaign turns into a nightmare

No long post here, this time. Just go read this article from CRMGuru.com. Dick Lee relates a very scary marketing campaign with disasterous results.

Say “Hello” to Your Inner Customer (If No One Answers, You’re in Deep Trouble)

A recipient of the campaign had this reaction:

She noted that “speculation about who could have sent (the campaign’s promotional item) caused tremendous anxiety and fear. (She) had a heightened sense of attention to (her) surroundings at all times, started to carry mace and was looking into purchasing a new phone with caller ID.”

But wait, this wasn’t a Mace marketing strategy or one of their campaigns. Mace wasn’t the intended client to benefit from sales driven by the marketing strategy. They had nothing to do with it. And, I’m betting they wouldn’t want sales driven by this kind of campaign.

This may be the first CRM campaign - or marketing campaign of any kind - that so scared recipients it caused them to actually fear for their lives.

Yep, that’s a pretty bad CRM campaign.

Facebook :: Ten Rules For School Administrators To Live By

I wish I had known of Fred Stutzman prior to HigherEd BlogCon and invited him to present his thoughts on Facebook. Fred “share(s) some suggestions regarding how administrators should approach and understand the Facebook.” It is well worth the read. Visit How University Administrators Should Approach the Facebook: Ten Rules.

Facebook is a bane of my, and other educators, existence. For anyone that deals with computer labs, the site has an addictive quality for students that surpasses crack and heroin. OK, a bit over-stated, but not far from the truth.

Still, all that I can deal with if I have to on a day-to-day basis. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve had to make a student close the site. My real concern? The potential for harm that may come to one of my students is what really bothers me. Students are too willing to share any and all information about themselves. They do not take the precautions they should by making their portion of the site only available to friends - people they actually know and want to interact with online. They do not always leave off personal information. They too often post photos that may attract undesirable attention.

We have our own little goofy stories of students posting too much personal info and then having it come back to bite them. The one we most often refer to is the student that posted her life’s activity schedule from class to tennis playing online. She also had her phone number, home address and class schedule on her Facebook site. Then, one day she was stunned to be out playing tennis and receive an unwanted visitor. She reported to her friends that this “creepy” guy showed up at the tennis court and said he found her through Facebook.

My point? We have no idea if any assaults may have already occured via this kind of online stalking. I don’t want any to take place and therefore try to educate my students about the potential dangers. Facebook should be doing it, too. Collleges, high schools and parents - all of us - should be doing this, as well. The danger is too real.

I wonder if any actuarial tables already exist in C-suites and venture capital offices when the purchase or support of a social media site is being considered. The risk is high, I’d bet. It is untested in court, I imagine. Can Facebook and MySpace, etc. show that they have (a) provided enough cautionary advice to users and (b) made them go through enough hoops to assure the users have read all that cautionary evidence? I doubt it. Is it encumbent upon them to do so? I think it is. But, they likely won’t do it until forced to by a court case or overwhelming bad publicity. So, until then, the duty must lie with us to help protect the students.

Read Fred’s article and take it to heart.

Technorati Tags: Facebook, Education, Risk

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Disclaimer Longer Than Blog Post … Bait for Satire, or Reality Setting In?

So funny, yet so sad. The legalese is longer than the content.

Starwood Hotels is attempting something that is sort of like, well … it is trying to be like … well, it started as faux blogging and now it is …. well, just corporate blogging. In fact, it is corporate blogging that fits many stereotypes of legal and management “interference” - some PR practitioners like to call it.

Starwood launched The Lobby.

The blog states their focus and purpose:

To help keep Starwood Preferred Guests on top of the latest travel trends, Starwood and ElectricArtists have assembled a team of travel writers to contribute to this site. Every weekday this site will be covering the latest and greatest in worldwide travel.

A legitimate idea. However, the authors in the blog seem more like jingle writers than travel writers. Each post is a commercial for some Starwood hotel or amenity.

Still, that’s not too bad of an idea. It is just the way they do it that seems contrived. Too planned. Too dry. Too predictable. The posts range from 100 to 200 words, with a few exceptions - the average is about 150. (This will be important later.) All of the posts are the equivilant to sidebar contextual ads with nice photos. It is one long list of short advertisements.

Starwood is using MovableType (MT). Many sites do. That isn’t uncommon. MT makes a fine CMS, aside from just a blog. But, The Lobby’s posts have links for tagging and bookmarking the site which many/most associate with blogs more than a dynamic site.

At first Starwood’s “The Lobby” did not have comments turned on.

Some people criticized them for that. B. L. Ochman called it a “dud” for more reasons than just the absence of comments. The Inside PR podcast also felt that the absence of comments did not help the blog’s legitimacy with audiences. There was no opportunity for a conversation.

