The New .Thing Rolls Out Today, Bringing Massive Change for Brands and Nonprofits!

 

Today ICANN, which is the nonprofit, non-governmental organization that coordinates the Internet naming system, is opening up an application process for established companies, organizations or institutions can apply to manage a .ANYTHING.

 

They aren’t opening up the opportunity to own a Top Level Domain (TLD) to just anyone. Excluded are individuals, sole proprietors or yet-to-be-formed entities. And the bar is set reasonably high, with a $185K fee and a 300-page application.

 

The managers of a TLD are not necessarily the people with whom you have registered your web address, like like Network Solutions, GoDaddy and thousands of others. Instead, these “managers” of TLDs provide the “plumbing” of the Internet.

 

Anytime you put a .COM into a web browser, Verisign is making sure it reaches its destination. Similarly, anytime you put a .ORG in, the Public Interest Registry is behind it.

 

We all just expect these things to work. You probably aren’t all that interested in how a DNS resolves or the infrastructure required to bring the webpage you want to your browser.

 

How this Affects Non-Profits

 

 

One of the clients I have been working with at Zoetica is the Public Interest Registry, or PIR. Working with them has given me a further insight into this historic time for the Internet.

 

PIR, which is itself a nonprofit, is the current manager of the .ORG extension, and was formed to run it as a community-driven asset. PIR is applying to run a new .NGO domain that would be reserved for nonprofits. However, with any open application process, there is a risk that others might also apply for this new extension.

 

ICANN allows applicants to gather community support to bolster their case, and PIR is asking nonprofit managers from all over the world to support their application for this TLD.

 

The nonprofit community has banded together to support PIR, and I have included a number of posts from various nonprofit leaders in support of PIR at the end of this post. If you work at a nonprofit, exclusively with nonprofits, or serve on a board of a nonprofit you can sign the petition here.

 

 

How this Affects Companies

 

Generic Top Level Domain Program For Brands

View more presentations from IQ the innovation lab of GSW Worldwide

It’s all about branding!

 

I expect some big companies to be thinking of getting their own TLD and running it. Think .PEPSI or .COCACOLA. From a marketing perspective, these domains will allow for some clever advertising opportunities and make it easier to get the Internet names they need. The only fights for names will be internal.

 

For category-type names, like .LUXURY or .BANK or .HEALTHCARE, it will require industry support. Also, no one can get your brand’s TLD without your explicit agreement.

 

If and when a category name comes open, you will have to determine if it will make sense for your business and if it is run by a reputable organization. A good example of a current domain name with some concerns is the .ly extension, which is run by the Libyan government. The popular shorter bit.ly is on this TLD. But as this website explains, Libya could choose to shut down any site with an .ly extension for almost any reason.

 

The Campaign for .NGO

 

Here is some more information about the campaign for .NGO, including an short petition to sign.

 

 

Other coverage and support of .NGO

Here are some of the most influential voices in the nonprofit community in support of PIR’s bid for .NGO.

• Petition: Protect your brand and domain name, via CauseVox

• Give a New Year's Gift to Nonprofits Worldwide, via Waxing Unlyrical

• Save the .NGO Domain for Nonprofits - Online Fundraising, Advocacy, and Social Media –, via Froogloop, Care2

• It's the Little Things That Count in Social Fundraising | Inspiring Generosity, via Razoo

• Zoetica Media » Circle of Trust: What Your Web Address Says About Your Nonprofit, via Zoetica

• Exclusive Domain for Nonprofits: .NGO - Purple-Power, via Avectra

• .ORG vs .NGO: How New Domain Names Can Help Your Brand | GoodWorks, via Advertising Age

• The Internet Domain .NGO Should Serve Best Interests of Nonprofits Worldwide: Sign An Online Letter of Support | Beth’s Blog, via Beth Kanter

• IMPORTANT: Help make sure .NGO remains in nonprofit hands — SocialFish, via Maddie Grant

• Say ‘Happy New Year’ to nonprofits worldwide with one click, via Socialbrite

• Sign this petition to keep the .NGO domain only for nonprofits Small Act, via @SmallAct

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Inspiring Your Kids (and Coworkers) to Be Generous with Examples, Empathy and Action

 

 

When the folks at Razoo contacted me to ask if I would write a post about how to instill generosity in kids, it was easy to do. I have been agonizing over how to do it for about a year now with my own three children, who are just now getting to an age where I think they can understand.

