Monday, March 28, 2011

Small Business News: Creative Marketing Secrets

via War Room Contributors by Small Business Trends on 3/28/11

Marketing for your small business can be part art/part science. But however you would describe it, it is the key to both getting new customers and keeping the ones you already have. Want to learn more about marketing creatively. We’ve collected a bunch of resource we hope will help. Please let us know what you think below.

Tips & Trends

Does it make a difference where your product is made? It could, especially in a world of outsourcing where customers value domestic brands that employ local workforces. Here’s a story on a marketing edge being exploited by U.S.-based brands who are finding manufacturers closer to home for some of their products. How can your product’s story be marketed to enhance your brand. Bloomberg Businessweek

Is your marketing copy magnetic? Communicating with prospects and customers via the copy on your Website can create a strong first impression of your brand, so the content you place on your Website is very important. If you want to be sure what you say will grab readers, hold them and keep them coming back for more, follow these simple tips and take your Web content to the next level in just 30 minutes. Digital Marketing Now

109 ways to get press for your small business. The best marketing costs nothing but the time to put it into action. It’s that way with media coverage, still some of the best free marketing there is for a small business. But, of course, there’s a lot more to gaining media interest in your product, service or company than just calling up and asking that a story be written about you. Consider these suggestions when trying to court interest in your brand. Copyblogger

Marketing Overview

The true power of marketing…and what we can learn from it. In the wake of the nuclear disaster in Japan, it’s amazing to consider what the real data tells us about the relative safety of various forms of power in use today. Real data versus our perceptions should tell us something about why consumers really make the decisions they do. Still think presenting just the facts will convince people your product is best? Take another look at the graph in this post. Seth Godin’s Blog

Why sometimes the best marketing is customer relations. Building strong relationships with customers can be the best marketing in a small business owners arsenal. That’s because these connections are tough for competitors to severe even with expensive advertising and marketing campaigns. Also, with some clients and customers, that one-on-one relationship will always trump a less personal marketing campaign aimed their way. So don’t discount the power of these relationships in keeping customers loyal. Bloomberg Businessweek

Adding the oomph factor. So if, as we saw in an earlier post, customers and clients don’t necessarily make their choices based strictly on an objective basics, how do you go about differentiate. Of course, customer service is fine once you’ve got them, but how do you go about convincing prospects or potential customers to go with you in the first place. Well, it’s all about brand…and about adding that extra oomph. One of a Kind Preneur

Tech & Techniques

Direct digital marketing for your business. Direct digital marketing is evolving beyond the e-mail address, the mobile phone number and the Web browser cookie. Today, you can use trackable data to identify your most influential customers within the new context of social media to “light the fuse to the powder keg.” What does the future hold for direct digital marketing and how can you best prepare your business for what lies ahead? The Lunch Pail

How to market (and sell) from your business blog. Of course, your business blog can and should be a marketing tool for your blog as well, but striking a balance between the free content you provide to keep visitors coming back and the marketing or sales copy that makes your visitors aware of the products and services you offer can be a difficult one, especially if you are new to using your blog as a marketing tool. Wake Up Cloud.com

Communications & Resources

Crafting messages to meet clients’ needs. What are your client’s communications preferences, and have you made the necessary effort to communicate in the method they feel comfortable? Whether using texting, telephone, face-to-face or e-mail communications, your marketing, customer service and sales communications must fit the preferences of those you trying to reach? How do your customers want to hear from you? The Sales Blog

10 steps to killer copy. We’ve noted earlier the importance of great copy for your Website or other marketing and sales materials including newsletters, e-mail etc. But how exactly can you be sure you are creating the right content and more importantly content your current and future customers will respond to? Well, among the first steps is to sit down with your sales team and ask them what’s worked and then to go to your customers and ask them too. Austin SEO Academy

From Small Business TrendsSmall Business News: Creative Marketing Secrets

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How To Use A Camera To Generate Thousands Of Leads For Your Business

via War Room Contributors by Marc Cenedella on 3/28/11

How would you like to spend no money on a marketing program that gets you e-mails like this from real, live, breathing customers?:

NICE piece! What a great idea to show it how it really is. Your candid photos bring a real homey feel to your network – great job!

