Darthia Farm: An Experiment In Social Giving

Darthia Farm: An Experiment In Social Giving

A couple years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Cynthia Thayer, a local author who hired me to train her on how to use her WordPress blog and also happens to run an organic farm. (This is a very Maine thing: to have two seemingly completely separate careers going at...

Marketing Monday: Walking For Art and Immigrants

Every Monday, I talk about an individual, group, or business doing something neat marketing online. Have an internet marketing idea you’d like me to write about? Let me know!

You know you haven’t been your usual blogging self when you are only posting twice a week (three times if you include a regular guest post at another blog). I have been busy business-wise (more on that this Thursday) which means that all my creative energy has gone into ideas for other people and at the end of the day, I’m reduced to a heap of Peep-eating, reality show watching woman.

My friend Sarah A., as if my blog idea angel, sent me a great email idea this morning for Marketing Monday.

Matt Holt is “Walking for Art,” through-hiking the Appalachian Trail to raise awareness and funds (through trail sponsorships) for New Sense Studios, an art program for at-risk youth in Raleigh, NC that is completely volunteer-run. The Will Walk for Art website is http://walkingforart.wordpress.com/.

Marketing Monday: Next Step Chocolate Fest And Silent Auction

Most of the time, I try not to use this blog to promote anything in particular but I do want to let people know about an event that’s coming up. (Full disclosure: I am on the board of this organization.) Domestic violence is an issue close to my heart and answering the phone line for a couple years only solidified this belief.

Next Step Domestic Violence Project is holding their annual Chocolate Festival and Silent Auction on February 13. It’s the organization’s biggest fundraiser and every year, Next Step looks to tweak it to make it better. This year is the first time they are using social media to promote the event. (Gee, I wonder which board member pushed that one…)

Here are a few things NS is doing to promote this event, both online and off.

All the board members are contacting businesses for donations, and I’ve noticed a much higher success rate via email.
If you have a lot of information to give someone, it feels like you completely and blindly attack them when it’s over the phone:

“Hi my name is Nicole Ouellette and I’m a board member of the Next Step Domestic Violence Project. We’re soliciting donations for our annual Chocolate Festival and Silent Auction fundraiser on Feb. 13. Is your business interested in making a donation?”

Could I make that any shorter? No. If you were listening to that on the other end, would you feel overwhelmed? I sure would!

In each email, I shared the Next Step’s website address and Facebook page so that those I would solicit would understand the legitimacy of the organization. So if you’re an organization that’s hesitating to get a website, there’s a compelling reason to finally do it.

The Next Step Facebook page has been very active, which has grown the fan base.
The Next Step Facebook page has recieved more fans since beginning its daily posting of a domestic violence fact. And building a lot of fans on your Facebook business page is not only a good way to make you feel popular but when you do have an event or idea, you suddenly have a much larger, more engaged group of people to share it with.

We created an event associated with the page, and invited our friends.
Nothing like using a little social media peer pressure. In creating an event and getting people to RSVP, as an organization we can have an idea of who is and isn’t coming

I made a web-sized ‘ad’ that people could share on their websites or Facebook pages.
If something is already created and formatted correctly, people are much more likely to share it. Events are no exception.

Creating a small text ad that is 450 pixels wide and putting it on my Facebook page made it easy for other board members and fans of the cause to share the event with their friends, on their Facebook page or on their blogs.

Since Facebook is such a visual interface, taking advantage of a ‘photo’ along with the event listing seemed like a good idea.

http://www.facebook.com/username

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