Normally, I don’t like giving workshops focusing on specific tools. Often, it’s a case of recommending specific tactics before people have defined the larger goals of an organizations’ online efforts. Second Life, FourSquare or Twitter do not necessarily fit the particular needs of your organization.*
But Google is different. You have no choice but to make decisions more strategically when using these tools for measuring and improving your online work. I don’t feel reluctant to recommend these specific tools to anyone who is publishing anything online – a website, email newsletter, blog or social media campaign.
Over the years I have created dozens of email signup forms, to help organizations build their email lists of supporters. Often people want to ask the subscriber to give every last detail of their personal information: full name, address, phone number, etc.
They also know that every piece of information you require in your sign up form reduces the number of people who will complete the form and subscribe.
So what’s the optimal information to ask for, in my opinion?
A friend sent along this campaign, run by some Stanford students. It is a simple site built around an amateur video. The video has shaky camera work, wooden acting and is a shade too long. I love it for a number of reasons.
It is far more effective than a wall of text explaining how you should upgrade your computer instead of getting a new one. Imagine for a moment how compelling this campaign would be without the disarming video? And the video tells a story and goes for a homemade, dorky vibe – it doesn’t even try to be ‘professional’.
I suspect this is the key to doing YouTube well on a budget: be homemade, look homemade and have fun with it. Celebrate your dorkiness. And to be honest, I think it’s harder than it looks! Continue Reading »
I went to the E-Campaigning Forum in Oxford, UK and, inspired by Jason Lefkowitz’s view of the basics of online advocacy, signed up to facilitate a session to tease out just what constitutes a good website and a good email program.
I introduced the idea of starting with the basics to the group of about a dozen super-smart and experienced online campaigners. Then they came up with a checklist of what elements needed to be covered to bring your site and your email list up to scratch. We had an hour and change to put our heads together and come up with a checklist.
Here’s the list, so you don’t have to squint at the flipcharts: Continue Reading »
Just back from the E-Campaigning forum here in the UK, and it has been a very intense and enjoyable two days.
One of the highlights for me was the opening address by Ben Brandzel, from MoveOn/John Kerry/Avaaz and other works. He started the conference with an entertaining look at growing your list of supporters. SO many interesting things to report from this session (and the online video is coming, we are promised) but one concept Ben presented really stuck out for me: the information/enthusiasm ratio.Continue Reading »
Here’s a great post from EchoDitto on the key roles in an effective online team. The post describes and has sample job descriptions for two key positions (online director, web content manager), three ‘secondary hires’ (online organizer, creative director, web developer/engineer) and the key role of database administrator. Continue Reading »
Great advice on picking low hanging fruit first, before moving on to Twitter, Second Life and podcasting. The entire interview is gold for one-person web teams, but this advice really stands out:
“In thinking about the one-person e-activism team, I generally break things down into three categories: your Web site, your e-mail list, and the rest of the net.”
I have thought the same thing for years: get the basics right, walk before you can run, pick the low hanging fruit etc. But I kept speaking in clichés, so no one understood what I was saying. I think this interview will form the basis of the (nascent) “Twenty Minute Webbie’s Manifesto”.
Stay tuned, and in the meantime, read the entire interview here:
Fantastic interview with Jason Lefkowitz on the topic of “