Marc,
I have to admit that I normally pay little attention to these emails and I am pretty busy today, but this is the best email you have sent. I had no idea that The Ladders has 401 employee. I would have guessed about 50. I started using the site when I was making right at 100K. Several years and two jobs later, I have past that mark and hope to continuously move forward. Thanks for the early break in the day. I enjoyed reading about you company. I assume marketing came up with the idea for the email? It is a good one.

—Terry

Marc,
I enjoyed the photos, that was a great personal touch. I’ve never heard of a
company doing this, it makes a huge difference. After I send you this email I’ll
be updating my profile with your company because I just returned from Kuwait
doing contract work and I’m looking for assistance from a company who seams like
they do care about the person that they are assisting in their career search.

Thank you,
Jan

Well, it is remarkably easy — pick up your camera, walk around your workplace, take pictures and then send them to your customers.  And here’s what I really love about it: pixels don’t cost nothing!!

Too often, you can spend days and nights thinking up great marketing plans that require elaborate and sophisticated practitioners of that art to execute.

I’m more of a “bang for the buck” kind of guy, and I’ve found that sending out pictures of the people who actually work here at TheLadders, unstaged, unprepped, untouched, is by far the most engaging way to tell our story.

Now we’ve been fortunate and have built up our customer list to 4.5 mm subscribers over the past 8 years — that’s 27% of our target market, i.e., out of everybody in the United States in our market (earning over $100,000 per year), 27% of them are signed up on our newsletter.

I’ve always felt that it is important for our newsletter to come “straight from the horse’s mouth” and so I personally write something up each Sunday — a bit of advice, an explanation of how we work, or, as in this case, a behind-the-scenes look at our offices — for sending out to our customers on Monday morning.

Now I can, and do, use a number of those newsletters to explain how we can help, what we can do, and what our services are.  But a picture is worth a thousand words, and in the case of my newsletter last week, 23 pictures was enough to generate, literally, thousands upon thousands of complimentary emails from our customers. (And of course it is just as inexpensive to receive electrons as it is to send them!)

All of the product brochures, market segmentation diagrams, and feature lists are important, but they can’t beat smiling, happy employees who enjoy helping your customers as a means of telling your story.   Pick up your camera today and you too can generate great emails from your customers like these:

Marc: Nice strategy using the photos of the office environment in your
newsletter. As a marketing guy myself I’ll have to tell you that it did change
my perception that The Ladders was simply some computer program or just a web
site..however, I have to admit that I haven’t really studied who you were before
though either. I like the idea that real people are behind the effort and the
photos made me much more likely to become a paid subscriber than before.

I like the idea of an open office environment but wonder if it isn’t too loud
with no barriers? Not that cubicles are better… maybe everyone is pleased
with the set-up? If not, I bet there is a way to keep the feeling of openness
while still providing some privacy. Sure looks like a lot of people in a small
space. I suppose thats what you have to do with Manhattan office space.

Sincerely,
Fred

I am really impressed with ” Behind the Scenes”. It gives me a true visual of your operations. I hope that young lady with the three monitors will have some job offers for me up on the screen instead of the flower screen savers. Thanks for the opportunity to see your crew in action.

Marc,
I really enjoyed your captioned/pictorial presentation. Somehow, it was very heartening!

Gregory

Love it!!!! your environment is conducive to ‘TEAM’ and production!

——————————————————————

It looks as if it’s a great place to work and grow! Loved the photos… Thanks for sharing….

Elaine

——————————————————————

This newsletter absolutely enhanced my already good opinion of the ladders. Even though I am not currently in the market for a new position, I will def join the ladders when the time is right.
Thanks for your very funny, witty and extremely informative newsletters. And Keep up the good work!

——————————————————————

Marc -

I just wanted to say that it was the neatest thing to see your workplace. I
had no idea there were so many people in the organization. I think when
we’re “out here,” the perception of the people “out there” is very nebulous.
Great to see it in person. Anyway – loved it, loved it, loved it! Thanks!

