Posts Tagged ‘Facebook’

How to be a Social Media Rock Star at NCVS

Thursday, May 12th, 2011

Today’s post originally appeared on the National Conference on Volunteering and Service blog. Follow the NCVS blog for news about the conference!
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The 2011 National Conference on Service & Volunteering (NCVS) is nearly here!

It will be held June 6th – 8th in New Orleans – The Big Easy!

Thanks to social media, there are lots of ways you can participate online – whether you’re there or not!

<-strong>Facebook

“Like” the NCVS Facebook page so that the official wall posts show up in your Facebook news feed.

You are welcome and invited to post thoughts, ideas, etc. to The National Conference on Volunteering & Service Facebook page. Especially if you know a good place to eat in New Orleans!

This year, we’ll be sharing the opening and closing plenary on Livestream, and you’ll be able to watch them on your Facebook page! Keep an eye out on the NCVS Facebook page for a link that you can share on your wall and watch!

Eventbrite

This free tool will allow you (or anyone) to organize an event around conference and invite anyone.

Want to host a breakfast to discuss the topic of your dreams?

Want to organize an affinity group meetup?

Want to suggest an after-hours meet up spot?

You can do all of this with eventbrite.

Check out what your fellow conference attendees are organizing so far.

Blogging

You are invited to write a blog post (for your own blog or as a guest post on ours) about a session you’re excited about leading up to conference or reviewing a session you attended afterward.

Blogging is a great way to share what you’re excited about and/or what you’ve learned.

The HandsOn Blog editorial guidelines are here and the National Conference Blog editorial guidelines are here.

If you write a post for your own blog, send us a link to it at connect(at)HandsOnNetwork(dot)org and we’ll be able to share it

Twitter

Follow @NCVS on Twitter to hear all the official conference tweets.

Additionally, follow the conference conversation by searching the #NCVS Twitter hashtag. (The search bar is located in the right sidebar of your Twitter homepage.)

Each NCVS workshop session and forum is assigned a unique session #hashtag.

While the overall conference conversation will take place on the #NCVS hashtag, you can follow individual session twitter streams by searching on the unique session #hashtag.

Join the conversation by adding “#NCVS” to your tweets — adding that hashtag in your tweet is the way to have your tweet show up in the conference twitter stream.

You can also follow HandsOn Network @HandsOnNetwork; Points of Light @PointsofLight and CNCS @ServedotGov

It’s super easy to follow twitter conversations using your cell phone so before conference, you might want to download a cell phone application for managing Twitter.

Want to follow conference speakers? How about conference speakers by focus area? No problem. Check out the NCVS Twitter lists and follow those that match your interests!

Foursquare

Foursquare at conferences can be fun. Want to know who’s savvy and in the room with you at any given NCVS session? Check-in using Foursquare and you’ll be able to see who else is at conference, and who you might want to meet!

Maybe you’ll even unlock a special badge!

Delicious

Delicious is a social bookmarking web service for storing, sharing, and discovering web bookmarks.

On Delicious, users can tag each of their bookmarks with freely chosen terms.

A combined view of everyone’s bookmarks with a given tag is available; for instance, the URL http://delicious.com/tag/ncvs displays all of the most recent links tagged with NCVS. You don’t just see the bookmarks that you’ve tagged, though. You get to see what other people have found that fits the same topic!

See all the great NCVS content saved to Delicious and add your own!

Flickr

Share your NCVS photos with everyone using the HandsOn Network Flickr group. You can upload your favorite conference shots photos by joining the group pool and then clicking on the link that says “Add photos.”

If you don’t have a Flickr account, it only takes a minute to sign up for one. All you need is a Yahoo!, Google or Facebook ID

YouTube

YouTube isn’t just a place for piano playing cats – why not record a video of yourself talking about your experience at NCVS, or Send links to your favorite NCVS videos and we’ll add them to our NCVS playlist on our YouTube Channel!

Send your video links to connect(at)HandsOnNetwork(dot)org.

We can’t wait to see you in New Orleans – or online!

Storify

Storify is a way to tell stories using social media such as Tweets, photos and videos. You search multiple social networks from one place, and then drag individual elements into your story. You can re-order the elements and also add text to give context to your readers. At the end of each day, we’ll be sharing highlights from the conference. You can make your own social media story and share it, too!

WiFi
Unfortunately, there isn’t public wifi available in the Convention Center. If you have a smart phone, you’ll be able to use most of these tools from your phone. You might be able to use your phone’s connection to drive your computer’s wireless internet, but you’ll have to check with your service provider to find out if you have this option.

