If you’re planning or evaluating any form of social media activity, then it’s worth taking a look at eMarketer’s summary of a recently released research report examining which marketing uses of Facebook and Twitter are working best. As shown in the table above, top of the effectiveness list for consumer-focused marketers (the B2C column) using Facebook is ‘Creation of a Facebook application around a brand’ – providing a useful reminder that the most effective use of social media doesn’t always come for free . Next in the ranking is the creation of a ‘Fan’ survey, followed by the use of Facebook user data to provide insight into customers.

Since meeting Jason, we've stayed in touch through Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Imagine my excitement when he sent out a twitter message about creating a Facebook communications plan... Not only is NCFR using Facebook, they are committed enough to create a whole communications plan around it! So I've asked Jason to report on the NCFR's progress on Facebook. Q: So, Jason...did Have you filled out the Social Tech Survey for associations yet? Even if you haven't taken on any social media initiatives yet, but plan to start something in the next 6 months or

As use of online social networks continues to grow worldwide, one of the most important questions to ask is how the user profile of different sites differs - to give an indication as to whether the type of consumers you want to engage with are actually spending time there in significant numbers. With this in mind, I spotted a handy application today that helps answer this question, at least for Facebook users - and with over 150m active users worldwide that’s often the first site considered by marketers and fundraisers. In particular, fundraisers tend to be watching for growth in older user groups (at least 45+) as these tend to best match with their traditional supporter profile.

Writing in Engage: Hispanics , interactive marketing consultant Lee Vance provides this astonishing stat: Back in February 2008, Facebook produced a Spanish-language version (note: with help from its user community). million Facebook users in Spanish-speaking countries. In addition, the number of Spanish-preferring US users of Facebook climbed to one million, At the time, there were 2.3 Within six months that number had shot up to 9.9

But in today’s world, it’s wise to consider complementing these appeals with tools like Facebook and Twitter. Between 35 percent to 42 percent of online giving happens in November and December each year, and the average gift during the final quarter of the year is significantly higher — $84.51, compared to the average of $67.47 To get even more sophisticated, you might want separate pages for each type of media you use: one you’ll Last time, we looked at creating a year-end strategy for fundraising letters . According to FundRaising Success Magazine :

This spring, Facebook made some significant changes to the functionality of Pages on their site in order to help brands market more effectively. This has led to a lot of discussion and encouragement aimed at nonprofits about how to market via Facebook. I'm not anti-Facebook but I do want to lend a little objectivity to this discussion so before you just dive in, consider these 4 reasons why Facebook might not be right for your This photo is from dvs' Photostream . 1.

What I found most interesting is the debate about whether to centralize or decentralize your brand online. Danielle at NWF says they are branding many of their individual programs online (Ranger Rick, a campus ecology program, Green Hour for families, etc.). Danielle says that because they are decentralizing their social media presence, they are also empowering and trusting their staff and giving them the ability to represent their own programs online without a lot of heavy handed Yesterday I attended a workshop organized by one of my favorite bloggers (and NTC roomie) Nancy Schwartz on how you deal with branding issues for your organization within social media.

Causes was without doubt a trend-setter from the outset, being one of the very first apps to be launched after the Facebook Platform toolkit was made available – enabling the development of 3rd party Applications (Apps) that integrate directly with Facebook user data. (Remember Despite being one of the most popular Apps on Facebook, boasting some 12m registered users, over its first 12 months it had raised just $2.5m – equating to just $126 for each organisation being fundraised for. Great news from the folks behind ‘Causes’ last week, with the announcement that they just passed the $10m point in donations since launch back in May 2007 .

According to the report, Global Faces and Networked Places , last year, the 55-64 crowd made up nearly twice the number of people under 18 who joined facebook. Let me say that again: People aged 55-64 numbered nearly twice the under-18-year-olds who joined facebook. And the fastest growing group was aged 35-49. 78% aged 50-54 are online When I talk to people in the arts about social media, there is a common rationale for opting out: “Our patrons are over 55 – they don’t do social networking, the older ones don’t even have computers, so we’re not wasting our time on it.” Well, yes, you can waste a lot of time flailing about in the social media pool if you have no plan.

Tags: Social Media Amy Sample Ward Causes application danah boyd facebook Ivan Boothe Justin Maasa myspace Sean Stannard-Stockto Ivan Boothe wrote a terrific post last week about Causes taking down its application from MySpace. Causes is an application for use on social networking sites. it enables users to highlight causes that they care about asking friends