My favourite social media meet-up is undoubtedly NFPtweetup, a mixer of individuals interested in the potential of Twitter and other social media to further and support the missions of organisations that want to do good things in the world.  People are talented, sponge-like, generous, sharing and learning and are ridiculously down to earth; I always leave feeling like I’ve learnt something new and I’ve been given a blessing and the benefit of someone else’s experience to go out and apply it.

A few weeks ago, I heard that they were getting their own t-shirt, so, when NFPtweetup’s Rebekah Hah extended an invitation for me to attend the next event, I leapt at the opportunity to get in the queue for a t-shirt.  Rebekah suggested that I propose my own design, so, one snowy afternoon, fuelled by hot chocolate and ice cream, I had fun coming up with the designs below.  They don’t exactly fit with the brand, but I’ve always wanted to use my own rendering of a Twitter bird and this gave me a great opportunity to do so.

They are a little varsity inspired because – let’s be real – such t-shirts always end up being worn at the gym.  Married with the whole learning theme, it was a bit of a creative fit waiting to happen.











The official t-shirt for NFPtweetup was released last weekend and a very smart design it is too – I want one!!

** Just to clarify...**
Thanks for the tweets, messages and DMs about these.  But just to clarify, these were done on a lark, and the official t-shirt for NFPtweetup was produced by the beautiful people at Beautiful World (and I still want one!).  I won't be printing them, however, if an ethical t-shirt company wants to come forward and donate their services, I will happily licence these to be sold in support of NFPtweetup... :)

Before I start, I should make it clear that this post isn’t just aimed at charities – in fact, everyone should keep their browsers up to date as much as possible for lots of reasons, some of which are outlined in this post.

The two main reasons that I’m talking to charities is that, firstly, smaller charities are more likely to have ‘inherited’ or ‘come by’ their computers and this includes the browser that is on it. Secondly, less well-resourced charities don’t have anyone in charge of ICT, so people are often reluctant to change the set-up of their computers without anyone officially sanctioning it.

Charities are not alone – from personal experience, universities and public sector organisations are among the worst offenders for refusing to upgrade their systems.

The one browser that is the proverbial thorn in the side of web developers is Internet Explorer Version 6, or IE6.  Originally released in 2001, it became the standard web browser of choice across the globe until its successor, IE7, was released in 2006.  By today’s standards of web browsers, it is clunky, inefficient and insecure, yet, because of the sheer numbers of people that still use it – often by default – website owners are choosing to support it, which is slowing down the implementation of advancements being made in the web development field every day.

Now, you may think that because your browser appears to work just fine there’s no reason to upgrade it to the latest version; in fact, if, after reading this you're still keen to keep IE6, please leave your reasons in the comments because I'd be keen to hear your rationale behind it.  But here are three issues that will hopefully make you think again.

Accessibility and usability

Developments are constantly being made in the way websites are coded to improve usability and accessibility which are unsupported in older browsers.  Whilst this affects the way the information is displayed on the screen, it can have a knock-on effect in the way screen readers interpret the information for visually impaired users; depending on the focus of your work, this may have an averse effect for your service users.

A lengthy part of developing any website is ensuring it works across different browser types.  Increasingly, many web developers are choosing not to support IE6 in the course of their work (or may charge premium to support it) as it slows down the testing process and can restrict the possibilities available in a web design.  Worse still, a web developer may have to employ (or overuse) various scripting techniques they would otherwise do without in order for the website to appear the same in IE6 as it does in all other browsers, severely slowing down the website and possibly interfering with screen readers.

As developers are using the latest techniques to ensure more efficient and standards-compliant websites, browsing in IE6 could soon mean that your favourite website no longer displays the way that it used to (YouTube users beware!).

Security

Browser development teams are constantly working behind the scenes to ensure that they stay one step ahead of potential security threats.  Anyone that has had a virus on their computer will tell you that the inconvenience isn’t worth putting off that upgrade. 

