How to Share Animal Photos, Videos, and Webcams

"Live Owl Cam Cuteness By Explore.org",  an article on HelloGiggles, is a great example of how to share an animal webcam, video, or photo.

The post starts off with a few facts about the Great Horned Owl. Then the webcam from Explore.org is embedded in the post. The post ends with a link to the Owl Research Institute website where readers can learn more about owls or donate to the organization.

Cute animals rule the social web. Photos and videos of animals posted on social media get lots of likes, shares, views, and comments. Beth Kanter wrote about this on her blog in her entry titled "What’s the Secret to Social Media Success? Cute Animal Theory".

Organizations should add text to the photos, videos, and webcams they share on social media. Here are some ideas of what can be added-

• Facts about the animal
• Current news about the animal
• Link to your organization's fact page about the animal
• Link to your organization's donation, volunteering, or e-mail signup page

Gardens on Pinterest

April is National Garden Month. Since gardens are visual, I was curious to see how gardens were using Pinterest to show photos of their gardens. Listed below are links to Pinterest pages for gardens that I think are great examples.

Atlanta Botanical Garden

Chicago Botanic Garden

Desert Botanical Garden

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

Longwood Gardens

Missouri Botanical Garden

Naples Botanical Garden

New York Botanical Garden

Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden

Powell Gardens


What boards are gardens creating and pinning/repinning to?

• Colors
• Birds
• Butterflies
• Insects
• Wildlife
• What's in Bloom
• Crafts and Art
• Books
• Weddings
• Special Events
• Types of Flowers
• Pins from Visitors

I took the picture above at the Butterfly Garden at Brookside Gardens in 2010

2013 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study

NTEN and M+R Strategic Services recently released their annual  eNonprofit Benchmarks Study. Here are some of the findings:

• The two sectors with e-mail list growth in 2012 were Health and Wildlife & Animal Welfare. Health has gone up since 2010 by about 10% in each year. (10% in 2010, 20% in 2011, and 31% in 2012)  Wildlife & Animal Welfare went up by 27% in 2012. (17% in 2010, went down to 5% in 2011, and went up to 32% in 2012)
• The Environmental sector had the most e-mail open rates with 16%. 
• The Environmental sector had the most e-mail click through rate with 2.6%.
• The Environmental sector had the most e-mail advocacy click through rate with 5.5%.
• The two sectors with the highest e-mail newsletter click through rates were Environmental (with 2.9%) and Wildlife & Animal Welfare (with 2.1%)

Treasured Links About Blogging and Nonprofit Blogging

Blogging

5 Types of Blog Content That Drive Engagement (Social Media Today)

50 Blog Ideas to Help You Keep Your Blog Fresh (Marluck Marketing)

Social Media: 23 Ways To Promote Your Blog (Heidi Cohen)

How To Get More Blog Traffic (Business 2 Community)

Blogging Tips A-Z: the Ultimate Guide (Business 2 Community)

What Painter Bob Ross Can Teach Us About Blogging (Business 2 Community)

The Secret to Creating Stellar Content Marketing (Heidi Cohen)

65 Metrics To Track Blog Success (Heidi Cohen)


Nonprofit Blogging

Should Your Nonprofit Start a Blog? – Benefits and Drawbacks (Wired Impact's Blog)

11 Blog Content Ideas for Nonprofits (Nonprofit Tech 2.0 Blog)

Quick Guide to Starting A Nonprofit Blog  (Nonprofit Bridge)

Four Things A Blog Can Do For Your Nonprofit (The Salsa Scoop)

7 Tips for Successful Nonprofit Blogging (Miratel Solutions)

Clairification's Series of Posts about Nonprofit Blogging



Image from tao_zhyn on Flickr

How Nonprofits Are Like Snowflakes

Nonprofit organizations are like snowflakes. There are many organizations that are trying to solve the same problems. But each organization is unique in their way of solving the problem. Just like snowflakes, no organization is the same.

One way for nonprofits to share how their organization is unique is by sharing their stories on the Internet.  Nonprofit Quarterly has some great web content ideas for nonprofits in their article titled "The Role of Hope in the Nonprofit Website".

Here are some ideas mentioned in the article -

• Showcase your past impact my sharing your past successes
• Share stories about individuals
• Share data
• Let community members tell their own stories