Sarah Best Strategy - Social Media Strategy, Marketing, Chicago, Illinois + Madison, Wisconsin
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The SBS Blog

Present, Not Perfect: Building Brand Loyalty in an Unprecedented Time

6/18/2020

 
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Under normal circumstances there are very few times in a person’s life when they’re open to changing brand loyalty: New parents transitioning from life without kids are typically the most open to changing their brand loyalty and shopping habits. But in recent months, demand for certain products (like hand sanitizer and toilet paper) surged, leaving some household name brands missing from the grocery shelves. Things aren’t exactly normal right now. And brands who have made even modest efforts to adapt and communicate during these unprecedented times have a unique opportunity to shift customer shopping habits—building brand loyalty that will likely pay off for years to come.

​Forming New Attachments

Most people don't go into their wedding planning process thinking about brand loyalty—and I certainly didn't go into my wedding planning process anticipating a pandemic. But as I worked to adapt our May wedding for these unique times, I started to reflect on brand loyalty. 
Sarah's Wedding
About two weeks before the wedding, I received a package of makeup products from Arch, a local beauty boutique. I had reached out to them (via their Instagram channel) after realizing all of my wedding day and pre-wedding hair and makeup appointments were cancelled, to see if they'd be willing to help me figure out what makeup I needed for my special day. They did me one (or two) better! They took the time to help me figure out what products would help me achieve the look I was going for; they sent some nice gifts including a handwritten note and "tissues for happy tears;" and they provided a video tutorial for me so that I was all set for my big day.
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It should be noted that - prior to my wedding - I had never been to Arch before; but from now on, I'll be going to go to them for all of my makeup needs. And I've stopped considering my current salon for those types of services. 

​No E-commerce Site? Don’t Despair.

Businesses, large and small, that have made efforts to communicate and adapt to doing at least a small part of their business online are likely to gain new customers and build their loyalty. Small efforts can yield significant results. 
 
Some businesses, like a local gift shop, don't have a full ecommerce site built out, but were able to do live videos or Instagram posts showcasing their products, and invited their customers to do "personal shopping" via Facetime, as well as contactless pickup.

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​Good Vibes

In branding, feelings play a big role in the development of brand equity. Think about how television advertising works: When you're first getting to know a company or product, heart-strings and humor can play a big role in whether a certain product or company first grabs your attention. Positive feelings matter in the attachments that we form, and the loyalty we develop, to brands. 
 
I'd walk through fire for our minster (and our faith community), who promised me we'd figure out a way to get married on time, even if we had to adapt what our ceremony looked like. We drove out of our way to do curbside pickup from a wine shop that helped us, via a quick email exchange, pick out budget-friendly sparkling wine from France, where our honeymoon was supposed to take place. 

​Communicate, Even When Things Aren’t Perfect

My husband's already-purchased-wedding-day suit is still stuck in a locked down men's suit chain, and communication never happened. Despite the fact that many retail shops have re-opened, we still (in mid-June) don’t know when we’ll see that suit. 
 
And while some customers are always going to be unhappy about external factors that are beyond a business’s control, for many others a sincere apology and basic explanation of the circumstances goes a long way. That suit shop has lost our business for good, and likely the business of our friends and family as well.
 
My husband's wedding ring, which we found out also wasn't going to be done on time, was another matter. The small business making the ring communicated at each step in the process about what was happening—what stage of production the ring was in, whether there was a chance they could get it to us, and then, as stay-at-home orders were extended, a kind offer to send an in-stock replacement ring in case they couldn’t get it to us on time. (The original ring magically appeared in our mailbox on our way out the door to the church).
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For our clients, we invite them to consider the opportunities presented at this unique moment in time to foster relationships with customers that will pay off for many years to come. It's not about being perfect, it's about being present.

Sarah Best

CEO + Chief Strategist Sarah Best has won ten awards for her work including best use of a social media platform from Travel + Leisure. She was recently recognized in In Business Magazine's 40 Under 40, class of 2020. She was tapped to speak at Social Media Week for the MacArthur Foundation, has been selected twice for SXSW. She is an alumna of New York University, a Rotarian, and a board member of several nonprofits.

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Sarah Best

Responding to Faith Community Needs: 3 Easy Strategies For Using a Temple or Church Survey

5/13/2020

 
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​Some faith communities who offer online services and programs have reported an increase in viewership and participation in online programming since “stay at home” orders were put in place. In times of crisis, people often naturally turn to faith communities for comfort, strength, and hope. 

But along the convenience of watching a service online comes the threat that members are also “shopping around.” Maybe they’re virtually visiting their hometown church or temple. But they may also be taking some time to experience other communities in your area to see what’s the best fit for their, or their families’, needs. 
 
While you shouldn’t panic, this presents an opportunity to reflect on how well you’re meeting your congregants’ needs and gather feedback from them using a temple or church survey.

​What to Ask

Here are some ideas of questions that you might ask:
  • How have you been? What's been difficult during this period of quarantine? What's bringing you joy?
  • Have you been able to access our online programs and services? 
  • If no, what obstacles are preventing you from accessing them? (Examples might be: lack of access to internet or computer, poor audio quality, etc.)
  • Have those programs and services been feeding you spiritually/meeting your needs during this time?
  • Have our online offerings given you an opportunity to connect with others in our community?
  • Is there anything we didn't ask or any feedback you'd like to share with us?​
Reflecting on feedback, you will be able to identify gaps in programming more successfully, identify misperceptions that might need to be corrected, address difficulties that are creating barriers to participation, or program ideas that better speak to your congregation’s needs during this time.
 
