Hot … Or Not? My Predictions

I recently picked up an issue of a tabloid magazine and stumbled on a “What’s Hot/What’s Not” list. As I read it, I felt a little out of touch with Hollywood because I’d never heard of the people and trends. I did like the concept, though, and I started to think about what’s hot and what’s not in the world of online fundraising. Here’s what I came up with:

HOT
Facebook: Ever since Facebook opened up its platform, the site has garnered even more attention and grown dramatically. If you don’t believe me, I suggest you ask a college student what percentage of her friends are on Facebook and how often she checks her profile. Facebook and other social-networking sites are evolving into communication platforms that nonprofits cannot afford to ignore.

NOT
Friendster: One of the first social-networking sites just isn’t as hot as it used to be. Even MySpace has lost some of its luster.

HOT
Empowering Constituents: It’s definitely hot to encourage your constituents to create personal pages on your organization’s Web site or to add a widget or a badge to their Facebook profiles. Empower your constituents, and they’ll get to work recruiting new activists, participants (e.g., to your walkathon) and donors on your behalf. It doesn’t get much hotter than that.

NOT
Donate Now Buttons: Although “Donate Now” buttons on an organization’s Web site undoubtedly will result in some revenue, they aren’t enough. Nonprofits need to proactively market to constituents.

HOT
Video and Photo Campaigns: YouTube and Flickr have made it fun and easy for individuals to share videos and photos. Nonprofits are employing online photo and video campaigns to acquire and engage constituents. American Jewish World Service acquired almost 2,000 new members directly from its online Darfur video landing page and another 8,600 during April 2006 when the video launched. World Wildlife Fund teamed with a number of other nonprofits and their constituents to create an impressive photo mosaic to support a campaign to end the tiger trade.

NOT
Podcasts: These are on their way out because everyone is watching YouTube!

HOT
Multichannel Marketing: Nonprofits that coordinate their marketing and fundraising across the Web, direct mail, telemarketing, DRTV and in-person activities will build stronger relationships with constituents and raise more money. Creating the right incentives is not easy — some nonprofits will have to rethink their organizational structures and methods for budgeting and goal setting. But effective multichannel marketing is red hot and will lead to engaged constituents, improved retention rates and higher lifetime value for your donors.

NOT
Organizational Silos: Many organizations struggle to coordinate their communications across departments (e.g., development, communications, advocacy) and channels. You know what the result looks like: Departments manage separate contact lists, and they contact constituents separately with uncoordinated messages.

HOT
Second Life: I won’t pretend to understand it, but Second Life is hot. Individuals and corporations are investing more and more time creating a second economy in this virtual world. The American Cancer Society already is raising real dollars through its Second Life Relay for Life event.

NOT
Getting Married in Second Life: Your first-life wife might not appreciate this.

HOT
Virtual E-commerce: Adopt an acre, save a wolf, send a cow to Africa … there are so many things you can adopt these days. And folks around the country are loving it! Sure, the wolf is never delivered to your door, but you might get a stuffed animal. The virtual adoption concept appeals to many and takes a creative spin on the world of e-commerce.

NOT
Traditional E-commerce: There are only so many mugs and T-shirts you can sell online. Branch out to virtual e-commerce or a hybrid to make your offer unique and appealing.

HOT
Text E-mail: Yep, e-mail continues to be a great way to communicate in a targeted way (and will continue to be for years to come) and is an essential element of an effective online program. With all the activity on the Web, e-mail represents your best opportunity to focus your constituents on your cause and engage with them.

NOT
HTML-heavy E-mail: Marketers should be careful not to send too many e-mails that are chock full of images. The latest version of Microsoft Outlook ships with images blocked. Overloading constituents’ inboxes with HTML-heavy e-mails will result in constituents ignoring your messages.

HOT
Mobile and RSS: Trend-setting nonprofits are using RSS today and experimenting with mobile. Mobile text messaging will quench people’s thirst for instant and frequent communication (e.g., a daily prayer or a time-sensitive advocacy alert). RSS is simplifying the way people can aggregate information they want, where they want it.

NOT
Mobile Fundraising: The economic structure of the U.S. cellular market makes mobile fundraising cost prohibitive. Unfortunately, I believe it will take years, not months, to fix these underlying obstacles.

HOT
Search Engine Optimization and Marketing: Hot nonprofits are paying close attention to search results. When potential donors search for information about your cause, where does your Web site rank among all the other search results? The best nonprofits will pursue optimization as well as search advertising (e.g., through Google’s grant program) to ensure strong placement.

NOT
Banner Ads: Does anyone click on these anymore?

HOT
Engaging on Existing Blogs: Monitoring blog postings that concern your organization definitely is hot because blogs can generate a lot of buzz and traffic. Organizations are using search tools (e.g., Technorati, Google Alerts) to track blog activity and to quickly respond to relevant questions and comments.

NOT
Executive Director Blogs: Many executive directors said they absolutely needed to have their own blog then proceeded to post only three times in the last year, getting only 20 unique visits. Sound familiar? Writing your own blog isn’t hot if you can’t commit to the time required to do it right.

In the fast-moving online world, it’s difficult to know what’s going to happen next. Talk to me in six months, and I might want to replace some of the “hot” and “not” items with new ones, or end up eating my words for a couple of my predictions. For example, I’m already kicking myself for not including house parties — using Internet tools to enable your constituents to host their own events — and social mapping on the “what’s hot” list. One thing to consider before you rush off to create an avatar on Second Life, however: There’s no substitute for great content that moves people to support your cause. I just read an e-mail from The Humane Society of the United States focused on the Michael Vick controversy. I was outraged and inspired to take action in support of animals. Now that’s hot.

Sheeraz Haji is president of Convio Inc.