This document discusses content management strategies for small land trusts. It begins by defining content and explaining why content is important for fundraising, marketing, and credibility. It then provides tips for efficiently managing content, such as articulating outreach goals, identifying target audiences and channels, scheduling content distribution, and repurposing content across multiple platforms. Specific channels discussed include websites, Facebook, Twitter, Scoop It, and newsletters. The document stresses starting small with content efforts and evaluating their impact using tools like Google Analytics and Facebook Insights.

1. Content Management
for the Small Land Trust
Rally - Session D12 – 10:30-Noon - Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2012
Barbara L. Hopkins, JD, ASLA
Executive Director
NeighborSpace of Baltimore County
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2. Overview
• Where you stand depends
on where you sit.
• What is content?
• Why is content important
and why should you try to
manage it?
• How do you manage
content efficiently ?
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3. Where You Stand Depends on Where You Sit
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4. 1. What is Content?
• Relevant information delivered through a variety of channels that provides
value to your audience and thereby attracts people to you, creating trust,
credibility and authority and turning constituents into volunteers and donors.
Examples of content formats include:
 Status updates/announcements
 Special event photos and videos
 Slide presentations
 Press releases/invitations
 News stories
 Blog posts
 White Papers
• Content can be original or curated
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5. 2. Why be Concerned about Content?
• Fundraising: Developing the base of the fundraising pyramid by building a
community of individuals who have a relationship with your organization
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6. • Marketing:
 You need to stand out – you might not be big, but you can be a top
brand even if it’s just in your community
 More than 1.5 million nonprofits in U.S.
 7,306 nonprofits registered in State of Rhode Island last year
 The amount of content about you on the web affects how search
engines rank and deliver results
 Content is a way of separating your organization from the rest of the
pack.
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7. • Credibility:
• You need to be seen as a credible, knowledgeable resource to those
interested in your work.
• But, first, you need to be SEEN …
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8. 3. How Do You Manage Content?
A. Articulate Your Outreach Goals
B. Identify Target Populations to Help You Reach Your Goals
C. Identify the Channels to Which Your Target Populations are
Subscribed
D. Identify the Types of Content Appropriate to the Channels
E. Create a Schedule for Distributing Content to Channels
F. Repurpose, repurpose, repurpose
G. Evaluate
“The challenge, especially for the 1 million smaller organizations with
tight budgets and limited staff, is how to use scarce resources most
effectively to reap the benefits.”
Bridgespan. Tweeting for a Better World (www.bridgespan.org/tweeting-for-a-better-world.aspx)
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9. A. Articulate Your Outreach Goals
Examples:
• Converting constituents to members and/or donors
• Converting constituents to stewardship volunteers
• Branding your organization
“Your social media goals should not only support organizational
goals, such as fundraising or collaboration, but also play to social
media’s strength: encouraging authentic interaction through
conversation with the audience.”
Bridgespan. Tweeting for a Better World (www.bridgespan.org/tweeting-for-a-
better-world.aspx)
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10. NeighborSpace Marketing/Fundraising Challenges, Jan. 2010
• No budget for marketing, communications and fundraising except $250
for webmaster and $450 for public outreach event expenses.
• Lacking cohesive visual identify (several different logos and taglines,
inconsistent use of color, no “family look” to publications and website).
• Many audiences but lack of regular and targeted communication with
them and no comprehensive list of audience contacts (or other
information that could be used to evaluate capacity for giving).
• Lacking small number of core messages that tell NeighborSpace’s story,
delineate its benefits, successes and vision, and reinforce its mission
across publications, web site, publicity and “elevator speeches.”
• Lacking a media list and public relations strategy for getting media
coverage at no cost.
Source: SWOT Exercise, NeighborSpace Communications and Fundraising Plan, 2009-2010
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11. B. Where You are Focused on Converting Constituents, Try to
Understand Their Demographics and Stratify Your Audience:
Population of Baltimore County, Maryland
Gender Age
Female Male Under 19 20-34 35-49 50-64 65+
15%
25%
47%
53% 20%
N = 805,029 20%
20%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American FactFinder
http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml
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12. C. Identify the Channels to Which Your Target Populations are
Subscribed
68.1% of Internet Users on Facebook 15% of Internet Users on Twitter
Facebook Users by Age Twitter Users by Age
<18 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+ <18 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+
5% 4%
8%
8% 9% 14%
9%
13% 23%
16% 31%
17%
26% 17%
Source: http://www.socialbakers.com/facebook- Source: http://www.geekwire.com/2012/study-8-
statistics/united-states percent-americans-twitter-day/
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13. 13

