How We'Re All Going To Grow With A COAC Platform

#1 What’s this
about? 1
Copyright © Betsey Merkel
Connecting for Birds
How We’re All Going to Grow with a

COAC Platform
By Betsey Merkel, March 4, 2018
This presentation is by Betsey Merkel, Consultant,
Connecting
and is shared under a Creative Commons license,
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC
BY-NC-SA which means you can share and adapt
for Birds materials with attribution, for non-commercial

purposes, and distribute under share-alike
How We’re All Going to licensing.
Grow with a COAC Platform
3
#2 The situation 4
2006 2017
60% 30%
5
“Houston, we
have a problem.”
6
Perfect Storm
7
1. Loss of Audubonners
● 30% in 2017
● No new chapters in
the last 20 years.
8
2. Loss of the Middle Class
9
● Wind Turbine Farms in the Great Lakes by Kathy Murphy
● Beach strewn with plastic debris USFWS
● Aging 65-year-old oil pipeline “Line 5” by Dave Schwab
3. Political-Environmental
Threats 10
4. Technology Disruption
Unprecedented Monopolizing the
Growth of mobile attention of 18-44
traffic starts in 2006... year olds
11
Photo: Even Corridor by Alice Merkel.
#EpicFail
12
Adapt or Die.
13
How can we use technology to
become a united front for birds
and habitat conservation again? 14
Photo: Flock by D. Dibenski (images.fws.gov ([1])) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.jpg
#3 COAC
Platform Value
Proposition 15
What’s a platform?
How does it work?
What will it do for us? 16
Platforms conduct business
online
● Library
● Operations
“Platforms deliver hosted services over the
Internet.” - Wikipedia ● Collaboration
● Publishing
● Marketing
● Ecommerce
17
What will a Platform for COAC do?
● Share ideas and practices ● Grow memberships
● Develop relationships ● Raise funds
● Foster communications ● Connect people to policy issues
● Interact with other organizations ● Deepen member involvement
● Support remote collaborations ● Grow conservation projects
● Recruit volunteers ● Expedite network learning
18
“Chapters and other organizations
dedicated to bird conservation need a
resource to communicate. There is no
mechanism for chapters and others to
have an open discussion of issues. The
Facebook groups are dedicated to
birding and not conservation.” - Jeff
Harvey, Audubon Society of Mahoning
Valley
19
A Platform is COAC’s Tool Box
3/3/2015 8:07:58-5/19/2015 4:17:47 PM

1,000 Clicks Recorded
20
#1 Organize
21
#2 Brand
22
#3 Libraries
23
#4 Content Environment
Birds
Native Insects
Facilities
Panoramas Native Plants

24
#5 Social Media
25
Content Analytics
26
Content analytics tell us who is reading
our content and what they like
27
#6 Services
28
#7 Ecommerce
29
Dashboards
30
How is a platform
different from a
website? 31
Static vs Dynamic
32
Unless you’re publishing and posting to your
website and social media every day you’ll only be
found by those who know you’re there (#12)...
...and in fact, search engines penalize static

activity decreasing search result visibility.
33
If you’re publishing and posting to your
website and social media every day search
engines will elevate your content so it will be
seen by the crowd...
...people from anywhere who you don’t know,

but who are looking for information about the
things you’re connected to (#100,000’s).
34
What will a
platform do for
us? 35
A COAC platform and it’s content
marketing will connect Ohio
Audubon Chapters to new people
and be found in search results
36
WCAS Content Marketing efforts yielded a 61% increase in subscribers in 1 year.
61%
Subscribers
37
WCAS Content Marketing efforts yielded a 30% increase in program participants in 2 years.
30% Program
Participants
38
A COAC
Platform
includes
Collaborative
Technologies
● Share documents with others
● Add comments
● Resolve comments
● Chat in real time as you write
● Never lose a revision
39
Centralize
COAC
Akron Audu
bon
Communications
COAC CALE
NDAR
udubon
Columbus A
AMV
ASMV
ASGC CGAS
CAS
FAS BAS
AMV
ubon
Dayton Aud BRAS
ASO
DAS
40
Connects
Audubonners
on advocacy &
policy issues
for a united
front
41
A COAC
Platform will
grow
Connectivity 42
So that Ohio Audubon
Chapters become a force
for birds and a valued
NAS connection
43
BHAGs
(Big Hairy
Audacious
Goals)
44
COAC nk 2018
aker Ba
C OAC Spe
Locations
: Tri-Mora
in e , Ca n t on, ASGC
Speaker
Bank
Mohican
CA S , Columbus,
Locations: W
mi Valley
r a ine , A kron, Mia
: Tri-Mo
Locations 45
“The COAC Speaker Bank would be
valuable to connect to local and remote
Audubon networks. There would be a
creative outreach component because
we could recruit local volunteers and
match them with local research projects
and with long distance research sites
and Audubon chapters” - Dr. Ann Wiley,
University of Akron
46
Volunteer
ion
COAC tch to C onservat
lu nteer Ma
COAC Vo 9
201
Projects
Match for
M oraine,
t io n s : ASGC, Tri-
o ca
Project L
Canton
Conservation
oc a t io n s : M ohican, A
kron, Projects
Project L bus
le v e la n d, Colum
C
, Akron, Miami
i-M o r a in e
oca tions: Tr
Project L
Valley
47
#4 Underlying
Magic 48
Underlying Magic
DATA STORIES COMMUNICATIONS