If you have a personal portable wireless internet hub it can be a great way to stay connected at conference, and meet some new friends!

Updated 5/18/11:
The National Conference on Volunteering and Service offers complimentary wireless service in all meeting rooms and lobbies. Please look for the SSID NCVS2011 on your wireless device.

In the exhibit hall, Starbucks has provided complimentary wireless service for all attendees and exhibitors. Look for SSID “NCVS@Sbux” on your wireless device.
The National Conference on Volunteering and Service offers complimentary wireless services in all meeting rooms and lobbies. Please look for the SSID NCVS2011 on your wireless device.

In the exhibit hall, Starbucks has provided complimentary wireless service for all attendees and exhibitors. Look for SSID “NCVS@Sbux” on your wireless device.

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NCVS Panel: Finding the ROI in Social Media

Thursday, July 15th, 2010
by Chris Noble @cfnoble

“Can nonprofits measure Return on Investment (ROI) for their social media activities?” asks Marcia Bullard, former CEO of USA WEEKEND.

This next part in our series from the National Conference on Volunteering and Service (NCVS) focuses on determining ROI,  one of the most talked about issues in our community today.  As more nonprofits are engaging in social media, and as budgets continue to be tight in the current economy, it’s a natural question.  How do we know this stuff is working?  Can we even measure it?

I’m going to take some of the suspense out of it for you.  These guys say you can.  In fact, Paul Gillin gives you a road map in the first three minutes:

1. Know the lifetime value of a donor / volunteer – when someone supports your organization, what’s the average $ per year the give, and how many years do they stay with you?  $ multiplied by years, and there’s your lifetime value.

2. Start keeping records now – Use historical data from physical events: how many attended, how many gave, what totals were raised?  If you have already run online fundraisers, so much the better.  If you’re running your first, keep track of how visits turn into donors.

3. Do the math – now that you’re keeping track, measure how many new volunteers or donors have come from online activities.  What % of your Facebook fans have shown up in the real world at an event?  What % of your Twitter followers have donated?  What are the actual numbers – how many people have acted.  Multiply # of people taking action by your average lifetime $, and you know how much your organization stands to bring in from a particular online (or offline) effort.

Watch the video for more from Paul, and for additional comments on the same topic by Joe Rospars, Craig Newmark, Andrew Noyes, and Jack Dorsey.  In all, a valuable primer on understanding the return on your social media investment.  Take a look!

NCVS Social Media Panel, part two from What Gives on Vimeo.

To see part one in this series, click here.

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Posted in Equip, News & Links, Social Media, Tools You Can Use, Volunteer Management, Volunteer Recruitment, Volunteering, Volunteerism | 1 Comment »

Mobilizing Volunteers with Social Media

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

by Chris Noble @cfnoble – Originally published on What Gives and republished here with the author’s permission.

There’s a lot of “activity” in social media.  More people are embracing social networks every day, and more organizations are using social channels to reach their audience. But in all this “activity”, is there any real action?  How can nonprofits and others use social media to mobilize volunteers and get things done in the real world?

That’s the question put to a panel of social media luminaries at NCVS, the National Conference on Volunteering and Service, held by HandsOn Network and Points of Light in New York City a few weeks back.  Maybe “luminaries” isn’t exactly the right word… how about superstars?  These folks have been on the front lines where social media meets social change:

Joe Rospars, who headed up President Obama’s social media strategy and action in 2008, now Founder and Creative Director of Blue State Digital.

Craig Newmark, Founder of Craigslist, who’s been championing social media as a way to make government more accessible, accountable and efficient.

Jack Dorsey, Co-founder and Chairman of Twitter, who has his own social venture launching in the fall.

Andrew Noyes, who, as Manager of Public Policy Communications handles some of the tougher policy and community organizing issues for Facebook on a daily basis.

We’ve got lots of coverage coming your way from NCVS over the coming weeks, including more from this group and fifth panel member, social media marketing strategist Paul Gillin, as well as individual interviews with an incredible range of activists, CEOs, authors, and other leaders in the nonprofit space.  This segment is a great start, because these guys have some solid advice for nonprofit organizers based on real-world experience.

Not only valuable content, but actually fun to watch.  Joe does a great job describing why you should treat volunteers like gold, and how to do so in a social framework. There’s also a great analogy in there for those of you who need to explain to your parents why all this “social media stuff” is relevant to social change – just go to Craig’s Gutenberg/ Luther shtick about 5 minutes in – I’ve used it 5 or 6 times since hearing it.

Enjoy!