This might include shifting fundraising events online, holding faith services via Zoom, or finding ways to offer formerly in-person programs via a virtual format. For example, you might get the feedback that people miss socializing with each other and offer something beyond services that is fun and interactive—like a family-friendly sing-a-long or all-ages bingo game on Facebook Live. You might discover that folks are seeking reflective time, such as a meditation group, or are looking for ways to continue social justice work while social distancing.
 
Keep in mind that the needs of different members will vary, so you might choose to talk to a sample of members across age groups. The needs of young families, for example, may be different than the needs of teens in a youth group, or seniors. ​

​How to Ask – Temple or Church Survey

Here are a few simple ways to gather feedback on how people are feeling about your community’s mission and programming.

#1 Make a Few Phone Calls

A phone call or video chat can be an effective way to quickly reach out to select members to gather some feedback. When gathering feedback, consider reaching out to people across a few generations.

It’s also to stay in touch with congregants who are less tech savvy and perhaps feeling isolated at this time. For example, Interfaith Volunteers, a faith-based nonprofit located in Minnesota, has pulled in additional people to offer phone all check-ins for local seniors who may be feeling particularly lonely or scared during the COVID-19 pandemic.

#2 Email a Survey
 
Surveys can be a great way to collect both qualitative and quantitative data that assesses the needs of your community members. 
 
SurveyMonkey is a free and easy-to-use online tool that lets you create, send, and analyze questions. Other popular tools include Google Forms, Survey Gizmo, and SoGoSurvey.
 
Of course, a survey is only as good as its response rates, so here are some tips for getting congregants complete your survey: 
  • Personalize each email and let recipients know why you’re reaching out and how you plan to use the data.
  • Keep your survey short, and let congregants know approximately how much time it should take to complete (for example, 5-10 minutes).
  • Consider offering an incentive to encourage completion, such as a gift card, personalized item, or special “shout-out” in community announcements.

#3 Social Media Check-Ins

Another way to check in with congregants is to ask questions on social media. This enables followers to respond to your post and to each other, which can help you gain insight while also encouraging community engagement. 
 
Ben Vorspan, the Creative/Communications Director for Temple Aliyah in Woodland Hills, CA, wrote about his experience shifting everything from services to website copy to be 100% accessible via phone. From their Facebook page, he has helped the temple host Bat Mitzvahs on Facebook Live, conducted check-ins with daily “Sundown Shares,” and promoted community events like virtual bonfires and streamed music from temple musicians.
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In Boulder City, CO, Christian Center Church and other faith organizations are using social media not only to provide programming to congregants, but also to check-in via social media to assess how church members are handling social distancing and if there are specific supports they may need. 

The nonprofit Hi, How Are You Project is using the month of May to improve awareness of mental health and encourage interaction by encouraging members to take a pledge to ask those in their community “Hi, how are you?” via social media as a way of checking-in and acknowledging the importance of mental wellbeing.

Happy HabitsDay 1 □ Today, reach out to friends, family, and loved ones and check on how they doing. Think of it as distant socializing! See and download all our #happyhabits at https://t.co/TdSzsvDNdH #hihowareyou #hihowareyouproject #hihowareyoupledge #mentalhealthmatters pic.twitter.com/fbahiO09iE

— Hi How Are You Project (@hihowareyouproj) May 8, 2020

We Can Help - Sign Up for Faith Community Office Hours

If you’re unsure how to adjust your messaging on your social media channels or feel like you could use a little assistance strategizing how best to use your social platforms (or just get some support keeping things running smoothly), feel free to reach out to us for help.

Also - keep in mind that we offer free, 30-minute consultation slots weekly for nonprofits and faith organizations, where you can ask questions about marketing, Zoom, SEO and more. Nonprofit organizations can sign up here. Faith organizations can sign up here.

Genevra Gallo-Bayiates

Genevra Gallo-Bayiates is a writer and social justice advocate with a passion for history and personal narratives. Genevra has a B.F.A. in Theatre Studies and an M.S.Ed in Educational Psychology, which has led to a work history spanning multiple industries, including for-profit corporations, nonprofit organizations, higher education, and the arts. Her journalism and essays have appeared in CMA Today, Time Out Chicago, the Chicago Red Streak, and Haymarket Books. Her playwriting has been published by Playscripts, Inc. and Commonplace Books.

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Genevra Gallo-Bayiates

Fundraising Despite Disruption: 5 Tips for Moving Events Online

4/24/2020

 
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'Tis the season for event planning, but how do you plan an event when donors are sheltering in place? Crossroads Fund is a public foundation that supports nonprofits and groups in the Chicagoland area working on social, economic and racial justice. 
 
The transformation of their popular annual "Seeds of Change" spring gala into a vibrant online celebration--complete with DJs and awards--offers a great example of how to pivot from a traditional offering to an online format that is still full of celebration (and still meets fundraising goals).

Here are our 5 top tips for moving events online.

#1: Cross-Promote the Event Across Platforms

Crossroads Fund decided to move their one-night event into a weeklong Zoom celebration with an online silent auction, live DJ sets, and dance party--and were successful in raising $135,000 (and counting).