49
Added Value AUDUBON
CHAPTER
secondary networks
BIRD
CLUBS
AUDUBON
COAC
CHAPTER
ORNITHOLOGICAL
ORGANIZATIONS,
COLLEGE AND
UNIVERSITY
RESEARCH
DEPARTMENTS

50
Exponential Value
Streaming
Broadcast
Communications

51
#5 Business
Model 52
Business Model
● Memberships ● Campaigns
● Donations ● Collaborations
● Programs and services ● Grants
● Sponsors ● Chapter fees, sliding

scale
● Store ticketing, sales,
coupons
53
#6 Go-to-Market
Plan 54
Go-To-Market Plan
Chapter
#1 Data #2 Website #3 Library #4 Forums #5 Content Marketing
Google COAC.org ● YouTube ● Website ● Facebook
● Twitter
Activities Drive ●
●
Blog
News
●
●
Vimeo
Flickr
●
●
LinkedIn
Medium ● Google+
● Research ● SoundCloud ● Facebook ● LinkedIn
● Store ● Scribd ● Other ● Email
● SlideShare ● Campaigns

55
#7 Competitive
Analysis 56
Competitive Analysis
● Enterprise platforms are common in
for-profit industries but not in areas of
citizen science and environmental
conservation.
57
#8 Management 58
Project Manager and Developer
Betsey Merkel is an experienced professional ● Orchestrate events and campaigns
platform developer who builds and manages
platforms and the services they offer. A website ● Publish and market content on social
doesn’t have these services. media
What I do: ● Manage contributed chapter stories,

media, activities, events, articles, reports
● Produce creative digital media
● Build relationships online and face to face
● Analyze content metrics to understand
audiences and identify opportunities ● Guide collaborations
● Advise leadership informed by content ● Coach, mentor, and train users

metrics results
59
#9 Financial
Projections and
Key Metrics 60
Key Metrics for WCAS
Growth of,
● Content marketing metrics

● Memberships
● Store sales
● Campaign ticket sales
● Donations
● Program attendance
● Contributors
● Number of volunteers
● Number of activities
61
In 21 months, WCAS content marketing on Twitter grew substantial online audiences.
Number of Twitter audience

impressions UP 293%
Number of Twitter Twitter New Twitter

Tweets Profile visits Mentions Followers
UP 18.9% UP 11% UP 189% UP 352%
62
Financial Projections (based on
WCAudubon.org prototype)
● Technology fixed expenses
○ $300.00 per year
● Skilled labor services
○ $6,000.00 per year
● Website financial worth:
○ 2017-First Year based on 12 months of operation: website valued at $2,500.00
○ 2018-Second Year based on 2 months of operation: website valued at $25,000.00
○ 2019-Third Year ??
63
Growth Metrics for COAC
● Number of chapters served
● Number of contributors
● Number of collaborating partners
● Number of calls, workshops, events
● Content marketing metrics
● Number of collaborative conservation projects
● Memberships, donations and store sales.
64
#10 Current Status,
Accomplishments to Date,
Timeline, and Use of Funds 65
Status
● COAC has a long history of serving Audubon Chapter growth in Ohio
● It has been dormant for many years
● The decline of Audubon Chapters in Ohio points to the need to revitalize
COAC services
● Funds have been used for an initial restart schedule:
● COAC Conference Call Mon Jan 29, 2018, at 7 - 8 PM EDT
● COAC Conference Call Mon Feb 12, 2018, at 7 - 8 PM EDT
● COAC Workshop March 4, 2018, at 1 PM EDT
66
What’s your
BHAG? 67
Questions
● How would you use a platform?
● What big ideas do you have?
● What do you need?
68
Thank you!
Betsey Merkel, Consultant
Connecting Platforms, Digital Strategy, Multimedia
for Birds Producer, Social Network Developer
Email: betseymerkel@gmail.com
How We’re All Going to
Grow with a COAC Platform Phone: 216-246-2447
69
● Alice Merkel
● Chuck Slusarczyk Jr.
Thank You ● David Lewis
● Penny O’Connor
Photographers
70

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#1 What’s this

How We’re All Going to Grow with a

for Birds materials with attribution, for non-commercial

Grow with a COAC Platform

● Beach strewn with plastic debris USFWS

● Aging 65-year-old oil pipeline “Line 5” by Dave Schwab

● Develop relationships ● Raise funds

● Foster communications ● Connect people to policy issues

● Interact with other organizations ● Deepen member involvement

● Support remote collaborations ● Grow conservation projects

● Recruit volunteers ● Expedite network learning

3/3/2015 8:07:58-5/19/2015 4:17:47 PM

Panoramas Native Plants

...and in fact, search engines penalize static

...people from anywhere who you don’t know,

DATA STORIES COMMUNICATIONS

Copyright © Betsey Merkel

Copyright © Betsey Merkel

Copyright © Betsey Merkel

● Programs and services ● Grants

● Sponsors ● Chapter fees, sliding

Copyright © Betsey Merkel

What I do: ● Manage contributed chapter stories,

● Advise leadership informed by content ● Coach, mentor, and train users

● Content marketing metrics

Number of Twitter audience

Number of Twitter Twitter New Twitter

● COAC Conference Call Mon Feb 12, 2018, at 7 - 8 PM EDT

● COAC Workshop March 4, 2018, at 1 PM EDT

Betsey Merkel, Consultant

Connecting Platforms, Digital Strategy, Multimedia

for Birds Producer, Social Network Developer

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