100 Days of Gratitude, Day 33: People who push you out of your comfort zone

CN Tower Edge Walk, Toronto, ON

"Just try it. Three bites."

We have a rule in my house when it comes to food--the three bite rule. If my son, Matthew, doesn't want to try something, which is rare since he'll eat almost anything, he has to try at least three bites. If he doesn't like it after three bites, he doesn't have to eat it. More often than not, however, he ends up liking it. Unfortunately for me, that has resulted in him liking oysters (raw and smoked), lobster, unagi (eel), toro (fatty tuna), Brillat-Savarin cheese and all sorts of other expensive foods. And some of my favorites.

Likewise, there have been people in my life who have pushed me to try stuff that I didn't want to try. For instance, in May, Jim decided he wanted to go on the CN Tower EdgeWalk, where they hook you up to a "human dog run" on the roof of the revolving restaurant at the CN Tower. At 121 stories in the air, it's the highest outdoor recreation activity in North America, so they claim.

Video highlights from the EdgeWalk

This wasn't really on my to-do list, but I reluctantly agreed to participate. AND I HAD SO MUCH FUN!

On a professional level, when I was at Wisconsin Public Television, I did NOT want to be in front of the camera. Even though I was the on-air fundraising producer and could do the pitches in my sleep, I had no desire to be on-camera talent. The development director at the time, Malcolm Brett (now General Manager), said that being on-air was a condition of my employment.

My first on-camera break, in August 1994, was awful. Truly, incredibly awful.

Malcolm came up to me and said, "Well, you got the kinks out. Your next break will be fine."

The "after": My national PBS gig pitching Downton Abbey
(l to r) Ken Verdoia, Bob Marty, Joe Campbell, me

And he was right. My next break, the red tally light came on and I was fine. Now, being on-air for public television and radio is second nature to me, and my favorite part of my job.

If it weren't for people like Malcolm, I never would have discovered something that makes me really happy. And something I happen to be kind of good at.

So today, I give thanks to people who pushed me out of my comfort zone and introduced me to new things that I ended up enjoying. And most times, it didn't take more than "three bites."

Cash Follows Contact

Note: You can generally substitute the term "Fundraising Campaign" anywhere I write "Pledge Drive."

I recently Tweeted "Pledge Drive on Facebook? Yes! @KAWC reach up 500% & engagement up 300% during recent pledge drive. #PublicRadio #NPR"

To translate the Twitter-speak, I was saying. "Yes, it's a good idea for Public Radio Stations to include their Pledge Drive activities in their social media activity. One of our clients is KAWC Colorado River Public Media. When we evaluated KAWC's Facebook analytics for the period of their recent Pledge Drive, we saw their "Total Reach" increase by 500% and their community engagement increase by 300%."

That Tweet generated considerable feedback from both the nonprofit and public broadcasting sectors. Common themes were: What did you do differently? What seems to be working? To what degree did you have success turning these followers into donors?"

The short answer to those questions is that a small percentage of KAWC's Social Media followers are donors. But the numbers are comparable to successful direct mail "acquisition rates." Gifts tracked to social media are about 1.0% of followers. An added benefit is that some of those gifts came from friends outside our listening area. They gave to support the team they feel connected to via Social Media. They are a part of our extended community.

What excited me most about the increase in reach and engagement is that it proves that Pledge Drive activity is NOT a turn-off to our social media audience. Last year I presented at both the Public Media Development and Marketing Conference (PMDMC) and National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB) conferences. I heard many stations argue that pledge drive is forbidden from being included in their social media communication. I think that is tragically myopic. They believe that pledge drive will drive away online fans, like so many people in Public Radio believe Pledge Drive drives away listeners. Oh, it's true that if ALL you're doing is pitching and/or begging for donations you will drive away listeners and online fans. But if you're creating "good" content and not just constantly asking for support, you can engage your audiences with your appeals.

When Alice Ferris, ACFRE is training new team members at one of our Public Radio clients, she always reminds them that "Pledge Drive IS programming." It should inform, educate and entertain. We're making a case for support that is logical, compelling, personal and genuine. We're frequently greeted by listeners during or after a Pledge Drive who tell us they "love Pledge Drive." They share that it gives them a chance to really get to know the team and hear from other supporters in the community. It's personal to them and it reinforces their connection to the station. 

The key to effective online engagement isn't that different from your other traditional messaging.  Your social media communication should do one or more of three things:

Inform: Provide relevant, meaningful information about your organization, your team, your events, your service and your goals. Be genuine. Communicate in a personal, authentic voice.