So, Starwood turned comments on for some/most of the posts. However, in this instance they only made things worse.

If one is seeking to lay blame for this, I imagine the place to point is to upper management and the legal team. I doubt it is what the creative people wanted.

When Starwood did turn on comments, they couldn’t help but turn it over to the legal department, first. So, now you have one of the most ridiculous comment sections, on every post offering comments, that you will see on a blog - in blogging’s brief history. The legal disclaimer is actually longer than the posts. Seriously, the post at that link is 194 words, whereas there are 282 words in the disclaimer before you may comment. And, most of the other posts are like this, too.

Need more irony? The title of one post is: Head and Shoulders Above the Rest. Um, no Starwood. This this is more like what happens when you don’t use Head and Shoulders^TM … you appear flakey (or legally anal) - people notice, and you are embarrassed.

Sigh. So, bless their hearts, at least they are trying. How they could not see that their practice will bring snickers is kind of scary, but why am I not surprised?

Admittedly, there is legitimate concern for companies and individuals regarding the comments some people may leave in your blog.

Jeremy Pepper wrote:

Is it worth pushing the boundaries in a blog to get traffic, then end up in a libel suit? Are certain blogs that we all have seen - making fun of ugly people on the Web, making fun of Star Wars fans - worth the potential for a libel lawsuit?

Corporations have traditional boundaries and standards of practice. They are loathe to change them when the fear of legal entanglement may be the result. So, what you sometimes see is this kind of silliness.
I don’t know. Starwood can defend their tactic, of course. But, isn’t it kind of funny? Their fear is worth more text than their travel related content? B. L. was right. The Lobby is a dud.

Honestly, it reminded me of contract management. The rule-of-thumb was always - CYA or CYB. Here is the complete disclaimer you must wade through before getting to the comment forms:

BY CLICKING “I AGREE” AND SUBMITTING A COMMENT YOU AGREE TO THE FOLLOWING TERMS & CONDITIONS:

You agree not to submit any comment that contains unlawful, threatening, libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic or other material that would violate the law.

You agree that all comments submitted by you should be relevant to the article and remain respectful of other authors and commenters.

You authorize Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., its affiliates, properties within the Starwood system and third party service providers (collectively, “Starwood”) to collect, process, use and display the information provided by you (including personally identifiable information) for any lawful, Starwood business related purpose, to store the information at and transmit the information to various locations, either directly or through its third party vendors, throughout the world, whether within your country of residence, the United States, or elsewhere; and to contact you regarding the information you provide.

You assign to Starwood the right, but not the obligation to edit, remove, modify, publish, license, print, transmit, display or otherwise use any comments you submit to Starwood and all accompanying personally identifiable information via all forms of media now known or hereafter devised, worldwide, in perpetuity, without notice to you and without compensation, and you waive any moral rights you may have in having the material altered or changed in a manner not agreeable to you.

You agree to indemnify and hold Starwood and its subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, directors, agents and employees harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorney’s fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of Your breach of these terms and conditions or Your violation of any law or the rights of a third party.

That is on every post where you may leave a comment. Can you believe that? I find it amazing.

Um, and you don’t click on “I AGREE” … you click on Preview or Post.

Do you really want to see and read that every time you want to post a comment?

Perhaps the better path to follow (aside from the obvious “Drop the facade.  Don’t blog.  Make it a static site.”) would be requiring all who wish to comment to simply register for your site. Then, they see the disclaimer once and are bound by the rules. As Starwood is doing it now, the blog is a chuckle on every post, at first. After a few times, it will become - simply - a pain. Are they really going to turn these posts into purchases of services at their hotels? I don’t know, but I doubt it.

Here is an idea. Take the reigns off of the writers. Be bold. Take a chance. Let them write critically about your hotels and services. (I know. I’m dreaming.)

I don’t think Starwood Hotels did any reading or research into the mindset of most bloggers and blog readers. If they get laughed at online, it is their own fault. Of course, their target audience is probably not bloggers. It is business travelers. But, they are online and therefore open to these types of critiques.

What do you think? Is this a good practice by Starwood? Will they succeed? How would you suggest they blog?

Thanks to B. L. Ochman and Inside PR’s David Jones and Terry Fallis for the link.

Ike Pigott Draws RSS Blood and News

Ike Pigott, of Accentuate the Positive, 2.0, shared news of an interesting project at the Birmingham Red Cross.

The campaign includes two blogs and a customized/branded RSS reader that you can download.