Teresa

——————————————————————

Hi Marc,
It is so cool to see the “people behind the portal”. I can see from the pics
your team is passionate about what they do! You should be proud to be the
founder of this great organzation along with the fact that you help so many
people better their situation.

Keep up the good work!
Nisar

——————————————————————

Hello Marc,

Thank you for the time you spend on these weekly newsletters. They are always positive and well worth reading whether one is looking for a new hire, looking for a position or simply interested in learning more about what’s going on at TheLadders. This week I find myself in-between positions and, as is usually the case with people who find themselves in similar circumstances as I am now, negative emotions have a way of running amok.

Seeing your newsletter this week and looking at the pictures of your team made me feel less alone in the search for my next opportunity. I must say I actually found myself becoming a little emotional and am grateful to you and your team for sharing these pictures with the rest of us.

Thank you and your team for what you do and for providing a friendly and professional face to people in transition. When the world shows its difficult side, it’s people such as you and your team that remind us that there is always hope.

——————————————————————

Thank you for putting that personal touch to The Ladders.  Nice to know that we
are not floundering out there in cyberworld.

I must say that I truly cannot put a value to what The Ladders offers on a daily
and weekly basis.  Your information is priceless.  Thank you for all that you
do!

Kindest regards,

Staci

——————————————————————

Marc,

All of your emails are very very informative but this email was a great!

Jay

——————————————————————

Marc:

Know you’re busy.  Quick note: Well done on today’s newsletter.  Excellent marketing & branding on behalf of The Ladders.  I respect that.

Steve

——————————————————————

You probably get a lot of these (and I don’t do this very often) but I just wanted to say thank you for this email. It was fantastic to see these images, to see real people behind this – looks like smart, dedicated people, and a LOT of people, too. The fifth pic down “…hundreds of people” really impressed me. I haven’t used the site as much as I would like, but will now. Just knowing that there are so many of you guys standing behind this is very reassuring.

Thank you, definitely a breath of fresh air from all the spam and other emails I get. Glad I opened this one. BIG BIG kudos to marketing (or who ever had this idea).

Thanks,
Ben

——————————————————————

Nice touch — gritty and moving.

Best Regards,
Jim

——————————————————————

Marc -

Excellent! The pictures show you’re a real company (in this age of folks
sending out stuff from their mother’s basement). I’m impressed . . . and
will pay more attention to your missives from now on!

——————————————————————

Marc – this is THE BEST EMAIL you have ever written and probably one of the tops I have ever received!

Great job personalizing your company!!

Keith

——————————————————————

The best newsletter ever! Great work!

I want to work where you work.

——————————————————————

Usually I hate email ~ especially from job search companies ~ reason being they are all huge on potential and short on delivery.
I found this last email personal and a great way to promote your business.  It was truly out of the box, I imagine your business will pickup even more.
So, I am still in job hunt mode, if you have anything solid out in [my city], I’ll be looking.
Best Regards,
Charles

——————————————————————

this was the most fun stuff in months! congrats on your great staff of happy lookin workers!

This is your best email ever!
——————————————————————

Marc, thank you for taking the time to show the many faces that make The Ladders work. It is always exciting to see the people behind the website that make it all happen.

peace and Prosperity,

Greg

——————————————————————

Good Morning, Marc…

I imagine this newsletter with the attached photos will
generate LOTS of replies. Love the photos of everyone…
This is among, if not THE best newsletter you have sent out.

Thank you for sharing!!!!!!

Chris

——————————————————————

Hi Marc,
Thanks for sharing the pictures of your team!What you are doing is truly amazing, considering the nerve-racking competitiveness of the recruiting industry.
All the very best to you!

Best regards,

R.

——————————————————————

Hello,

Thank you for all the pix. They looked very family oriented. This is what many companies lack, at least the last employer I had. I felt like I was being fired from my position, when I was laid-off. I was the worst feeling I experienced. I like that your team members all seem to have smiles on their face. I hope to find a company that respects their employees and treats them as you do.

