April 8, 2013

Understanding how Facebook Graph Search works

Photo courtesy of TimeHacker (Creative Commons)

5 ways to improve your organization’s visibility through Graph Search

Target audience: Nonprofits, cause organizations, foundations, NGOs, social enterprises, businesses, marketers, Facebook users.

Facebook Graph Search is very different from Google search. With Graph Search — which is still in the process of being rolled out to Facebook’s 1 billion members — you combine a keyword search with friends who’ve shared content on Facebook related to that search.

For example, you can search for friends in Boston who like volunteering for animal shelters. What this means is that there are now many more ways for people to discover your organization on Facebook! Continue reading →

April 3, 2013

Visual guide to successful Facebook page updates

Infographic illustrates how to post your way to Facebook success

Target audience: Nonprofits, cause organizations, foundations, NGOs, social enterprises, businesses, Web publishers, marketers.

Pagemodo recently published a beautiful infographic that covers the basics of how content functions on Facebook.

And although your page might differ (always measure!), they’ve outlined some pretty useful places to start if you don’t know what works for your audience:

Posts made on Facebook between 8 pm and 7 am get a 14% higher interaction rate.
Caption this photo posts on Facebook get 5.5 times more comments.
Posts with calls to action get 45% higher interaction on Facebook.
Positive content on Facebook gets more likes, while negative posts draw more comments. Continue reading →

April 2, 2013

Mobile apps to get stuff done on the go

6apps

Smarten up your smartphone with Voxer, EDict & more

Want to learn about new mobile apps that got our attention? Sign up for our email newsletter. Twice a month we feature an app that has been personally tested and meets the bar of smart: The app streamlines a task, intelligently delivers information to you or surfaces new insights or it simply helps you create better content faster. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.

Now, have a look below. Have you used any of these apps on your iPhone or Android? Have a different favorite instead? Please share! Continue reading →

April 1, 2013

Calendar of nonprofit conferences: April 2013

Me, Cara Jones, Jenna Sauber and Rob Wu after our “Future of Nonprofit Storytelling” session at last year’s Nonprofit Technology Conference.

Plan for the month’s top conferences & events

April marks a busy month for the nonprofit and social good community. I’ll be heading to Minneapolis for the Nonprofit Technology Conference (how about you?). Other highlights include Innogive, the National Conference for Media Reform, Investing In Women, Skoll World Forum, the Global Philanthropy Forum, Sustainatopia and Social Venture Network Spring.

Which of these are you going to? Continue reading →

March 28, 2013

How to add threaded comments to your Facebook page

Facebook just added threaded comments to page updates, which now lets people reply to specific comments within a page update.

This means that you can create a richer discussion experience on your page, which will increase reach and engagement.

Watch the quick one-minute video above, which explains how it’s done.

March 27, 2013

3 ways nonprofits can use Facebook apps to motivate donors

Target audience: Nonprofits, cause organizations, foundations, NGOs, social enterprises, fundraising pros, marketers.

Guest post by Jim Belosic
CEO, Shortstack

Anyone who works for a nonprofit knows all too well about the donation scramble. This is why creating an impactful Facebook Page should be an integral part your marketing efforts is a no-brainer.

Facebook serves as a doorway to donors, allowing nonprofits to provide brief updates and news bites to constituents. It’s also a one-stop shop for photos, success stories, and calls to action, which reinforce the mission. Plus, Facebook is a favorite tool among nonprofits because of its low, low price of … free!

Using custom apps like ShortStack can help increase donations during fundraising campaigns. Check out these three ways that nonprofits can use Facebook apps to motivate donors. Continue reading →