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Less than a decade ago, commercial enterprises were worried that consumers would be reluctant to use their credit cards to make purchases online. Today, online fundraising brings in 40% of the individual giving revenue for high-achieving nonprofits. So what’s in store for the future? Here are three challenges that are shaping the future of online marketing and fundraising. What other challenges do you see?

1. Cross-channel integrated marketing: High performing organizations are leveraging all their assets in an integrated way, driving users from online emails to offline action and offline invitations to online relationships. There is no one-size-fits-all linear approach to acquisition and conversion. This is putting tremendous pressure on marketing professionals to think more deeply about how to provide meaningful and effective conversion paths for their supporters. Beaconfire is focused on helping clients integrate their promotional and call-to-action efforts to maximize the potential of the online space without losing the “tried and true” methods of yesterday.
2. Push versus pull relationships: Internet users are becoming more and more savvy, increasingly using RSS feeds, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and blogs to stay abreast of information and are less committed and influenced by emails from constituent groups. Because of these new “pull” mechanisms – where users choose what they want, when they want it and through fairly anonymous social media/network sites, “pushing” emails is becoming increasingly less effective. This change in consumption behavior and online relationship formation is requiring organizations to position content, calls to action and donation appeals much more creatively than ever before and distribute to more places than ever before. No longer can you “post on it on your site and they will come.” Now, we must produce it and distribute it where they are, often times without knowing who they are.
3. Monetizing social space: Despite the enormous popularity and rapid growth of social space including networks and the blogosphere, there are yet to emerge proven, repeatable, scalable ways of raising significant funds through these “democratic” networks. Issues of organization or political spam are entering the discourse about how to effectively utilize network growth and user-generated content in a fundraising campaign and also maintain the high quality and trusted relationships with constituents. We are testing various tactics and monitoring emerging best practices, taking the risks with our clients that are required to be the trailblazers.

While most of the discussion of video used by the Presidential campaigns this cycle has focused on Obama and Clinton’s effective use of video to share speeches and ads with users (see this post on how Obama uses YouTube to bypass the culture of sound bytes while this post discusses how both he and Clinton make good use of their raw footage), there’s also been an undercurrent of parody videos that’s designerd to be forwarded, even if it’s less influential.

Prompting this post was a video combining two of the more well-known (at least online) figures in the battle for the Democratic nomination: Mike Gravel and Obama Girl. While one is an pre-packaged phenomenon nearly universally loathed by Democrats and Republicans alike (see this study - 51% of Democrats were irritated by the videos while 41% were embarrassed) and the other is a former senator who shared the stage for several early debates, they actually have a lot in common.

Both trade not on serious policy issues or even trivial gaffes, but on being different enough to break out from pack. Both also make use of pop culture as a segue to promote their own videos - while Gravel’s is often several decades removed (see this video), Obama Girl draws source material from other YouTube celebs.

Their latest video was a collaboration between the two - check it out:

Now, I don’t see videos like this really moving votes. Unlike relatively clever parodies done by the major campaigns (one of Hillary’s best videos pokes fun at herself, Bill and Tom Vilsack), Gravel’s videos are mostly just a way to get attention for a campaign that otherwise would have been forgotten, while Obama Girl is mostly there to sell stuff on her website.

But despite their similarities, I’m far more amicable to Gravel than to Obama Girl. It’s probably not because he’s a candidate - I don’t watch a ton of candidate videos, particularly from the minor candidates. Instead, it’s probably that they’re just plain fun to watch. As I commented to a colleague today, I really like Senator Gravel because he’ll do his own parodies. Whether it’s dumping a rock in the pond, remaking schoolhouse rock, or telling Obama that the election is now down to the two of them, he gets his message out while being entertaining.

Obama Girl, on the other hand, is a joke that may have been funny when she first came out, but now is just sorta creepy. She’s too slick, and her videos just try too hard, plus it’s the same basic premise every time - we get it: you have a crush on Obama. Her videos seem so commercial, while Gravel’s feel so grassrootsy. Plus she pushes the sex angle way too far for my taste - it’s just not something I’d really pass around the office.

So as the nomination contest wraps up, we’ll hopefully see a lot more user-generated parody video this election. While it may not be as vital as Obama’s full-length speeches or the DSCC’s web ads, it’s an important element to get the rank and file engaged and talking about the election. Plus it’s just fun to send around on a Friday afternoon.

Some of my favorite Gravel Ads below the fold, and to see more of Beaconfire staff favorite videos, check out this post.

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Admit it, you’ve always wanted answers to burning questions like:

• How does temperature affect the sound of a flute?
• If a truck full of parrots hits a bump in the road and all the parrots begin flying around inside the truck, does the truck’s weight stay the same or not?
• Why is it easy to stay on a bike while moving, but impossible once it stops?