Many thanks,

Orlando

——————————————————————

Marc,

Very smart newsletter business-wise…

Understanding the mindset of a typical job seeker who has no idea who or what is
behind the emails they get showing potential jobs out there, (Monster, hotjobs,
etc.) is very smart. It distinguishes you and buys you massive amounts of
credibility. At least that is what it did for me today. Having an
understanding that all us poor schmucks are out there simply staring
at our in boxes every day seeing the same old job-finder sites populating our
screens.

Showing the vast amount of employees, then individuals, then departments and
even the general ‘un-gorgeous’ nature of the office area makes the ladders be
understood by the reader to be a physical, actual, ‘we really exist and are
working for you’ image.

——————————————————————

Marc and company-
This is a fantastic email. I’m not in the market for a job but was drawn in by the subject (kudos to your DM team). I’m a big believer in and promoter of team based planning and execution. This is part of what makes National Instruments great and it pumps me up to see you guys enjoying the same success. When you help people find the right job you create real value- value for the employee and the employers. What a great mission!

Thank you

Richard

——————————————————————

Marc:

Thanks for the backstage tour – what a great way to get to know TheLadders
better!

I landed a new job back in November, and almost doubled my salary, thanks to
all of the helpful articles on your website.

I still enjoy receiving your newsletters to help stay on top of my game.

Best,
Kate

——————————————————————

Ok, that’s all I got for this one.  Let me know in the comments how it works for you!

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MTV to Take Viewers Behind the Scenes at Facebook in New Documentary

via Mashable! by Brenna Ehrlich on 3/28/11

Facebook — as a culture — remains an undying interest among media folk today, as evidenced by “Diary of Facebook,” an inside look at the social network that premieres on MTV on Wednesday.

The episode is a part of MTV’s Diary series, which gives viewers an intimate view of an artist’s/cultural figure’s life. The show’s tagline? “You think you know, but you have no idea.”

In this case, that line seems a bit like a fallacy. Recently, we have been bombarded by representations of Mark Zuckerberg and his empire: from Accidental Billionaires, to The Social Network, to a biographical comic about the entrepreneur, to Zuckerberg’s appearance on 60 Minutes.

However, according to a blog post about the episode, “Diary of Facebook” promises to expose viewers to the work habits of a technical engineer named Pedram and a consumer-marketing employee named Erin, while also providing a look at Facebook’s famed 24-hour hack-a-thons, as well as insights from Zuckerberg himself on company culture.

The show airs on MTV on Wednesday at 11 p.m. ET.

Do you think this episode will serve to tear the veil any further off of the empire known as Facebook? Will you tune in? Let us know in the comments.

More About: facebook, mtv, pop culture

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Guess How Long Overnight Success Really Takes

via War Room Contributors by Martin Zwilling on 3/26/11

Every startup founder knows implicitly that startup success is a long hard road. Yet we always dream that we are the exception to the rule. So once in a while it’s good to look at some facts to temper our imagination.

I was reading an article written by marketing guru Seth Godin a while back where he mentions that “it takes about six years of hard work to become an overnight success”. Based on a small sample of household names from Bill Gates to Mark Zuckerberg, he is an optimist. Here is some data from Wikipedia:

