This is a series of four webinars, each from 12:00 - 1:00 PM:
Wednesday, September 27
Wednesday, October 4
Wednesday, October 11
Wednesday, October 18
Nonprofit Connect is pleased to partner with Idealware to present this online course. Registration is directly with IdealWare. Use the code NPCONNECT at registration to access your Nonprofit Connect member price.
You have a solid website. You send emails to your supporter list and post on social media. What’s next? How do you build on these successes to strengthen your relationships and get better results?
In this intermediate-level communications course, we’ll show you how to evaluate your existing communications channels and efforts, gather data to optimize your content, increase your online subscriber and follower lists, and engage more deeply with your biggest supporters. At the end of this course, you’ll know how to develop a successful integrated online communications practice for your organization, measure its success, and develop integrated campaigns to magnify your reach and activate stakeholders.
During this course you’ll:
- Explore opportunities to strengthen your communications and expand your reach.
- Learn how to evaluate and use mainstream and emerging communications platforms.
- Learn how to use data to inform your decisions.
- Find out about social media advertising and search engine advertising.
- Learn how to schedule and manage your communications efficiently across multiple channels.
- Understand how to build an integrated online communications campaign focused on awareness-building, advocacy goals, or raising more money.
- Determine the metrics you need to optimize your efforts and measure success.
Course Schedule
All sessions take place on Wednesdays at 12:00 pm Central and last for 60 minutes.
September 27: Evaluating and Optimizing Your Current Communications
Your organization sends out emails, updates social media, and thinks about its communications efforts, but are they working? In this session, we’ll help you step back from your everyday activities and assess what’s working and where opportunities still exist. By the end of this session, you’ll know how to develop strong SMART communications goals, identify existing and emerging communications platforms for your audiences and their interests, gather data to understand audience interests, and consider how your website optimizes your communications. Ahead of this session, please develop at least one SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-bound) communications goal.
October 4: Building Your Audience
One of the biggest challenges for a communications professional is building an audience—either for a new organization or a new product or service. In this session, we’ll focus on different methods for building an audience, including (but not limited to) inbound content, brand ambassadors, earned media, social media advertising, email nurturing campaigns, and the role of social media.
October 11: Executing Your Integrated Communications Strategy
Now that we’ve considered your target audience(s), which channels resonate, audience interest, and approaches to audience-building, let’s get our communications out the door! In this session, we’ll focus creating an integrated strategy and executing it, including coordinating messaging and content, A/B testing, audience segmentation, creating an editorial calendar, and managing your social media communications. You’ll leave this session with the knowledge to develop a comprehensive, segmented editorial calendar that works for your organization.
October 18: Measuring Your Communications and Addressing Roadblocks
Ready to go beyond the everyday? Create a data-based communications practice through measurement and testing. In our final session, we’ll discuss how to measure the effectiveness of your integrated communications (and bring it back to SMART goals). We’ll look at what metrics matter and how to take a data-based approach—including how to build dashboards that show you what’s working and what isn’t. In the second part of the session, we’ll address common roadblocks faced by online communications practitioners, and paths to success around them.
Other Information
Participants will also be given weekly “homework” assignments.
Please register with the email address where you would like to receive the access code and dial-in information for the online seminar. All registered participants are granted access to the recordings of each session. Participants who cannot attend any of the sessions due to scheduling conflicts will still have access to the toolkit presentation decks and handouts.
About Idealware
Idealware, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, provides thoroughly researched, impartial and accessible resources about technology to help nonprofits make smart technology decisions.