We’re going back to our roots of social interaction. Our online choices are driving the world wide web away from the use of stagnant websites and into offering interactive and personalized experiences.
Since the explosion of the use of social networking sites and online communities, companies have seen the marketing potential of giving their online customers the dynamic experience they are looking for.

What has changed most noticeably this past year?
Conde Naste announced that Gourmet Magazine was ending  publication due to the increased popularity of online recipe sharing (Boston Globe: The Mourning After). 
As more consumers rely on blogs for unbaised information on products, the FTC introduces guidlines on the swank given to dedicated bloggers  (Why the FTC’s Truth in Blogging…).

Still, there are some that are missing this new wave of web presence revitalization.  While major brands and major search engines offer almost every way of staying connected and personalizing web spaces from chat, personal settings and layout to notifications and specialized news alerts – aka Nike.com - smaller businesses, nonprofits and even natural communities like schools and cities are missing the mark.  Even an up-to-date Facebook fan page or Ning free community website could add interactivity and direct communication to the target audience. 

If you’re one of these organization – check out the Top 20 Free Online Tools for ideas on how to make your web presence an interactive space for your audience and consumers.

Blogs provide a way to share information that can reinforce what students are learning in the classroom or the advice that one is giving to his/her clients. Blogs can also provide an interactive experience, increasing the likelihood of learning and retention. Three common uses of blogs as learning tools are those of the student, teacher, and freelancer blog.

Types

Student Blogs
Students blog on a topic and classmates can give feedback on each other’s blogs. By posting homework, reports and special assignments, blogs can be useful for ensuring students are reading an assigned novel or chapter and you can guide students on how to critically evaluate another’s thoughts. Blogs can be useful in a variety of subjects; History, English, Foreign Language Studies, and computer skills.

Teacher Blogs
Blogs can allow teachers to post assignments, information for parents, and offers extra advice on homework. A blog with video, photos or illustrations adds depth to the material a student is reading in a book, reinforcing the lesson. Parents are also able to see the curriculum and homework that their child is responsible for.

Freelancer Blogs
Blogging provides a space to quickly share information with your entire network, who can share the information with their network. Freelance blogs range from accountants educating others on how to manage personal finances to photographers explaining camera options.

Solution: Getting your blog started

Step 1: Decide on the basic information that you want to share. 
- Is it strictly paragraph style blog that would look similar to a Word document? Do you want to add interaction with a group and email followers, a calendar of events and forums for discussion? Or do you want a blog that is more photo or video based where your instruction is pre-recorded?

Here are some basic blog options for various needs:
WordPress – Word document looking posts; video or picture uploading.
Ning – Group based blog; traditional posts and add members for direct emailing, a built-in calendar of events, and video and photo upload abilities.
Virb – Photo or portfolio based; excellent for art student blogs, photographers, or to post a collection of pre-recorded tutorials.

Step 2: Create account and add information 
The basic process is to decide on a username and password, select (from a list of options) the look you want your site to have, and copy and paste or upload the content.

Step 3: Sharing the blog 
Be sure to email everyone you know with the information for the blog and encourage them to share it with others. Print the blog address so that you can hand it to someone, parents, staff, etc. And always post updates on at least a few social sites – reach people where they are.

Tips

Engage your blog visitors: If you keep the blog current – parents, teachers, community members and your network – are likely to go to your blog more often to see what’s new. Also, be sure to respond to comments and keep alert of what is being discussed in the forum. 

Keep it interesting: Engage people with a variety of methods, from video to photos and interactive gadgets.

Tools

Below are some tools that can be helpful for your blog.
World Crossings: add forums, message boards or chat rooms to your site 
Slideshare: display presentations (PowerPoint) on blog
Bubbl.us: widget that builds brainstorming bubbles
MyStudio: Create quizzes to place on blogs for free

Further Reading

Online Education Database:  directory of online learning and articles on the subject Academic Info.Net: list of established educators using blogs as learning tools 
The eLearning Guild’s Learning Solutions:  Newsletter of articles and tips

In my book, that will always be one of my favorite words, and I think it will increasingly become social media users favorite as well.

Let’s face it – we’re all a little worried about potential business contacts seeing our score from mafia wars or those Saturday night “I only had one drink” photos.

The solution?  Pseudonym.

If you already have a nickname, you’re halfway there.  Create public profiles under your nickname and friend only your friends.  The tough part will be un-friending your friends from your professional profile, but at this point they should already be part of your “exclusive” personal profile.  And if they’re not, well, maybe you’re not all that close afterall… Some friends you may want to keep in your professional profile as they can be your “personal brand ambassadors” (more on them below).