 

As a business owner and parent, I realize that we have been very blessed.

 

My husband and I have made a pretty good living, and we have three active, healthy and privileged kids. As a kid growing up in a very lower middle class neighborhood with a single mom, this was my dream.

 

I never realized it could also be a problem.

 

Lately we have been noticing that our kids are might just be a little too privileged.

 

It is the small things: whining and fussing about not getting something they want, and when they say to me, “If I break it you can just buy me a new one, right?”

 

And then there is the times where they step out with such brilliance to help others that is takes my breath away.

 

With our oldest child now seven, I am starting to see that we will have to be intentional about teaching them to be generous and to appreciate what they do have.

 

There are three things that I feel are the most important things in teaching generosity and those are to lead by example, to teach empathy and to take action.

 

Lead By Example

As parents, we need to be generous and gracious. This goes far beyond giving money, though that is important too. It means not just passing homeless people on the street without even looking at them, it means helping a neighbor in need even when it isn’t convenient, and putting your own needs and wants in the backseat to theirs and others. There may come a time when they ask you why you do such things, and then you can tell them. It provides a teaching moment.

 

But even if they don’t know all that you do, it is important that we also have causes that we are passionate about. Moreover, that we put our resources of time, talent and treasure into those causes regularly. We may not have an abundance of all three resources all the time, but there is always one or more of these areas where we can give back. Moreover, we should have goals to increase in each area.

 

So, this year, as I am doing my regular year-end giving, I am also going to involve them in the process. Razoo is giving me a $100 giving card. I was a bit reluctant to take it, but I want to give as much as I can this season, and I plan to let my kids help me decide where to invest it. Moreover, I am also buying giving cards for some our clients at my company, Zoetica. We have always pledged to give away 10% of our profit every year, and I plan to do that and a little more. I also like that the credit card fee is only 2.9%, so I feel that it is a responsible way to give. These are great gifts for coworkers, too.

 

Teach Empathy

 

I have found that I have to teach my kids that they are not the center of the universe. Not in a belligerent or belittling way, but in a way that helps them to understand another point of view. One way is to give kids words for emotions. For example, when my son hits his sister, I ask, “How would it make you feel if your sister hit you?” The answer is always some various of “sad, hurt, upset.” And usually you see a little light go off in their eyes as they imagine how they would feel.

 

One time we were preparing to have a family we barely knew over for dinner. They were having trouble with of their kids and we wanted to reach out to them. My son was angry because we had spent the afternoon getting ready rather than catering to what he wanted to do. “You love everyone else more than me,” he yelled. I was able to talk to him, once he was calm, and explain that part of loving your neighbor as yourself involves giving up your own agenda from time to time.

 

Take Action

This year, for Christmas, we decided to give some money to buy livestock for families in Africa. Instead of just letting the kids help us pick out the livestock and paying for it, we did it as a family. We usually go to a restaurant once a week, so for several weeks we gave up our restaurant visit and added what we would have spent to the fund. As such, our kids sacrificed a little, and understood the gift more.

 

Also, our oldest son now gets an allowance. We require that he save some, give some and the rest is his to keep. This keeps the importance of giving forefront in his mind every week. As a family, we also give at least 10% of our income.

 

When I attended the Cause Marketing Summit this year, I was listening to Nancy Lublin, CEO of Do Something, a nonprofit organization that gives grants to teens that are looking to make a social impact with campaigns that don’t require money, an adult or a car.

 

As a mother of two, and someone who works with teens on a daily basis, she said something that really caught my attention:

 

“Homelessness is a "gateway" cause to get teens involved in philanthropy.” – Nancy Lublin, DoSomething.com

 

It turns out my church goes downtown once a month on Sunday mornings to serve the homeless, and children are welcome. It seems that the homeless in the shelter are much more gentle when children are present.

 

I think we have a date. I plan to start taking my 7-year-old in January.

 

What do you plan to do to teach your children to be more generous this year? Or how will you use your own, or the resources in your workplace to make a difference?