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Posted in Equip, Service, Social Media, Tools You Can Use, Volunteer Management, Volunteering, Volunteerism | 5 Comments »

10 Tips for Conducting Effective HandsOn Webinars

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

by Tricia Thompson, Volunteer Leader Training Manager, HandsOn Network


1. Be Prepared – There is nothing worse than getting online to attend a webinar and having the presenter not be prepared. Make sure you practice with the technology and understand how to use all the tools. Note the amount of time it takes to use tools and accommodate for this in your webinar.

2. Remember the Venue – Conducting or meeting in an online format has been commonly referred to as a “radio show.” Remember to avoid silence. When attendees/participants hear silence they tend to think that there is something wrong with the technology. Keep the webinar/meeting moving forward and always keep people in informed.

3. Set Timing Milestones – Always think about and prepare for time. Set those expectations with the participants by communicating how much time will be give to each topic and when you will cover what information.

4. Be Aware of Noise – Make sure you are in a quite setting. If you have a desk in an open area, relocate to a quiet space so that attendees/participants can better concentrate.

5. Be Mindful of Content and Frequency of Slides – When in an online environment you need to have frequent transition of slides and not have too much content on each slide. The content should be spread out and remember to use picture and images that are more appealing to the eye.

6. Expect the Unexpected – Always plan for something to go wrong and have a backup plan. Change your voicemail message and give people details for how to connect and whom to call if they have issues with technology or connecting to the webinar. Have generic responses prepared for frequently asked questions so that you can quickly respond to emails.

7. Get Support– It is best practice to have at least two people leading a webinar. You need one person to focus on presenting the content and one to focus on answering questions in the question and/or chat function, manage technology issues, etc.

8. Create an Interactive and Fun Environment – Smile and use humor whenever possible. Tell descriptive stories to illustrate points and make time for interactivity. Use tools like polling or the chat feature and incorporate social media whenever you can. See below for a list of social media tools.

9. Know Your Audience – Ask your audience questions that will help you better target your presentation. You can do this by asking questions during the registration process or making time in the first 5-10 minutes of the session to ask questions and get to know the audience.

10. Use Social Media Tools – Whenver possible before during and after your webinar, use the following tools to engage your audience and make sure they get the information they need in addition to providing a space for the learners to connect with each other The following are some tools to think about using:

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Posted in Equip, Get HandsOn, News & Links, Social Media, Tools You Can Use, Volunteer Management, Volunteer Project Development, Volunteering, Volunteerism | No Comments »

10 Ways to be A Social Media Rock Star at NCVS

Sunday, June 13th, 2010

The 2010 National Conference on Service & Volunteering (NCVS) is nearly here!

It will be held on June 28th – 30th in New York City.

Thanks to social media, there are lots of ways you can participate online– whether you’re there or not!

1. Facebook

“Like” the NCVS Facebook page so that the official wall posts show up in your Facebook news feed.

You are welcome and invited to post thoughts, ideas, etc. to the The National Conference on Volunteering & Service Facebook page.

2. Crowdvine

In order to help you meet and connect with as many people as possible, we’ve set up a conference social networking site where you can see who’s coming, find out what they have to share and make plans to get together.

Create your own NCVS attendee profile here and see who else is coming.

Meet up before you even get to New York!

3. Eventbrite

This free tool will allow you (or anyone) to organize an event around conference and invite anyone.

Want to host a breakfast to discuss the topic of your dreams?

Want to organize an affinity group meetup?

Want to suggest an afterhours meet up spot?

You can do all of this with eventbrite.

Check out what your fellow conference attendees are organizing so far.

4. Blogging

You are invited to write a blog post (for your own blog or as a guest post on ours) about a session you’re excited about leading up to conference or reviewing a session you attended afterward.

Blogging is a great way to share what you’re excited about and/or what you’ve learned.

The HandsOn Blog editorial guidelines are here and the National Conference Blog editorial guidelines are here.

If you write a post for your own blog, send us a link to it at connect(at)HandsOnNetwork(dot)org

5. Twitter

Follow @NCVS on Twitter to hear all the official conference tweets.

Additionally, follow the conference conversation by searching the #NCVS Twitter hashtag.  (The search bar is located in the right sidebar of your Twitter homepage.)

Each NCVS workshop session and forum is assigned a unique session #hashtag.

While the overall conference conversation will take place on the #NCVS hashtag, you can follow individual session twitter streams by searching on the unique session #hashtag.

For example, the Social Media for Social Good Forum hashtag will be #SM4SG and, if you follow that hashtag from 2:30 – 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 29th, you’ll hear what everyone in the forum is saying about it.