Entertain: Provide "Rich content" of interest such as photos, graphics, video, audio, articles, etc. Give them lots of links to click.

Provide Opportunity: Tell them about things they can do, places they can go, how they can learn more and how they can help. Give them lot's of ways to take action. Provide them ways to get involved that don't require giving money. Of course make it easy for them to give money if they're ready to.

How do you measure success? That depends on your goals. Social Media serves different audiences in unique ways. If all you do is increase reach and engagement, that's a good thing. I always say, "Cash follows contact." Social Media gives us a few new ways to keep making meaningful contact and building or deepening relationships with our communities of support.

A note: Don't be discouraged if your Social Media is slow to take off. You may be doing better than you think. Here's a great infographic regarding the reach of various kinds of Facebook pages. 

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Connect with GoalBusters     

Jim Anderson      GoalBustersJim

Alice Ferris, ACFRE      alice.ferris

Alice Ferris On The Air with Eight, Arizona PBS Pledge Drive

Alice Ferris regularly supports Public Television and Public Radio station pledge drives with her volunteer and compensated appearances. Here are some Social Media posts and threads with links from her on air work for KAET, Eight Arizona PBS June 6th. You can support Arizona Public Television now by calling 888-443-2929 or 480-965-8800. Let 'em know Alice encouraged you to call.

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GoalBusters Consulting, LLC's founding partner Alice Ferris is on the air statewide in Arizona right now! She'll end up on the air for KAET Arizona's PBS station for more than 5 hours live tonight and even more in encore performances. She started this evening at 4pm with "Great Scenic Railway Journeys." Right now she's on "Canadian Tenors" and later tonight she'll be helping with the Elaine Paige program.

Eight, Arizona PBS, is a member-supported service of Arizona State University

Eight specializes in the education of children, in-depth news and public affairs, lifelong learning, and the celebration of arts and culture — utilizing the power of noncommercial television, the Internet, educational outreach services, and community-based initiatives. View Post

John W. Dawe I'm mad crazy about Elaine Page!

Alice Ferris Fab John! :-D

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Alice Ferris just finished hosting her first pledge drive shift of the night. She's on the air statewide for Eight, Arizona PBS right now, wrapped up "Great Scenic Railway Journeys" next up "CanadianTenors" and later tonight she hosts the "Elaine Paige" program.

Mary W. Black Just saw you on Channel 8! Love those Railway Journeys! Great Job Alice!

Winona Reid She's doing a great job! I just turned to channel 8 since the CELTICS WON!! She's a celebrity now! :-)

Jim Anderson Winona, Alice has been doing public Television pledge drives since she was 15. She's been on camera since her early 20s, First for Wisconsin Public Television. She's been volunteering for KAET, AZ PBS and KUAT Tucson PBS for 14 years. (Wow!) She does 4-5 television pledge drives a year, or about 15-20 hours of HD TV airtime (multiply that 2-3x for state-wide public radio). Frequently, she's approached by people asking if she the "Public Television" lady? She also has 4 different "virtual" (pre-recorded) pledge drive programs airing throughout the country. At any given moment, she's on the air in apx 100 major cities nationwide.

Alice Ferris Thanks Mary! It was a long shift, but a good time! - Hey Winona, yes, all of what Jim said is true...although I'm now either the "Lawrence Welk lady," the "Cooks lady," or now "the Train (as in railroad) girl." Not a bad gig.

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Alice Ferris Hosting pledge on @arizonapbs today, 4pm to when they kick me out of the studio-Great Scenic Railway Journeys, Canadian Tenors, Elaine Paige

Mark S. Hunter likes this.

Paul E Doherty

Thank you for your PBS leadership -- have a great time today!

Peter Craven

Have fun! ;o)

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Alice is about to leave on a trip to Phoenix, AZ

Via TripIt

Support KAET, Eight Arizona PBS by calling 888-443-2929 or 480-965-8800. Or visiting them online at Support Arizona PBS.

Connect with GoalBusters: LinkedIn - Alice Ferris / LinkedIn - Jim Anderson / Facebook / Twitter / YouTube / Myspace

Reflections on Food: Yuma, Arizona Trip Report

Cross posted from Chowhound, my favorite foodie site.

Just finished up another week long trip in Yuma and thought I'd post my dining thoughts. I'm totally bummed that apparently I crossed paths with Chowhound Yuman Ed Dibble and didn't get to meet him! Ed, next time!

