Nonprofits have a specific set of challenges when it comes to retaining members and maintaining (or better yet, increasing) donations. When the economic climate turns as negative as our current one, these challenges, always difficult, become formidable.

But for nonprofit organizations, the evolution of the Internet and the advent of social media has produced a fantastic window of opportunity. With online social networking at their command, associations of all types, including nonprofits, can bridge geographical boundaries and connect meaningfully with their supporters.

The fact is, in a dynamic social media community, the interaction between you and your advocates is about more than fundraising. It can be about a philanthropic organization’s mission to defeat worldwide poverty. In a socially-infused web destination, the energy can be about educating constituents (and each other) about the dangers of climate change. In a more pragmatic setting, the gathering and sharing can be about achieving professional goals.

It’s about connection and communication. And giving your members reasons to stay tuned in to who you are as a leading brand, as a provider of beneficial services, as a coalition of passionate believers.

Indeed, enhancing your existing web presence with a seamlessly integrated, custom-tailored community can transform your membership retention and put it on a path of sustained momentum.

How is it done?

First, you should select your social media solutions provider carefully. Second, be certain the integrity of your brand is nurtured and convincingly promoted. Your brand is paramount; it is not likely to benefit from a) sponsored gatherings on Facebook or b) generic, out-of-the-box, unbranded networking tools assembled on a series of web pages.

Consider an experienced, subscription-based SaaS vendor who can develop, compellingly integrate and deliver a community wrapped around your brand. All of these Web 2.0 tools will help engage your supporters and boost membership retention:

All of these solutions will help your organization meet and exceed its membership retention objectives.

An Events module, specifically, can go a long way toward boosting member interaction. Give individuals easy access to an area where they can quickly post information about an interesting, upcoming offline event. Both online and offline participation will be positively impacted when you include tools such as url links, maps, calendars, tracks, sessions, speaker information and more.

But when all is said and done, membership renewal is but one aspect of your relationship with your supporters. Your hopes and passions and commitments are theirs, too.

A sharply branded online social networking community is the perfect place for all of you to meet, connect, communicate and realize the ambitions you share.

If you have ideas, questions or comments about nonprofit social media membership and fundraising growth, please share them here.

The only thing we love more than social networking is helping people learn more about best practices in social media purchasing and deployment.

But everyone needs a little downtime...especially if you’re professionally linked to all things social media and you eat, drink and breathe it throughout your work week. A week which for most of us, rarely ends on the weekend.

So, sit back, relax, and be prepared to forget for a few minutes all the work-related challenges in your life. Because even we serious social media types know it makes sense to have a sense of humor.

Without further adieu, here are the Social Networking Congressional Bailout Hearings

If you have ideas, questions or comments about the humorous side of social media, please share them here.

Perhaps you were too shy to ask or just didn’t give social media definitions much thought. Either way, the evolution of social media terminology is a fascinating subject. And new, hip phrases are coming into the spotlight at a prodigious rate. I mean, just a few years ago, no one had ever heard of Twitter. Now, Twittering is the current online craze.


Blog
A “Blog” is a contraction of the term Web Log. A blog implies regular entries and frequent updates usually focused on a singular subject. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of most blogs.

Blogosphere
The blogosphere is an imaginary space where blog chatter floats around. This atmosphere of thought and opinion all over the Internet has a distinctive personality, depending on the blog subject matter and passion. The political blogosphere, for example is always “abuzz” about something. But the same is true about the passions you’ll find in the very active gardening and wine blogosphere.

Meme
Meme rhymes with team. Memes are new or cool ideas that plant the seed for an extended back-and-forth conversation on the Internet. The idea thread keeps expanding because people keep building on the original concept.

Twitter
Twitter is a real-time micro-blogging application that people have been drawn to because it’s a fast, fun way of sharing bits of information. Most of the time, it’s about what you’re working on, or what you think about something others are interested in. Truly, Twitter is instant communication.

Vlogging
Vlogs are video-oriented blogs. A lot of bloggers think it’s easier to post videos on a site than write. The drawback to this is lack of search engine appeal. Search engines are weighted toward finding words more than finding images. However, some vlog sites are very entertaining. 

Web 2.0
The term "Web 2.0" describes the changing trends in the use of Internet technology and design that aim to enhance creativity, communications, secure information sharing, collaboration and functionality on the Web. Web 2.0 also connotes the enhanced interconnectivity and interactivity of content on the Internet. In business terms, Web 2.0 reflects a movement toward leveraging the evolving strengths of the Internet, including its use as a flexible platform.

