SocialButterfly Has Moved!

It’s with pleasure and delight that I am informing all SocialButterfly readers that the blog has moved! No worries, it’s still me. I was using wordpress.com, and I’ve decided to utilize WordPress.org and host the site on BlueHost. I’m hoping that once I catch up my learning curve on the technical side of things, this will allow more interaction and features in the long-run.

• Thus, please find me here: http://fly4change.com.
• When linking to SocialButterfly, either now or in the future, please use the link to the new site: http://fly4change.com, and the new site’s permalinks for specific posts.
  
• For the new RSS reader link, click here.
• For those subscribed to SocialButterfly’s e-mail newsletter through Feedburner, no worries. I automatically switched you, so you will continue to receive the new updates.

Thank you for your understanding and patience, as the new site still has some kinks I’m am working on addressing. I welcome any feedback or responses.

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Carnival Time: What are You Thankful for?

It’s about that time of year again. And instead of just going through the motions “again” this year – the Carnival for Non-Profit Consultants and SocialButterfly are asking those in the non-profit sector to take time for reflection and pause. Often times, we get too caught up in the deadlines and the thrill of the moment, that we overlook giving ourselves…a moment. After all your hard work and dedication, at the very least, you deserve a moment.

Do you know anyone else who deserves a moment? Tell us about them. In fact, it doesn’t even have to be a person. This edition of the carnival asks submitters to “Give Thanks!” by taking a moment and sharing the tools, resources, mentors, etc. that you appreciate.

This is your opportunity to give a shout-out. Even if it’s a quick e-mail blurb, all messages of gratefulness will be shared.

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Theme: “Give thanks! Tell us which tools, resources, menotrs, etc. have aided you or what you are thankful for this past year.”

Deadline: Monday, November 17, Midnight

To Submit: Submit your permalink to npc.carnival@yahoo.com or use the BlogCarnival submission form. If you are sending to Yahoo directly, please include the edition date in your subject line.

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Survey This: Bloggers and Advertising

In hopes to not influence responses, I will withhold my commentary on why I am inquiring about the topic: advertising on blogs. Instead, I will refer SB readers to the quick, 10-question survey I created, and look forward to sharing and discussing results. All responses are anonymous, unless designate your blog’s URL.

Click Here to Take Survey

Feel free to share, as the more people that share their experiences, the bigger picture we will receive. Feel free to share with friends and colleagues as I am depending on a snowball sample for this informal survey. Gratzi

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Obama Online – More than Social Media

With the launch of Change.gov, commentary on Obama’s social media strategy and success have been made here, here and here. Yup, here too. Some are even calling Obama and the government integration of new media tools through Change.gov the Digital New Deal while others wonder about the extension of the Obama brand and community – post election.

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Social media is awesome. Grand. Influential. Amazing. In my professional role working with government agencies, I must admit that my first reaction to Change.gov was, “Sweet, I can’t wait for this priority on social media to trickle down among other government agencies. Man, that would make our job so much easier.” Or, would it?

Because now, instead of talking about why to do it, the opportunity to implement may [hopefully] increase, meaning we must show results. And, Obama set the bar high.

Granted, Obama’s campaign is an amazing case study that aided in achieving an important end objective – getting Obama elected. However, Obama’s online success is due to more than social media.

• Obama’s campaign was newsworthy as according to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center Project for Excellence in Journalism. This encourage the public to be interested and engaged. The study found that:

“Overall, the presidential campaign filled 54% of the newshole as measured by PEJ’s News Coverage Index from Oct. 27-Nov. 2. That represents a slight uptick from the previous two weeks when the election was at 52% (Oct. 20-26) and 51% (Oct. 13-19). The race for the White House was the dominant story in all five media sectors, most notably in cable, where it accounted for 84% of the airtime studied, and on the radio airwaves, at 65%.”

• Obama created the Obama-brand. If you work in government, you may understand some of the government’s sensitivity to the word brand. And from the outside, how the public might react to the government branding or marketing itself. (Hence, the whole debate back when to transition from health communications to health marketing.) However, the Obama-brand has become widely accepted and adapted while maintaining a consistent message to diverse audiences across a range of platforms.

• The number of resources available. Obama’s fundraising numbers were out of the roof. Not every project is as fortunate. This is why highlighting and emphasizing ROI is important and critical.

• Obama was the first, and it was sexy. Being the first is always advantageous. In the government 2.0 sector, Obama led the way in showing how to leverage a comprehensive social media plan to create an online presence that connected with the overall program’s mission. Not only did he do it, but he made it sexy by implementing creative elements that encouraged not only online users, but also online ambassadors.

• Obama and his team understood the essence of social media online and off line. This is the biggest one I think. Obama’s message tapped into the cornerstone of social media – help me, help you, help me, empower America. Did you get lost in that? Web 2.0 is about the conversation and Obama is encouraging conversation with him and among each other. The Change.gov Web site communicates it best:

“Share your vision for what America can be, where President-Elect Obama should lead this country. Where should we start together?”

