Social Media Group provides nonprofits free search engine exposure, online interest

SUPERIOR – When Washington, D.C.-based Grameen Foundation was searching for a way to broadcast its Oslo, Norway celebration for Muhammad Yunus, its Nobel Peace Prize winner, last December, it turned to Superior-based Social Media Group, or SMG.

The group designed a blog for the event, “where people worldwide could see photos, share personal stories, and learn how Grameen’s programs can solve world poverty,´ said Dennis Yu, the group’s chief executive officer and co-founder. “It was a tremendous success. We had Grameen featured on Yahoo!’s front page. We took over Grameen’s infrastructure so we could handle the donations and visibility.”

SMG’s pro bono efforts generated more than $250,000 in donations during the ceremony.

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Spreading the word

“Their assistance was a great help to us during the frenzied activity surrounding the Nobel Prize, and the blog helped us capture a lot of the online interest … and spread the word about microfinance,´ said Ken Liffiton, Internet marketing officer at Grameen Foundation, which provides microfinance services to 22 countries.

Formed in May 2006 with “enough angel capital so money is not an issue,” Yu said the group works pro bono for nonprofits by developing blogs, trafficking, search engine optimization, data analytic tools, online community development and marketing campaigns.

“We manage those campaigns free, making nonprofit budgets go farther. Our experience is large-scale search marketing, and we know how to optimize keyword based traffic,” Yu said.

Yu and Brad Twohig, the group’s co-founder and chairman, worked together at Yahoo! Inc. running large-scale marketing plans and data analytics. Yu said they wondered, “Where we can make the most impact and do the most good. Nonprofits face the dilemma of either having no resources or spending money inefficiently. They need our expertise. Why not shine the brightest light in the darkest corner?”

They convinced a group of angel financers that building around their core strengths – understanding how to drive visitors to sites through large-scale search engine optimization, pay-per-click ads and keyword-based traffic – can be a boon for nonprofits by making their sites more effective in gaining exposure.

The idea caught on with supporters, including Plentyoffish.com CEO Markus Frind, Track Entertainment’s Andrew Fox, Ravenwood Marketing Strategist Dan Murray and Chris Downie, founder of fitness company SparkPeople Inc.

They, along with several others, bought into the group for an undisclosed amount and now function as advisers or board members.

Although the group does take on commercial clients to pay for some pro bono work, 90 percent of its focus is free or low-cost services to nonprofits. Those organizations typically don’t have the money and resources, and aren’t efficient in spending money to bring in more visitors and donations, Yu said.

The group is currently developing tools to help nonprofits build community awareness.

“Our vision is to help nonprofits save $100 million a month in marketing by 2010,” Yu said. One way is setting up pay-per-click through Google grants, which brings targeted customers free to the nonprofit Web sites to reach customers that are looking for them.

Lucas Howell, the group’s vice president of social services, said most nonprofits make critical mistakes, which prevent search engines from finding them.

“Most Web sites are developed for people, not search engines,” Howell said. “Nonprofits are not in the business of being a technical company.”

Unlike many startups, the group has more business than it can handle. So it is beginning to teach nonprofits to become more effective on their own.

To do that, it holds workshops – the group recently teamed with Social Venture Partners of Boulder County, which is an organization associated with The Community Foundation Serving Boulder County. The first March workshop garnered five local nonprofit groups that learned about common mistakes, how to obtain Google grants, how to optimize their search engines and analyze the market.

“SMG educates several nonprofits at once, with follow-ups to each of them,´ said Dwayne Nesmith, a partner with Social Venture Partners. “It’s making a difference to these organizations by exposing them to more potential donors. SMG will manage their campaigns and track searches to ensure quality leads.”

Will a company who delivers free performance marketing for nonprofits make it in the business world?

John Cass, research fellow for Palo Alto, Calif.-based Society for New Communications Research and author of “Strategies and Tolls for Corporate Blogging,” thinks it’s possible.

“By providing basic services to nonprofits, they build relationships and publicity through the notoriety of giving it away. It’s the feel-good factor – they want to help, but also want to make money,” Cass said. “Their strategy of generating well-being can get additional business, but they need to develop their concepts more fully.”

The final analysis is proving financial results.

“Are their services going to result in a sale or donation to their clients? They have to provide measurement information and demonstrate a return on investment or customers will lose interest. It’s all about execution,” Cass said.