14. D. Match Content Type to Channels
Channels for Airing or Distributing Content
Type of Content Facebook Scoop Slide Vertical Your
Twitter Picasa Blogger YouTube Scribd
Google It Share Response Website
Status Updates/
  
Announcements
Special Event
Photos and   
Videos
Slide
 
Presentations
Press Releases/
   
Invitations
News Stories    
Newsletters  
Blog Posts      
White Papers   
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15. • More on the channels ….
For small land trusts, in particular, YOUR
WEBSITE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT CHANNEL.
You need to be able to update it easily and
frequently, either by way of user friendly
software (e.g. Wix, Serif WebPlus) or by way of
a content management system.
You should also make it easy for visitors to
share content from your website to other
sites, e.g. by using “Add This,” or a similar
service.
www.addthis.com
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16. • More on the channels ….
Facebook:
Your organization should have a Facebook page
If you do nothing else but once a week thank a donor,
show pictures of land/habitat protected, or ask questions
of your supporters, you’re making a statement without
doing much
Format is well suited to reposts, links and community
building
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17. • More on the channels ….
Twitter – If you have the time:
Provide powerful stats that speak to your mission;
Great for repurposing and for making announcements …
“15 tickets left for the XYZ event,” “XYZ Report now
online” (channeling traffic back to website);
Great for following and schmoozing with influencers in
your sector and in your area (e.g. politicians);
Using hashtags (e.g. “#sustainability”) adds credibility
and value by connecting you to relevant conservations.
See this site for a good list:
http://www.socialbrite.org/2010/09/08/40-hashtags-for-
social-good/
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18. • More on the channels ….
Scoop It (www.scoop.it/) –
Great for curating content, i.e. finding relevant news from other
sites that you can repurpose for short news stories, blog posts,
social media posts and white papers.
Requires you to provide certain key words or phrases, e.g. “land
trust,” “sustainability,” “stormwater management,” which it uses
to find relevant content that is emailed to you daily for review.
When used in conjunction with Google Alerts
(www.google.com/alerts), provides great way of staying on top of
everything relevant to your work.
Results in an online magazine of material you “scoop” that you
can revisit for a variety of the purposes in the future.
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19. • E. Creating a Schedule:
• “Can you set aside 30 minutes a day for your
communications? Or 15? Rather than getting frustrated
by not being able to do it all, start small and take kitten-
size steps in the right direction. If you tell yourself, ‘We
are going to get up and running on Facebook by the end
of the month,’ and then you spend 15 minutes a day on it,
four weeks later, you’ll have a decent Facebook page.”
Kivi Leroux Miller, President, Nonprofit Marketing Guide.com
• “Biting off what your organization can realistically
achieve is the key.”
Socialbrite: Social strategies for nonprofits. www.socialbrite.org
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21. • F. Repurpose:
o Coverage of a single event on a parcel fuels social media,
web, blog post, newsletter and Picasa
o How?
o I attended, took a few photos, which I posted on
Picasa, and made a few notes:
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22. o How: I turned my notes and a little bit of research on the movie
into a press release, part of which I also added to the website.
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23. o How: Next, the press release & some
other material yielded a blog post
http://burbtrustbanter.blogspot.com/
as I used the event to demonstrate
the “social” goal of the 3 pillars of
sustainable communities (social,
environmental, economic). I also
intend to use the press release as a
news story in our October print
newsletter.
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24. • G. Evaluate:
• Google
Analytics
http://www.google.com/analytics/
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25. • G. Evaluate:
• Facebook
Insights
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