The blogs are Red Cross Media Alerts and Jefferson County EMA Media Alerts. Also, check out Ike’s version of a branded RSS reader. That is just one of many ways you could accomplish this neat little freebie. During an emergency situation, I can imagine some news people launching this to keep track of new posts.

I like this for several reasons. First, news outlets always want these Red Cross and EMA alerts. Many news outlets have not engaged in RSS and this is a way to turn them on to it easily.

Second, using Blogger (as Ike has) the sites are free. Any free hosted service will do. Perhaps this will spur other nonprofits into the blogosphere. Later on, they may start a blog from within their ranks - beyond news releases and alerts, after seeing how easy it can be to publish. Blogs are an easy way to tell your organization’s story.

Third - and Ike, this is where my students will love you - the branded RSS reader is so cool I’m going to require they make one as part of their final project.

Yes, I know some will say that RSS readers are everywhere and why would someone want your branded version. Well, if they have not adopted RSS and you are the one that gets them started, they may well keep your branded version for awhile. That means each time they start the reader (which you can add other feeds to, as well) they will see your logo and info. Now what is wrong with that? The effort to make one is so minimal that the real question might be “Why not make one?”

Finally, Ike is helping nonprofits get into new media and that is laudable. His efforts are also in line with the ideals behind Operation Link Love where we are trying to find examples of nonprofit blogging. Ike takes the next step of “paying it forward” and “giving back” by getting the nonprofits involved. Now that is admirable and I appreciate his efforts. Good job, Ike.

Link Love :: With a positive purpose

Scott Baradell, Media Orchard, wants some Link Love, so I’m sharing it with him.

This is a wonderful opportunity to revisit a project that I think has promise and virtue for everyone that chooses to participate.

Let us revisit Operation Link Love - PR Bloggers “Pay It Forward” and Give Back. Read that post and the associated links to see what the project is all about. Or, go straight to The NewPR/Wiki page for all the details.

This is a project all about links that can serve a positive purpose. I hope you will get involved. Write about the viability of social media for nonprofits. Find a nonprofit blog that you can add to the wiki list. Link to them, and I bet they will link back. So, everyone wins.

I’m working on a fix for the image code. For now, feel free to hotlink to the image above.

Edelman Worldwide Has The Premiere Stable of PR Bloggers

Thinking about the Edelman Worldwide / Wal-Mart story of last week gave me an idea. Yeah, I don’t really think this might happen, but I do believe it would be a true test of all the “bloggy goodness” a lot of us have been talking about for a few years now.

The Premise

Can anyone deny that Edelman Worldwide is the premiere PR firm when it comes to the bloggers they have online?

They have Richard Edelman, Phil Gomes, Mike Krempasky, David Weinberger, Marilynn Mobley, Josh Morgan, Guilluame du Gardier and now - Steve Rubel. They also have insights and the earshot podcasts.

It is almost Citizen Kane’s stolen stable of reporters, only flipped by being PR and bloggers. No, I’m not equating Edelman with Kane. Now that would be funny - and stupid.

Anyway, can anyone even come close to this bevy of new media offerings from senior execs and consultants? No. They can’t. Edelman Worldwide is ahead - by a mile (or more).

What Made Me Think of It

Richard Edelman stated:

If The Wall Street Journal goes after a client, we don’t have to accept that anymore. Let’s post the documents we gave The Journal; let’s show the interviews the newspaper decided not to show.

Well, people not only went after your client … they went after you, too.

Edelman Worldwide and Wal-Mart were tagged for not being transparent (enough) by two reporters and a few PR bloggers. Isn’t this the perfect opportunity to put the information that would clear up the questions out where all can see? You know, one of those “total disclosure” things we all dream about - but rarely see.

Edelman Worldwide’s team of PR bloggers should post their inside, and in-house, instructions used by all account reps re: how to deal with bloggers. Share the process that employees are required to follow. What training do they provide to their account reps for dealing with bloggers? Let us see the inner workings - at least as much as Edelman Worldwide is willing to share - and we all learn from the process. And please, don’t give us any of this proprietary nonsense. For me, I just want to see if any of these documents actually exist.

The Experiment

If we are going to carry these calls for transparency to their natural “bloggy” conclusion, how about this.

Let us have Edelman Worldwide do something bold and in keeping with the culture of the new medium we/they have so embraced. This will accomplish the following in the spirit of the all important Cluetrain Manifesto that helped start it all:

• Answer the questions that have been raised re: their pitching practices and remove doubt.

Cluetrain Thesis #28: Most marketing programs are based on the fear that the market might see what’s really going on inside the company.

• Take the leadership role a step further, while illustrating the power of blogs in a manner atune with this new WOM mentality.

Cluetrain Thesis #14: Corporations do not speak in the same voice as these new networked conversations. To their intended online audiences, companies sound hollow, flat, literally inhuman.