Widget
Widgets tend to be mini-applications that can spread around the Internet away from the folks who created them. Sometimes they are little modules that perform a simple task (like a poll that tracks the data to poll questions). Sometimes widgets are cute mini games or small modules that track the weather or local (vehicle) traffic.

Wiki
Wikis are pragmatic, expandable collaboration tools available in one gathering place. They allow multiple people to work in the same document, and that document lives online. Plus, it saves all the old versions, keeps a history of who changed what, and so on. Corporate Wikis can become very lively forums.

We welcome your comments if you have thoughts about social media expressions.

Perhaps you were too shy to ask or just didn’t give social media definitions much thought. Either way, the evolution of social media terminology is a fascinating subject. And new, (often bewildering) technical phrases are coming into the spotlight at a prodigious rate. I mean, just a few years ago, no one had ever heard social networking. Now, Social Networking rules the net.

Aggregator
In computing, a feed aggregator, also known as a feed reader, news reader or simply aggregator, is client software or a Web application which aggregates syndicated web content (RSS feeds) in the form of news headlines, blogs, podcasts, and vlogs in a single location for easy viewing.

API
Application Programming Interface is programming code exposed to the outside world to give other developers outside your application or organization the ability to more easily interact with your software. Language-independent APIs are written in a way that means they can be called from several programming languages. This is a desired feature for a service-style API which is not bound to a particular process or system and is available as a remote procedure call. For example, online social communities utilize APIs to support features such as Remote Commenting and Single Sign-On.

Dynamic Content
Dynamic Content is at the core of the social media experience on the web. Clickable, easily-accessible content modules give members many engaging ways to express an opinion, share information, connect with other members, create a community group. post an event, upload photos and videos and much more.

OAuth

OAuth is an open protocol that allows secure API Authorization in a simple and standard method for desktop, mobile and web applications. For consumer developers, OAuth is a method to publish and interact with protected data. For service provider developers, OAuth gives users access to their data while protecting their account credentials. In other words, OAuth allows a user to grant access to their information on one site (the Service Provider), to another site (called Consumer), without sharing all of his or her identity.

Profiling
Members of online communities can create individual user profiles, including vanity pages and URLs, to establish their presence within the community. Members can also personalize, edit and manage their profiles. Profiles are the core element of the online community, setting the stage for interaction and friending.
In a Profile, members can share as much (or as little) information as they wish. Along with a brief biography, a member can reveal his or her birthday, marital status, education, occupation, geography, hobbies, preferences in music/film, plus a virtually unlimited list of additional topics.
Profiling links make it easy for people to discover, connect and engage with other members.

SaaS
Software as a Service (SaaS, typically pronounced 'sass') is a model of software deployment where an application is hosted as a service provided to customers across the Internet. By eliminating the need to install and run the application on the customer's own servers, SaaS alleviates the customer's burden of software maintenance, ongoing operation, and support.
As a term, SaaS is generally associated with business software and is typically thought of as a low-cost way for businesses to obtain the same benefits of commercially licensed, internally operated software without the associated complexity and high initial cost.

Social Networking
Social Networking is the assembly, or coming together of individuals in specific groups or communities. Although social networking is possible in person, especially in schools or in the workplace, it is most popular online. This is because the Internet is filled with millions of individuals who are looking to meet other internet users to develop friendships and business relationships.
Depending on the website in question, many of these online community members share a common interest such as hobbies, religion, or politics.
So, members make like-minded friends, and easily share ideas, information and visual content.

SSO
Single Sign-On is a method of access control that enables a user to log in once and gain access to multiple Internet sites without being prompted to log in again. A community developer who offers SSO uses centralized authentication for authentication purposes, and combines this with techniques to ensure that users do not actively have to enter their credentials more than once.
SSO helps eliminate user “password fatigue,” saving visitors the time and bother of re-entering passwords for the same identity.

UGC
User Generated Content (UGC), refers to various kinds of media content, publicly available, that are produced by end-users. In a community infused with social media tools, members have the opportunity to create a compelling profile, contribute to blogs, comment on a blog or article, upload photos and videos, establish a Group, post an Event, and more. These positive activities encourage collaboration, skill-building and discovery.
Often UGC is partially or totally monitored by website administrators to avoid offensive content or language, copyright infringement issues, or simply to determine if the content posted is relevant to the site's general theme.

We welcome your comments if you have thoughts about social media terminology or trends.

The phenomenon of YouTube fully demonstrates the amazing evolution of video on the Internet. People like to watch videos, be entertained by them, and to share the action with friends. This is especially true in the context of a social media community—because sharing is what a community is all about.

Keeping the viral explosion of video use in perspective, your social software platform should offer members a fast, simple way of uploading videos for others to see. Many SaaS (software as a service) solutions providers partner with dedicated social media developers who specialize in video delivery.

