Getting Your Chapter Online and Making the Most of It

1. Getting Your Chapter Onlineand Making the Most of It Rebecca SillsAudubon Chapter Services

2. Why take your Chapter online? • 239,893,600 Internet users in the US (77.3% of the total population) as of June 2010. • More and more often, people are looking to the Web as their first and/or main source of information. • Data from www.internetworldstats.com

3. Why take your Chapter online?

4. Establishing an Online Presence • Draft a plan for developing your online presence while considering these factors: • Purpose • Budget • Target Audience • Volunteer time & talents Scale the plan according to resources available. Schedule phases if budget or time are limited.

5. Steps for Establishingan Online Presence • Create a Chapter website. • Obtain links to your website from popular, relevant websites and post Chapter information in online directories. • Build a social networking page, blog, forum, and/or post to photo and video sharing sites—all linking back to the Chapter website.

6. Create a Chapter Website

7. The Chapter Website is Your Official Online Presence • Most people will look to the Chapter website as the main place to find official information about your Chapter online.

8. Building a Website Involves... • A thorough planning process • Appropriate design software or web application • Internet connection • A volunteer or a paid professional web designer

9. A Successful Website... • Meets clearly identified goals • Provides compelling and frequently updated content that draws your audience to your site again and again • Is easy to navigate • Is designed attractively to complement the content • Is accessible to challenged/disabled users • Loads quickly • Is found easily on the web when key phrases are searched More website design tips at http://chapterservices.audubon.org

10. Chapter Example: Tucson Audubon Society www.tucsonaudubon.org

11. Obtain Links & Post Chapter Information to Directories

12. Listing and Linking • Getting listed and/or linked is generally free and is an easy way to begin developing an online presence if you do not have a website. • Obtaining many links to your website from popular, relevant websites and directories will help boost your Search Engine Ranking. • To get listed and/or linked on a particular directory or other website, contact that site’s webmaster or follow any specific instructions provided to make a request.

13. A Few Examples • Google, Yahoo, DMOZ and other major search engines or directories; add physical locations to Google Maps • Any regional, state or local directories that list conservation organizations, non-profits, or birding resources (http://www.mtvoters.org/directory is a sample of a directory of conservation organizations in MT) Hint: Open a Search Engine and search keywords/phrases under which you would like to be found; then send requests for listing and/or linking on the appropriate websites or other directories in your found set. Target the search phrases to your specific audience, e.g. “birding galena illinois” or “illinois bird conservation”

14. Automatic Online Presence with Audubon • http://www.audubon.org/states/ Chapter contact information is posted in Audubon’s online directory. Be sure to keep this up-to-date through your Chapter Leader Report, or contact Chapter Services with updates.

15. Social Media

16. What are Social Media? We are familiar with traditional media: newspaper, radio and television (one-way communication) • Social media are disseminated through online social interaction (multi-way communication)

17. Examples of Social Media

18. Examples of Social Media • Social Networking Services (Facebook, MySpace) • Social Messaging Services (Twitter) • Blogging Services (Blogger, WordPress) • Forums/Message Boards (FreeForums.org) • Photo/Video Sharing Sites (Flickr, YouTube)

19. Why Engage in Social Media? • Generally available to anyone at little or no cost • Do not require special skills to publish content • Interactive (many-to-many communication) • Rapid posting and response capability • Reach goes far beyond initial audience

20. Who Uses Social Media? • Is between 35 and 55 years old • Is college-educated • Earns $55,000 to $75,000 in household income • Is only slightly more likely to be female than male Taking Facebook as an example, there were 133,518,980 Facebook users as of August 2010. The “average” user:

21. Imagine Yourself at a Chapter Outing or Meeting… • Announcements are made • Information is distributed • Photos or video may be shown • Questions are asked • Social interaction occurs • Members tell friends about the Chapter Photo courtesy of Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society (CA)

22. Take This Concept to Social Media • Post announcements, upcoming events and bird sightings • Upload photos and video • Post articles and links to articles • Ask and answer questions • Comment on postings • Interact with other participants • Invite friends to participate

23. Example from Huntington-Oyster Bay Audubon Society (NY) on Facebook • Chapter membership ~800. • Started FB page in Spring 2009 • Currently 599 fans(as of 12/02/2010)

24. How Diversifying Online Strategies Can Help • A Google search on “Huntington Audubon Society” shows a first page of results that lists HAS’ website, Facebook page and Twitter page

25. For More Information • More information on each topic presented may be found on the “E-Outreach & Networking” page of Chapter Services’ website (chapterservices.audubon.org)

26. Additional Resources • Social Media Sites: A Handy Reference Guide http://www.searchmarketinggurus.com/search_marketing_gurus/2007/03/while_moderatin.html • Techsoup.org: source of discounted software, useful articles and webinars for non-profits • http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/

27. Questions?