​Their online event captured the joy of their annual in-person event, which is both a fundraiser and a social gathering, bringing the feel of a venue-based party to a digital space.
View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Crossroads Fund (@crossroadsfund) on Apr 2, 2020 at 10:54am PDT

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A post shared by Crossroads Fund (@crossroadsfund) on Mar 29, 2020 at 9:38am PDT

The foundation took advantage of many social media platforms in their communication about the event, including Facebook Live, Instagram Stories, your Facebook and Instagram news feeds, and Facebook event pages.

#2: Elevate People Who Honor Your Mission

Facebook Live gave Crossroads Fund a way to celebrate award-winners in real time. Awardees help attendees get fired up to carry on the fight for social justice, and to open their wallet to support this important work. 

Award-winners are often a key driver of connection for the event and can help motivate a decision to give.
View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Crossroads Fund (@crossroadsfund) on Mar 30, 2020 at 5:13pm PDT

#3: Create an Easy-to-Remember Landing Page URL & Use a Virtual Hashtag on Every Post

Crossroads Fund's easy-to-remember landing page URL was a key for driving action off of the social posts related to the gala. By driving all event-related activity to one landing page, they made it simpler for their audience to respond to their main call to action: Donate.

They also created a hashtag for their virtual event, #virtualseeds, which empowered all participants to spread the word. This type of tagging builds brand recognition and creates a ripple effect that can hook new viewers into learning more, or participating.

#4: Deploy Consistent Visual Branding Across Social Media Channels

Crossroads Fund did an excellent job keeping its eye-catching images consistent across the many social media channels it utilized for the event. Their decision to choose bold colors and use consistent fonts, images, and messaging that were clear helped donors quickly and easily identify their event and stay alert to new information.

#5: Tap Into Staff, Board, and Others to Create Compelling Appeals

One of the most compelling opportunities that social media presents us with is the opportunity to speak in a direct and personal way about the causes that are so important to us, and to make personal requests to give.

Crossroads Fund's staff, board, and host committee made compelling, direct appeals through pre-recorded video and participation in the nightly Zoom celebration. Their stories helped attendees feel more engaged and put familiar faces front and center.
View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Crossroads Fund (@crossroadsfund) on Apr 2, 2020 at 2:47pm PDT

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A post shared by Crossroads Fund (@crossroadsfund) on Apr 3, 2020 at 3:23pm PDT

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A post shared by Crossroads Fund (@crossroadsfund) on Mar 31, 2020 at 4:19pm PDT

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Crossroads Fund (@crossroadsfund) on Mar 29, 2020 at 3:40pm PDT

What We're Reading

Not sure how to adapt or promote your spring fundraiser? We can provide remote consulting--and help you strategize how to work remotely with staff and volunteers. 
 
Crossroads Fund is offering a Virtual Fundraising Grassroots Webinar, scheduled for May 5, 2020, where they'll share what they learned from their Seeds for Change event.
 
Here are some of our favorite resources you can peruse for ideas on moving your event online:
 
  • If you're grappling with how to transition a 5K, Gala, or Appreciation Dinner from face-to-face to fully online, check out From In-Person to Virtual: How to Maximize Your Fundraising Event Revenue, which includes excellent examples and tips (Classy)
  • Learn How to Recession-Proof Your Fundraising so you can hit your revenue goals even during an economic downturn, including boosting your social media posts and setting up recurring gifts (Network for Good)
  • Videos are a fantastic way to connect with donors and drive emotional connection. See some great examples and gather a few useful pointers so you can learn How to (Easily) Thank Donors with Video (Classy)
  • Find COVID-proof strategies for handling events, fundraisers, dinners, content, appreciation and more in Coronavirus Impacting Your Nonprofit? Here's What to Do (Network for Good) 
  • If you're waking up in the middle of the night yelling "Help! Coronavirus Might Force Me to Cancel My Fundraising Event," this Ask a Fundraising Coach post will help you create a Plan B (Network for Good) 
 
Learn more about our services on our website. Nonprofits and faith organizations can also sign up for a free 30-minutes consultation to get help with marketing, Zoom, SEO and more. Nonprofit organizations can sign up here. Faith organizations can sign up here.

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Genevra Gallo-Bayiates

Author

Genevra Gallo-Bayiates is a writer and social justice advocate with a passion for history and personal narratives. Genevra has a B.F.A. in Theatre Studies and an M.S.Ed in Educational Psychology, which has led to a work history spanning multiple industries, including for-profit corporations, nonprofit organizations, higher education, and the arts. Her journalism and essays have appeared in CMA Today, Time Out Chicago, the Chicago Red Streak, and Haymarket Books. Her playwriting has been published by Playscripts, Inc. and Commonplace Books.

Google’s BERT Update and Using SEO and Empathy to Connect with Customers

3/24/2020

 
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Google recently released a new update to search algorithms, which features improved AI with a greater ability to read and understand more content. Having a clear sense of how your customers search (and what they search for) can enable you to use SEO and empathy to connect in a way that meets their needs.

This BERT update, which impacts both Google’s software and hardware, provides greater clarity on two things that are essential for creating useful and effective content: What people are thinking about and how they’re living their lives. In a nutshell, it means Google’s search feature will enable users to find more useful information based on their queries, more quickly and easily:​​
“In fact, when it comes to ranking results, BERT will help Search better understand one in 10 searches in the U.S. in English, and we’ll bring this to more languages and locales over time.”