Day 1: Nature's Express, Healthier Fast Food. This totally plant-based menu is deceptively good, and Dr. Carl Myers, the owner and an oncologist, has said in the past, "If I can make this work in Yuma, I can be successful anywhere!" I love the sauteed greens, which are very simple, stir fried (usually) kale with tons of garlic. I also am fond of their wraps, especially the thai peanut. They also make a darn good reuben that beats many meat-filled reubens! Real rye bread with caraway seeds and a thick layer of something that resembles meat. Not sure what it is, but it's tasty.

Dinner at Mi Rancho. I've now given this place two tries and I think it's just okay. I tried the al carbon and the birria (stewed goat). The al carbon was better than the birria, which was very fatty and more bone than meat. The broth was good though. On the positive side, the al carbon was very flavorful, and I really like the salsa. I think I just need to go to Tacos Mi Rancho instead, because the service was erratic here.

Day 2: Ah-So Sushi and Steak. Had to attend the Village Jazz Series for work, so we thought we'd go hang outside at Ah-So and have some creative sushi. We had a great experience last February and thought we could recreate it. Well, we had to be extremely persistent to get a good experience this time. In general, I've heard from several people that the service here is sub par. I would have to agree, unless you can speak to the manager, Joe Corona. Our initial server was totally flummoxed with the request to "let the sushi chef do what he wants." While Jim was going back and forth between the concert and our table, the server came back twice trying to convince me to order something...anything...off the regular menu. Just when I was about to close out the tab and go someplace else, Joe returned from a break and spoke with me about ideas. Thank goodness! We ended up with very fresh shrimp (amaebi) with the heads battered and flash fried--crispy and delicious; mixed tempura with the usual dipping sauce spiked with chile sauce; monkfish pate, super white tuna, and togorashi crusted seared albacore. So we ended up with a great meal, but it sure was hard to get from point A to point B...

Day 3: Bad meal day.
Lunch at The Crossing with a donor. Chicken salad was incredibly icky. Swimming in mayonnaise and lots of non-chicken filler like eggs, celery and more mayo. Ugh. Our server was incredibly nice though.

Dinner--leftovers heated in the microwave in my room. Like I said, bad meal day.

Day 4: Taco trucks! YAY! Went back to Juanita's for the campechana cocktel. This is SOOO good. Delicate tomato broth with tons of fresh seafood. After that, over to Mariscos Nayarita for shrimp empanadas. Thanks Ed.

Also stopped at Raspados Piguino for dessert, since I wanted something frosty. I had never had raspados, so the kind person behind the counter gave us a quick lesson in what our choices were for this Mexican snow cone. Between Jim's functional Spanish and the counter guy's halting English, I ended up with a tamarind version with vanilla ice cream, which was mildly sweet and very refreshing. Jim had the pineapple version with vanilla ice cream--the pineapple flavor was incredibly concentrated and a great counterpoint to the ice cream. Yummy.

Day 5: Back to Nature's Express for dinner. Felt incredibly virtuous.

Day 6: Lunch at Ciao Bella. I inhaled my pesto capellini with lots of veggies. I also had the red pepper bisque, which is really rich in roasted pepper flavor. Dr. Myers would be so proud of my plant-based diet.

Happy hour at the hotel and wings at The Crossing. Even though I hate their chicken salad, I do like their spicy sweet wings. So much for the plant based diet.

Day 7: Lunch at Burgers and Beer with a client. I like their asparagus fries, but I really wish they would be more careful about trimming the woody ends. It's really inelegant to be picking stringy asparagus out of your teeth in front of a client. I also had the guacamole burger, which is a total mess, so I didn't do so well on etiquette points.

Day 8: Lunch at Mimi's Cafe with a client. I like their blue cheese and walnut salad, but everything else was just adequate.

Dinner at River City Grill. Excellent, well prepared cocktails and I really liked the red snapper dish, which had nicely spicy black beans, basmati rice, and a tasty, fresh salsa on top. Jim had the mustard crusted halibut, which was also light and tasty.

Oh, one more thing from this day--donuts from the Campus Community Center on the Arizona Western College campus. It's pledge drive. No protein in sight, but lots of coffee and sugar.

Day 9: Lunch at Highway 95 Cafe. They always seem so happy to see me there--wow, a real Chinese person. In Yuma! I stuck with the super combo bowl this time, but added some sauteed bean sprouts on top and lots of chile sauce. It's very quick and affordable.

I missed Los Manjares de Pepe, the Pupuseria, and Carla Renee this time, but they are on the list for next time. Also on the list for next time is Mustards, which had gotten good reviews from friends and Tacos Mi Rancho. Any suggestions for my next trip in May are welcomed and appreciated!

If you really want to know what we're eating on a regular basis, and other (work stuff) we're doing, follow us on Twitter or check out our Twitpics.