Now, you have two profiles and can relentlessly use them for their purpose.  You’ll find that you’re more likely to friend that geeky club, post the news article on your field of interest and best of all, when your friends tag you, they’ll be tagging your pseudonym.  When you play those internet games, fill out surveys on they type of person you’ll marry or do whatever else is thought up to entertain us through our work days, your activity will be under your personal profile, free from scrutiny of your nosy coworker.

Best of all, you can focus on using your professional profile for personal branding.  Updating your network on your activities, business ventures, related news, special offers, publications, and etc.  And, now that your friends in your professional profile are genuinely interested in your professional ventures, they will be all the more likely to share your posts, acting as your personal brand ambassadors.  Hello free marketing.

If all of this doesn’t motivate you, just think, having both personal and professional accounts can also be a public service action.  You could be aiding in decluttering your coworkers news stream all while maintaining privacy.

So go have fun finding your pseudonym and be sure to add me to your list of professional friends.

-Nicole Hess

(CNN) — You’re delayed at the airport. It’s going to be hours before the airline can get you on another flight. You log onto your computer and answer your e-mails. You surf the Web for a while. You’re still waiting. This is taking way too long.
Might as well tweet about it.

And if you do, the chances are ever increasing that someone at the airline will see what you have written. They may even respond to it.

Airlines are ramping up their use of social networking sites. Several have one employee in the communications department whose primary job is to monitor what is being said about them and to create a presence in the world of Twitter and Facebook. Other staff members also watch the sites in search of opportunities to improve relationships with customers.

“Promotions clearly work well, but there is also an opportunity for airlines to improve customer service and brand perception,” Adam Ostrow, editor-in-chief of social media guide Mashable.com and a commentator on social networking sites, wrote in an e-mail interview. “If you’re stuck at an airport, and it’s the airline’s fault, you’re going to tweet about it. If the airline responds to those tweets in a positive fashion, it at least shows they care, even if they can’t immediately remedy the issue.”

JetBlue has embraced Twitter as both a medium to update the public on its latest news and a sounding board for how the airline is doing.

The airline has more than 1 million followers on Twitter and it also follows about 120,000 of those tweeters.

“The tricky thing with following people is that you don’t want to creep anyone out,” said Alex Headrick, senior analyst of corporate communications at JetBlue. “You don’t want to look like you are stalking them just because they are talking about us.”
The trick is to watch them and see if the tweeter is trying to actively engage the airline in conversation, he said. Often when that happens, someone from the company will send a private message to that person.

The main goal for JetBlue is to “humanize the brand,” Headrick said.

Like other airlines, JetBlue approached social networking sites by slowly scaling up its presence.

American Airlines also took its time. Billy Sanez, director of customer communications, said the airline has been watching the growth of social media for several years.

The interactive team brought up the idea of using Facebook about a year ago, Sanez said, and the airline added its fan page about four months ago. It has been increasing its use of the site by adding modules, including a yet-to-be-named feature that helps users find fares.

“We still have a lot to learn from customers and from how customers interact in these mediums,” he said. “But it has worked because we have been able to do targeted promotions to consumers, and because we have been able to get feedback from consumers, and in a very easy way.”

Not to mention an inexpensive way. Mashable’s Ostrow said social media is still a small part of most marketing budgets (not only for airlines but for many companies) but it is attractive because the costs are minimal.

“It also can be essentially cost-free to get started, since all one needs to do is open a Facebook, Twitter or YouTube account and get creative,” Ostrow said. “In a down economy, the low cost of entry certainly makes social media even more attractive than it might have already been otherwise.”

As for the unfavorable comments people post, American Airlines’ Sanez says it can be a chance to turn a negative experience into something positive. He thinks it can be good for customers to use the forum to get something off their chest.

The airline looks for opportunities to interact with users. If people want to express something, let them express it, he said. If they are frustrated, they should be able to complain.

“If they want a resolution, we want to engage them and come up with options and get them to the right people with the right information,” he said.

Twitter followers and Facebook fans can also get the scoop on fare sales. JetBlue has a Twitter feed called JetBlueCheeps, where travelers can get some last-minute deals. For instance, on Monday, September 7, the airline posted on its Twitter feed that there were 25 seats available on a flight from New York’s LaGuardia to Orlando, Florida, for $39. Tickets for the Saturday flight had to be purchased by 6 p.m. Monday evening.

Headrick said that JetBlue times Twitter updates to coincide with releases to the media.

While airlines appear to be happy so far with the results they are getting from their social media ventures, some are still not ready to expand dramatically just yet. Headrick said JetBlue was studying how to use Facebook.

Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines has established its social media presence with more than 600,000 followers on Twitter and more than 76,000 fans on Facebook.

Other major carriers also have thousands of followers on Twitter. Delta Air Lines, for instance, has about 11,000 followers, while United Airlines has more than 33,000 watchers.

Continental is also looking at Facebook and other sites where a presence makes sense, according to airline spokeswoman Mary Clark. Continental is focusing on Twitter, where it has about 3,000 followers, and FlyerTalk.com, a Web site devoted to frequent flyers, she said.

When someone mentions your organization (or business) to someone else, that person is going to search for you online.  Whatever appears is the beginning of your organization’s online communication.  If the searcher cannot find anything, you’re organization has just made a very bold online statement.

Even if you have a website, if it doesn’t have current information, isn’t easily accessible or viewable on a mobile device, your online presence is still making a statement about your organization.

So why should you care about your online statement?  How do you take hold and direct the conversation of your online presence?  Here are some basic insights to get you started.

I can’t adapt to the technology

Some of you may embrace your anachronistic ways in the technology driven world.  You use a phonograph to listen to your favorite albums and ice cream just isn’t as good as when you churn it yourself.  Yet you know that some people just don’t appreciate your time-honored traditions.

Its just the same when you’re not using online media.

Except it is not only a personal statement as using a phonograph would be, but it is a statement about your capabilities, your organization or your businesses capabilities as well.

Saying, “I’m not online.”  Is saying “I’m not adapting to the globally used means of communication and I have nothing to share online.”  Probably not what you want potential clients or members to think.

You are excluding anyone under the age of 30

With all the online marketing that is focused to the young members of society, these young people think that if your services are geared to them, then they will be able to find out about them online.

For this age group it is also important to have some engagement beyond a stagnant website.  Again, age specific online marketing has developed complex interactive online experiences, this age group expects that you have a calendar of events so they can share the information and invite their friends, and see if what you have been doing is of any interest to them.

I can’t afford any online support

Whether this is true or false, it is better that this is not an immediate assumption of potential online visitors.  You want them to think that you are successful and stable with enough money to have a basic online presence.

For example, Chevy and Ford have recently developed complex online microsites and interactive tools, despite the troubles of the car companies, they understand the importance of investing in an online experience.

See Chevy’s microsite for Latin America “On the Road Again”
This also reiterates why its important to Tweet en Espanol

While you may not be the owner of a billion-dollar company, there are small steps that say “I can afford to be online.”  All it takes is a little creativity.  For instance, there are free calendars that can be added to your website so that visitors can see upcoming or previous events.  How about adding the organization’s twitter feed?  That’s free as well.  Or spend a little money and have a nicely done video collage of presentations, product demonstrations, etc.

And always remember that quality beats quantity.

-Nicole Hess
Online Media Consultant

I’ve put together this list of online tools that I think are the easiest to use, most comprehensive for their service and cheapest (free or nearly free). This way you’ll spend less time learning how to use the software and more time getting things done.

Website Solutions

1. Facebook Cause: A Facebook page for your nonprofit is a quick solution to a website and a “Cause” page through Facebook had added benefits like being displayed on your supporters’ pages to video sharing and the ability for visitors to donate at the click of a button.
Best part, it’s free.

2.  Ning: Similar to Facebook, but more specialized for your network of followers. Has multiple pages built-in for more of a “website” feel. Ning allows for forum posting and interactive calendar.
Free.

3.  Yola: Build and host your website completely free. It makes creating a website as easy as clicking and dragging.  You can also add popular social media widgets, PayPal, chatroom, and your fundraising badges.
Free.

Website Monitoring

4.  Google Analytics + Webmaster Central: These two Google services are a perfect pair for analyzing the effectiveness of your website. The detailed reports of Google Analytics show you who your website visitors are, where they come from, and how they interact with your website. Webmaster Central gives you access to tips on making your site more search engine friendly as well as a message board to ask questions to qualified webmasters.
Free.

5.  Mon.itor.us: Powerful tool to monitor the activity of you server to make sure your website is loading and responding properly. Also gives easy to read graphics of website traffic and interactivity. Proactively informs you of potential problems.
“Forever free.”

Contact Management

6.  BatchBook by BatchBlue: This tool is much like its more expensive counterparts, like Common Ground by Convio, in that it helps you keep track of your contacts and their activity. Intuitively fills in contact information and easily integrates with Google, MailChimp and Shoebox. It follows their activity on social sites such as Facebook and Twitter, automatically.  Also, follows your email correspondence when you BCC your account when you send emails from anywhere.
Paid plans from $9.95 to $99.95 per month

Email Marketing

7.  AWeber: AWeber email marketing software offers email newsletters, autoresponders, RSS to Email, website sign-up forms, email web analytics tools, and a good reputation for deliverability.
Nonprofts get 3 months free service, then prices start at $19 per month.