​As a firm, we’ve been saying for a while that with improvements in artificial intelligence and voice-based search, Google will be able to read more of the internet and to understand more of it. To date, Google has been skimming the internet and looking for keywords in places a human would look to understand an article at a glance - in headlines, in the first paragraph, etc.

​For that reason, we’ve always suggested having content that follows SEO best practices, but more importantly that puts the core needs, struggles, and desires of your customers first. To understand those needs, struggles, and desires, we must use empathy in conjunction with data, which helps us understand how customers are searching for our products and services in different scenarios.

Putting Our Customers First In Our Copy​

While some of the focus of Google’s update is simply clarifying search intent in basic ways:
“Particularly for longer, more conversational queries, or searches where prepositions like “for” and “to” matter a lot to the meaning, Search will be able to understand the context of the words in your query. You can search in a way that feels natural for you.”

​It’s also easy for there to be a mismatch between how you present your products and services, and what customers are actually searching for. A common mistake businesses make is to focus their copywriting on their own business goals and personal passions. Sometimes, we do this at the expense of connecting effectively with our customers and their problems, aspirations, and goals.


For example, looking at the websites for two farms in the New York area, the first example focuses on traits like how big the farm is, and how it is family-owned.
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In this second example, this farm focuses on the desires of their customers (for delicious, nutritious, farm-fresh food, for people who want their purchase to make an impact) as well as on things that might be difficult for their customers (emphasis on ease of sign-up and pick-up, and ability to pause CSA subscription at any time.)
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Design Tools for Understanding Our Customers

There are a few tools that we regularly use as marketers to help us understand our customers:

  • User Personas: Often used in web design, but just as helpful in marketing, user personas are fictional characters that represent your ideal customer. They help us imagine our customers’ needs and wants and effectively market programs to those customers. 
    • Button: Download our User Persona Template (we can make people give us their email addresses to do this - there’s a way to set this up in Mailchimp.)

  • Customer Value Proposition Statements: A value proposition statement explains why people should buy your product. It should also convince a customer why they should pick your offering over the other options that they have. What you’re looking for is product-customer fit. We like Strategyzer’s value proposition canvas for this exercise. They have a nice explainer video here that explains how to fill out the worksheet. 
Start by taking your best guesses based on your interactions with customers, and then work to validate your assumptions by conducting user research. This could be as simple as making a few phone calls, observing customers as they search for various scenarios, or evaluating marketing analytics.

A great example of this in action can be seen in our work with Easterseals of DuPage & Fox Valley. With Easterseals, we asked parents of children with disabilities to explain what search terms they'd use in different scenarios, and one of the discoveries we made is that parents were searching for toddlers with [name of condition], rather than for services. This knowledge allowed us to write and implement new condition-focused landing pages—such landing pages for families seeking ADHD therapies or Down syndrome therapies—to reflect how parents were actually searching for services.

Strategies for “Listening” More Closely to Your Audience

So how do we improve our search terms to be better aligned with our customer’s needs? Here are two of our favorite tools for improving our “listening skills” in the digital sphere within a search context:

  • Google Trends allows you to track interest in specific search terms or topics, as well as view data for top keywords and topics based on “recently trending” searches. For example, by typing in the search term “things to do from home,” we can see that it rose from 61 searches the week of March 8-14, 2020, to 100 searches from March 15-21, 2020, as coronavirus quarantines were put into place.
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    For some businesses, this suggests some natural ways to engage with customers or to connect them with related services, such as printable activities for kids, streaming video services, or at-home workouts:

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Here are some examples of businesses who responded to this trending inquiry in a paid advertising context, using offers to drive urgency to sign up:
Photo credit: Acorn TV
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Photo credit: Barre3 Madison
Even though these examples are from a paid advertising context, good content, optimized for search queries can fulfill this need as well. Which brings us to….​

  • AnswerthePublic.com is a specialized search tool that enables you to enter a topic, brand, or product and see what language people are using to search for it based on the most common questions asked.

    For example, if we again search “things to do from home” within the U.S., there are 47 common questions users are asking—which can help point to how to shape your SEO and content in the most relevant way possible:

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Identifying Opportunities for Adaptation, Based on Empathy​

Listening to your audience “in real time” means you can respond with empathy, provide relevant information, and adapt in ways that can immediately fill a need. In some cases, this may mean using language or emphasizing elements in your content that match how your audience is thinking and making choices.

It may also mean adapting what you offer and how you interact with your audience to fit their needs. That could mean holding events online, building ecommerce platforms, or finding ways to offer services remotely. Adaptation is key—and you won’t know how to adapt if you haven’t first “listened.”

Here are some ways organizations have adapted to the current reality of social distancing, while meeting people’s needs with empathy: 
  • Faith organizations are offering online sermons, singing, parent check-ins, classes for kids, and group activities to keep congregants connected. Read about these ideas and more in our recent blog post.
  • Several museums, including the Louvre in Paris and The Art Institute of Chicago, are offering virtual tours of their art collections, which keeps museum-goers connected to their mission, while keeping the museum front-of-mind.
  • The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden has been posting daily “Home Safari” videos on Facebook for families across the world, which gives their zookeepers a way to educate regular and prospective visitors and families a daily event to look forward to. By including a donate button, they’ve also enabled people from all over to provide financial support while the zoo is closed to the public.
  • Multiple events have moved online in the wake of local and state restrictions on large gatherings, including Microsoft’s MVP Summit and the Google Cloud Next ‘20 event.
Not sure how to adapt your usual way of doing things to the emerging needs of your audience? Or maybe you’re struggling to maintain operations remotely and keep your team collaborating effectively. We can help with both. Not only can we provide remote coaching and online bootcamps on these topics, we can also helping you strategizing how to work remotely and provide services online.

