The below blog conversation is in response to Andrew Rusk’s recent post about a face-to-face talk he and I had on Friday, July 31st @ Lettieri cafe #QnSpdna.
Andrew Rusk is the Social Media Coordinator for jhr, Journalists for Human Rights.
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Who are you? Who are we?
I had a great meeting with Donnie Claudino, marketing manager of TechSoup Canada. I was talking to Donnie about social media specifically for jhr. jhr has a relatively new social media strategy and is just getting into the swing of things on Twitter, Facebook and the like.
Andrew I also enjoyed our talk. Thank you for the opportunity to share, and learn with you. Please put me on the list of supportive bloggers for your upcoming 24 Hours of Silence campaign – #24hrsSilence4HR. What a fantastic initiative!
Donnie had some great ideas for moving forward, one that stood out was that of really knowing and understanding the people that interact with your brand. Your supporters are incredibly powerful brand assets.
Yes, your supporters are crucial for you to have a thriving ‘brand.’ And it’s important to remember that your brand is what ever comes to mind when someone is asked what is; who is, jhr.? Your brand lives in the minds of your supporters.
Donnie pointed to Oxfam GB as a great example of an NGO with a strong Facebook following of people that interact with the brand on a regular basis. Their setback, however, is a failure to interact with their supporters when they comment on what Oxfam publishes. Despite Oxfam’s support they fail to turn supporters into ambassadors through regular, personalized dialogue [*on FaceBook.*]
Oxfam IS a great example of how to be progressive and present online! I subscribe to the school that ’social media’ is a conversation. We’re talking right now. You posted (spoke,) and now I am responding. It is important for both of us to remind each other, that we value each others ideas.
While jhr tries to interact with people who comment on our Facebook or interact with us on Twitter, the way in which we post our content doesn’t facilitate people to comment – we participate in, rather than create dialogue. It is our hope to try and work on resolving this in the near future.
We often talk about knowing our audience, but this is a term often used in creating strategy. We also need to, upon implementation of strategy, understand the specific nuances of who is interacting with our brand. Where do they live? What’s their favourite colour? What can we do to improve their interactions with our brand?
Yes, and also to know more deeply who they are as people. jhr’s supporters, volunteers, advisers–are your family. If you communicate with your ’supporters’ like you do with a close relative or friend, they are more likely to respond with equal fondness.
I’m enjoying our conversation Andrew. Let’s keep it going!
#DC
@donnieclaudino @cause2mkt
http://www.meetup.com/Toronto-Cause-to-Market-Meetup