Yes, you should have anti-virus software running on your PC already (if not, you can download AVG anti-virus software for free); however, having the latest browsers ensures that you are up to date with all of the security patches that the browser has issued in order to protect your work and your PC.

Efficiency

Simply put, more up to date browsers are more efficient and more streamlined; they run faster and are often packed with a raft of features that can aid your browsing experience.  Updating your browser also opens up the possibility of running free and/or open source applications and plug-ins that won’t work in older browsers as they have been especially designed for newer versions of your browser.

How to upgrade from IE6

If you are still browsing with IE6, you can upgrade free of charge to the latest version of Internet Explorer.

If you’re keen to try something else, you can find a whole host of free browsers that you can download for Windows including

• Firefox – a free and open source browser with a plethora of plug-ins
• Safari – Apple's browser, although there is a free PC version
• Opera – a lesser known but still widely used browser
• Google Chrome – offering seamless integration with other Google apps e.g. Google Docs.

In the same way you wouldn’t watch a recent Hollywood blockbuster on a black and white television, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be working on the very latest browser, especially when it’s free of charge and so easy to upgrade.

Christmas is a great time of the year to volunteer for your favourite cause, charity or community group.  I used to volunteer several hours a week but, like a lot of people, my work schedule has overtaken me somewhat and I have not been able to offer pro bono hours for the last three months.

So, in January, I am giving away chunks of half days of my time to charities, social enterprises or community groups based in London.

Projects I have previously worked on in this time include

• designing flyers for training
• facilitating project planning for new websites
• putting together a marketing plan for a web series
• performing user scenario testing on existing websites to increase positive user experience
• brainstorming online marketing strategy for new blogs
• building a three page microsite for an event
• designing skins for Blogger, Twitter and other online platforms in keeping with existing brand colours and style (like I did with WRC's blog).

I'm open to most projects that can test and utilise my background in design, web strategy and marketing, so feel free to contact me with your idea.

Compliments of the season to you all and a very happy 2010!

**Update - 18 January 2010
I have had an amazing response to this, so much so that I'm scheduled deep into February.  Needless to say, all of my pro bono hours have been pledged for this window of my year.  Schedule permitting, I plan on opening up the calendar again in the Spring, so watch this space!

A few weeks ago, the Women’s Resource Centre announced they were looking for a new Head of Communications as their current post holder, the incredible Leah Williams, is moving on to pastures new. I have to confess that I looked at it with great anticipation, because back in the day, when I was the information co-ordinator at a small domestic violence charity, if I could have had any job in the voluntary sector then Leah’s job would have been it.  WRC was – and still is – a dynamic organisation staffed by superwomen and that team does amazing things.

In the two years since, I have often said that I would never go back to working for a charity.  Don’t get me wrong: the last charity I worked for was far from being a bad place.  They were at the forefront of creating policies for addressing domestic violence in London and worked with a large number of organisations at all levels to get these policies embedded.  But, like most charities, they were small and underfunded.  There was a lack of development opportunities and my very limited knowledge on all things techie was still the most advanced within the organisation with no one to mentor me.  And as our workload was always immense, projects that I wanted to develop always took a back seat.  

Most frustratingly, looking at all the organisations we worked with back then, many of them had to be dragged kicking and screaming to try out new tools, always too busy, too underfunded, or – the worst thing of all – too closed minded to see their potential.  

To everyone’s benefit, in the last couple of years the development and availability of free and fabulous tools, especially in social media, have made information sharing easier than ever to seamlessly integrate into your daily workflow and engage with a new audience in networking and campaigning activities.

The one thing that I realise now that I have always carried since leaving the sector is the perception of charities in the dark ages who perceive email as being the most advanced method of communication, of having to battle with organisations to simply try a new idea.  Consequently, in retrospect, I’ve realised why I have always been surprised when the charities for which I now consult have welcomed some new ideas on getting their messages across.