Learn more about our services on our website, and if you’re a nonprofit or faith organization, you can sign up for a free 30-minutes consultation to get help with marketing, Zoom, SEO and more. Nonprofit organizations can sign up here. Faith organizations can sign up here.

Connecting Online, Continuing Our Missions

3/17/2020

 
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Faith communities can play an important role in troubling times and both video streaming technology and social media are playing an important role in helping people stay connected. 

This week, I’ve been impressed about how my own community, First Unitarian Society of Madison, WI adapted quickly to not only do collaborative “streaming” services with other Madison-area UUs, but to also offer meditation groups via Zoom, bedtime stories, parent check-ins, singing,  “knit ins”, children’s music time and spiritual education, virtual campus ministry, and even virtual coffee hours.

Taking Small Groups Online, Not Just Services

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Here's an example from the events calendar of Mishkan Chicago, a Synagogue that has a vibrant online community:
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Not Connected? Band Together, Or Use Hybrid Internet-Phone Tools like Zoom

Banding together with other local faith communities can help less-connected meetings, synagogues, and congregations stay connected even where Wi-Fi is a bit sparse.

​Tools like Zoom offer phone dial-in options as well for folks who can’t get connected via a computer.

Lifecyle Events

So what about "lifecyle" events? Weddings, b'mitzvahs, and the like?

I can speak from personal experience: My fiancé and I, who were planning a wedding and honeymoon for mid-May, have also had to adapt and we're glad that our faith community has as well.

We did our pre-marital counseling and ceremony planning with our minister online last weekend, and moving our cancelled wedding shower online – with the added bonus of enabling us to invite friends and family from all over the country.

Resources

​Here are some of the other resources for faith communities that we’ve come across this week:

  • From learning about how to host online services, to how to help individuals "do Jewish at home", the Union for Reform Judaism has a wealth of tools for Synagogues considering how to adapt: How Reform Congregations are Coping with COVID-19 (and Tools to Help)

  • The Unitarian Universalist Association also has a guide to streaming services and meetings online.

  • "Also, some in your church might struggle if your church doesn’t gather because they lack a strong social network outside the church. In such cases, it could be helpful to bring back the “prayer chain” call approach and have people check in regularly by phone." Community Without Communing: Resources for Virtual Church (Sojourners)
     
  • How to Host a Virtual Bar or Bat Mitzvah (Kveller)

  • "One of the beautiful things now is every place can be a synagogue,” the rabbi said. Despite their dislocation, he told the worshipers that the past week should make them “acutely aware of how interwoven we all are.” Stirring Sermons About Coronavirus, in Empty Cathedrals (New York Times)​

  • "Tend to your own needs. Lean into your own community for support. And take turns with others giving care. It is tempting to believe in a crisis that we must give or do everything right now. Mostly this is not possible. Sabbath is not a luxury. Self-care is not selfish." Ten Guidelines for Pastoral Care During Corona Virus Outbreak (Christian Century)  

Faith Community Office Hours

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Feeling stuck? We offer free faith community office hours on a first-come first-served basis every week.

​Ask us anything about marketing, the logistics of using Zoom, social media, or Google search. No sales, just advice. Sign up on our faith landing page.

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Sarah Best

CEO + Chief Strategist Sarah Best has won ten awards for her work including best use of a social media platform from Travel + Leisure. She was recently recognized in In Business Magazine's 40 Under 40, class of 2020. She was tapped to speak at Social Media Week for the MacArthur Foundation, has been selected twice for SXSW. She is an alumna of New York University, a Rotarian, and a board member of several nonprofits.

Three Things We Can Learn from the REI #OptOutside Campaign

2/24/2020

 
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A recent case study about REI's Opt Outside campaign shared by Sprout Social has some interesting takeaways I want to share with you. Hopefully these successful tactics, and some insights about each, can help you in your work. 

Here are our three top takeaways from the study (quoted in bold)... and a little something extra from me to help put it into context:

1. “Don’t shy away from changing your goals as your campaign grows up.”

This is a critical and often overlooked component when planning a campaign. Learning to evolve the way you think about engagement and call to action campaigns requires being more responsive to how your audience participates—and being ready to adjust as needed.

This dovetails with a question we often ask during Same Page Content Planning Sessions and in our content planning meetings with social media management clients: "What's happening in our audience’s lives this month?"

Staying front-of-mind means keeping current with what is most important to your audience, moment by moment. For example, the case study makes the point that "Opt Outside" originally was done as a reaction to Black Friday, but has evolved in 2020 to respond to climate change.

This speaks both to the alignment between business strategy and digital strategy, as well as to how important it is to ask questions about relevance to consumers. (When we talk about engagement in social media, this is an important component of planning for engagement.)

2. "Have a lot of partners."