With the launch of APS Physics Central (http://www.physicscentral.org/), you can ask the experts as well as get information on a wide variety of topics in physics. This is a site geared towards middle and high school students to get them excited and engaged in the world of physics as well as learn about how physics relates to their everyday life (but the curious grown up will fit in too!)

Find experiments to try at home, view photo galleries of physics images, and read the “buzz blog”.

Since coming back for South by Southwest, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about sponsored posts by bloggers. There were several events there that made me think about the topic, from Jeff Jarvis and others lampooning clumsy astroturfing to meeting the folks at Izea who run a pay per post service with a strict ethics code to attending a session on SEO for social media that mentioned that paid blogs can quickly bump up your Google rank for a new campaign. And I think that we’re finally reaching the point where the idea of blogging for money may be finding the right equilibrium to work.

The key requirement that bloggers and the rest of the social web seems to be asking for is disclosure. They don’t mind if you’re paid to shill for a product, just that you point out that you’re doing so. This is little different from the long-standing practice on political blogs of requesting that users disclose if they’re paid by a campaign when posting and commenting - it helps users understand the context and take the remarks with the appropriate amount of salt.

I look at some of the ways to provide this disclose, as well as why non-profits should consider paid posting, after the jump…

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We’ve had the very good fortune to add two more people to our staff in the last couple of weeks.  Shiloh Stark and Elizabeth Engel add their experience in the nonprofit and association sectors to our pool of talent.  

Shiloh comes on board as a Production Specialist with the Online Campaigns & Marketing team.  He will use his knowledge of CMS and CRM tools, Google analytics and social networking tools to ensure creative, timely execution of our clients’ campaigns.  Shiloh has a dedicated career in the nonprofit sector, having worked with National AmeriCorps Association, Whitman-Walker Clinic and, most recently, Public Citizen, where he was the Web Manager in the Health Research Group.  When not dedicating himself to his clients, Shiloh likes to spend quality time with his pet hermit crabs, Spider and Walrus.

Elizabeth Engel joins us as a Senior Consultant, bringing years of experience in a broad range of nonprofit and association management and consulting.  Most recently, Elizabeth was Manager of Not-for-Profit Consulting at RSM McGladrey.  Prior to that, she was Vice President of Marketing for Consortium for School Networking, and Director of Member Services & Technology for the American Political Science Association.  When she’s not filling her duties as a member of the American Society of Association Executives and the Center for Association Leadership, Elizabeth is pursuing her new passion…trying out for the D.C. Roller Girls.

Sign the petition! Share your story! Send a letter! We’ve all been called to action by these popular techniques a million times–and while they continue to work, there is so much more we can do to gain and keep the attention of supporters.  Join Michael Cervino and Ali Cherry on May 15th for an online webinar on “9 Creative and Effective Engagement Tools and Techniques.”  Read more and RSVP today.

Editor’s  note: Periodically, we do a survey of Beaconfire staff to get impressions on a variety of non-profit technology issues. All opinions expressed here are solely those of their authors. With so many social networks out there, every one appeals to a different audience. This week, we thought we’d ask: Which social networks do you have a profile in?

Eve, Creative Director: Facebook, Linked in, and Dogster

Lynn, Principal Consultant: Facebook and LinkedIn

Jeff, Principal Consultant: Facebook (more lurker than active but have over 100 friends), LinkedIN (I use this quite a bit for connecting with former colleagues, partners  and even for recruiting), Terrapin Alumni Network (have profile but found few of my college classmates were on yet. It was early after its launch so worth another look), and MySpace (I believe I have a profile but haven’t used it but once).

Michael, Principal Consultant: The active ones are LinkedIn & Facebook for me.

Kate, Administrative Assistant: I currently use Facebook regularly, after having canceled my Myspace profile a few months ago. I also have a random smattering of profiles on blogs and other things that may tangentially be considered “social networks,” but they’re ill used, so I’ll leave them out.

Andrew, Project Manager: Facebook and LinkedIn

John Brian, Marketing Consultant: I’m on Facebook every day, Flickr once a week, LinkedIn once a month, and Twitter when I go to conferences and such as a way to micro-blog. I was really pulling for Essembly to make it, but it never got anywhere.

Taylor, Software Engineer: I only use Facebook.  When it first opened up I was attracted to its privacy settings and it seemed much more reputable than myspace.  As it has loosened up, i.e.:

• Opening fb up to users under the age of 18
• Allowing external developers to design their own applications,
• Adding the ability for external sites to send feeds about your actions to your fb profile,

I have considered ending my account, but what it boils down to in my mind is that if you are careful and stay informed about your privacy settings and how they change then fb is a fairly secure place to be.  It is also an incredible networking, information sharing and social media tool.

