Online PR Success for Nonprofit Organizations

Once you've crafted your traditional PR strategies, you can work on channeling your message through your online communities. The most important thing to remember is that a cohesive and easy-to-access website provides the hub you need to achieve online PR success. All of your online strategies should tie back into the content on your website, and your constituencies, including the press, should come to think of your website as a vital resource that offers information relevant to your work. More and more people are searching for their information online and communicating through email. Because of this, your website should be a living breathing hub of your organization's activity. Your PR efforts will flow from this central location.

Online PR Tools

• Online press area
• Internet press releases
• Email newsletters & listservs
• Online knowledge base & discussion boards

The online press area

This part of your website should be one-stop shopping for all of your reporter friends. It's a great vehicle for becoming a credible resource to them. The most important things about this area of your website are accessibility from the World Wide Web, a logical structure, timely & accurate information, and appropriate contact information.

This space can contain many things. You can place your breaking news here, as well as previous press releases and press clips. You must have concise background information on your organization and mission. Providing background information and different theories and arguments about thorny or complicated issues will also draw reporters. Photos are a great idea, as are print-ready logos. Make sure that everything can be downloaded easily. If your organization generates enough newsworthy information, another approach is to host a listserv that sends out weekly email alerts to reporters and interested readers.

Things you should avoid include the use of huge graphics, letting your site get out of date (they simply won't return if they find you out of date), and don't let any incoming communications fall through the cracks.

Internet press releases

When writing online press releases, you should essentially follow the same rules as when writing a standard release. However, the basic principles of email communication supercede the standard rules. You are going to have the best luck if you keep your online release to approximately 250 words. Your subject line must grab your reader immediately. Reporters screen hundreds… sometimes thousands… of emails each day. Use some descriptive language to pique their interest. Plain text emails are still your safest bet, even though HTML sure does spice things up.

Okay – we're going to beat this horse to death. Include your contact information. Many PR professionals will even include a backup contact just in case they aren't available. If a reporter can't reach your organization, they don't have time to wait, they'll move onto the next person who can help them. You won't want to miss your opportunity.

As with standard press releases, target your audience and don't send emails to people who don't want to receive it. Establish your relationships with editors and reporters ahead of time and over time. Your emails are more likely to be read if your name is recognized favorably.

Email newsletters & listservs

Email newsletters and listservs are wonderful ways to make friends across a wide range of constituencies. It's cost-effective, often-times less formal, provides a direct link to your website, and is something of value that you can provide to the people who support you most. Reporters will often sign up for email newsletters and listservs to gather information, scout for interesting stories, and watch your organization in action. If done correctly, an email newsletter becomes an exchange between you and your constituents and helps to build relationships.

Your website and email newsletter or listserv should mirror each other in look and feel. Links should all be tested – over and over again.

Online knowledge base & discussion board

Online knowledgebases or discussion boards are just more educational resources for reporters and constituents. Through an online knowledge base, constituents can type in a question or keyword and the system will then search its archives. All possible answers to the question are displayed. When there isn't a resolution to a question, an email is sent to your organization, and an answer is added to the knowledge base for suture reference. A knowledgebase grows over time… as people ask questions it becomes more rich and dynamic. A knowledge base is a forum in which your organization is responsible for responding to questions and concerns. In the discussion board, the organization can step back and allow the space to become a constituent community. This provides constituents and reporters with a perspective that supports the organization but is not the biased voice of the organization.

These two vehicles require an enormous amount of staff time. Be sure that you can support this before launching. It will do more harm to have an inactive and unattended knowledgebase or discussion board than to not have one at all.

Putting technology to use in PR

Although online giving still only accounts for 2% of all donations, online communication is another story all together. Nonprofits and their constituents are communicating online more and more as each day goes by. Whether it's online event listings, registrations, online activism, or online service, fundraisers and their co-workers are delving into the online world that their reporter friends and constituents have been swimming in for a while now.

If you're overwhelmed by the technological implications of implementing an online PR program, fear not! There are a quickly growing number of vendors, services, and software available to nonprofits that will make it easy for you to participate in the online world. Many organizations don't even end up needing an IT specialist. There are some great resources out there just waiting for you. Check the Chronicle of Philanthropy directory to get started finding vendors to help you out!