The Agitator

Today I’m forwarding two quite different articles about online social networks — both have relevance to online fundraising. The first, from Center for Research, is your typical report on social network usage — who does it, what they do, etc. It’s actually a compilation of ...  Read more

I see a lot of articles these days advising how to use social media. Here’s one by Stephanie Miller of online marketing agency Return Path that I particularly like. Why? Because it draws interesting insights from successful email marketing, and those in turn reflect some fundamental ...  Read more

New ads for Shure, the microphone maker, feature various artists — like Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey of The Who — professing their steadfast loyalty to the brand. Says Daltrey: "These mics are the only ones I’ll use." Do you have stories of commitment from your most ...  Read more

One of the savviest online marketers around, B.L. Ochman, takes aim in this article at six social media myths that you — and maybe your boss — ought to avoid … 1. Social media is cheap, if not free. 2. Anyone can do it. 3. You can make a big splash in a short time. 4. You ...  Read more

I was about to post on this article, Five New Ways to Communicate in Social Media, from Gary Stein at Clickz. The ideas he suggests for marketers to interact on online social networks with the customers of their brands are indeed intriguing … actually, a bit scary. But then I read this ...  Read more

The Agitator has released the third and fourth in its new series of DonorTrends White Papers, based on our proprietary donor survey research. These papers, both dealing with online fundraising, are available only as a benefit for subscribers to The Agitator’s new Premium Service. Our first ...  Read more

The day before President Obama made his first “foreign” visit to meet with Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper we received from the FLA Group in Ottawa their sixth annual poll of direct mail charitable giving behavior of Canadians. The results of this Canadian survey closely parallel the ...  Read more

Even before I reported on the International Fundraising Conference online virtual event earlier this week, I’d been thinking of innovative ways in which broadband, the power of the Web and today’s software platforms can be used to build donor/member loyalty. Few dispute that ...  Read more

This recession affects everything. And the convention/conference business is no exception. In addition to the headline-making woes of Las Vegas, singled out by President Obama for hosting junkets of corporations receiving federal bailout funds, virtually every convention city is feeling the pain ...  Read more

Every online fundraiser is looking for the ultimate viral message that gets passed on and on and on. But have you actually ever stopped to think about what makes an email "shareworthy?" Here are some tips from Loren McDonald at Silverpop, an email marketing vendor. Other than ...  Read more