Beyond Web 2.0 Buzz
Web 2.0 is the new kid on the block, for businesses and nonprofits alike. What follows any introduction of the phrase “Web 2.0” is a host of terms like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, Second Life, etc. — the list seems endless and grows by the day. It’s easy to get lost in the buzzwords, but the key to leveraging Web 2.0 capabilities is to do what your organization should have been doing all along: focusing on its mission and message.
This was the advice shared by the presenters of a session on “How to Handle the Web 2.0 Curve Ball” at the DMA Nonprofit Federation 2007 New York Nonprofit Conference last week.
Sheeraz Haji, president of Convio, got the ball rolling, discussing the key benefit of Web 2.0 tools: the ability to grow an organization’s constituent base. Adding Web 2.0 capabilities to its online presence helps an organization make its site more engaging and allows it to go where supporters are, rather than wait for them to come knocking on its door.
The main challenge The International Rescue Committee finds with Internet outreach is that it doesn’t tend to attract a younger demographic of donors and supporters, Chief Marketing Officer Marc Sirkin said. The organization has begun using Web 2.0 strategies to gain access to new, untouched donors and advocates, which Sirkin says has worked, but there’s not yet a complete picture in terms of data and statistics as to the success of the strategies.
He recommended the following tips to session attendees:
1. What are you waiting for? Get going.
2. Learn on your own; set up your own profile on MySpace or Facebook before jumping in and creating a profile for your organization.
3. Think about “identity” management in terms of brand, etc.
4. Don’t worry too much about tracking at first.
