Community Organizer 2.0

Archive for January, 2010

Analyzing social sharing is critical- it’s part of the feeback loop you need to gauge audience reach and reaction to your online content. In this blog post, I discuss four social sharing tools that offer in-depth sharing analytics: AddThis, Facebook Share, Tweetmeme, and Google Analytics Firefox extension. What other tools do you use to analyze how your readers share your organization’s content online? What do you learn from them?

There are plenty of other business functions besides sales and marketing that benefit from social media integration: human resources, internal communication, product development, training, customer service. I recently gave a presentation that talks about the ROI of integrating social media with these business functions. The slide show is embedded. Looking forward to your thoughts and contributions.

Do bureaucratic organizations stifle effective social media? Not necessarily! There are plenty of international, highly bureaucratic companies that use social media beautifully! It’s not the amount of rule-following that prevents effective use of social media, but fear of change. In this post, I offer suggestions for approaching your bureaucratic organization to help them overcome their fear of change.

14 Jan, 2010

Try These Dynamic Digital Storytelling Platforms

Posted by: Debra Askanase In: storytelling|technology

Nonprofits can tell the best stories. But why tell them on the same old social media platforms? I’m excited about Animoto, Whrrl, Posterous and Blip.tv. They are easy to use, offer beneficial social media aspects, and spice up your digital storytelling with something new.

11 Jan, 2010

Five Reasons to Read Beth’s Blog

Posted by: Debra Askanase In: blogs

Beth Kanter’s Blog, Beth’s Blog, is the starting point for social media and technology. It’s an investigation into what works, and what doesn’t. In this blog post, I talk about five reasons everyone should read Beth’s Blog.

08 Jan, 2010

Linking In, or Not: Modern Day Cold Calling on Linkedin

Posted by: Debra Askanase In: Uncategorized

Have you ever received a request to connect with someone on a social network, but you have no idea who this person is? Or why he or she wants to connect? In this post, I suggest the best practices for trying to connect with someone you don’t know on Linkedin, and why.

What happens when your cause is “brandjacked?” When you find out that a for-profit, unaffilitated entity is trying to make money off of your donors? That’s exactly what happened to Trees for Troops in mid-November. Guest blogger Steve Drake, of Trees for Troops, tells how Trees for Troops fought back, lessons learned and the ROI of social media.



  • whole house window fan: Wow look at this...Its was an awesome way to gather fans and rectify the issue....
  • whole house window fan: This was indeed a great way to work things out..I mean just look at the result...Awesome
  • Amy Sample Ward: Hi Debra - What a great collection of reflections, ideas and stories about twitter chats! Thanks for generating it.There's a lot going on

About

Debra Askanase is an experienced community organizer, non-profit executive and business consultant. She advises small/medium-sized businesses and non-profits on social media strategy. She holds an MBA in International Business. You can follow her @askdebra on Twitter, too.