It’s important to recognize the many partners you likely already have, as well as identify strategies for developing new relationships that can be mutually beneficial. A partnership, quite simply, is a way to bring two audiences together. It can present new opportunities for activating your brand, building new social media partnerships, and deepening existing partnership relationships. 

Partnerships can take a lot of forms - from tagging your customers in a post to paid campaigns, to brand activations that bridge the online and offline worlds. For example, REI partnered with nonprofits, including the National Park Service, to highlight outdoor activities their audiences could engage in as part of the #OptOutside campaign. The partnerships offered audiences a way to connect offline, built lasting relationships with other organizations, and created PR opportunities to highlight environmental efforts that reinforced REI’s brand identity.

3. "It's simple to ask employees to advocate on your brand's behalf, but the real power lies in giving them...intrinsic motivation to do so." 

These days, many brands are not just seeking to define themselves, but to inspire people to join a movement that aligns with their mission. This sense of being part of something larger can not only motivate target audiences, but also employees. 

Stakeholders who are aware of and invested in your organization’s “movement” may also be more motivated to participate in engagement campaigns because they know what’s exciting, or what brings people back, or what inspires the community. 

It’s worth the time and energy to build a compelling vision statement for your social media program, because it can help align your brand with your call to action and ultimately place your campaign within the context of a broader movement that people are eager to join.


If you’re still feeling stuck or daunted, don’t panic. We offer consulting and training services for nonprofits, for-profit organizations, and faith communities so that you can empower your in-house teams, collaborate and schedule your social media more effectively, and reach new audiences with just the right message. Learn more about our services and be sure to sign up for our newsletter for monthly tips, strategies and shares.

Love What You Do: My Hands-On Internship at SBS

2/21/2020

 
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In December of 2018, Sarah Best was a speaker at my Rotaract Club meeting, a student organization that I co-founded on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. She delivered an inspiring presentation about her path that lead to her founding and CEO of Sarah Best Strategy. What stuck with me the most was that she emphasized the potency of always asking questions and forming connections with others, so I did just that. I reached out to Sarah the following day and was fortunate to be offered an internship with Sarah Best Strategy the following semester.
 
My name is Elise Goldstein, and I had the pleasure of interning at Sarah Best Strategy for the spring and fall of 2019 (my sophomore and junior year). I am a student in the School of Journalism & Mass Communication at UW-Madison, and I learned a great amount about working in a digital marketing agency. The unique aspect about my internship at SBS is that I had the opportunity to work hands-on with the CEO and founder.
 
Sarah has taught me the importance of being detail-oriented, mission-driven and loving what you do each day. When I would come into the Industrious Office and meet with Sarah, I truly admired her organization and ability to run the company while maintaining strong relationships with her clients.
 
Beyond this, being the only intern at the company allowed me to explore a variety of positions within an agency and figure out my strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes. From day one, Sarah and I compiled a list of my interests and I was able to exhibit all angles of the company. On a daily basis, I helped to create, post and boost social media content for clients such as Clergy for a New Drug Policy while utilizing Sprout Social and Facebook Business, which are social media management tools. I conducted research on TikTok's impact on brands, which was used in Sarah’s consulting session. I sat in on meetings and consulting sessions with clients. I pitched and designed social graphics for Forward Community Investments to use to promote the Nan Cheney March for Justice Award Ceremony. I analyzed and synthesized data into a report for the YMCA based off of their competitors. I also was in communication with the rest of the Sarah Best Strategy team, and they were extremely warm and welcoming towards me.

All of these roles in my internship have strengthened my strategic communication background and given me tools that I believe will be useful for any future aspiration of mine.

Celebrating our 5th Anniversary and Reflections on Building Culture on Remote Teams

10/3/2019

 
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Fall is in the air. As I sit at my gate at the Dane County Airport heading off to the first of two conferences we’ll be covering this month with live social media support, I can’t believe how quickly this year has gone by. 

2019 Milestones

I founded Sarah Best Strategy in October 2014, and as we celebrate our 5th birthday, there are a lot of personal and company milestones to celebrate—including being selected for the prestigious Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program at Babson College and graduating with a certificate in entrepreneurship; being selected for the Female Founders Collective; getting a new logo; moving into a new office; and adding some new members to our team, including our Senior Strategist, Kyle Freund, writer Lisa Applegate, social media account manager Elise Schmike, and our 2019 interns David Jiang and Elise Goldstein. 

Building Culture on Remote Teams

One of the major takeaways that I had from my time in the Goldman Sachs program was the importance of building a culture right from the start. So we’ve spent some time this year working to define our shared values, beliefs and assumptions; create common practices; and use that information to express our company culture through cultural artifacts, standard operating procedures, measuring our community impact, and even through the new art in our office.

We are creating a culture that centers CARING for each other, for our clients, for our client’s customers, which is built on a foundation of empathy and respect for each other; and a culture of PURPOSE, recognizing that if we do our jobs well, our clients will be able to better touch the lives of their customers and serve their communities.

