This all changed on October 20, 1932 when the first international conference was held at a hotel in Amsterdam.
All reports agree that it was a friendly
and harmonious meeting, devoted entirely to the practical problems of
preparing the way for the development of international youth travel. The
conference accepted the following principles: - Hostels must basically be open to the entire youth of the country and on the most favorable conditions possible; - young people should pay lower membership and overnight fees than adults; - young people should also have priority over other guests in the allocation of beds.
In the world of nonprofits, there are some problems with communication. How to ensure all speaking with one voice, as expanding tools to communicate online and offline and staff's roles change? Why do nonprofits struggle to communicate clearly? How to to attract customers? With a wide variety of handout?
Why can't customers remember you?
You have worked hard at promotion materials, and tried to use every interesting element to capture people's attention.
Looking at all these handouts with a wide variety of difference in styles, colors and pictures; these are indeed well-designed, but there is no consistent element, people would think these are from 10 organizations.
Nonprofits worry that if using the same element, it would be seen as a sign of uncreative and customers would get tired of it. While it is exactly what the goal is in attracting customers. When they see the element, they will immediately think of your organization and "get bored". In this case, nonprofit promotion is successful.
Brandraising
Branding nonprofits
Brandraising is a model to be developed to help nonprofits build a strong, strategic framework for communications. These are three levels:
Organizational Level
The most important thing is to know what you want to say as a organization and how you want to say it.
Vision: is an expression of what your organization would
like to see as a possibility and a future for the community and
stakeholders you serve.
Values: are powerful tools for defining and guiding your organization's ability to create the future.
Objectives: help nonprofit companies measure success not in dollars, but in how well the organization addresses the cause(s) it champions.
Audiences: are the people you want to attract and sever as a nonprofit organization.
Positioning: the big differentiating idea you strive to own in the minds of your target audiences.
Personality: ｔhe overarching feeling you want people to associate with your organization. Define your nonprofit's personality to keep your tone and style consistent.
These are the core elements to structure the nonprofit and also the messages to be delivered to the public. These are not so often changed and should be kept the same, although there are constant staff changing.
Identity Level
In this level, it defines how people think of your brand. Through visual and messaging platform, nonprofit talk to the groundswell.
Visual Identities Contain: Logo Colors Typography Use of imagery / graphics
In order to keep consistency in a nonprofit, it is important to create a style guide. Whether it is for marketing outreach or for networking with existing customers, the organization should use the same kind of visual identities and messaging platforms. Trying to avoid improvised materials, such we people tend to use blue for winter and green for spring.
Experiential Level
There are many channels for nonprofit organization to communicate with their audience. Social media tools are useful and powerful.
Thought and Actions
In an existing nonprofit organization, there are some of the unfavorable communication management habits. But these should be seen as motivations to start, not the obstacle to hesitate.
Some will start with understanding what they have been doing these years.
Some will gather all the promotion materials and make a style guide.
Some will investigate organization's personality and positioning.
As long as they hit the road with right direction, smart communication in nonprofit can bring the magnificent impact.
NCIV serves the international exchange community and helps build
person-to-person relationships "one handshake at a time." NCIV
membership includes a nationwide network of Community Member
Organizations, National Program Agencies, Associate Member
Organizations, and individuals. NCIV members design and implement
professional programs, provide cultural activities, and offer home
hospitality for foreign leaders, specialists, and scholars participating
in the U.S. Department of State International Visitor Leadership
Program (IVLP) and other exchanges. With leadership and training
provided by NCIV, member organizations are expert at matching the
resources of their communities with the needs of International Visitors.
I have attended the 2012 national annual meeting and experienced the different social media power to promote the meeting. NCIV not only did a good job in planning the sessions, but also played a leading role to energize, support and embrace the groundswell.
Energizing: NCIV encouraged enthusiastic members to post and comment. Supporting: NCIV provide instruction sheets on Twitter. Embracing: NCIV create Emerging Leading Program and use young students' social media competence to reach out more young people and promote citizen diplomacy.
Official Website
When logging in NCIV official website, there are some rolling new of upcoming activities. Living Our Story: The 2013 NCIV National Meeting is on the first. And there are corresponding description of each session and documentation for Pre-Meeting Workshops and some of the sessions.
