Happy Friday! Last week, I covered how to create great Buzz before a charity Donation even took place. Today, I will cover some basics on how to keep the Buzz going and escalating during the donation and beyond.

First, let’s recap last weeks to-do list.  To get the full benefit of the donation Buzz, there were 7 to do’s on the list.

• Write a Press Release
• Put Your Donation in Your Newsletters
• Send Out an Email Blast
• Blog About Your Donation
• Place Your Donation Information on Your FaceBook Fan Page
• Tweet! About Your Donation
• Help Fellow Associates on LinkedIn Think of Creative Ways to Give Back Too

Before we move forward I do want to add an 8^th to do on my last weeks list. It’s so glaringly obvious I couldn’t believe I forgot. Here’s number 8.

8 Find Social Advocates. Most business owners have no idea that their employees are huge social media fanatics. Until they ask. If you have a great relationship with your staff, ask one of them or several to be advocates for the business. Include these advocates in the fold, give them guidelines and allow them to talk for you. Make sure to that you become a friend, fan, or follower too.

Words of Wisdom: Never ever become upset if someone doesn’t want to. To make it simpler on you and them, send out an email asking for advocates from your most trusted employees first. Asking face to face has a tendency to make people feel obligated instead of wanting to.

If you have no willing employees, ask friends and family that you know will do a stellar job.

Remember you don’t want to be the only one talking about you. Let someone else do it for you as well and the rewards will be greater.

Okay, so now let’s move forward to keeping the MOMENTUM! Just because you’ve already talked about your good deed, pre-donation, doesn’t mean that you should stop once the donation occurs and a wee bit beyond it.

To make it easier, I’ve inserted a calendar to make the timeline easier to follow. (The calendar is actually for me. I’m a visual and tactile learner) To view, just click on the link! http://wp.me/pNgNV-10

During the ramp-up period you will receive comments, feedback, kudos, ect on the good deed you’re doing.  People will ask about the Organization, your interest in it, ect. Make sure to be very active in responding to the emails, comments and kudos that you receive. And, don’t just refer the organization questions and inquiries to the organizations website. Give them a name of someone they can speak to at the organization. It personalizes the inquiry even more.

Remember that during the first and second week people will be looking to your emails, FanPage, blog posts, LinkedIn and Twitter comments for more information on the organization that you’re supporting. So make sure that you’ve placed links in ALL of your online sources referring the organization AND, make sure that the organization has posted YOUR BUSINESS LINK on their website as well.  As well as making sure that your social media and blog links are included everywhere too.

Leading up to the actual day of your good deed set reminders for your friends, fans and followers.

If you didn’t have a date the first week, your Reminders would now include the date, along with links to the original press release, organization site, your website, FB page, twitter handle and LinkedIn site.

DON’T REPEAT PREVIOUS CONTENT VERBATIM! Most people may not have read your original post, press release, tweets, FB messages, ect. Doesn’t matter. MAKE THE CONTENT FRESH. Because if someone already read the original email, they won’t read it again. That’s what the links in the reminders are for, to direct the new readers to the older information and new information.

• Freshen the content on FB to include new information about the organization. Now instead of just announcing that you gave to charity, talk about the charity and again re-direct to your website for more information. Add images of the organization this time a well. Maybe a picture of you with the president.
• Freshen your website content. You don’t want just the press release and link on your site alone. Unless the release is directly on your media kit page. That’s okay. If your release is nestled in a different page add new content. Include links to other articles that talk about how your readers can get involved in charity in their own way.
• Write a NEW blog post on how giving back makes you feel, makes you think and how it helps you connect with the community. REMEMBER your readers are curious so feed the curiosity.
• Re-tweet. Remind your followers that the event date is coming up and you’re excited.
• Re-Link. Remind your LinkedIn cohorts that the big day is coming and again you’re excited and of course they’re invited.
• Re-blast. Send out a new email with the date and invitation reminder. Add your website link along with the blog post link nestled in as well. Remember to include your twitter handle and FB fan page links as well. Don’t give them a chance to navigate away from you.