8.  Constant Contact: Constant Contact gives you the tools to create professional-looking emails with no technical expertise, manage your contact lists and measure results. More than 400 templates, a step-by step Email Wizard, and point-and-click interface. You can also create free online surveys.
Free 60-day trial. Plans start at $15/month.

9.  MailChimp: User friendly design studio to create custom emails and email templates. Easily integrates with Excel, BatchBlue, Salesforce, Paypal, Google analytics and others to import contacts and track your email marketing, all the way to the dollar amount raised.
Free for email lists of less than 100.  Monthly plans start at $10 per month.

10.  Vertical Response: Easy way to build, target, send and track email marketing newsletters, online surveys and direct mail postcards. Nonprofits can send 10,000 email messages per month FREE plus nonprofits are eligible to receive 15% off on all emails over 10,000.
Basically free.

Event and Volunteer Organizing

11.  Eventbrite: Set up an online registration page for your nonprofit event in minutes, then take advantage of Eventbrite’s promotional tools to send up to 2,000 email invitations per day or publicize your event on social networks (Facebook, Twitter).
Free for free events.

12.  VolunteerSpot: Doing Good gets easier with this scheduler for coordinating volunteers. Simple volunteer management software that any volunteer leader, committee chair or board member can use to schedule, coordinate and send reminders about events.
Free.

Interactivity

13.  Wikis: You’ve probably read many wiki’s yourself, but how about creating one about your organization? This will allow searchers to read up on your organization and link back to your site. A well developed wiki increases your organization’s level of professionalism in the mind of searchers.
Free.

14.  World Crossings: Fast, easy, and free way to add forums, message boards or chat rooms to your Web site, customized to match the look of your site. Interactivity keeps visitors on your site and engaged in your nonprofit.
Free.

Fundraising

15.  ChipIn: The ChipIn widget is an application that shows the details of fundraising goals, how much money has been raised, and when your drive ends. The best part is that the ChipIn widget can be embedded almost everywhere, MySpace, Typepad, Blogger or websites.
Free.

16.  Donor Perfect: This is comprehensive fundraising management software. Manages and grows your relationships with donors, volunteers, foundations, and other constituents. It track and manage your campaigns and results and can produce targeted mailings and email.
$31 per month for smaller nonprofits.

17.  mGive: Takes fundraising to the mobile world. Allows users to text their donation and are charged automatically to their cell phone bill, no need to input credit card information.
Free for nonprofits.

Advertising

18.  Google AdWords with Google Grants: In-kind advertising for nonprofits. It’s as simple as filling out a Google grants application and opening and AdWords account. Google AdWords ads appear when users search on Google and when you click on one of the ads, you are brought to the website being advertised.
Free for nonprofits.

Billing

19.  CurdBee: QuickBooks beware, online billing and invoicing software Curdbee is a free solution to adding unlimited clients and creating unlimited invoices, accepting payments online through Paypal and Google Checkout and importing or exporting to other software.
Basic version is free.

20.  Billing Manager: So, QuickBooks doesn’t make the list because of its cost, but another Intuit product does, Billing Manager. Billing Manager is an online invoicing tool that tracks invoices and payments for you. Log in anywhere and see who owes what, email invoices and send reminders. Let’s you customize the invoices as well.
Free.

I hope these are helpful.  If you use one that you think is fabulous and don’t see it here, please feel free to leave a comment with your recommendation.

And of course, Vektor Studio is available to assist your organization in getting you started in these new programs and your data transferred to them.

————————-

Posted by Nicole Hess
Social Media Consultant at Vektor Studio
www.vektorstudio.com

Nonprofits can sign up to receive free help in other areas, graphic design, etc through Mozilla.
If you can donate your tech knowledge go to http://bit.ly/152UBz

¡Oye!

The  liquid swishes; it must have latin hips.

My hands become the leading partner, a very responsive leading partner.

Por aqui…

Drops of savoriness, I don’t want to loose your smooth hazelnut essence.

Suddenly the street changes tempo to see how fast my cup and I can cha cha cha to its pothole taps.  But I’m a veteran liquid dancer and have choreographed difficult streets before.

Oh yes, I have choreographed the dirt road soda can drink and highway cereal milk slurp.  This city street has nothing over me.

¡Aye!

May have to think twice as the warm liquid flirts dangerously with my hand.  Don’t be a tease; its our stop and now you’re all mine.