This week’s readings tied a lot of ideas we have been discussing together. One of the main readings we read was a report produced by M+R Strategic Services, Online Tactics and Success: An Examination of the Obama For America New Media Campaign. The report highlighted that those non-profits who wish to emulate the Obama For America (OFA) campaign’s success should, among other things stay disciplined in sticking to a consistent brand, not make the new media department subservient to communications or any other department, and make sure to test and re-test their strategies.
Building off of previous lessons we have learned in this class, the report showed that successful online tools engage users and make them feel part of the action. For example, the OFA campaign used tools that encouraged two-way communication and invited people in to be part of the campaign. David Plouffe, Obama’s campaign manager explained his tactics by saying, “We talked to people like they were adults” (6). The campaign’s videos specifically talked to people, not at them, which follows exactly what Li and Bernoff recommended in “Groundswell”; your marketing should not shout at your customers but engage them in conversation. The report sums this point up nicely when it suggests “Don’t just tell your supporters they are important, treat them like they are” (33).
The OFA report also emphasized the importance of “being authentic” and showing subscribers what is going on behind the scenes. In many of our readings we have seen that the new user will be treated in many sites as part of the team, whether through crowdsourcing, open-source technology, or communicating through blogs and discussion forums. To compete with these sites you need to treat the user as part of your team.
Other readings of the week emphasized the importance of using a supporter’s past actions as predictors of their future actions. In this way you can target emails towards the most active responders. For example, the 2009 eNonprofit Benchmark Study also by M+R, reported that previous donors are three times more likely to respond to a new email solicitation then those who did not donate previously. The Study also remarkably reported that for most of the organizations they studied, the top 7% of active subscribers were responsible for one-third of subscriber advocacy activity. This means organizations should make sure that that 7% stays happy, while trying to encourage new activity from the currently less active.
Finally, the readings for me had important lessons in which I wish I could go back to past organizations I worked for and recommend we change how we did some things. The analysis of Obama’s campaign showed me the importance of parts of your strategy that seem small but can make a big difference. For example the increased effectiveness of using the phrases “Join the Movement” and “Learn More” for getting people to join the email list vs. using, just “sign up”. An organization I used to work for used “sign up” and did not do a good job of putting this button prominently on every page of our website, which I now realize even more due to the emphasis on how important your mailing list is, was such a missed opportunity.
Also in a department I worked for we often sent out information emails, without, as advice implied in the eNonprofit Benchmark report suggests, asking subscribers to take additional actions that will further engage them. This was another missed opportunity.
As I finished today’s readings, I mentally told myself that I need to make sure I remember these lessons so I can implement them in the next place I work. Luckily, I also told myself, I will have the archives of this blog to help lead the way.
