Generating Buzz:

Tools and Techniques

Holly Ross

Social Media and Nonprofits: Two-Day Intensive Workshop

www.wearemedia.org | Building the Buzz | Holly Ross | NTEN | holly@nten.org

WHAT IS BUZZ?

• Word of Mouth• Tell a Friend• Viral Marketing

Flickr Photo: abardwell

www.wearemedia.org | Building the Buzz | Holly Ross | NTEN | holly@nten.org

TRUST AND BUZZ

• Source is reliable• Source is

authoritative• Message is

authentic

Flickr Photo: paranoid monk

www.wearemedia.org | Building the Buzz | Holly Ross | NTEN | holly@nten.org

SOCIAL PROOF AND BUZZ

• Blog posts with lots of comments get more comments.

• Digg submissions with a high Digg count (combined with a catchy headline and summary) get Dugg before the content is viewed (even if the content is never viewed).

– http://www.copyblogger.com/social-media-change/

Flickr Photo: Mr. Jaded

www.wearemedia.org | Building the Buzz | Holly Ross | NTEN | holly@nten.org

THE COST OF BUZZ

• Tools are cheap• Time is money

Flickr Photo: M.ADA

www.wearemedia.org | Building the Buzz | Holly Ross | NTEN | holly@nten.org

MISS MANNERS AND BUZZ

• It’s a cocktail party– Make others feel important– Be smart, witty and funny!– Be relevant– Put your best foot forward

• Being awesome is the best way to SEEM awesome

Flickr Photo: Pete Lambert

www.wearemedia.org | Building the Buzz | Holly Ross | NTEN | holly@nten.org

CASE STUDY IN BUZZ

http://tweetsgiving.org/• $10,000• 48 hours• 364 donations• 3,000 gratitude tweets• 40% from twitter + 30%

direct visits + 9% search + 6% Facebook and StumbleUpon = 85% of all visits

www.wearemedia.org | Building the Buzz | Holly Ross | NTEN | holly@nten.org

THE TOOLS OF BUZZ

• Twitter

http://twitter.com• Digg

http://digg.com/• StumbleUpon

http://stumbleupon.com• FriendFeed

http://friendfeed.com

Flickr Photo: lambchops

www.wearemedia.org | Building the Buzz | Holly Ross | NTEN | holly@nten.org

Buzz Tools: THE BASICS

• Why are you using it?• Who will use it?• How will you know you are

succeeding?

SET UP YOUR ACCOUNTS TO REFLECT THE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS

Flickr Photo: kastner

www.wearemedia.org | Building the Buzz | Holly Ross | NTEN | holly@nten.org

TWITTER IN PLAIN ENGLISH

www.wearemedia.org | Building the Buzz | Holly Ross | NTEN | holly@nten.org

TWITTER: THE TIPS

• Meet People• Have Conversations• Make it Easy

Flickr Photo: jusgre

www.wearemedia.org | Building the Buzz | Holly Ross | NTEN | holly@nten.org

CASE STUDY IN TWITTER

www.wearemedia.org | Building the Buzz | Holly Ross | NTEN | holly@nten.org

TWITTER: THE APPS

• Desktop Apps– Twhirl: http://www.twhirl.org/

– TweetDeck: http://www.tweetdeck.com

• Mobile Apps– Twitteriffic:

http://iconfactory.com/software/twitterrific

– Twittermobile: http://www.twittermobile.co.uk/

• Other– TwitterFeed: http://twitterfeed.com/

– Tweetscan: http://www.tweetscan.com/

– TweetStats: http://tweetstats.com

Flickr Photo: comicbase

www.wearemedia.org | Building the Buzz | Holly Ross | NTEN | holly@nten.org

STUMBLEUPON

www.wearemedia.org | Building the Buzz | Holly Ross | NTEN | holly@nten.org

STUMBLEUPON: THE TIPS

• Make friends• Be consistent• Generosity Rules

Flickr Photo: sean drellinger

www.wearemedia.org | Building the Buzz | Holly Ross | NTEN | holly@nten.org

CASE STUDY IN STUMBLEUPON

• 894 visitors in 3 days

• 1264 in 10 days

• 2,0000 views of home page in 3 days

www.wearemedia.org | Building the Buzz | Holly Ross | NTEN | holly@nten.org

DIGG

www.wearemedia.org | Building the Buzz | Holly Ross | NTEN | holly@nten.org

DIGG: THE TIPS

• Make friends• Be timely• Generosity rules

Flickr Photo: mbrubeck

www.wearemedia.org | Building the Buzz | Holly Ross | NTEN | holly@nten.org

CASE STUDY in DIGG

• 1,500 page views month 1

• 44,000 page views month 2

• 29,000 page views in one day

www.wearemedia.org | Building the Buzz | Holly Ross | NTEN | holly@nten.org

WHAT’S THE THEME

• FRIENDS!• TIME!• RECIPROCITY!• RELEVANCE!

Flickr Photo: the garlands