Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) hosts Social Media Club Richmond
Although still undergoing construction for a major renovation, VMFA was a very gracious host to Social Media Club Richmond on July 23 of this past week. Those lucky enough to get tickets enjoyed heavy hor’d’ovres and two complimentary drinks, and free parking in a close by parking deck.
The formation of the Social Media Club Richmond has been met with enthusiasm since it was organized in February, 2009. This was the 3rd successful meeting for the club, and according to Doug Meacham, membership director, the Richmond Social Media Club is one of the fastest growing clubs in the country.
As highlighted in last week's Social Media Club Richmond article, July's SMCRVA event focus was Social Media for Non-Profit Organizations and featured Boston's Gradon Tripp. Gradon is the founder of Social Media 4 Social Change (www.sm4sc.com). The premise of SM4SC is simple — to take all the connections made through social media, and put them together to host first-class fundraising events happen “in real life”. SM4SC’s fundraisers benefit local charities in cities around the United States.
Gradon Tripp is a recognized leader in the area of leveraging social media for charitable causes. He writes about social media and life at GradonTripp.com; he also speaks about the role social media plays in helping non-profit organizations raise awareness. The club was very pleased to have Gradon Tripp come to Richmond to share his insights with its members.
Social Media 4 Social Change presentation
Some highlights from Gradon's talk on charitable cause fundraising:
- Know your vision
- Find your community - search, start profiles, setup a community page and leverage Twitter, videos, and blogs to get your message out
- Share your vision - be clear, "tell your story"
- Invite them to "act"
- Invite them to share your message - using Twitter, Facebook, Hootsuite
- Find groups doing what you do and work together - small charities can share tools, resources to help others
Takeaways:
- Make your story appealing
- Initiate "calls to action" - use Flickr, YouTube, to organize pictures
- Setup a blog
- Interview workers, take pictures, add them to a community page
- Search Twitter and "follow" / "connect" with organizations, people of similar interests
- Stand up and reach out to build quality connections - there are no time zones, no geography
- "It's not the tools, it's what you do with them"
- Engaging is: Listen --> Respond --> Engage
- "Build your message and get it out, inspire to promote a message of optimism, be passionate"
Email: smcrichmond@gmail.com
The Grand Opening of the expanded and transformed Virginia Museum of Fine Arts will be May 1, 2010.
- Daulton West, Jr. , aka ”@dwestjr” on Twitter
Comments
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