  • Microsoft – Bill Gates founded Microsoft in 1975, to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800. Six years later, he managed to land a contract with IBM to provide their IBM PC base operating system. Even still, it was another five years before Microsoft went public in 1986, making him an overnight success worth $350 million.
  • Apple - It took Steve Jobs two decades to become an overnight dot-com billionaire. Established in Cupertino, California in 1976, Apple really didn’t get on the map until the advent of the Macintosh in 1984, eight years later. Even then, it struggled through the 80’s and 90’s, until the advent of the iMac and consumer products.
  • Yahoo! - This company was founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo in January 1994. In April, 1996, Yahoo! had its initial public offering, raising $33.8 million, by selling 2.6 million shares at $13 each. Amazon.com and Yahoo! are the benchmarks in the industry for overnight success, but still required two to three years to really get going.
  • Google - Larry Page and Sergey Brin started working on Google in 1996 – but three years later in 1999, few people had even heard of it yet. But add another five years, and Google had made it, going public in 2004 with a market capitalization of $23B.
  • Facebook - Mark Zuckerberg, while attending Harvard as a sophomore, concocted “Facemash” in 2003 to get a lost girlfriend off his mind. He later changed the name to Facebook. In 2005, Facebook still showed a yearly net loss of $3.63 million. But within five years it became an overnight success, and now has about 400 million users worldwide.
  • Amazon.com - Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com in 1994 and took it public three years later, making him a multibillionaire. Amazon's initial business plan was unusual: the company did not expect a profit for four to five years; the strategy was actually more effective than his business plan predicted. Very rare case.

Take heed. These examples are generally recognized as the fastest growing companies in recent times, so your odds of matching their speed are not good. Investors will always look askance these days at a business plan which projects Amazon.com results.

With most businesses you rarely hear about the months and years of hard work behind the scenes. You rarely hear about the major catastrophes followed by major miracles that brought the businesses back from the brink. You rarely hear about the owners who took out second mortgages to make payroll or to hire a salesperson.

If you don’t have realistic expectations, you can quickly get into the wrong state of mind. You’ll be thinking that to be a success your business has to make you a billionaire in three years. Then you’ll give up way too soon.

This notion of overnight success is an urban legend, and very misleading. If you're starting something new, expect a long and challenging journey. But that's no excuse to move slowly. Many entrepreneurs think they are running, but find themselves falling farther and farther behind a rapidly moving target. Time passes quickly in this mode.

Marty Zwilling

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Five Steps to Having a Productive Month

via War Room Contributors by Dumb Little Man on 3/27/11

Maybe all of your days tend to go smoothly. You're good at getting up on time, doing your work, and making sure that you relax. The problem is, you feel like things are not quite adding up. On a day to day basis, things are pretty good – but month-by-month, you don't feel like you're making progress.

Do you plan for the month ahead? Most of us don't – if I'm truthful, I don't always manage this myself. But a bit of forethought can make a huge difference.

Here's how to have a great month:

Step #1: Spend Fifteen Minutes Planning
You certainly don't need to schedule out every day of the month ahead – but spending just a few minutes planning can have a huge impact. Rather than just taking life day-by-day, you can look ahead to ensure that you're on track with bigger projects.

The rest of the steps pretty much require some forethought, so get your calendar ready. If you don't tend to do much planning or if your current system doesn't seem to be working, I highly recommend Charlie Gilkey's Monthly Action Planners.

Step #2: Take a Full Weekend Off
We all need down time. It's a vital part of staying healthy and being able to work creatively. If you're working 9 – 5 in an office all week and then carrying on with your own projects (or chores) every weekend, you're going to be feeling stressed-out and tired.

When planning your month, find a weekend which you can block of purely for guilt-free leisure time. You can spend it however you like – but you might also want to look ahead to see whether there are tickets you want to book, or friends you want to meet up with.

It's easy to get to the weekend and end up watching television or playing video games, not because you especially want to, but because you don't know what else to do. Planning ahead can let you enjoy weekends that you remember all year.

Step #3: Tackle Some Bigger Goals
Most goals are too big to be accomplished in a single day, or even a week – but not so big that they'll take a whole year.

Maybe you're trying to cut down on caffeine. You might not manage it in a week, but across a month, you could see a radical decrease in your consumption. By planning ahead a bit, you can set smaller goals and targets: cutting down a little bit more each week.

Maybe you're trying to lose weight. You know you could be at your target within a year, but it's hard to stay focused when some weeks see your weight staying level for no obvious reason. If you plan ahead for the month, you can see sustained changes.

Step #4: Take on a New Project
A lot can be accomplished – not just started on, but finished – within a single month. Take NaNoWriMo, for instance, where participants write a 50,000 word novel during November – that's a challenge, but a possible one. Think how great your month would be if you accomplished something like that!