For example, ThePort Network collaborates with the experts at Multicast to deliver high-performance video functionality to the members of its clients’ communities. Developing together, ThePort and Multicast integrate video modules into a custom platform so that users find generating content to be fun, quick—and most important—reliable.

Since easy engagement and flexible communication are hallmarks of the best white label communities, experienced social media vendors focus on video as a an essential element—one that helps people connect and consistently stimulates debate. Ideally, intuitive sharing activities will be linked to every video post. Members should have the option to rate, tag and comment on the sound & motion content. This level of engagement really helps members spend more time interacting in the community. Rallying around video also keeps your constituents returning often and gives them added reason to formally invite their online friends as well as to spread the news by word of mouth.

Word of mouth “buzz” is viral marketing at its most potent—the greatest marketing campaigns in the world cannot compete with word of mouth credibility.

In terms of sharing video, when your members discover a presentation they especially appreciate, they should be able to easily send a message to the original poster, leave a personal comment, and request that the video contributor become their friend. Along with being able to tag a specific member’s video post, a user should have an easy method of capturing the member’s video gallery in an RSS feed.

Social media video engagement continues to evolve within online communities as innovative social networking software providers create new activities linked to video content. One way or the other, growth of online video interaction will help power the growth of socially-vibrant destinations. The only question is, will the rate keep accelerating at its current, furious pace. 

Stay tuned to the latest developments in the world of social media to find out.

If you have ideas, questions or comments about the growth of video in social media applications, please share them here.

A new article out today in PCMag.com shares a few remarkable statistics about the recent growth of social networking on the Internet. Nearly 70% of all web users visit member communities regularly and the 35-49 age group grew by over 24 million people in terms of embracing popular social media sites. Use by seniors 65 and over also grew, but at a modest 7%.

"The U.K. also proved to be the country most open to social-networking while on the go, with 22.7 percent of mobile Web surfers, or 1.96 million people, visiting a mobile version of a social-networking site. The U.S. was second, with 19.2 percent."

The 2007-2008 study by Nielson included the United States, Brazil, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Australia.

It is a great advantage to have a custom news page in your online community...a place where people can use and manage a high volume of interesting RSS feeds.

ThePort Network offers a very flexible news page you can lay out exactly the way you like. You can have a single page or create multiple pages. Above the page, you can choose from a library of general news feeds and also RSS links that are oriented precisely to your community. With one click, you can also search for new, relevant feeds from the web, then add them to your page.

Select a lively mix of news and blogs that matches your taste. You can view your selected feed modules by headline-only or with introductory text. Better newsreaders let you easily rearrange the page(s), add or delete feeds and share them with members of your community.

One way to share is to tag an entry by clicking on the tag symbol. Generally, your tag will join a tag cloud where other members can click on your chosen keyword and read the story too. With ThePort’s newsreader, when you tag an item, it also posts to your profile page as a “favorite.” So, you can keep a running collection of content that is meaningful to you.

Another sharing option on a “reader” page is to click on the envelope icon next to the entry, then enter their addresses and email the article to friends.

If you have Admin privileges in a community, you will be able to add feeds from the Internet to a master feed library so that all members can access them on their newsreader page. Adding RSS feeds to a community is both fun and challenging.

News feeds are relatively easy because every news organization on the Web offers an array of reliable feeds. Just choose the types of feeds you like best. However, blog feeds vary considerably in quality and frequency. Start by Googling with a common phrase.

Let's say you want to collect blog feeds about social media. Start by Googling "Social Media." You are likely to see a listing for a "Social Media Blog Directory." Or an active blogger who offers several blog listings on one site. The better blog sites always have links to kindred blog sites. The best bloggers only offer quality links and monitor them regularly. Finding one of these sites is like finding a gold mine.

For its white label communities, ThePort Network routinely aggregates dozens of high-quality RSS feeds to populate members’ newsreader pages. The mix of news authorities and leading bloggers (always tailored to the community’s focus) provides an intriguing blend of up-to-the-minute information members can tap. The links are a great starting point for community interaction.

If you have ideas and opinions about harnessing RSS feeds and the use of social media newsreaders, we welcome your comments.

First and foremost, you can advertise all over the Internet. And that’s fine if you have a plump marketing budget on top of already-spent social networking software funds. But today, let’s discuss social media traffic-building strategies aside from advertising.

Active blogging within the community is vital. Seed your own community blogs with frequent entries from a reliable source. This may not require the services of a full-time writer, but perhaps a dedicated part-time voice. Consistent quality of the content is probably more important than inconsistent, lackluster posts in great frequency.

