At a recent training for a nonprofit client, I began my talk on online promotions with that proverbial slide filling the entire frame with logos of online tools. Then I flipped to Edvard Munch’s painting, “The Scream.” Indeed, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by all of these possibilities that seem to change by the day. At the same time, web producers sometimes have to temper their principals who say, “let’s get on [insert latest tool]” when their target audiences don’t use it or they lack the resources for proper maintenance.

In turn, the following questions can help plan your online promotions, whether it’s for content, an event, products or an advocacy campaign. Keep in mind, though, all online promotions must flow from your goals, objectives, audience(s), and key message.

1.Why is the audience going to this site or service?
People generally use the internet to research information, discuss, connect, or purchase goods and services. Some tools provide all of these, but to focus your targeting, consider why the medium first attracts the audience. For example, people can discuss topics and connect on YouTube, but they mainly go there for information suited for video – from entertainment and news to how-to. The following are examples of where people go to satisfy these needs that can be specific or related to your work.

Research

• Search: first step to identify resources
• Blogs: topic-specific, experiential, advocacy
• Megasites: topic specific, such as WebMD
• Email/RSS: newsletters, advocacy campaign updates via subscription
• Social News: news + updates, such as Twitter or Digg
• Online video: Youtube, Vimeo for short videos

Discuss

• Bulletin boards: quick, in and out to share stories, comment or Q & A
• Listservs: regular interest on a topic for work or personal (support groups, hobbies, interests)
• Social Network Pages: topic specific, experiential, advocacy

Connect (online + offline)

• Social Networks: friends and family on Facebook, music for Myspace
• Trade Associations: networking, professional development, advocacy
• Linkedin: industry-specific discussion forum and networking
• Meetup, Ning: hobbies, interests, advocacy, politics, professional networking
• Partisan politics: Care2.com, Gather.com, Townhall.com

Purchase Goods & Services

• Craigslist: panoply of goods, services and job opportunities
• Care.com: services for parents
• Amazon: consumer and professional products
• EBay: consumer and professional products

2. What type of content fits into this online space?
After identifying where and why your audiences visit these online spaces, assess the nature of the content and context in order to produce for that format effectively. For example, Twitter is used for news and updates requiring short, compelling statements with links. However, some use it to regurgitate content formatted for a different, traditional format. For instance, some TV broadcasters (not all) use Twitter as a digital TV Guide by listing their schedule. Instead, they should post related and interesting quotes to drive tune-in and traffic. Another example is that it’s well known advocacy emails should use a tone as if it's from a friend and include ‘the ask’ in the first paragraph. Yet, some nonprofits still write wonky tomes and bury the ask at the end. With the format needs, research the best practices across platforms, such as metadata for search, embeddable media for blogs and social networks, and so on.

3. What is the level and impact of your presence?
Understand if your presence is central, participatory, or peripheral on the site or in the forum. Doing so directs the editorial, policy, and metrics needs. If you are central to the space, such as with a Facebook page or a feature on your website, you’ll need an editorial strategy from soup to nuts: tone, primary audience, key messages, content types, and publishing schedule. Policies, such as privacy, moderation rules, or response to questions, need to be decided ahead of time. Metaphorically speaking, since it’s your party, the metrics need to be concrete and map to real outcomes to achieve to your objectives, including a feedback loop to report your success or change plans as necessary.

If you are a participant, such as discussing or connecting in a public forum, the editorial considerations can include external messaging, types of information/urls to promote, or how to approach other active participants, known as ‘online influentials.’ The policies should include your disclosure rules, messages to avoid, and other considerations related to “what is essentially community relations,” as my boss Nicco Mele says. Here, it’s easy to crash the party, such as with trying to sell a service or idea on listserv instead of adding to the discussion with relevant comments or useful links. It’s similar for in-person Meetup.com events, say for a support group for parents with sick children. You could go there to find people to join your healthcare advocacy campaign but offend them by coming unannounced. Introduce yourself ahead of time to offer substantive information; be a nice guest before getting to the ask. With the metrics, set a baseline for what is too much time for too little pay-off in order to decide when to drop off. This could include tracking urls promoted in discussion forums or monitoring email response rates from lists compiled from events.

Being on the periphery, such as with online ads or related content (i.e. YouTube related videos), requires an editorial strategy of compelling titles and visuals, because your presence is not audience-selected or even in their eye line. With the policies, ensure your external communications are approved and consistent with public relations efforts. Given that it is on the sidelines, the metrics are a third degree of conversion or click-throughs. This isn’t to say the effort could not attract impressive numbers, but the expectation is different than maintaining a page on a social network.

4. How will you connect all of these efforts?
Be prepared to welcome people when you attract them to what you are promoting, such as when they join your email list, watch your YouTube Video, or click on your ad. If they click on your ad and you make them start over on a homepage with numerous options, you’ve lost them. If they sign up for an email, send a thank you note and what to expect. If it is your Facebook page or discussion forum, ensure a community manager is there to respond to misinformation, anger, questions, etc. It sounds simple, but organizations frequently fail to follow-up to respond to the attention that they worked so hard to create in the first place. From a technical perspective, ensure your IT staff has the infrastructure to absorb the increased traffic and respond to issues.

To recap, when planning online promotions, research why your target audiences use these online spaces, understand the unique format needs, know the impact of your presence, and integrate your workflow across the mediums. I can't resist in being cliché, but whatever you do, don’t put a square peg in a round hole or crash the party.