You’d think that Non-Profits would be great bloggers! For Aid agencies in particular, this is not the case. AlertNet found that hey consistently struggle with a “yawn factor” cause by the following :
- Management misconceptions about the value of blogging
- Limited time for staff to blog
- Content filtering by the headquarters
- Balance between free speech and branding
On July 24, 2008 Reuters AlertNet sat down with aid workers at an event in London to talk about these issues and hammer out tips for better blogging.
Here are their tips for success:
Get head honchos on your side:
- Having a legal champion on board to draw clear lines about what can and cannot be said enables the folks to feel safe blogging.
- Sell blogs to senior management on the basis of organizational values (openness, transparency, accountability).
Produce blogs that sing:
- Bloggers should lose their more formal style of writing and find their own voice. The best blogs sound as if they’re written while sitting in front of the computer in dirty pyjamas.
- Cut out the acronyms and give some background information that the average reader might not know.
Hyperlinks to the rescue:
- Although they undoubtedly exist, time constraints should not be limiting. Write a short blog and link to other sites or blogs.
- The more links out to other sites, the more return traffic.
A pdf of the full report is here. Video highlights of the discussion are here.
If you liked this, you should read these:
E-Newsletters can kill your NPO
Your NPO’s Sustainable Energy
Don’t Be A Twit When You Tweet
The “Rules of The Road” For Non-Profit Social Media