I had the privilege of attending my first NFPtweetup a couple of weeks back.  NFPtweetup is a meeting of Twitter users who work with or in non-profit organisations and are interested in harnessing the potential of social media for campaigning, fundraising and supporting activities that do good things in the world.  I met consultants, social enterprises, CSR professionals, agencies and people who have responsibility for communications, information, digital, fundraising and campaigning at their charities.  And they weren’t in the least bit stuffy, skeptical or ignorant of new tools.  They all worked for organisations that were excited about the potential of social media and were embracing it to great benefit for their organisations.  A shining example was I CAN’s Adopt A Word initiative that exploded when Stephen Fry tweeted about it.

I left feeling incredibly inspired by all the organisations present.  I learnt so much about how they had gotten their organisations to buy in to the benefits of social media and what they do to keep their activities current and relevant.  Most staggeringly though, it really made me want to work with non-profits full time again.

One of the interesting people I met was Jack Wilson from Leap Anywhere, an organisation that I can best describe as 'Time Out for good'.  Leap promotes and creates video content of events for good causes all over the country.  This week, I did a brainstorm with Jack and Tom Robbins, Leap’s Head of Content, at their office on some forthcoming activities they have planned.  Their Soho office had a great vibe; their team was huddled around the main table with their laptops, bantering and editing, whilst we were bouncing around ideas on their sofa.  We really had a great meeting.

Much of the advice I was able to give them was gleaned from experience working in the private sector.  I’ve been able to take advantage of training budgets, work with people that have more knowledge and experience of all things online, learn efficient business processes and how to run effective marketing campaigns, and develop and launch projects with all the resources that most charities don’t have.

And that’s exactly why I won’t be applying for the Head of Communications job at WRC.  I realised that I have more fun and I’m much better at working with organisations that do good things, as opposed to in them.  This way, I get the best of both worlds; I’m constantly learning and developing through the work I do with private companies and advising non-profits on how to use what I’ve learnt to move their projects forward.

I hope WRC gets someone good.  If you know anyone, you have the weekend to get your application in!

In the last month I’ve received a number of emails from charities typified by the following:

• An email about a conference with an attached pdf conference programme and Word document booking form.
• An email from a young people’s charity asking me to vote for their organisation to receive funding from a statutory sector body. It contained instructions for the various steps on how to find their organisation from the voting website’s homepage.
• An email from an organisation wanting me to support a change in some government legislation with an eight page pdf attachment of background information.

The end of each of these emails asked me to forward the information to my network. I have yet to be able to conveniently do so.

On a daily basis, when I am talking to someone about any new subject, somewhere in the conversation they will say, “Forward me a link.” Now, an email is not the same as a link. An email, compared to a link, is big and clunky. An email with attachments is clunkier still, and relies on the recipient having the time, inclination and software to be able to open your attachment, read it, and forward it on. I once sent a 12 MB document (it was picture based) to 40 people in the same organisation and managed to crash their mail server.

In order to get a link, the information needs to be on a website. So I emailed each organisation back asking for a link. The organisation running the conference didn’t have a website. The young people’s charity had put it on their website but in such an obscure place that only the administrator could find it. The lobbying organisation was waiting on ‘the person that looks after our website to come back from leave’.

I’m not saying that you should abandon email altogether; after all, there are many Crackberry and iphone users amongst us that will flick through it on our long commutes, and there are many people that are not au fait with social networking tools. I’m just saying that, instead of preaching to the choir – as is often the case with email communication – you can reach out to a much wider audience, who can in turn reach out to their wider audiences, and so on, to get your message out there. And isn’t that the point?

So here are five tips to effectively sharing your information with minimal effort.

1. Consider getting a blog

Blogs don’t cost anything. The Women’s Resource Centre has a blog on Blogger. You can also get a free blog on Wordpress. Or your website package may come with a blog option that you haven’t yet discovered.

And before you say, “It doesn’t go with our branding,” or, “It looks free and unprofessional,” it is possible to skin it so that it looks like your website. I recently helped WRC out with their blog.