 

I could use the tips.

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Social Media Powered Christmas Tree is Cool, But Where is the Call to Action?

One of the more innovative “stunts” this Christmas Season is by Canadian Tire. They have a Christmas tree installed at Union Station, Toronto, that is powered by the “Christmas Spirit.”(See “How the Tree Works” below if you are interested).

 

They have designed a microsite that features a LiveStream of the Christmas tree with its 3,000 LED lights, and has social media bells and whistles like Facebook and Twitter share buttons and a nice map of Canada that shows popup messages from the social channels they are using to “power” the tree.

 

However, as cool as this site is, there is no call to action beyond sharing the page.

 

Powering the Campaign for Results

So, as much as I love this concept, it falls short.

 

It isn’t really marketing, and it doesn’t quite fulfill any objective to extend new relationships with people that stumble onto the site. In fact, to find the Canadian Tire Facebook page, I had to click through to the ecommerce site and then look for the Facebook icon. Shouldn’t that be on the Christmas Tree page?

 

I do wonder if the campaign has any measurable objective beyond traffic, number of messages, and to simply delight? These “attention” measures often lead to a site like this one, which is more pretty than practical.

 

Even a couple of small tweaks would help.  For instance, allowing people to “LIKE” your Facebook page from the site gives another chance for Canadian Tire to reach these potential customers through innovative Facebook posts. Or how about a link to the Holiday section of the Canadian Tire website vs. the home page? Right now the link to the mother ship is buried at the bottom left. Why not a very small message, “Let us help you deck your halls?”  By the way, for my American audience, Canadian Tire doesn’t just sell tires.

 

Finally, they have an amazing opportunity to bring this to the local community by having a real-world event. How about a inviting your social media fans (Facebook and Twitter) to the lighting of the tree? Also invite local influencers, real world and social media. The concept would drive local media to come out and it might have a bigger share of the news that night.

 

To be fair, they may have had such an event, but looking for it online, I didn’t see any coverage of it or events on their Facebook page. They do have this press release on their corporate site that has some interesting stats and I expect that they will get a fair share of media coverage.

 

It would make sense to extend the investment they obviously put into this microsite. Can you see anything you would change or tweak?

 

How the Tree Works

 

They have a handy page to explain it, but I here is the gist.

 

Using a social media monitoring service, they are searching for Christmas-themed keywords on Social Networks, Blogs and Forums, News Media and messages shared from ChristmasSpiritTree.ca. They designed a computer lighting software to translate Christmas posts into data that can then be visualized as lights on the tree.

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Part 5: What Is Your Measurement Personality Style?

 

Take the Quiz to Find Out

What is Your Social Media Measurement Personality Style? » Quiz Maker

 

The Freewheelers

 

The Naysayers eschew measurement, calling it antithetical to the ethos of social media. This camp says that each individual voice is important and that all input should be seen as valuable. It feels that by measuring, an organization sets up a transactional relationship instead of building a more desirable, egalitarian one.

 

The Bean Counters

 

On the opposite side of the divide are the Bean Counters, those who say that business results should drive the involvement of an organization in social media. They are not very interested in the softer measures of influence, reputation or relationship building. Their focus is return on investment (ROI), and they don’t see the point of wasting valuable resources on something that doesn’t contribute to the bottom line.

 

The Measurement Explorers

 

The third camp, which we will call the social media Measurement Explorers, falls somewhere in between the other two and is happy to look at multiple measures to show the efficacy of social media. While a monetary return is the primary objective, there are a variety of ways to measure the impact that social media channels have on advancing the goals of the business or nonprofit. This moderate view is the most common-sense approach for social spaces and usually yields the best results.

 

 

 

 

 

Which one of these styles are you?

 

It likely that you are in one of the shaded areas in the Venn diagram above and I would take a hazard to guess that the more you move toward being an explorer, the more likely you will achieve success.

 

It’s hard to run a business or nonprofit on good feelings alone, and conversely, facilitating word-of-mouth advocacy will be difficult if the goal is to convert every touch into a transaction.

 

So share in the comments which style you tested out to be and if you think it is accurate.