Culture in a 100% Remote Workplace

You may not know that our team is 100% remote. That means we live in different cities! Even Kyle and I, who are both based in Madison, work out of different co-working spaces (although we get together for a tête-à-tête every Wednesday afternoon). So how do we build camaraderie? 
  • We communicate using online tools like Zoom and Basecamp
  • We are playful and have a sense of humor
  • We share the ways we are impacting our communities

We also: 
  • Make time for our kids, our health, our hobbies while meeting our work goals
  • Take vacations
  • Make things right for the customer, promptly
  • (When we make mistakes) practice transparency and make it right

Creating a Cultural Artifact

As part of my time in the Goldman Sachs program, I worked with my amazing team to create a cultural artifact that represents our commitment to building this culture.
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  • The heart stands for caring—we care for each other, we share knowledge with each other, we care about the quality of our work, we care about our customers, and we care about THEIR customers
  • The concentric ripples stand for purpose—our work helps our clients achieve their mission and vision and will have a ripple impact on their communities
  • Purple martin—the purple martin lives in a community. They have a shared purpose of feeding the group. They chatter a lot and are social beings. This resonates with the social media work that we do and how we support each other, while having fun!
  • Collaboration—we worked on this image together.

Implementing a Cultural Artifact

So how did we end up using this image? This image, along with our vision statement informed the creation of our new logo: the ripples being reflected in the rays of light generated by our lantern and in our sunny color palette.
“We help companies shine in the digital space in the service of creating happier, healthier, and more inclusive communities.
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We also used the artifact when selecting artwork for SBS HQ in Madison:
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Artwork credits: The print on the left was created by Cathy Charles and is available on Etsy. The paintings on the right are by Chicago painter James Jankowiak. You can view his paintings here.

We’re also working on cozy and fun swag for both our team and for our clients. 

Tracking Our Impact on the Community    

This is the first year that we also decided to start tracking the contributions that we’re making, both as individuals and as a company, to organizations and people in our community. I want to take a minute to thank and celebrate the hours and money that my team has donated and volunteered.
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This year, our volunteer work took us everywhere from our local school districts to Guatemala to our local Girl Scout Camp. We helped farmers abroad who go hungry because of unfair wages, and farmers here at home who were impacted by devastating flooding. 
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We donated time to nonprofit boards and racial equity committees in our towns and schools, and gave to numerous friends and family who needed an extra leg up because they’re teachers shelling out for their own art supplies; friends in need of heart surgery or whose homes had burned down; people heading off to Puerto Rico and Ethiopia on service and relief trips; and college students on the West Side of Chicago heading off to college for the first time without dorm supplies. 

We participated in backpack drives. We designed colorful ‘80s graphics for PTA fundraisers. We organized cocktail parties for chamber musicians, supported Rotary in their quest to end Polio, and served on LGBTQ+ grantmaking committees. 

We gave to RAICES, Freedom for Immigrants, Ronald McDonald House, St. Jude’s, American Family Children’s Hospital, our school PTAs,  rainforest organizations, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Crossroads Fund, our local public radio and NPR stations, theater companies, MS walks, and families moving into homes for the first time. We randomly found Euros in the street and gave it away to women’s causes!

Finally, some of the recipients of our Nonprofit Office Hours and free Sip & Social tickets this year, included the College for Social Innovation, Aptiv, Chicago Gateway Green, Chicago Legal Aid, Rochelle Zell Jewish High School, Goodman Community Center, Alzheimer’s Association, Madison Public Library Foundation, and Box of Balloons. We offer Nonprofit Office Hours on a first-come, first-served basis every week.

Many States, One Team

I think that as business throughout the world continues to evolve, we’re all going to be moving towards more flexible, dispersed teams. Learning to build culture on remote teams is something that, as business leaders, we need to continue to innovate around and provide leadership on. We need to continue to outline a vision that reflects and serves the needs of our workforce. I am so grateful for the team we are building and can’t wait to see how it continues to evolve in our next five years!

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Sarah Best

CEO + Chief Strategist Sarah Best has won eight awards for her work including best use of a social media platform from Travel + Leisure. She was tapped to speak at Social Media Week for the MacArthur Foundation, has been selected twice for SXSW. She is an alumna of New York University, a Rotarian, and a board member of several nonprofits.

Taking a Social Media-First Approach to Annual Reports

9/26/2019

 
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A well-crafted annual report can be a powerful vehicle for sharing your message and accomplishments. Once finished, organizations often step back and strategize how to convert the full-breath of the report into engaging social posts. But what if you approach the annual report from a social media-first perspective at the very outset?

It's common knowledge that attention spans are getting shorter. We're bombarded by news, videos, and images every day, every where. It's estimated that Generation Z's attention span clocks in at roughly eight seconds, with 98 percent of them owning a smartphone. A report from Deloitte, the average American consumer now checks their phone 52 times per day. 

That means your audiences are likely interacting with your annual report in ways you never planned for. Taking a social media-first perspective will do more than make your social media manager happy, it'll bring in more readers and drive fresh traffic to last year's content, keeping key stakeholders engaged throughout the year. 

As you approach the year's end, take an inventory of all your blog posts, stories, photos, press releases and other materials over the past year. As you sort through it all, think about which stories qualify as the most compelling and keep in mind where you can utilize dynamic visuals. As you keep a social-first focus, consider using the following strategies to highlight the necessary facts, figures and images while opening the door to greater interest (and engagement):

Less Text, More Context

With many annual reports, there's a tendency to create drafty long stories and standard letters from the leaders. With a social media-first perspective, consider where you can use visuals instead of text--and gather together facts, figures, images and examples that can demonstrate your work and vision in a more succinct way. 