Join the conversation by adding “#NCVS” to your tweets — adding that hashtag in your tweet is the way to have your tweet show up in the conference twitter stream.

You can also follow HandsOn Network @HandsOnNetwork as well as our NCVS Featured Tweeps list.

Here’s a hint from Chris Jarvis of Realized Worth – If you want, you can cut & past twitter list name in to Tweepml.org and follow everyone on the list with one push of the button.

(Make yourself an NCVS Featured Tweep by tweeting “Make me a featured tweep @HandsOnNetwork“)

It’s super easy to follow twitter conversations using your cell phone so before conference, you might want to download a cell phone application for managing Twitter.

See all the conference tweets organized by session on our Tweet Notes page.

6. FourSquare

FourSquare at conferences can be fun.

Want to know who’s in the room with you at any given NCVS session?  “Check-in” using FourSquare and you’ll be able to see who else is there.

Maybe you’ll even unlock a swarm badge!

7. Delicious

Delicious (formerly del.icio.us, pronounced “delicious”) is a social bookmarking web service for storing, sharing, and discovering web bookmarks.

On Delicious,  users can tag each of their bookmarks with freely chosen term.

A combined view of everyone’s bookmarks with a given tag is available; for instance, the URL “http://delicious.com/tag/ncvs” displays all of the most recent links tagged “NCVS”.

Its collective nature makes it possible to view bookmarks added by other users.

See all the great NCVS content saved to Delicious and add your own!

8. Flickr

Share your NCVS photos with everyone using the HandsOn Network Flickr group.  You can upload your favorite conference shots here by clicking on the words “add something.”

9. YouTube

Send links to your favorite NCVS videos and we’ll add them to our NCVS playlist on HandsOn Network’sYouTube Channel.

Send your video links to connect(at)HandsOnNetwork(dot)org.

10. LinkedIn

Start a LinkedIn affinity sub-group on HandsOn Network’s Linked In Group.

You can hold forum style discussions here on topics before conference and / or continue discussions that were initiated at NCVS.

See you in New York – or online!

#NCVS!

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Posted in Equip, News & Links, Service, Social Media, Tools You Can Use, Volunteer Management, Volunteering, Volunteerism | 7 Comments »

Social Media for Social Good at NCVS

Friday, June 4th, 2010

I’m excited about all the social media content coming up soon at the National Conference on Volunteering & Service!

I’ve already revealed how I attained Service Nerd Nirvana through the development of the Service Nerd Fantasy Panel Discussion, but wait… there’s more!

Social Media 4 Social Good: A Social Media Fair
Tuesday June 29th at 8:30 – 10:00 AM
Hilton New York Mercury Rotunda

Join this session for an opportunity to learn more about a myriad of social media topics by joining one of many small group discussions led by a fabulous host!

Discussions

Setting Social Media Policy & Strategy
Colleen Farrell, New York Cares
Deciding how your organization should use social media.  Learn how to tie social media tools to real organizational goals and objectives and how to release control to staff, volunteers and supporters.

Online Listening
Zack Brown, HandsOn Network
How to find out what the online community is saying about your organization & your issue – Using Google Reader & Google Alerts and other tools to monitor the online conversation.

Engaging in the Conversation
Laura Norvig, ETR Associates
Once  you’re actively listening to the online conversation about your issue and your organization, how do you know when and how to join the conversation?  What are the rules of social media etiquette?  Learn how to join in without making basic gaffs that make you look like a newbie.

Measuring Return on Investment for Social Media
Ken Cho, Spredfast
Jessica Kirkwood, HandsOn Network
How to track and measure the impact of social media efforts.

Twitter 101
Melissa Leibe, Volunteer Center of Bergen County
Getting Started – How to set up an account, how to use tools like Hootsuite, TweetDeck, Uber Twitter, who to follow and how to use Twitter Lists (your own and those created by others).

Twitter 201
Kris Smart, Chicago Cares
Maximizing your twitter account.

Facebook Fan Pages 101
Samantha Garrett & Lisa Gregory, New York Cares
The basic steps to starting a Facebook Fan Page.

Facebook 201
Sharon Tewksbury-Bloom, Volunteer Arlington
Making the most of your Facebook fan base and fan community.

Blogging
Mike Nealis, Volunteer Maryland
Getting started, finding your voice, storytelling and community building.