 

Then you can go an read or download a free copy of the Whitepaper,  from which this framework was taken, “A Commonsense Framework for Social Media Measurement.”

 

Here are the previous posts from this measurement series as well:

• Part I: A Commonsense Approach to Social Media Measurement
• Part 2: Setting SMART Objectives
• Part 3: Measurement as a Diagnostic Tool
• Part 4: The 3 As of Social Media Measurement

The whitepaper was a guest chapter authored by Kami Huyse in Geoff Livingston’s book, Welcome to the Fifth Estate.

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The Double Edged Sword of Social Media and Privacy: What is the Responsibility of Communicators?

 

 

Social media is by definition, public information.

 

As a marketer and public relations professional, I have really enjoyed the fact that I can easily share, find and communicate with people.

 

As a power user, I love that everything and everyone is at my fingertips and that I can so easily share amazing stories and experiences with people I would have never met otherwise.

 

But….as a mother, friend and human being that cares, I have some concerns.

 

Our Eroding Privacy

 

My first concerns came as Facebook started to continually shift its privacy settings as it added new features and everything was opt out. At the status quo on Facebook, advertisers can use your connection with a brand to market to your friends without your knowledge through social ads; any of your friends can “check you in” to a location without your permission; if you add your cell phone to the system, marketers can harvest it for promotion, as well as your email through apps; until you reset it, your posts to your wall are set to public, and so on….

 

Recently Facebook settled with the US Government over how it “misled users about the use of their data.”

 

But the real concern is actually integration. Once you integrate one social network with another, or even a website, unexpected things can occur. For instance, my friend Tonia Ries blew the whistle on the Klout integration with Facebook, which had the effect of a minor getting a Klout account just from posting on his more public Mom’s wall.

 

This led to an apology by Joe Fernandez at Klout and also led to Klout adding a way to “opt out” of a profile on that service.

 

How Far Is Too Far?

 

And that is the rub. As adults we can make decisions about how much information to share, and we can thicken our skin an take the hit if we happen to make a mistake.

 

But as my 7 year-old son asked me a few weeks ago, “Mom, why is is okay for you to use your whole name online and not me?”

 

As a marketer and public relations professional, I believe I have an ethical duty to ask myself how I am using people’s data. I have started a Scoop.It topic on the issue of Social Media and Privacy. If you are interested in this, be sure to follow the topic in the graphic below.

 

How do you feel about privacy and social media? How far is too far? What, if any, is our responsibility for using this data?

 

Evolving Privacy in Social Media

 

 

Direct link to all privacy articles

 

Photo credit:

Double face by Photo by uzi978

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The Holy Grail of Social Media: Three Questions to Ask, Three Archetypes to Avoid

 

Everything you need to know about risk and social media you can learn from Monty Python.

 

Okay, perhaps not everything, but the classic scene where the Knights of the Roundtable approach the “Bridge of Doom” in their quest for the Holy Grail holds a lot of wisdom.

 

Three Questions to Ask for Your Social Media Strategy

 

1. Who are You? Knowing who you are as an organization isn’t as easy as it sounds. You need to understand the culture of your company, and you need to know a lot about your stakeholders. Are they a Facebook crowd or more likely on LinkedIn? What about Flickr or YouTube?
2. Where are you going? I am always amazed at how many organizations have no real goals for their social media interactions. Be sure you have some SMART Objectives in place and know what are you are trying to accomplish.
3. What don’t you know? You need to know Your Achilles Heel. What are your weaknesses as an organization? Where are you likely to stumble? Do you have a secretive culture? Be sure you have guidelines in place to keep things moving in the right direction.

 

The Three Archetypes to Avoid

 

The Early Adopter. This may be a sacrilegious statement for some, but don’t aim to be an early adopter. This personality has more of “shiny object” syndrome and often is not the most efficient. Sir Lancelot only made it across the bridge with a turn of good luck and some bravado. Moving first has its advantages, but notice that King Arthur wasn’t the early adopter in this clip, but instead used his intelligence to outwit the bridge keeper.