WRC's old blog design with one of Blogger's templates



WRC's updated design, skinned to fit their brand, but still on the Blogger platform

2. Get a news section on your website and train everyone (or at least a few different people) in your organisation on how to use it

When you’re putting out a new piece of news, people who have heard about it but don’t have any information will head straight to your website. If they can’t see a link on your homepage, the most obvious place for them to look will be your news section, so ensure it is clearly labelled.

Now I know your website has templates and that only one person in-house has responsibility to update it to ensure quality control, etc. etc. However, if you train everyone in-house to update only that section of the website i.e. they can’t touch anything else, you’ll share the workload, stop the incoming email and telephone requests for more information, and ensure that your information is linked to and shared faster and more accurately. And from past experience, an interesting by-product in having more people empowered to update the website is that more people in-house will be invested in your website as a working resource for your organisation.

3. Find out about the social networking tools that can help you spread your information

Think Twitter is just for the Stephen Frys (or should that be Fries?) of this world? Consider this tweet that went out yesterday from Twitter user @CathElliot to her 1,842 followers...

... that was re-tweeted by @whywomen (Women’s Resource Centre) to their 1,417 followers...

... that was re-tweeted by myself to my 460 followers...

... that was then re-tweeted by Twitter user @bjfletcherpi to their 522 followers.

That’s potentially 4,241 people in the space of around six hours that read that message (and more if you count all the people that re-tweeted after that); a healthy slice of that number are probably not involved in the women's sector or voluntary sector and so would have heard about this organisation and their campaign for the very first time.

From microblogging aps like Twitter to social bookmarking sites like Digg, Delicious and Stumbleupon, all wrapped up with a healthy dose of RSS, there are a plethora of social networking and syndication tools out there to help you spread your information, and the best thing is, you don't have to use them all in order to start spreading your information.

To find out which ones would be the most helpful to you, select a group of people that would be the most useful in spreading your information and find out which channels they use.  They could be journalists, Government units or prominent voluntary sector organisations. As most people or organisations use the same user name (know as a ‘tag’ or ‘handle’) across all their social media channels, a quick search in Google should bring up their accounts. When you’re all set up, tell these people that you are now on Digg / Facebook / Twitter so that you can join each other’s networks, keep up to date with your news, and spread it accordingly.

4. Write a news release, article or blog post and send it to someone that will publish it online for you

It is generally always worthwhile building relationships with blog owners for future promotion of your service, organisation or campaign. Think about the websites and blogs of organisations that you read to keep you informed.

If you still can’t be persuaded to get your own blog or add a news section to your website, write out your information as if it were a blog post, news release or article, send it to someone that has a blog and ask them to publish it. You get your link to distribute and, by posting on their blog, you have the added value of reaching out to their readership.

Here’s a little secret: blog owners love relevant content. It saves them from having to come up with new content and still results in more traffic to their blog. However, they will not take too kindly to an eight page thesis with multiple bullets and clauses explaining the nitty gritty of a particular law, so keep in mind their readers while you’re preparing your article.

5.  Have a clear call to action to share your information

‘Please support us’ is all well and good, but specifying how people can support you is better. ‘Tweet this article’, ‘Email this article’ or ‘Share this article on Stumble/Digg/other social bookmarking site’ are all clear calls to action. You can add free buttons from Add This or Share This to your blog or website to make this easy.

People love sharing information – it’s in our nature to talk and communicate, and in this super networked age, aided by all the free tools out there, it’s quicker and easier to distribute over a wider geographic, demographic and sector spread. And a greater distribution means more people getting your message, more people that are informed and consequently more people that have the opportunity to respond to your call to action.

Updating (or overhauling) a web design is a big deal for most organisations.  More often than not, ‘out with the old’ brings a welcome breath of fresh air.  But with organisations with a long and significant history, integrating specific elements – especially specific images - from their old site into the new one can be a bit of a challenge.  Especially when at first they don’t have a place in your vision.

I recently completed the site re-design for the London Centre for Personal Safety, an organisation that provides gender-aware personal safety training, as well as advising organisations on personal safety issues and campaigning with like-minded organisations to end violence against women. 