HOW MANY REMINDERS TOTAL?? Well, quite honestly that depends on how well you know your market and how well you time the reminders apart.

You will have to determine based on your audience how many reminders you can safely send out pre-event. Most people expect event reminders so it’s not really annoying. It is annoying if you send out the repeat information from days one through three. That’s why you freshen the content. You’re giving out new content that happens to include previous information.

FB Fan Pages can stay static for a few days but shouldn’t unless the information has to stay up because someone needs the directions, obviously. Quite honestly your fans want and need new content so freshening the content is a must here. And, since your fans receive tons of information on a daily basis it’s not quite as annoying to remind a bit more often here.

Twitter is the same way. Only a certain percentage of your followers will actually read your tweet when it happens so it’s perfectly okay to re-tweet the information with a twist  of course.

LinkedIn is different. These are individuals who you most likely interact with on a daily or weekly basis. So you may only want to remind those that have taken an interest in your charity work and leave the others alone. Again, it depends on well you know your audience.

You know, I’ve only mentioned the social media sites that are most commonly talked about and used today. If you’re part of any other online organizations, feel free to spread your content there as well. Again, it’s your audience so determine how much and how often and integrate it into your strategy.

Okay, so all of your reminders went out and it’s officially THE BIG DAY! So what’s first on the list for the big day?

A REMINDER, maybe even two.  If you’re an early bird send out an invite reminder in the morning for all those other early birds.  Just for good measure, send it out again between 2:30 and 4:30. Most people are back from lunch at this time and are counting down to 5pm and surfing their inboxes.

AT THE EVENT: NOW, you’re actually at the event about 30-40 minutes before. Why? So you can prepare your materials of course.  Make sure you have a small, neat table with printed materials, along with any giveaways, such as pens. People have to write, right? And, a sign-in list for attendees. Volunteer to have your company handle the sign-in as you can customize the sheet for your needs.

MINGLING: Have your business cards handy to pass out during the mingle portion. If you haven’t done so already, print up cards that include your FB Fan Page URL, Twitter handle, LinkedIn profile and blog address if your blog is not hosted on your website.

RECORDING: Ah, this is how your fans, followers, clients and associates will re-live the event or get a chance to “be” at the event in the days to come. This is also how you keep your buzz going. Recording the event will allow you to share with your audience. And this is exactly what you want. YOU WANT TO SHARE. This recording will go up on your website, your FB Fan Page, make it’s way into tweets and LinkedIn conversations and the new blog post on how great the event was! They get to experience you instead of just reading about it.

For the recording, my advice to you is to get in on the fun. NOT just record the event itself. 

MINI INTERVIEWS: Recording the event is an opportunity to show off your personality. Do some test runs with employees and friends before though. Write out a simple list of questions to use through out the event and always ask permission to record before you start asking and recording. MAKE SURE TO DO AN INTERVIEW WITH THE ORGANIZATION LEADERS TOO. If you’re not comfortable doing the interviews, have someone who loves being in front of the camera do the interviewing between you and an attendee. Here’s a recorder recommend if you don’t have one. http://www.theflip.com/en-us/

PHOTOGRAPHY: Digital cameras are great. Take as many flattering pictures of the organizers, attendees, the buffet table if one was present and anything else you would like seen.

EXITS: Most people leave early or at end time because they have to go somewhere else. So, that means you or a willing employee will need to be at the exit when someone does leave. Make sure to hand them a printed material and your card as well.

AFTER THE EVENT. Ask for the attendee list. Again, you should have negotiated the right to the list since you’re the donor.  Having the list is an opportunity to mine for new prospects and see how many of your clients, fans, associates and followers actually showed up.  MAKE SURE THAT THE LIST ASKS HOW THEY HEARD ABOUT THE EVENT!! Very important for your tracking purposes.

Part III is Right Behind!

Please feel free to comment, leave suggestions and links!

Jasmine DS Torres

aka MzMarketing

Giving Back: Keeping Up the Buzz Momentum Part 2 by Jasmine DS Torres is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License