Encourage active community members to offer relevant opinions as often as possible. Give them incentives such as prize awards, or even better, a flexible rating system that raises a member’s status in the community as they participate. The rating system should award points and display the number prominently, next to an individual’s profile image, for example.

Outside of the community, assign an administrator the role of linking to popular social sites with high-volume traffic. Over time, seeding of multiple links will produce results on destinations such as StumbleUpon, Digg and LinkedIn. 

Keep the registration for your community as simple and fast as possible. At the same time, give new members optional profile questions to answer to help empower their identity in the site. Be creative and fun with the questions. If you do, your new registrants will have fun with them, too. Later, after the answers have generated profile tags, curious browsers will be able to browse and view another member’s profile info in a one-click step. This generates Friending activity.

Another rewarding strategy that will help draw visitors to a fledgling community is search engine optimization (SEO). Prior to deployment, community administrators (or managers) should be vigilant about optimizing keywords in all of the tabs, heads and subheads. Careful thought should help specify titles that search engines will respond to. 

After launch, after researching and identifying the best keywords for your brand’s SEO, frequent outreach on the web should leverage these same keywords. In other words, building traffic starts pre-launch with intelligent SEO decisions, and continues indefinitely with linking efforts based on extended keyword research.

For any community, especially one without an overwhelming brand identity, success comes down to smart management. Along with reaching out by linking to sites that will link back to yours, community managers need to connect online with every possible expert in your field or industry. Inspire these leaders to believe in your goals and to help promote your social community.

Administrators of your site can also host all types of traffic-building events regularly in the community. One distinct advantage is your ability to advertise these happenings in your own site for very little cost. Whatever the event is...contest, competition or prize-winning challenge...invite your most active members directly to participate. Promote the event with persistence and make sure the activities leading up to it are fun and persuasive.

Finally, focus on marketing your community online with podcasts and webinars. At the same time, every so often, move out of the virtual world and attend a real-world event. Make these an opportunity to collect content for use on the site, and to connect with potential members. However you approach your plans for sparking community growth, your efforts should be well-planned, energetic and uninterrupted.

We welcome your comments if you have thoughts about boosting traffic in a social media community.

Leveraging your existing websites with “teaser” content from newly launched social communities is a powerful way to attract new members. In this post, we’ll explore how some of our customers are successfully using ThePort Network’s “sneak peek” to attract new members to their communities.

The idea with Sneak Peak technology is that casual visitors get a glimpse of social media activity taking place in a community which they have yet to join. One click on an enticing blog headline, intriguing photo, or member profile photo and the visitor will have landed in your linked community with a call to action. In most cases, registering for the community is one or two clicks away.

The sneak peek modules could be recent video upload, blog entry, event posting, latest members or even a wedding announcement. For example, the Lee Enterprises media group in Iowa launched Quadsville, a companion social community to its Quad City Times online newspaper. On the front page of the Times, they feature two stacked sneak peek modules...a “Latest Video” module topped by a “Latest Blog” module. Both are linked back to the Quadsville community, where they exist simultaneously.

Along with “Latest” Blog entry, Video, Event, Member or Tag, the more innovative social networking software providers offer sneak peek modules that sort through content with a ratings system. The result is “Most Popular” Blog entry, Video, Event, Member or Tag.

Non-profit organizations are also making smart use of sneak peak modules on their traditional corporate sites. Worldwide humanitarian aid sponsor CARE places remote links in high-traffic areas of Care.org to pull visitors into CARE’s social networking community, CARE Connections. Active blog modules pull curious corporate site browsers directly into the socially-active side of the organization with one click on a headline. Along with shared blogs, CARE.org features links to Events, Groups and even RSS news feeds on CARE Connections.

Speaking of RSS feeds, leading SaaS vendors offer a sneak peek module based on a library of live, aggregated RSS news or blogs. These feed “rolls” have added appeal because they provide a continuous stream of topical content. In addition, a feed roll requires very little upkeep—frequent, labor-intensive content updates are not necessary.

In Wisconsin, The Journal Times promotes a feed roll module top right on their local news front page. All of the content within the module directs visitors to a one-click view of the newspaper’s social media community, My Journal Times. The cleverly conceived module has tabs that let viewers choose between content...latest blogs, most popular blogs and/or “social groupings” by Neighborhood. Once a reader clicks, they enter a socially-energized community where they can immediately begin taking action.

One major reason why these social networking additions are flourishing is because of the “sneak peek” content strategically positioned on the original, well-established website. Whether the enterprise is for-profit media, industry association or non-profit philanthropy, traffic to recently launched online communities is boosted by adopting a sneak peek remote module solution.

Please comment if you have thoughts about sneak peek remote modules or other game-changing social media tools.