 

 

 

 

 

The Overconfident Guru. The other archtype is one that gathers a few case studies, attends a few webinars and decides that this social media stuff is pretty easy. Problem is they often fly without a plan. Like Sir Robin, they push others to go first and then come in behind with an arrogant attitude. Sometimes they end up in the “Gorge of Eternal Peril,” too (Muhaa-ha-ha).

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Copycat. The final archetype is one that carefully studies the market and his or her competitors, then decides to do something “just like” a competitor. In this clip, Sir Galahad is not true to his own personality, and thus end up in the Gorge with the others.

 

 

 

 

If nothing else, I hope it makes you chuckle.

 

Many thanks to I have to give credit to Kathi Kruse (@kathikruse) whose own excellent post on this subject inspired me to add the captions.

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Think that Celebrities are a Home Run for Fundraising? New PayPal Study Says Community Works Better

It turns out that when it comes to fundraising for a cause, it is not about who knows YOU, but who you KNOW. A recent study sponsored by PayPal Nonprofit, and penned by Geoff Livingston and Henry Dunbar for Zoetica, shows that a personal story, a tight knit community and the authenticity of the messenger count more than simple fame.

 

 

Four Tips for Fundraising with Weblebrities

1. Personal connections and authentic passion for the cause.

2. Willingness to ask their personal friends to get involved and not just their ‘publics.’

3. Identify avid users of social media, both by the celebrity and their social networks.

4. Welcome the non-traditional celebrity.

 

Consider just these few examples where micro-celebrities outperformed well-known celebrities:

Facebook’s Causes

Paddie O’Brien, a 9-year-old cancer patient with virtually no online presence generated more donations than any other individual, including television star Ashton Kutcher.

 

DonorsChoose.org

Tomato Nation’s Sarah Bunting raised over $383K, beating out better known names like TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington and All Things D’s Kara Swisher.

 

Kevin Bacon’s Six Degrees

Scrapbooking blogger Ali Edwards, whose son has autism, outpaced 60 celebrity fundraisers, including Kanye West, who didn’t get even one donation. By contrast Edwards brought in 2,313 donors giving 47,849 to benefit Autism Speaks.

 

PayPal-sponsored Regift the Fruitcake

Filipina singer Charice and her engaged fans beat out more notable celebrities such as Paris Hilton [4 million+ Twitter followers], Billy Bush of Access Hollywood, the NBA’s Lamar Odom and his reality TV star wife Kloe Kardashian. None of these delivered Charice’s impact.

TwitChange

 

In a charity auction where fans buy mentions, follows, and retweets from celebrities on Twitter. Two of the celebrities drawing the most attention and highest bids have been actor Zachary Levi (of TV’s Chuck) and celebrity photographer Jeremy Cowart, beating stars such as country singer LeAnn Rimes and celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton.

 

 

You can download the Effectiveness of Celebrity Spokespeople in Social Fundraisers, in full from the Scribed site.

 

Case Studies

• How Reddit Rocked Stephen Colbert’s World

 

Other coverage of the paper:

• Celebrities May be Overrated, Chronicle of Philanthropy
• Paypal Research Shows Strength of Community Trumps Popularity,

  Geoff Livingston  How Reddit Rocked Stephen Colbert’s World

• PayPal Paper Shows Celebrities Not Always the Best Choice for Fundraising, Zoetica

• Good News for Giving 2.0: Your Organization’s  Champions are Your Most Valuable Resource, Beth Kanter

• Online Celebrity Fundraisers Only Succeed with Authentic Interest, The Case Foundation

• Online Celebrity Fundraisers Only Succeed with Authentic Interest, Razoo

• The Effectiveness of Celebrities in Social Fundraisers, Frank Berry on NetWitsThinkTank (Blackbaud)

• Is Ashton Kutcher a Fundraising Dud?, Sherrilynne Starkie

• Celebrity Schmelebrity, The Facts Don’t Lie, PVSM Blog

• Do Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Other Celeb Tweets Really Help Causes?, Huffington Post

• 4 Top Tips for Recruiting Celebrity Fundraisers, Charity Buzz

• Who would you pick as your next spokesperson… lady gaga or your next door neighbor?, Social Citizens

Photo Credit: Photo from Blue Oregon coverage of the Ali Edward’s fundraiser for Kevin Bacon’s Six Degrees

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