Starting a website redesign can be quite an undertaking.  At my interactive agency, we like to think of building a website like building a house.  You need architects, general contractors, and interior designers.  If building a site is analogous to building a house, then let’s think of a redesign as moving your house.  You’re going to need to get some things in order before the movers come. Read On

Inevitably, you are going to come to a point where you need to make a decision about how to grow your website or online communications efforts. Do you buy an off-the-shelf product or build a custom solution for content management, member management or an online community? There are a lot of options out there from Software as a Service (SaaS) models to open source tools. Read On

Last week, I attended the MITX Awards, and while the awards ceremony was very well done – great presenters, finalists and overall event production – what really stood out to me was the collaboration that made several companies and organizations standout this year: ASPCA, Dunkin Donuts and ZipCar.  It was clear that their success was not due to any single person or any one agency, instead it was a combination of agencies and people that made these brands, sites and campaigns noticeable. Read On

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN) annual conference. The Nonprofit Technology Conference is THE event of the nonprofit tech industry. This year’s conference was held in San Francisco and was sold out! For me, it was great to see so many familiar faces, demo newer products and gather more insights and case studies from the field. I also participated in my first Ignite Session – a 5 minute presentation with automatically timed powerpoint slides. I don’t have my slides up yet, but you can read more about “Talk to Me Like You Know Me” in our latest newsletter. Read On

Set up a facebook group
Create a myspace profile
Upload some videos on You Tube

Sara says stop.  Just stop. Social media isn’t just about having a presence in various networks and being there, it’s about listening. And we all know how to listen, right?  I mean, we all played “Simon Says” at school and learned to put our hands down or keep our mouths shut while teachers, adults or friends were speaking.   But did this exercise really teach us how to listen?  Think about this – How often do you find yourself thinking about what to say next in a conversation?  Or do you jump to give advice?  How often do you reflect back what you hear?  Read On

Last night I attended the “How Obama Put Digital Technology and Social Media to Work for Him – And How You Can Too” event hosted by MITX. The panel of speakers included Blue State Digital, Mzinga, Pistachio Consulting, and Voter Activation Network and Kantar.

While the Obama campaign is a unique story of outreach and engagement (1 million supporters signed up for text messages from the campaign and over 200,000 individuals organized events like house parties), many of the key lessons shared by the speakers resonated with me as “simple, social truths.” Read On