Tim, Functional Consultant: In order from most used to least:

• Facebook
• Shelfari
• MySpace
• LinkedIn
• Flickr
• Twitter

Erika, Operations Manager: I use LinkedIn.  It’s not only a great way to keep in touch with former colleagues, but it’s also a useful recruiting tool.  It enables me to post job openings for Beaconfire and send them out through my network (or post directly to the entire LinkedIn network).  Personal referrals are still the best way to find a job and, from a recruiting standpoint, it’s always better to find candidates who are recommended by people you know and trust.  It reminds me of the old shampoo commercials…”you tell two friends, and they’ll tell two friends, and so on, and so on…” 

Brad, Functional Consultant: Actually use: Facebook, LinkedIn. Have but don’t use: MySpace, Friendster, Yahoo Mash, Twitter (might use Twitter more). Also, it’s not a social network exactly, but I use Highrise to manage my contacts

Ali, Marketing Consultant: Amazon, LinkedIn, Facebook, Delicious are my four big ones.

Elizabeth, Senior Consultant: I use Facebook and Linkedin pretty extensively.  ASAE has started their own internal social networking feature, and I’m cooperating, but I think the horse may have already bolted on that one (there are multiple ASAE and association groups on both FB and Linked).  I joined Naymz because several people asked me to, but I never use it.  And the DC Rollergirls are all on MySpace, so I keep up with derby news there, but I don’t have a profile set up.

Mark, Functional Consultant: Here are mine…

• Yahoo groups
• Facebook
• MySpace
• Linked In
• Flickr

Marissa, Functional Consultant: I’m in Facebook and Goodreads, though I use Goodreads more as a place to maintain the list of books I want to read, rather than a social network.

Kristin, Project Manager: Linked in, Facebook, Yahoo Groups

With new social networks popping up every day, this is bound to increase. In case you’re keeping score at home, of the 16 Beaconfire employees who answered, 15 included Facebook and 12 included LinkedIn!

Most of us think of Twitter as a kind of silly application that lets people say things like “John Brian is preparing for the robot uprising” or “Brad thinks the refs blew it in the Caps/Flyers game 7.” It’s chief purpose, so far, is entertainment, with a dash of TMI thrown in.

But lately, I’ve been wondering.

A couple months ago, at South by Southwest, an interview with Mark Zuckerberg famously went awry when the Twitter-feuled audience first started heckling the interviewer, then eventually took over the microphones. (If you are interested, check out this particularly thoughtful account of the event, which includes an amazing video of the interview with a twitter overlay).

A couple of weeks ago, I was at a different conference (the IA Summit) where Twitter was again used by the crowd, but this time in a far more sanguine way, to share information amongst the audience and make insightful comments about the presentations. It probably helped that the audience and the speakers actually knew each other, even if only passingly in some cases.

I got enough value from following the Summit’s twitter feed that I left thinking, could this actually be of value in a corporate setting?

After all, I’ve been to plenty of all-staff meetings, or large team meetings, where people are already bringing their laptops. The larger and longer the meeting, the more likely people are trying to at least keep an eye on their email. So, the technology is already in place in many offices to try adopting a twitter feed. And what is the value of twitter here?

A second, quiet, channel of information.

The bigger the room, the less anyone wants to interrupt the presenter’s flow to ask a question. The more likely the group is to simply go with the flow. If information they need isn’t provided, they might (if they are lucky) get a chance to ask a question afterwards, or they have to spend extra time cornering the presenter. Having a quiet alternate channel of communication is incredibly helpful. In particular, here are a few of the things that you might use twitter for:

1. Request a resource: “Can someone tell me where to find the .pdf that Michael is talking about?
2. Expand on the content: “In addition to the companies listed, Arlene and I have started talking to Widget Co about this”
3. Gauge interest: “I was hoping to hear more about the bonus program. Anyone else?”
4. Brief side conversations: “Alan, should we be using this tool for Project Z? Looks like it might be helpful.”

In this way, having a second, quiet channel of information might increase the usefulness of a large meeting, or even help positively shape the direction of conversation without grinding things to a halt.

What do you think?

If you missed any of the sessions at NTC, you can download the session materials on NTEN’s web site. Browsing these materials won’t replace being there, but can give you some good reference materials.

When MoveOn launched their “Bush in thirty seconds” user generated video contest, they received more than a little flak. Most of this was a function of a media that didn’t quite yet understand that an organization shouldn’t be held accountable for everything their supporters say. Since then, more organizations have opened up to user-generated content, though there are still a few goofy stories of using online supporters against an organization, by and large, the press has come to accept that there’s a difference between an organization hosting content and endorsing it.

That might be one of the reasons that MoveOn’s new user-generated video contest, “Obama in thirty seconds” has been more popular than its predecessor. As of last Tuesday, MoveOn brought in more than 1100 submissions for the contest (that’s almost 8 hours of total video!), and had more than 2 million votes in less than 24 hours (compared to 2.9 million total in 2004). Since then, votes continued to cascade in - when voting closed, more than 4.7 million votes were cast for the first round.

Why was this contest so much more popular than its predecessor? And what can non-profits learn from MoveOn’s success in this arena? The answers to these, and other questions, plus my favorite videos, below the fold…

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