Of course, you don't need to take on anything hugely ambitious. Perhaps your project is to finally get the garage cleared out, or to sell a stack of old DVDs on ebay, or to do some work in your garden, or to learn to cook four new meals. Look for something which you can complete during a month – that way, you'll get the satisfaction of seeing real progress.

Step #5: Consider a 30-day Trial
Is there some big chance you're considering – like getting up at 6am instead of 8am, or quitting alcohol, exercising daily, or becoming vegetarian?

Maybe it seems like something you'd like to try, but which you're not sure about committing to. How about giving it a 30-day trial? If you decide the change doesn't suit you, just stop after the month is over. But if you decide that it's been worth it, then this month just might have been one of the most important in your life.

How will you make next month one of your best months ever?

Written on 3/27/2010 by Ali Luke. Ali writes a blog, Aliventures, about leading a productive and purposeful life (get the RSS feed here). As well as blogging, she writes fiction, and is studying for an MA in Creative Writing.Photo Credit: Sleeping Clock


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When A Client Questions Your Pricing, They Probably Have No Clue What They'r...

via War Room Contributors by Ken Sundheim on 3/27/11

When in doubt, they're buying the most expensive

Entrepreneurs, upon going into business frequently make the mistake of lowering the cost of their product or service due to the perception that this is the only way to gain new business. They think that paying the "no profit dues" is the sole means to get in the door.

As a small business, pricing your product or service correctly is nothing short of critical.

When it comes to deciphering what you should charge for a given product or service, I've compiled three of the most crucial pricing tips to help your start-up sustain growth, successfully maintain the company's existing client base, as well feel that you are being compensated adequately for your expertise:

If You Want A Nice Diamond, Go To Tiffany's

When clients call into a potential vendor, they typically have no idea about the product or service that they are inquiring about. If they did, more likely than not they wouldn't be outsourcing the job.

Therefore, many clients judge the quality of a product or a service based on its price. After all, the higher the price tag, the better it is likely to be.

Although logic would say that the aforementioned statement proves to be entirely false, it is what your potential clients are thinking when you answer that RFP with an astonishingly low price.

Another reason why you should shy away from being the price competitor at first is that the firms that are ultimately going to use you and that are going to become your clients are not going to want to deal with future price raises and are much less likely to be successfully sold on a parallel product or service that you're offering.

Cheap Clients Don't Like Price Increases

Don't go into the game thinking that the price increase that is going to strategically be implemented in a few months won't lose you clients.

Any client, especially the bargain hunter is going to be livid when you convey the news that they had the introductory offer that has now expired. Either be prepared to be known as the cheapest and form your business plan accordingly or begin in the price tier that you believe you have the best chance of competing in.

If you don't want to be the cheapest, there are a few highly persuasive ways in which you can implement that will result both in you getting the fee that you deserve and will also result in the client feeling that he or she got a fair price.

Cushioning The Blow - Higher Price 1st

I like to refer to this tactic as cushioning the blow because upon giving a quote, you always want to give two different options or packages. The first or more expensive package can even be a dummy product.

Whether the package is real doesn't matter because the buyer is going to often opt for the second mentioned or cheaper package your firm offers to its clients.

Essentially, what you are doing is easing the blow regarding your costs and mitigating the chances of the potential client leaving to further price shop by stating and describing the more costly package first.

This way, the regular package that you are seeking you sell them on seems very reasonable and logical to purchase.

Good Cop, Bad Cop

When being pressured to lower your prices, use the traditional "Good Cop, Bad Cop" negotiation tactic. It's cliche for a reason: it works.

Just as you can soften the blow by quoting the higher price first, you can also soften your own image in your client's eyes by relying on a third party to play the "bad cop" role in pricing.

If your "CFO" has set a certain price minimum, or if you have otherwise number-based "rules" to follow, it is harder for a client to argue the price.