Making the most of You Tube & Flickr
John Afryl, Hands On Greater Portland
How to make the best use of a YouTube Channel and a Flickr Group

Using Social Media for Events
Katie Stearns, Chicago Cares
Best practices for integrating social media into events

Time Management & Social Media
Whitney Soenksen, AmeriCorps Alums
How to survive the tidal wave of tweets, blog posts, wall posts, etc.

Leveraging Social Media for Disaster Response
Brian Williams, Hands On Nashville
Learn how social media helped HandsOn Nashville mobilize the city’s residents in an amazing volunteer flood relief effort.

New Ways to Tell Your Story
Marcia Stepanek, Cause Global
Ms. Stepanek teaches a course on storytelling for nonprofits as well as a segment on “cause video” at NYU.  She also specializes in basic mobile social media-and-fundraising.

Make sure you’re registered for this amazing session!   The ID # for this session is 1293.

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Posted in Equip, News & Links, Social Media, Tools You Can Use, Volunteerism | 2 Comments »

Using Social Media to Recruit Volunteers

Sunday, May 9th, 2010

Sharon Tewksbury-Bloom of Volunteer Arlington recently gave a presentation on using social media to recruit volunteers.  She generously shares it with HandsOn Network on the blog today!

For more insights from Sharon Tewksbury-Bloom, follow her on Twitter @SharonTB and “like” Volunteer Arlington on Facebook.

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Posted in Equip, Mobilize, Social Media, Tools You Can Use, Volunteer Management, Volunteering, Volunteerism | 2 Comments »

Volunteerism on FourSquare

Monday, March 29th, 2010

Ever since I heard about FourSquare, I’ve been wondering what it might mean to become ‘The Mayor’ of a service project.

If you haven’t heard of it, FourSquare is a smart phone application through which you “check-in” at places you visit.

When I open the program, my phone’s GPS system locates me and suggests nearby businesses.  Then I select the one I’m visiting and “check in.”

Once checked in, my friends can see where I am and join me if they are nearby.

If it happens that I am the person with the most check-ins at a single location, I become ‘The Mayor’ of that location.

Some businesses offer special discounts or deals to the reigning Mayor.  For example, The Mayor drinks free at a local watering hole.

My behavior on Foursquare also earns points and badges.

I receive points for checking in at new places, checking in multiple times in a day, etc.

I can’t figure out what my points are accruing towards, but somehow I like earning them anyway.

Sometimes my check ins  “unlock” merit badges.

You might say that you “don’t need no stinkin’ badges,” but FourSquare, has attracted more than 500,000 users in just over a year and they disagree with you.

Badges are in, my friend.

It is somehow thrilling to check in at a location and learn that you have unlocked the super explorer badge, though I can’t put my finger on why exactly.

[I'M A SUPER EXPLORER!! HUZZAH!!]

Sometimes users can unlock special, location based rewards.

At the  SXSW interactive conference, a friend checked in at a bar that specialized in Macallen scotch and unlocked a free 18 year old malt.  To redeem her reward, she simply held her iPhone out to the bartender who touched the “redeem” button on the screen and served her the drink.

As I’ve been experimenting with FourSquare, I keep thinking about what applications it might have for volunteer organizations.

Again, what might it mean to become The Mayor of a service project?

Could volunteers “unlock” badges such as “Social Innovator” or “Community Hero?”

Could volunteers earn rewards generated through cause marketing corporate partnerships?

Volunteers who check in five times at the local foodbank earn a free latte?

Obviously there are some types of service projects that don’t fit with a geo-locating software.  Some locations are secret for a reason, but many are not.

Could the growing FourSquare trend enhance volunteer recruitment?

Because I can easily add text to my check-ins and synchronize these posts with my Facebook and Twitter accounts, I wonder if adding “we still need five volunteers” to my service project check in message would draw more assistance in real time.

And what if FourSquare check-ins could be integrated with volunteer management databases?  Could check-ins then serve as confirmation of volunteer attendance at a project?  If so, could volunteer organizations more easily track participation and calculate overall impact with the assistance of this tool?

Potentially, FourSquare could enhance volunteer recognition, volunteer recruitment, project management and evaluation…

Quick! Someone get me on the phone with Dennis Crowley! (@dens) and help  me to pull together a team of crack pro-bono developers to build a  FourSquare volunteer management plug in!

And while you’re waiting for my new app to launch, you might consider integrating FourSquare into some of your existing events.

But proceed with some caution and read these safety recommendations related to using foursquare and other location based technologies.

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Posted in Mobilize, Service, Social Media, Tools You Can Use, Volunteer Management, Volunteer Recognition, Volunteering, Volunteerism | 15 Comments »