He took the essence of social media tools and made it his mantra. He is change, but he needs you to help create that change. You want change, but you need him to lead that change. Brilliant.

In your opinion, what other factors outside of social media helped mold Obama’s online success?

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Did You Know? 2 Must-See Videos to FLY Together

My dad sent me this great video today. It makes you think. It motivates you, like @garyvee, to get off your butt and get moving. You may think that doing nothing only affects you. Tuning out is a choice. So, that can be your opinion. But, standing, means not helping others to fly.

No matter your political leanings, you must admit this quote is poetic. On NPR, a man talked about getting ready to vote for a president for the first time was being asked who he was voting for and why. He recalled this text message he received from a friend:

“Rosa sat, so Martin could walk. Martin walked, so Obama could run. And, Obama is running so our children can fly.”

What if that could be you? What if your actions could empower others to succeed. Think about the power that ripple effect could have. Whether it’s for Obama or McCain, Vote. Act. Do. No matter what, after the election, we will all need to keep moving, if not faster. Let’s get busy, and let’s FLY together. Just ask these guys:

*Don’t quote me on the stats, as I’m still trying to find this video’s source. But, it is powerful.

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Work Hard. There’s No If’s, And’s or But’s About It.

I recently watched Gary Vaynerchuck, of Wine Library TV, deliver at the Web 2.0 Expo…on YouTube. And, when you’re feeling down, feeling like, you’re giving up too much of life, or that breaking into the social media mold is just ‘too hard’ or you’ve gotten lost within this space. Watch this. It’s a good kick in the pants.

(Note: There is some foul language, but like I said, it’s’ a good kick in the pants.)

Gary V. presented about “Building Personal Brand Within the Social Media Landscape.” I often get this question through email, speaking with others and students too. I agree with Gary in this video.

There are no shortcuts. —–> (There are smart cuts.)

There are no excuses. —–> (There’s time management.)

There is no one else to do it. —–> (There’s only yourself to motivate.)

And it’s called: HARD WORK. Now get going. =)

(Thank you Mike Kujawski for sharing this item!)
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Blog Action Day: What is Public Health? What is Poverty?

In honor of today’s Blog Action Day on poverty, here is a background on poverty and how social marketing can be applied, as I saw broken down by Philip Kotler himself at the World Social Marketing Conference.

Additionally, join over 40 of DC’s influential changemakers at Buffalo Billiards at DC’s 1st Changeblogger meetup. We will recognize and commemorate Blog Action Day, connect with Alex Steed’s social change tour, mingle and share re: living and working for positive change.

What is poverty?

In researching the answer to this question, I couldn’t escape the purpose behind a campaign by the Association of Public Health Schools and the Pfizer Foundation recently created called “What is public health?” This campaign works to better brand ‘public health’ to the public, while also raising awareness, education and encouraging participation in the public health conversation. Participants are asked to put red “This is public health stickers” on items that they feel represent public health. My challenge: What would this look like if the question: “What is poverty?” was asked?

Early Solutions to Poverty

Kotler listed 4 early solutions to poverty: alms programs, workhouses for the poor, deficit financing and economic development. With these solutions, four major strategies reveal themselves to reduce poverty:

• Economic Growth Strategy
• Redistribution Strategy
• Massive Foreign Aid
• Population Control

As Kotler continued to outline, he stated the “Two Main Thrusts” used to alleviate poverty are population control (from contraceptive campaigns, to abortions, education of women, industrialization to passing laws restricting the number of children) and improving the support of povert-escaping behavior. This umbrellas micro finance and empowerment, education and health programs.

The Goal

As part of the Millennium Goals, the World Bank and the United Nations have 8 goals and 17 targets to alleviate poverty (Kotler). One goal is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by:

• Cutting in half the proportion of people whose income is less than a $1 a day.
• Halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.

Why Care?

Everyone hears we need to solve poverty, but my eyes were widened as to WHY we need to solve hunger. And, this goes beyond the humanity of reasons, but puts some more solid evidence to the issue. Kotler spoke of these 6 reasons:

1. Sympathy and compassion about wasted lives.
2. Poverty drives some poor people into crime and terrorism.
3. Poor are more prone to health problems and spreading of disease.
4. Poor are more likely to follow demogogues.
5. Poor nations can collapse into “failed states” that cannot pay their foreign debt.
6. The poor are an untapped trillion dollar market opportunity.

Why Social Marketing?

Kotler, along with social marketing expert Nancy Lee, both are literally writing the book answering this part of the poverty question. I personally can’t wait for the book to come out because I truly believe that social marketing provides the right tools for us to solve global issues such as poverty. In the presentation, Kotler identified a 6-part framework as to how social marketing can be applied to the poverty issue. However, in the book, a larger and more developed framework is offered, as well as further context of the issue.

So, back to the challenge. How would you answer this question: What is poverty?

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