• Give back to the community, as leaders should.

Cluetrain Thesis #23: Companies attempting to “position” themselves need to take a position. Optimally, it should relate to something their market actually cares about.

• Embrace the character and supposed culture of the blogosphere.

Cluetrain Thesis #12: There are no secrets. The networked market knows more than companies do about their own products. And whether the news is good or bad, they tell everyone.

• Provide a learning experience for many, and …

Cluetrain Thesis #38: To speak with a human voice, companies must share the concerns of their communities.

• Be as blatantly transparent as any PR firm can be, or has been.

Cluetrain Thesis #53: There are two conversations going on. One inside the company. One with the market.

Cluetrain Thesis #36: Companies must ask themselves where their corporate cultures end.

Certainly anyone could pull other lines from the Manifesto. I just chose these. David Weinberger could certainly tell us if I chose the right ones, or if they even fit.

Sure, there are crib sheets available for all of us to compose our own policies and practices. But, wouldn’t you rather see the real deal - the pdf’s and pages from the Edelman intranet that state the policies and practices clearly?

Well, I’m not holding my breath or anything, and neither should you. Yes, the above was intended to be a bit loopy (in an almost sane voice). Some have taken this idea in other paths of lunacy re: “Let us see the phone call lists, daily diaries, meetings schedules and more.”

My point? Honestly, I think I have one.

There is no better recent example that would make this type of action quite powerful. Moreso, if a company ever chose to truly take this path - fully embracing these ideals we talk about so often - we might actually learn how well the many theses of the manifesto really fit and work.

The one thing that could - realistically - happen? The collective family of Edelman Worldwide bloggers could write posts of their own about how to pitch bloggers, what they are doing and how they will assure that these vaunted ideas of honesty and openness will be achieved.

The term “vaunted” was chosen on purpose. We do seem to talk about this new medium with a bit of bravado, don’t we? How wonderful to actually see it in action - some day.

HigherEd BlogCon Podcast - Holly Peterson and Tristan Roberts

Our first HigherEd BlogCon podcast. Meet Holly Peterson and Tristan Roberts from World Learning in Brattleboro, Vermont. They deal with over 100,000 alumni coming from their programs which take place in over 100 countries. Their constituents come from about 200 universities and perhaps even more high schools around the US.

World Learning’s Alumni Community Our World is one example of their work in using online social media to engage their stakeholders.

Holly Peterson photo to the left. Tristan Roberts photo is below, to the right.

This podcast is 15:39 in length (14.2MB). We discuss how they got to where they are today online. Also, their audiences - constituent groups - and hopes for possibilities in their future online plans are addressed. Holly and Tristan are participating in HigherEd BlogCon in order to share what they are doing, and to make connections. We hope you will participate, too.

You may see all of the presentations coming up in the Admissions, Alumni Relations, and Communications and Marketing section here.

Hope you enjoy the podcast. Holly and Tristan are nice people. One podcast down, eight more to go.

Easter Seals Camp ASCCA Is Podcasting

We have begun podcasting on the Easter Seals Camp ASCCA site. I would appreciate anyone that wishes to listen then provide a critique here, or there. Go ahead, be brutal (well, not too brutal). We have to learn. The podcast is just under 12 minutes and is an interview with ASCCA’s recent Aquatics Director, Angelyn Wilson.

Visit the post and podcast here. There are several ways to listen. The site uses a WordPress plugin from Dan Kuykendall. It offers a Flash player, a popup player and the usual RSS feeds. And, it is free - opensource.

The idea is to create a site offering visitors the voices (literally) of the organization. Further, we are providing a human interest element to the story line with reflections from those that provide the hands on care and support. Their experiences range from instruction and aid in the recreation experiencs to the personal care during the camper’s stay at camp. There are other interviews in the works with all of the stakeholders listed below.

Our main goals are to:

1. interview stakeholders such as counselors, campers, parents, donors, therapeutic professionals, doctors, nurses and volunteers,
2. keep it short and sweet (no more than 15 minutes per interview),
3. do it solely with opensource software (although we are using the $14.95 HotRecorder software),
4. give the site virtually every possible multimedia offering we can, and
5. perhaps encourage the news media to find even more of a reason to check in on our site for story ideas.

Suggestions for interviews we might consider are appreciated, too.

Yes, I am involved with this … you’ll hear my voice on the podcast. I did the interview. In the future, ASCCA’s interns will be conducting them, too. Ah, a learning experience. How fun!

I have just rehabilitated our crashed PR Quest podcasting site and promise to finally (I know) finish all of those podcasts. Just too busy. I apologize.

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