I learned a lot from each of these conferences, but it was interesting how different they were.
First of all, the obvious difference: Free State Social was an in-person event and the IFC eConference was a virtual event. But there are many other, and far more interesting, differences.
Free State Social
Let me start by saying Free State Social was a blast! It was great to connect with people I follow on Twitter in person, and there were many valuable discussions that took place.
The topic of all discussion was social media, but the speakers talked about their use for various entities: individuals, news organizations, public relations and for-profit companies. It was great to have such a wide range of topics, yet all speakers seemed to have one common tip — EXPERIMENT!
Social media is evolving so quickly, and the only way to stay ahead is by being a thought leader and trying new things. Learn from mistakes of others, as well as your own, and think outside the box. Decide what you want to accomplish with social media, THEN make a plan. Lather, rinse, repeat . . .
Another central theme was understanding that the value of social media is not necessarily dollar signs. Social media is a listening tool, as well as a way to create community. It brings people — virtually everybody — together for the good, the bad and the ugly. Businesses must be dedicated to being customer-centric organizations that listen to their consumers and react appropriately. The market isn’t controlled by marketers, it’s controlled by consumers. (Wahoo!)
If I typed out every single piece of knowledge gained from Free State Social, my fingers may go numb. These are some of the larger concepts from the event, and I can’t say enough good things about it.
IFC International Fundraising eConference
The IFC eConference was a completely virtual event, but the set up was nothing short of fantastic. When you logged in, it was as if you were in an actual in-person conference. There were virtual greeters, and various rooms such as the auditorium, resource center and networking lounge. Speakers were broadcast from around the globe, making for a diverse range of experiences.
The entire conference was focused on online fundraising. Since Free State Social didn’t really cover the nonprofit side of social media, it was interesting to see the differences. Social media wasn’t the only buzz word at the conference, but it certainly was emphasized. Other key topics included mobile marketing, with a lot of discussion surrounding Haiti text fundraising, email marketing and website fundraising. A lot of attention was given to Facebook, but not so much to Twitter. Many speakers agreed that Facebook and other social media may NOT be the best tools for many nonprofit organizations. When resources are limited, direct mail and email have far, FAR better results.
However, some case studies showed astounding results for smaller nonprofit organizations. Social media can be used to spread a nonprofit’s mission virally over the Web. Actually raising funds on social media is a bit trickier, though I see this evolving and believe we will see a lot more successful uses of social media to raise money online in the not-so-distant future.
One of my favorite speakers was Geoff Handy of The Humane Society. I was so impressed by The Humane Society’s seamless integration between their online media — websites, email campaigns, public relations, Facebook, Twitter, etc. A truly remarkable example of integrated fundraising.
INTEGRATED FUNDRAISING – that’s the No. 1 takeaway from the IFC eConference. It’s all about making all your media work together — direct mail, email, social media . . . everything! Nonprofits must not have a silo organizational structure and should unify their efforts across all media. This is a major change, and as we all know, change can be difficult. But it is in the best interest of nonprofits to jump over the hurdles and adapt because the results are too good to ignore. Another of my favorite speakers, Michael Johnston of Hewitt and Johnston Consultants, suggests creating a temporary team derived from all departments to promote the integration.
Feel left out?
Follow the events’ hashtags on Twitter to see some direct quotes and some of the discussion:
- Free State Social: #FSSocial
- IFC eConference: #2ndIFCOnline
The Free State Social archives are available for purchase for a low fee of $9.95 and is WELL worth the investment! To purchase access to the archives, go to the Free State Social blog.
