Tools to Stream Content

Streams and feeds are a great way to increase the reach of your online content. Some excellent tools to stream your content:

• Facebook.  A syndicated stream is the default view in Facebook.
• Twitter. Content is presented in a stream to your followers.
• Superfeedr. A service powering millions of real-time feeds.
• Tweetdeck and Seesmic. These stream readers read and write to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and other social network streams. 

How to Market on Facebook

I recently participated in the NTEN webinar: Become a Facebook Rockstar: Taking Your Show Worldwide!  The webinar offered nonprofits information about how they can use Facebook to gain awareness, build relationships with members and build donations. It was a good overview of best practices for how organizations should use Facebook.

Thanks to Forum One Communications presenters Andrew Cohen and Michaela Hackner for these insights:

• Talk about your Facebook activities in other online locations and offline communications
• Use Facebook Insights to track usage of your fan page
• Post photos and videos whenever possible – these are more engaging than text
• Use applications to enhance your presence

Are you on Facebook? What is working best for you?

Twitter Tips

Last week I participated in the NTEN webinar, Twitter for Nonprofits, and had a few takeaways I wanted to share:

• I have always called Twitter a “micro-blog” but a better name may be “micro-messaging”  – and the input is similar to Facebook and LinkedIn postings as well as sending a text message
• Twitter does not archive tweets for very long. They have changed the retention periods and probably will again, but it is never very long.
• Retweet is no longer a command you need to type – it is a formal action available beneath each post in your stream. Just click the racing arrows symbol. Neat.
• Several non-profit role models to look at: Red Cross, ACLU, American Cancer Society, Greenpeace (I have added these to my list of organizations to follow in Twitter at @jakprpro/organizations)