Social Media : Promoting and Protecting Your Non-Profit Brand

Visible Logic, Inc.
142 High Street
Suite 615
Portland, ME 04101
207.761.4230
visiblelogic.com
IDENTITY
PRINT
PUBLISHING
WEB
Social Media :
Promoting and Protecting
Your Non-Profit Brand
Social Media Breakfast, October 2010
COMPELLING BRAND IDENTITIES IN PRINT & WEB

Your Brand Online: Personal, Organizational & Cause
Emily Brackett
President
Visible Logic, Inc.
Graphic Design & Branding:
Logos, Web Sites, Print Marketing, Book Covers & Interiors
Brand Positioning & Strategy

Your Brand Online: Personal, Organizational & CauseIntroduction
Social Media Overview
Branding: On- and Off-line
Identifying Yourself
Tips for Using Social Media

Social Media
Overview

Your Brand Online: Personal, Organizational & CauseSocial Media Overview
Major Social Networking Web Sites & Media
The major web sites and media
• Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, FourSquare
• Blogging
Other media
• MySpace, Gowalla, Plaxo, etc.
• Email marketing
• Forums
• Face-to-face networking

Facebook
What’s On Your Mind?
Individuals
• Set up personal profiles
• You become friends with other people, and it’s reciprocal; the other person needs to OK you as a friend
Non-Profits
• Set up “company” pages (you can choose non-profit as your type)
• You can “like” a company, and it’s more of a one-way street. Gets your updates into someone’s news feed
Cause
• Could set up an “organization” type of company page
• You can “like” a company, and it’s more of a one-way street. Gets your updates into someone’s news feed

LinkedIn
Network Updates
All individual accounts, very resume-like way of presenting yourself
• There are company listings in LinkedIn, (still labeled as beta) but you still only link with the
employees (You can follow companies)
• You are encouraged only to connect with people you know, then the connection is two-way
• The Q&A section is a good way to break out of the resume structure, prove your expertise, connect
with those outside your sphere
• Groups are forum-like spaces, and are also a good way to connect with others

Twitter
What’s happening?
All accounts are individual
• There is only one kind of account with one user name & password
• Because they are individual accounts, there is some sense that tweets are coming from
an individual, but this is changing
• There are services which will allow more than one person to use an account
(and append initials, for example, at the end)
• You can follow as many others as you like, and it’s not automatically reciprocated

Blogs
Company sponsored or individual
Blogs can be completely personal, or can have a corporate mandate
• Multiple authors can contribute to a company blog and therefore have their own voice and persona
• Commenting on other blogs is an individual activity

Why Use Social Media?
• It’s free
• It’s where your volunteers, donors and sponsors are
• It’s a way to stay connected and top-of-mind
• It’s a great channel for sharing stories
• Connect with the cause that’s behind your non-profit

Branding:
On- and Off-line

Your Brand Online: Personal, Organizational & CauseBranding: On- and Off-line
Your Brand is a Combination of:
The Identity you build and
The Perception / Messages that come from others
The Cause
An official “face” (Exec. Director, Founder, etc.)
Volunteers
Donors
Recipients / Beneficiaries

The Cause

OrganizationThe Cause

OrganizationThe Cause An official
“face”
(Exec. Director,
Founder, etc.)

“face”
(Exec. Director,
Founder, etc.)
Volunteers

“face”
(Exec. Director,
Founder, etc.)
Volunteers
Donors

OrganizationThe Cause
Donors
Recipients
Beneficiaries
An official
“face”
(Exec. Director,
Founder, etc.)
Volunteers

The Cause Organization

An official
“face”
(Exec. Director,
Founder, etc.)

An official
“face”
(Exec. Director,
Founder, etc.)
Volunteers

Donors
An official
“face”
(Exec. Director,
Founder, etc.)
Volunteers

Donors
An official
“face”
(Exec. Director,
Founder, etc.)
Volunteers Recipients
Beneficiaries

The Cause
An official
“face”
(Exec. Director,
Founder, etc.)
Volunteers Recipients
Beneficiaries
Donors
Organization

Does your cause have a brand identity?
Causes may or may not have their own brand identity. Generally, if a “cause” has a well-defined brand
identity it’s been the work of an organization who launched the brand.
A good example of a cause’s brand identity is the pink representing Breast Cancer. This is such
a universal phenomenon it can be found on everything from t-shirts to Kitchen Aid mixers.
Most causes do not have such a strong brand identity.
Causes that generate news also have a sort of brand perception (ie Hurricane Katrina,
Earthquake in Haiti)

Identifying
Yourself

Your Brand Online: Personal, Organizational & CauseIdentifying Yourself
Online Specific Branding Elements
Domain Name and Handles
• Grab your name on all the major social media sites
• Grab your name, even if you won’t use the site immediately
• Consider creating multiple names if you use an acronym, or for key people

Avatars, Favicons & Headshots, Key Visuals
• Have reduced the idea of a “logo” to a small, square icon.
• Use these consistently: Set up gravatars (globally recognized avatar), or recreate case-by-case on
different platforms
• Key personnel should use consistent and professional headshot photos
• Customize any areas that you can with your brand identity (ex: Twitter background)

Content Rules... so Voice is More Important than Ever
• What topics will you discuss
• Is the message coming from an individual or from the organization?
• How can you make stories from multiple sources sound consistent?
• How can you encourage people to tell their story?

How are you presenting yourself?
• Are you large and established or small and grassroots?
• Can you afford to look “well branded?”
• Connect on the personal level.
• Be authentic.

Tips for Using
Social Media

Your Brand Online: Personal, Organizational & CauseTips For Using Social Media
How to cultivate your
Organization’s brand using social web
Maintain a consistent brand presence:
• Register your business name on all major sites
• Use your business name (with or without your own name in addition)
• Use a logo, rather than a photo for an avatar
Don’t go too far and be too impersonal or stiff

How to connect personal stories to your
organization’s brand on the social web
Encourage individuals to connect to your brand
• Have Facebook status updates built into event registration
• Have your social media icons visible in all materials
• Give people a reason to connect (matching donation, etc.)

How to integrate your cause’s brand with
your organization’s brand identity
• Connect with other non-profits to cross-promote (ie retweets, posting to each other’s wall, etc.)
• You can have multiple accounts.
(ie non-profit page and cause “organization” page on Facebook).

Compounding Effect
Social Media should be used to increase the effectiveness of all channels:
• Offline: connect in-person events before, during and after
• Online: Cross promote between your different channels
• Partners: Cross promote with other organizations that have ties to the same or similar causes

Questions to Ask Yourself
• How can personal stories build your organization’s story?
• How does social media fit into my volunteering, fund raising or marketing plan?
• What am I doing outside of social media that needs to complement my online brand?
• How are my potential volunteers and donors using the social web?
• What kind of social media policy will we need?

Emily Brackett
Visible Logic, Inc.
visiblelogic.com
visiblelogic.com/blog
twitter: @VisibleLogic
facebook: Emily Brackett
facebook: facebook.com/VisibleLogic
LinkedIn personal: linkedin.com/in/emilybrackett
LinkedIn company: linkedin.com/company/204702

Social Media : Promoting and Protecting Your Non-Profit Brand

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