Kathleen Holmlund - Social Media and Web Communications Consultant in Northern Ireland » non-profits http://www.kathleenholmlund.com Social Media and Web Communications Enthusiast Wed, 04 Aug 2010 23:56:54 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 How do you market humanitarian initiatives? http://www.kathleenholmlund.com/2009/12/12/how-do-you-market-humanitarian-initiatives/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-do-you-market-humanitarian-initiatives http://www.kathleenholmlund.com/2009/12/12/how-do-you-market-humanitarian-initiatives/#comments Sat, 12 Dec 2009 15:09:29 +0000 Kathleen http://www.kathleenholmlund.com/?p=161 Most of my work to date has been in helping non-profits distribute their message to the media and the general public.

© UNICEF/HQ98-0980/Pirozzi

© UNICEF/HQ98-0980/Pirozzi

Before you even start using social media tools like Facebook and Twitter, it is essential that you have a clear vision of what your organization is doing and that you have a compelling story to connect with your audience. You have to connect with people, bring them in, make them feel like they are a part of the solution. You have to personalize the story for them and focus it on an individual. People connect with people. They want to feel that by making a contribution, they will really make a difference to someone else’s life.

Nicholas Kristof, the New York Times columnist, is a terrific story teller and this article “Advice for Saving the World” is a must read for every humanitarian organization.  Once you have your story then you can start to define which tools to use in promoting it.

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