LCPS' old website

There was no design brief; they simply wanted to reflect the organisation in a more professional light and appeal to organisations not just in the voluntary/non-profit sector, but in the public and private sectors as well.  During the brainstorming process, I asked their Director, Claudia da Silva, what was the main characteristic that embodied the organisation’s work.  As well as safety and security, she said, “The feeling of freedom, like a bird being set free and flying into the sky.”

LCPS' new website

A number of years ago, LCPS found out about a programme where you could get some postal stamps printed to support your organisation.  They created some mock-ups of the stamps and, although nothing ever came of them, they have been used in the organisation’s materials ever since.  One of the organisation’s early requests was that these stamps be incorporated into the site’s design in some way; this was especially important given that this organisation has yet to have their logo designed, so I was keen to keep any existing branding collateral that would identify them to the organisations with whom they already work or want to work with.

After many consultations, I was left with the impression that the people they work with are as integral to the organisation as the unique training programmes for which they are known.

Although the website’s defining image (which you can see on the homepage) is a woman in silhouette, arms raised in celebration against a sunrise, capturing the spirit of liberation and freedom that the organisation embodies, I wanted to incorporate photos of the organisation’s target groups. It was a perfect opportunity to incorporate some of the photos from the original stamps.

A mock-up of LCPS' stamp for their children's projects



The header on the children's projects page incorporating the stamp's photo

Their legacy stamp, used almost in place of their logo, was somewhat more difficult to incorporate.  It’s a very definitive style from a very specific period – completely unlike the clean, bright images of the people in the headers.

LCPS' legacy stamp

I decided to keep the image intact and place it on a background of clouds in a blue sky.  I tweaked the original strapline so that it read ‘Over 25 years of preventing, protecting, empowering and liberating…’

LCPS header on the 'About Us' page incorporating their legacy stamp

The new header now underlines the organisation’s status as an established authority that only age can bring, while the blue sky background represents its innovative approach (literally, blue sky thinking!) and the feeling of freedom and liberation that it seeks to impart to all of its project participants.

I recently spoke to a communications volunteer at a community group who had been tasked with looking at ways of increasing the group’s profile online.  When I asked what kind of activities were being done to promote their profile online, she responded, “Well, we have a website…”

I have news for you – that’s not enough.  ‘Brand building’ may sound like a term that’s too corporate or too ‘marketing’ to have any place in the non-profit / voluntary / charity sector(s) but there’s a lot that we can learn from our corporate relatives.

Before I give you five simple ways to build your brand online, here are five reasons why you should build your brand online.

1. It establishes you as an authority in your field

Ever feel frustrated that the bigger, better resourced organisations get all the media attention, are asked to speak at more events, are given the opportunity to work on projects on which you know you’d do a better job?  The reason they get these opportunities is because they are perceived as authorities in their fields, whether they are or not.

2. It’s cheaper than building your brand offline

Whilst it’s no substitute to running television, radio or newspaper campaigns, there’s no reason why you can’t establish your organisation online where, in this day and age, more and more people are looking for their information.  And that which you establish online will see results offline.
 
3. Everyone else is doing it

Whilst this alone has never been a good reason for doing it, consider this: if three similar organisations are very visible, why should anyone go to the bother of finding one that isn’t?  More to the point, how would anyone know that there are alternatives?

4. It drives traffic to your website

Essentially, this is where you want people to go online.  Your website is your organisation’s online presence and should contain everything that people need to know about you.

5. It puts your organisation into the mind of potential service users

With the explosion of social media and cheaper data packages for wireless and mobile broadband at home, whilst travelling and on our mobile phones, people are spending more and more time online.  If potential service users can find you in avenues that they already access, or if they are generally more familiar with your brand, they’re more likely to use you.

So that’s why you should build your brand online.  Here’s five ways you can do it.

Make it easier for people to find out about you

Get a blog and/or a website.  Contact everyone you know and ask them if they can put your web address into the links, resources or directory sections of their websites.  Make sure you include any resource centres, associations or councils that operate in your area or are relevant to your sector.

