It was a wild day in Knoxville on Friday, as hundreds of social media obsessives descended upon the city that likes to call itself “scruffy” for the second annual Social Slam, which is quickly becoming a must-attend event for the Illuminati of the Twitter and Facebook world.

The brainchild of Mark Schaefer, college educator and author of “The Tao of Twitter” and the new “Return on Influence,” this conference differs from the vast sea of other such events in its one-day, rapid-fire approach to the problem that plagues us all: Just how in the heck do we effectively use these social media tools, when everyone and no one seems to be an expert at the same time?

To address this question, the panel of speakers put forth a number of potential solutions to that problem – and, yes, some of them conflicted – in a format that often encouraged boiling your point down to the bare essentials, making it easier on those of us sitting there tweeting sound bites (hand raised here), if not on the speakers trying to explain expansive strategies. But they all did an excellent job making it happen, all the same.

Of all the ideas put forth, the audience could likely pick up on a few common themes running through the day, things that seem to be the main focuses of the social media world at the moment. Here’s what I think were the three key takeaways from Social Slam:

1. Content is king. This kept coming up, particularly from the dulcet tones of Marcus Sheridan (@TheSalesLion), who may have frightened us all with his particularly lively presentation, but who gave perhaps the most passionate plea for us to create unique content and put it out into the world. It’s how you separate yourselves from the nonprofit or business pack. You know your company and your clients better than anyone. Leverage that collective knowledge to give people a reason to keep coming back to you when they need to know something. To paraphrase Marcus, “If you hang out enough by the barbershop, you’re eventually gonna get a haircut.”
2. Tear down those silos! Our CEO Chip Grizzard has been on this bandwagon for a while now, and it’s one of the hottest topics in the nonprofit and corporate world – you need to integrate instead of keeping all your departments/people working on parallel paths toward getting the job done. Gini Dietrich, author of “Spin Sucks,” opened the event by making the case for an integrated marketing world, where circles of communication become the visualization of business life, not the top-down hierarchies of the past (and, yes, present, for most).
3. Be interactive. It’s a brave new world of media right now. Gone are the days when individual phone calls and mail were the only ways for donors and potential clients to reach you, and for you to reach them. Now, it just takes a tweet, or a Facebook comment, or a LinkedIn comment, or a blog comment, and if I start getting into Pinterest, I may never stop. But you get the point. The communication channel options seem to be multiplying faster than any of us can keep up with, and there’s an expectation of two-way communication in social media now. Ignoring questions and comments simply isn’t an option today, if you want to be a part of the social media landscape. Automation will not work. You need real people behind these accounts.

These were just a few of the key ideas that came out of a long and productive Social Slam Friday. Don’t let the social media wave pass you by. It’s too valuable. But if it does this year, I have a feeling there will be another one-day catch-up event next April in East Tennessee.

Acquisition can be a tough pill to swallow, especially in a tough economy. Yes, it can be expensive, and you likely won’t recoup your costs within the first campaign. But acquisition is a long-term investment that will bring you donors who will support you for years to come. And choosing to decrease or cancel acquisition can have significant effects on your organization’s future revenue stream.

Still not sure that acquisition is the right strategy for you? Below are three outcomes that might – no, will – happen to your organization if you cut your acquisition budget:

Outcome #1: Your donor file will decrease.
An average organization sees an attrition rate on its direct mail donor file of about 40% each year. Donors might die, they might move out of your service area, or they might no longer have the financial means to contribute. That means that at least 40% of your donors will fall off your file this year – and acquisition is needed to replenish those donors lost.
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When was the last time you bought a car?

The internet has completely changed the car-buying experience. It used to be that car buying was done in person. The prospective buyer would drive to a dealer or several dealers, look around the lot, read a review in the newspaper or magazine and maybe even ask a friend. Then after a few days or weeks, it was back to the dealer for a test drive, and then the painful negotiation that took place in which the dealer always won.

Today, the experience is completely different. Most people start with an online search. They find the make and model of interest, spend hours reading reviews from all over the world, searching for the actual dealer cost, finding multiple financing options and then buying. For some, the only time they step into the dealership is to tell the dealer the price they are willing to pay and complete the paperwork. And some people (me included) have bought cars online site unseen, and they never set foot in a dealership. (more…)

On the surface, charity seems like a mystery. Why do perfectly sensible people give away their hard-earned money – often sending it off in the mail or the digital ether, never to see it again?

I believe one of the most important reasons is tension – the unpleasant, painful contrast between how the world is and how we think it should be. Unfortunately, many nonprofits today are shying away from the tension that energizes action. Their brand guides command them to appear hopeful and happy, as if everything is blissfully under control.

This is a mistake.

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I was a competitive swimmer growing up and spent many long hours in the pool swimming laps. Each practice had specific goals and action plans to improve our performance. One summer, our coach identified everyone’s strengths and then isolated them in the same lane for every practice. So if you specialized in freestyle, you were in a lane with other freestyle swimmers. The same for each stroke and even the relay teams.

What does this have to do with fundraising?

I think most of our fundraising programs are set up the same way. When I talk with organizations, they tell me they are “integrated” because they are using mail, phone, email and social media. But when you drill into the discussion more, I often find that each channel reports to a different person, each channel has separate goals and metrics and each channel operates independently of the other. Basically, each channel is isolated in its own “lane.”

As communication continues to fragment further, organizations that operate in silos will continue to fall behind. Not only will they struggle to raise more money, but they will be inefficient in how they allocate their budgets across channels. In many programs, 40% of online gifts are being made by donors who receive a direct mail package. Let’s get over who gets credit and tailor the communications around the donor instead of by department. Each channel has its strengths and weaknesses, but seamless integration and maximum results happen when they work together.

What do you need to do to become truly integrated?