Nonprofit Annual Report Example - Taking a Social Media-First Approach

For example, in developing last year's annual report for Food 4 Farmers, we spread a conventional story arc across three pieces:
  • Illustrate the challenge - Food 4 Farmers does more than help farming families develop food security strategies, it builds awareness of the challenges that coffee farmers face. What's the challenge you face? What didn't work? How did you overcome the challenge or not?
  • What success looks like - Success was illustrated by one of the Food 4 Farmers' most popular programs: beekeeping. Not only did it help farming families diversify income, these pollinators also contributed to food security. 
  • Setting aspirations - Eighty percent of all participants in the organization's programs are women and young girls. While food security is the organization's main goal, there are intersecting issues—like gender and productive opportunities for young people—that Food 4 Farmers focuses on. You have challenges, you have success, but where are you headed next? 

The Pieces of a Story

When you build your story with different elements rather than a self-contained narrative, you'll make it easier to break your annual report down into posts that you can share over weeks and months as you roll it out. 

In any of the narratives we used for Food 4 Farmers, we gathered common elements that easily convert into social media posts:​​
  • Impact information - What are the numbers that get to the heart of each story? (It's not just about how many people you reached.) For Food 4 Farmers, we looked into how much families saved on groceries after they added a home garden and how much income or productivity increased (or didn't) thanks to interventions like beekeeping.
  • Images - Well-composed photos can generate interest beyond words. Make sure that each story has at least one photo that defies description and invites your readers in. 
  • Individuals - Figures and numbers are important, but they're difficult to relate to. Create concise stories of people—the important individuals that illustrate the larger goal and make success possible. 
  • Infographics - Rather than creating a singular infographic, develop artwork that can be broken down into pieces and shared individually or all together.

Neither political strife, nor historically low coffee prices could stop our partners from improving food security in coffee communities.

Read our 2018 #AnnualReport & share, pls. https://t.co/KxGiwSIUtN #WOCBerlin #worldofcoffee pic.twitter.com/CeJO5qrKYk

— Food 4 Farmers (@food4farmers) June 12, 2019

Extra Credit Considerations

For those of you eager to go above and beyond this year, we've got two more tips to share:

  • Sizing is important - Don't just share the same graphic across all social media channels. Make sure the images are cropped to the proper size for the channel you're chasing. Vertical, horizontal, square? It matters to your readers. Try using Canva, which offers free templates to help you set up the proper size.
  • Extend the approach to all content - Preparing for an annual report shouldn't just come up at the end of the year, it's a process that hums in the background throughout the year as you consider what to publish on your blog, social media and in traditional media. How are you planning your stories for the entire year? How will these be reflected in your day-to-day posts on Twitter, Tik-tok, Facebook or LinkedIn? 
 
For ideas on boosting your content planning strategy, check out our Same-Page Content Planning Case Study. And if you're looking for help promoting your Annual Report or other accomplishments on social, we offer Social Media Management for nonprofits of any size.

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Kyle Freund

Kyle Freund is a Senior Strategist and Writer for Sarah Best Strategy with over 15 years of experience in strategic communications and marketing for non-profits, NGOs, and sustainability-minded organizations and companies. As an English/Spanish bilingual communications professional, he has provided media relations, communications guidance, crisis communications strategy, and digital messaging for a wide variety of clients that span from Fortune 500 companies to small-scale coffee farmers seeking to diversify their income.

Sarah Best Strategy's CEO Selected for Prestigious Program

2/15/2019

 
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Sarah Best, CEO/Chief Strategist of Sarah Best Strategy (SBS), has recently been selected for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program at Babson College in Wellesley, MA. The highly competitive program focuses on mastering financials and planning growth strategy for business. Ms. Best will join a national cohort of 150 small business owners via a combination of online and in-person learning. Curriculum topics include financials, marketing, leadership, activating growth and a tailored independent growth plan.

“I launched my business when I moved to Madison from Chicago in 2014,” said Ms. Best. “I would credit a wealth of local entrepreneurial resources, including MERLIN Mentors, Doyenne Group, and the Small Business Development Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for my early success.  I am delighted to join the national cohort for Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses to take our business to the next level.” In its first four years, SBS has increased its revenue by 145% and grown from a solo practice into a team of 8 people.

Ms. Best’s work, which in 2010 included negotiating $1.5 in in-kind services from Foursquare as one the platform’s first content partners, has garnered eight awards, including best use of a social media platform from Travel + Leisure. ​Her work has been featured in Mashable, TechCrunch, Crain's Chicago Business, National Geographic Traveler, Chicago Tribune, ​and other publications. She was tapped to speak at Social Media Week for the MacArthur Foundation, selected twice for SXSW, and has served a US Travel Association conference speaker and lead judge. She is an alumna of New York University and the University of Chicago, a Madison Downtown Rotarian, and is on the board of several local nonprofits.

Sarah Best Strategy (SBS) is an award-winning digital marketing agency that focuses on social media and Google search. The agency’s mission to give all companies the tools and strategies they need to succeed, within each organization's unique vision and constraints. SBS works nationally with companies in a variety of sectors, including Fortune 100 companies, global and regional nonprofits, and small- to mid-sized businesses. The company is a Founding Agency Partner of Sprout Social, is a MailChimp Partner Agency, and is nationally certified as a Women's Business Enterprise (WBE), Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB), and Small Business Enterprise (SBE).



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