Since numbers are what they are, and do not depend on your positive feelings for one client or another, setting up a third party bad cop (you could be the CFO of your start-up, but they don't know that) takes the potential for taking it personally out of the equation.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6101671

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Thursday, March 24, 2011

teenagebusiness@gmail.com has shared: 10 Tips for Posting on Your Brand's Facebook Page

10 Tips for Posting on Your Brand's Facebook Page
Source: mashable.com

What kind of voice should your Page have, and how often should you share? These 10 Dos and Don'ts will set you in the right direction.

 
teenagebusiness@gmail.com sent this using ShareThis.
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Monday, March 21, 2011

10 Interesting Junk Food Facts

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Twitter Launches New Website & Video To Celebrate Its 5th Birthday [VIDEO]

via Mashable! by Ben Parr on 3/21/11


In celebration of its fifth birthday, Twitter has launched a new website and a new video featuring some of its most prominent users.

Twitter employees have started tweeting links to discover.twitter.com, a website that features 16 different users from a variety of backgrounds, including entertainment, political, business and even astronautics. The list includes tennis star Serena Williams, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, rapper Snoop Dogg, U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner and astronaut Paolo Nespoli, among other recognizable celebrities and institutions.

Along with the launch of the new Discover Twitter website, the social media company has also unveiled a new YouTube video in which the 16 featured tweeters discuss who they follow and what value Twitter brings their lives. With interviews featuring everyone from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to UFC President Dana White, the video is certain to go viral.

Five years ago, co-founder Jack Dorsey sent the very first tweet over Twitter’s servers (back then, it was called “twttr”). Today, the social media website has hundreds of millions of users and a valuation nearing $10 billion. Not bad for a half decade’s worth of work.

Here’s Twitter’s new Discover Twitter video for your viewing pleasure:

More About: twitter, video, youtube

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Can One Website Bring Transparency to Online Giving?

via Mashable! by Zachary Sniderman on 3/21/11

bank image


Would you be more willing to give to charity if you knew exactly where that money was going? WePay’s financial platform has embraced the non-profit world by allowing for incredible transparency in its donations. Any user can create a profile to raise money with the option of making public where and how that money is then spent.

The site fixes onto a universal truth: Giving money to your friends sucks. After you give them the $5 they “really needed for school,” it’s anyone’s guess what actually happened. That same issue applies to non-profits. Almost all non-profits retain some percentage of donations to cover basic costs and so that their staff can pay the rent. It’s often unclear, however, just how big that percentage is. WePay has created a platform that allows any user (including companies and non-profits) to show where its donations are being spent. Users can keep accounts private, invite specific people to join or check a box to make their account open to the public.

It’s a strangely self-policing system: You can misuse your money, but people will see it and stop giving money. While it’s also possible for users to withdraw their money and “say” they used it, Rich Aberman, WePay’s co-founder, banks on the Internet’s finely tuned lie detector. People will stop giving money if a user appears shady or untrustworthy. Aberman said other donors have withheld half their donations until they know their money is going where it’s promised. Each WePay account is hooked up to a credit card so there’s little way to game the system. The only gray area is the absence of line items on the report. Users have to self-report items like if $10 spent at a gas station went to cigarettes or necessities.

There’s definitely an element of the honor system to the site, what Aberman calls the “democratization” of fundraising. It has helped lead to a separate giving section to the site where WePay highlights different charity campaigns. Because the site is self-policed and encourages transparency, it has allowed WePay to open up to organizations that may not be registered as 501(c)(3)s. Donors give at their own risk, but that risk is partly alleviated when they can literally see how their donation was spent.

giving image

Is it possible that a platform can help fraternities keep an eye on their treasurer and make a difference in Japan’s relief efforts? So far, it looks like it. Ironically, if WePay flops, it might not be the platform but rather because we can’t trust each other to keep financial promises online. Helping Families in Need, a campaign aimed at getting four families through tough times with a small-scale fundraising effort, is making a good argument that the system does, in fact, work.

What do you make of the digital honor code and online financial transparency? Are you more likely to give if you know where your money is going?

Image courtesy of Flickr, Saucy Salad

More About: charity, helping families in need, non-profit, online giving, social good, social media, transparency, wepay

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