I recently ran an analytics report on one of my ministry’s larger Facebook pages. In spite of having a facebook page for over three years, the number of pageviews on the website to which we were seeking to drive has stayed the same. The primary reason this Facebook page existed was to mobilize action, yet all we focused only on cultivating conversations.

“Businesses are interacting with consumers to socialize rather than learn about customer expectations to in turn, deliver tangible value, improve product experiences, and invest in long-term relationships.”–Brian Solis

Rushing in to create a Facebook page three years ago proved a great idea; there was much less noise on Facebook at that time and the page captured likes at a greater frequency than today.

Focusing and harnessing the existing fans to take action on it’s parent website presents the greatest opportunity today. Spend two minutes today reviewing the main goals of having your Facebook page. Facebook offers the ability to reach almost everyone, but without clear goals and a plan for measuring and making changes to improve outcomes your page may become part of the overwhelming noise online.

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“Rather than pin products that Kate Spade sells, the brand’s marketing department has been trying to operate the same way other Pinterest users do — by pinning inspiring or pretty pictures that happen to fit well with the brand.”–How Kate Spade Uses Pinterest

“Pinterest, through their heavily visual interface, is a great way to show your audience who you are, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s all about showing what your cause is.”–Can Non-Profits Use Pinterest to Change the World?

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This short video from Clay Shirky is well worth the four minutes, but I have pulled out my favorite quotes from it for an even shorter version.

“We can now use this free time in aggregate as we can collaborate with one another on large scale projects.”

Shirky addresses generosity and abundant free time in the video. Although this kind of global generosity often comes in a fragmented and asynchronous manner, over time it yields exponential results.

“An explosion of collaborative projects that aren’t driven by managers or the market, but are nevertheless changing society.”

“We’ve always had an enormous amount of time to do as we like, it’s just the principle use of that time …was watching television.”

“It isn’t just about creating self-amusement or distraction, but real civic value.” 

We have an unprecedented opportunity to change the world. I hope you start collaborating globally by sharing generously and asking boldly!

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Not opinions or anecdotes. Opinions depend on past experiences and personal preferences. Anecdotes often seek to confirm those past experiences and personal preferences whether or not they are true.

Relationships and personal opinions can significantly affect decision making in non-profits. This is not a statement of value (good or bad), but a reality that must be addressed. Networked organizations must leverage these relationships but also beware of allowing them to over-influence decision making.

“In short, what people think they want is news, but what they really crave is olds…Not news but olds, telling people that what they think they already know is true.”-Terry Pratchet, from Dave McRaney’s post on Confirmation Bias

You can lead significant change in your ministry or non-profit by starting with data, rather than an opinion or preference, and letting the information guide and shape your thoughts, and those of your team’s.

Otherwise this might happen:

“People who already supported Obama were the same people buying books which painted him in a positive light. People who already disliked Obama were the ones buying books painting him in a negative light.”–Confirmation Bias

Social media has provided the opportunity to gain rich and abundant information. The people we are seeking to reach, mobilize, and empower constantly share tweets, Facebook updates, videos, and photos revealing their preferences, values, thoughts, and feelings. Leaders who do the hard work of going out and gathering this data, organizing it into meaningful information, and presenting it visually will be able to lead significant change.

What kinds of data are you looking at to help inform your decision making?
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Tweets that are informative or funny — or, ideally, informative and funny — evoke the best responses. And tweets that contain old information, repeat conventional wisdom, offer uselessly de-contextual news, or extoll the virtues of the awesome salad I had for lunch today don’t, ultimately, do much to justify themselves.

So: Do be useful. Do be novel. Do be compelling. Do not, under any circumstances, be boring. –via Be Better at Twitter

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“He (Marcus Brauchli, The Washington Post’s executive editor) is charged with maintaining the standards and legacy of a great institution — in this case, the newspaper of Katharine Graham, Ben Bradlee and Mr. Woodward and Carl Bernstein — while confronting the harsh reality that in the digital age, the grandeur is gone.”

Digital media and the proliferation of user generated content bursted many organizations grandeur bubble, including many ministries. Before abundant information it was easy for organizations to resist collaboration and pretend that they were the only ones doing what they were doing. With people from both the inside and outside of the organization constantly producing digital media it’s almost impossible to maintain a controlled image that fosters grandeur.

“Just because The Washington Post used to be a certain way doesn’t mean The Washington Post has to be that way in the future.”

Leaders who innovate in large, established organizations often make changes that feel like a compromise to many insiders. For those that truly grapple with the “new” of new media, they will experiment with strategies and tactics that cause internal turmoil. Unfortunately many people inside an organization can see these as a signal of the demise when the leader sees it as an opportunity for renovation.

“He brought large flat-screen monitors into the newsroom that projected in real time what the most popular stories were online. He installed a new internal publishing system that required reporters to identify Google-friendly key words and flag them before their stories could be edited.”

Displaying and leading with real-time data leads to tremendous cultural change. It’s easy to get into opinion wars when seeking to lead innovation, and those on the digital media side often lose due to either being less senior or vastly outnumbered. Accessing, displaying, and integrating real-time data into the decision-making processes of the entire organization will minimize opinion wars and maximize conversations that lead to transformative results.

“And if their computers are registered with a government suffix — .gov, .mil, .senate or .house — editors know they are reaching the readers they want. “That’s our influential audience,” Mr. Narisetti said. “If a blog is over all not doing that great but has a higher percentage of those, we say don’t worry about it.”

The shift to digital media cannot happen solely in quanity (converting old to new) but must include quality (reaching the right people with their new media). The Post seeks more than pageviews–it seeks to reach influencers.

Read the entire NY Times article here.

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“It’s also important to understand that introversion is different from shyness. Shyness is the fear of negative judgment, while introversion is simply the preference for less stimulation. Shyness is inherently uncomfortable; introversion is not. The traits do overlap, though psychologists debate to what degree.”–Susan Cain

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Old Media resources used long paragraphs, small images (if at all), and required a reader’s full attention. The variety of devices that people use to consume web content has fragmented, along with their attention spans. Consumers of digital media demand short, visually-driven media that can be consumed while texting, watching TV, or even riding a bike (see photo below).

Ministry leaders seeking to convert or optimize old media into digital formats have to both break down these resources into smaller parts and find visual media (photos, video) to complement and even drive the formatting.

“The formula is target /context = result.”–Marcotte

Marcotte’s formula provides a practical means of making a plan for reformation. Spending the time thinking about the target will lead to effective tactics: another way of thinking about it is “where is this content going to be consumed, and what sort of limitations/capacity does this platform provide?”

Many field staff members of ministries use their smartphone to consume resources–a common mistake is retaining a small font size. Since it’s so easy to scroll on a smartphone and the screen size is small why not increase the font size to match the target and the context?

“Start from the barebones capabilities of small mobile devices first.”–Marcotte

While the creator and/or distributor of the resources would prefer that readers consume their resources on a large screen while sitting at a desk, table, or couch, many consumers actually consume the content while walking from one place to another on their smartphone. Starting with the smallest screen size will focus the reformatted resources and ensure they are not cluttered with superflous media.

What was the last online resource you consumed? What did it do well and where could it be improved?

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“When I have time to waste with my phone, my first choices are always Twitter, Instagram, Foursquare, and the App Store — Facebook is always an afterthought”–Dan Frommer

How do you prioritize the time you spend on social apps on your phone?

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