Ensure that when they get to your website there is quite clearly a section labelled ‘About Us’ and / or ‘What We Do’.  Sound simple?  You’d be surprised at how many organisations assume that people already know this.

Connect with people online

Social media isn’t just for planning your weekend.  It enables you to connect to people to whom sometimes you wouldn’t ordinarily have access.

There are a plethora of social media networks and communities and it can be overwhelming to select the ones that are most relevant to your organisation.  Put yourselves in the shoes of those that you are trying to reach and then consider – or better still, ask them – which outlets they use.

LinkedIn – more likely to connect with second tier, corporate or public sector people – think anyone with an office-based job

Facebook – because of its social nature, great for reaching potential service users

Twitter – the latest pretender to the social media crown.  Leah Williams, Communications Officer at the Women’s Resource Centre, has written a great article on the benefits of Twitter to women’s organisations although they very much apply across the board.

Engage with other blogs

Commenting on other blogs shows that you are engaged and up to date with all the developments of your sector or field.  You have the opportunity to put forward your organisation’s point of view, which will in turn be read by your peers and by those interested in the issues in which you engage (e.g. journalists or researchers). 

Identify, say, three blogs that people in your field read the most.  Whenever a new story is posted, comment on it.  Your comments don’t have to be very long – just informed and well written.

When you comment on a blog post, you state your name and your organisation’s web address, so if people are interested in what you say they can click on the link back to your site.  Ensure that if you can upload an avatar (an icon or picture that represents you online) you use your organisation’s logo.  Whatever image you use, keep it consistent across all sites in which you engage online.

If you comment a lot it is worthwhile getting a Gravatar.  A gravatar, or globally recognised avatar, allows your posts to be recognised by the same avatar across any website, blog or forum that supports them.  You register your website and email address in the Gravatar database along with your image and any blog, forum or website that doesn’t offer the option of uploading your own picture but still supports gravatars will display it alongside your post.

The next step after commenting is to offer to write an article for the same blogs.  This is particularly useful if your organisation has taken a particular stance around the development of a current policy or is promoting a new publication or forthcoming event.

Distribute information or news relevant to your sector

Don’t restrict yourself to distributing news and information solely about your organisation.  The point in this exercise is to establish you as an up-to-date source of information for your sector.

Distributing information isn’t just about sending out an email to your mailing list, although if you do that already that’s still an effective way of getting to people.  A more efficient way is to get your own RSS feed.

An RSS feed is a function on your site that allows people to sign up to receive information either straight to their inbox or via a dedicated feed reader.  I have to admit that an RSS feed is something that I know how to use and manipulate… but ask me to explain it and I’m at a loss.  So here’s a video:

The BBC published their simple guide to RSS feeds that you may find useful.

Getting your own RSS feed is simple.  If you use any of the popular blogging tools, such as Wordpress, Blogger or Twitter (yes, Twitter is a microblog!) then RSS feeds already come built into them.  If not, you can build your own.  Either type ‘setting up an RSS feed’ into any search engine to come up with several pages of tutorials, or create one with Google Feedburner.

Here’s the great thing - tools such as HootSuite for Twitter allow you to subscribe to a number of RSS feeds associated to your sector and output their news via your feed.  It’s a completely automated process so once you’ve set it up, you don’t need to do anything more.

Get advice on your online strategy

If you are serious about getting a more holistic, integrated approach to your online strategy, speak to a professional.  Online strategy is a bit of an obsession for me, so feel free to contact me if you have any questions; if you make great coffee, I may be persuaded to come in to talk to you!

Alternatively, I’m a big fan of the wunderkids at Beautiful World, an agency that works somewhere between the digital and non-profit worlds.  They are currently offering time on their now famous beautiful sofa to get advice on any subject you want.

Building your brand online doesn’t cost a penny.  It will raise your organisation’s profile head and shoulders above those that haven’t whilst capturing the attention of potential stakeholders who might prove beneficial to you in the future.  These brand building activities will also keep you informed of developments in your sector which will put your organisation in a better place to respond to them.  And then you can tweet about it.