Although all social media tools are available for both business and nonprofit, there are difference in the ways to approach them. Business are more likely to put more resource and energy to the tools which will have a direct impact on customers and have the potential benefit of increasing sales. While in the nonprofit, more members are driven by the personal attachment with organizational mission instead of advertisement. Lack of staff is often seen in the nonprofit sector, more human labor would be put into more effective committees, such as programming, strategic plan and finance. The mostly used and update social media tool would be the office website.
It is also true for the organization where I started work 5 month ago, the International Center of Worcester. Although we have Facebook and Twitter, it was not usually updated until I took the initiative to post on Facebook. The only social media tool that can contain most of organizational information is the official website which has the record of all the programs throughout the years and hasn't updated recently. I have been working as a Program Coordinator for 3 month and you still could not see my picture in the organizational structure. It is understandable that our webmaster is a volunteer. Since we have been busy with all the programs and reports, there would not be such a problem if the website is not keep pace up with the recent activities.
Videos
Sound and image are always good format for promotion.
Michelle Kwan, the most decorated figure skater in U.S. history and the first U.S. Public Diplomacy Envoy, shared her experience and influenced people with her athlete charm. Michelle Kwan gave two speeches in the meeting and this video played twice. The celebrity effect has always played an important role, especially in the nonprofit sector.
Mr. Michael Mabwe, the National Coordinator, Zimbabwe United States of America Alumni Association (ZUSAA), as an international visitor who attended the “Promoting Tolerance through Arts” IVLP in 2008, he
applied the best practices that he saw in the United States to his
organization, Zimbabwe Poets for Human Rights. NCIV planning committee recorded Mr. Micheal's opening poem in the meeting.
Twitter
On the Opening Plenary Session, there were twitter sheet instructions that let people tweet after Michelle Kwan for #ExpandYourWorld. And the Planning Committee offered follow up instructions for the IVLP Network in the coming days as well.
During breakfast and lunch sessions, the host would read more of the tweets and encouraged people to tweets #LivingNCIV.
Emerging Leaders
Besides senior and experienced staff members, there were some young student interns attending the annual meeting as Emerging Leaders. These young students are more familiar with social media sites and had smart phones which can keep up with the latest activities. Some of them post pictures on their Facebook and transfer Citizen Diplomacy to a younger generation which has a more profound meaning. I am honored to be one of them and here are some of the pictures.
It is our pleasure to meet friend who share the same interest and we all wish each other a bright future. Although we know that there might be no chance for us to meet, but thanks to the social network, we can be friends during our whole life.
It is always a profound question of who am I. This is a clip from the latest film - Les Misérables
Society Identities
We
live in the human society which is consist of different social
statuses, sometimes we are students who concentrate themselves on
academic studies; sometimes we are individuals who have certain kind of
interest; there are also times we are labeled with personal
relationships: friend, sister, daughter; more often we are distinctive
because we live in different cities.
These
are all the social identities which make us unique as an individual and
also bring people who share the same characteristic together. Living in
the social media world can strengthen people's identity, because
different social media has its own user group and corresponding
features. People’s trust, personal relationships, and civic and
political involvement are connected to their use of social networking
sites. A recent study shows, as of December 2012, 67% of online adults use social networking sites.
On Renren: I am a friend
The Renren Network ( Chinese: 人人网; pinyin : Rénrénwǎng; literally "Everyone's Website"), formerly known as Xiaonei Network (Chinese: 校内网; literally "on-campus network") is a Chinese social networking service that exists as the Chinese remake of Facebook. It has been called the Facebook of China, popular amongst college students.
I
have been using this social sites since I graduated from high school, I
have most of my college friends and some of high school and junior
school friend on this site. Although Renren has been called the Facebook
of China, it has some distinction. Facebook has a more board user group with the number of 140 million and the age range is approximately from 13 to 65.
But for Renren, it is most popular among college students. After
graduation, some of my college friend work for IT companies. It shocked
me when someone told me that their company had blocked Renren for a more
effective working environment. These has been a tendency that some are
leaving Renren. For those who stayed in Renren networking, some only
like or comment or even only view others' post.
I stay
and keep update my Renren page and view others' share and post although
I am already in the Unites States. The different timezones and
lifestyles sometimes confuse me with their posting. Once many of them
complained about the train tickets, I didn't realize that the National
Day is around the corner.(Many people travel during the National Day
break and it is not easy to buy a train ticket, these pictures
will help you understand) I don't want to feel isolated from my Chinese
friends and let them know my life through picture posting and blog
writing.
On QQ: I am a granddaughter, daughter, niece, sister
QQ provides customers with a popular instant messaging software service.Due to popularity of the instant messaging software service, by 10 September 2012, there were 784 million active user accounts with approximately 100 million online at a time. According to Alexa Internet rankings, the website of QQ ranked 8th which moved ahead of the 10th most popular, Twitter . QQ also offers customers a variety of services, including online social games, online music, micro blogging, group chat, QQ voice, QQ-zone(search for new friends), QQ virtual pet ( foster virtual penguin, bear, pig), and QQ paipai (online shopping website).
As I said, Renren is not so popular among the seniors. My family members, especially my parents and Aunt will use QQ to contact me. Not born as a digital native, it is not easy for them learn the high-technology and it is still interesting for my grandparents to see me on the screen when we use video chatting.
Different user group decide how you act on social networking sites. Avoid making my family members worried about me, I always try to be happy and positive on qq by posting and commenting with satisfaction of life. Sometimes I comment in English on Renren, because almost everyone on Renren understands it, but it doesn't apply to qq. As a way to communication which my family, I will continue update on qq.
Here is a promotion of qq which tells a story of an Chinese international student. I found this on qq video. Although the narration is Chinese, it is not hard to get the basic idea of love. http://play.v.qq.com/play?vid=71QwbZCPHgs I updated the post with a YouTube video!(3/23/3013)
There is no need to describe the popularity of Facebook. It is an indispensable personal asset of Americans. Starting a Facebook networking site is one of the first steps of American life and it is convenient to friend those who you meet but can't see each other often. Likes and comments make us feel closer when there is physical distance between us. Learning that Facebook does not only have the influence on friends but also can be investigate as a resource by potential employer, I am very careful with what I post. My Facebook entry: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004262051992
Two old friends met on the street, one carried the fishing gear on hand, and started to chat.
A: Are you going fishing? B: No, I am going fishing. A: Aha, I thought you were going fishing.
Interesting and meaningless to hear this ridiculous conversation, right? Because the two men are to old to hear each other clearly and they are reluctant to admit their listening disability. The joke also evokes the importance of listening in a conversation.
What can we learn from the joke?
Doing business is launching a conversation with customers. Without careful listening and fully understand what customers have said and what they need, it is impossible to achieve ultimate business goal. Before social media came into the equation, people do share their thoughts and ideas among friends, colleagues and sometimes directly to the company as well. This kind of interaction is more personal related and have a certain kind of influence among customers. Nowadays, with the explosion of social media sites, listening has a more profound meaning and played a more important role in business activities.
Why is listening important?
"Your brand is whatever your customers say it is. And in the groundswell where they communicate with each other, they decide."
--- Charlene Li & Josh Bernoff Groundswell
Your brand resides within the hearts and minds of customers. It is the sum total of their experiences and
perceptions, some of which you can influence, and some that you cannot. A
strong brand is invaluable as the battle for customers intensifies day
by day. It's important to spend time investing in researching, defining,
and building your brand. After all your brand is the source of a
promise to your consumer. It's a foundational piece in your marketing
communication and one you do not want to be without.
This short video also illustrates the importance of listening to customers. --- Smarter Marketing: Having Public Conversations
How to listen to the groundswell?
Everyone has the experience of being buried in the massive information online, it might be interesting for individuals to generate their knowledge by clicking the mouse all the way. But when it comes to business plan, efficiency has been put under spotlight. It is necessary to define what the goals are and what to get out of it. There is difference between reaching out for new customers and keep track of existing ones. This is
important as you want to identify keywords and phrases that you will use
when searching for conversations.
There are other small aspects need to be taken into consideration when listening on the groundswell. As the old saying goes, Success depends on details.
Involve Others
With the speed of a tweet, how to tap the right person in the
organization to either answer the query or help toanswer it?
Build Relationships
When developing a voice and become a resource for others, people will
listen and spread message on the merits of the message.
What influences it might have when listening to the groundswell?
By paying more attention to the best customers, the biggest advantages, and the power of the business’s story, it has the potential to build upon the strong points and achieve outstanding results.
While there may be exceptions, the vast majority of businesses rely on current customers to introduce them to new customers. Whether it’s through personal recommendations, posts on social media, or even online reviews—there are a number of ways current customers can help you reach a wider audience.
Consistency in listening to the groundswell will give business agency a more comprehensive idea of what customers think of them and will lead to a better policy making in the future. In the end, this short video provide more optimistic ideas of social media marketing.
Social Media Marketing in 3 minutes
More information available to help with listening on the groundswell:
