By Lauren Young
Staff Writer
From reeling in trout to streaming successful fundraising campaigns, Cazenovia resident Dan Morgan is one fisherman who gives analyzing the current a double meaning.
Morgan is the chief marketing officer for Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Inc. — a non-profit organization recognized for its successful application of fly fishing as a rehabilitation tool for disabled veterans — based in La Plata, Maryland.
In 2015, Facebook selected Morgan to be part of its U.S. Small Business Council, a collection of over 60 small businesses from across the nation to provide feedback on new Facebook products and solutions. Two weeks ago, Morgan went on his most recent trip to Facebook’s Silicon Valley headquarters for SMB Council Day, honoring the fifth year of Facebook’s U.S. Small Business Council.
As the sole non-profit organization of the council, Morgan said he brings a “different perspective” to the team. Through the program, Morgan has learned from the popular social networking site — comprised of over two billion users — and they have learned from him, all as part of a greater mission to nurture his own organization.
In the spirit of giving back once more, Morgan has shared his insight on how local businesses in Cazenovia and elsewhere can magnify their voices by expanding their platform through the global stage of Facebook.
Fly fishing as rehabilitation
Inspired by his grandfather, a U.S. Army veteran who served in the Battle of the Bulge, Morgan began volunteering with the PHWFF program in Syracuse in 2011.
PHWFF, founded in 2005, introduced fly fishing as a rehabilitation tool for disabled active military service veterans across the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, the Warrior Transition Command and military hospitals.
Since then, Morgan has been a program lead, deputy regional coordinator and was an early member of the CEO Field Advisory Council. Currently, he is a member of Facebook’s Small/Medium Business Council and Madison County Trout Unlimited, has sat on the board of directors of the Cazenovia Lake Association and has served as an expert panelist at Facebook Small Business forums.
Morgan’s experience in the Facebook council has impacted PHWFF in “a variety of ways,” he said.
“Facebook has afforded us the ability to not only retain but reach new volunteers, participants and donors,” said Morgan. “They see the importance of community and empowerment, especially when it comes to small businesses.”
Currently, there are nearly 270 million small businesses around the world that use Facebook for advertising and outreach.
According to Morgan, there are three core elements that a non-profit seeks, which are their participants, that being the injured or disabled veterans and active duty military that they serve, their volunteer base – comprised of 4,000 volunteers and 221 programs nationwide – and their donors.
Leaving a footprint with Blueprint
If teaching a man to fish feeds him for a lifetime, will teaching him Facebook grant him a successful social media presence? Maybe, but there’s more to marketing than just blindly “pressing the boost button,” said Morgan.
So how can small business owners leave their digital footprint in the ever-evolving social media sphere? According to Morgan, the secret is Facebook’s “Blueprint,” a “super powerful” learning platform for small businesses and non-profit organizations. “It’s something every small business should look into,” he said.
From empowering local volunteers to managing individual Facebook pages, Morgan added that the e-learning courses and breakout sessions provided by Blueprint helped PHWFF create and manage their own pages, and has allowed him to “effectively train” his volunteers, which takes on various forms from one-on-one training to national conferences.
Facebook’s Blueprint has three components: its e-learning center, Blueprint Live and Blueprint Certification. At the e-learning center, more than 50 online videos cover topics ranging from how to target an audience to developing better ads. For Blueprint Live, in-person training events aimed toward digital market professionals are held, leading to Blueprint Certification, which is composed of a series of lessons and two exams — each costing $150 — to obtain a “Facebook Certified Planning Professional” certificate.
By mimicking their organizational structure on Facebook, PHWFF created a national page, many regional pages and 221 individual Facebook pages for each organization.
“Most non-profits are built on relationships,” said Morgan. “Facebook is a great way to build those relationships, and retain those relationships. To have our local programs effectively using Facebook to share their program stories, to reach out and thank people, and to highlight what they’re doing is really important.”
Neglecting the presence of the social media revolution can make an organization seem invisible, as Morgan said that increasing visibility within the community is a “core element to marketing.”
“Creating an online footprint is really important,” said Morgan. “If people don’t know you exist they can’t support you.”
How to trend on #GivingTuesday
Before 2015, the “Donate” button on Facebook was nonexistent. After joining the council that year, Morgan lobbied to change that.
“That was something I really pushed for, that ultimately was created,” said Morgan after he consulted with Facebook vice presidents and engineers about its necessity in the non-profit sphere and its potential for non-profits to visually see the direct correlation between investments and profits generated.
While campaigns for donors and recruitments happens year-round, there are particular days vital to a business’ success — one of those days being #GivingTuesday.
#GivingTuesday, a global day of giving that falls on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving, eliciting a surge of fundraising campaigns from various corporations, businesses, non-profits and individuals looking to raise money for multiple purposes and causes.
In 2014, PHWFF raised $255 on #GivingTuesday. In 2015, they reached over $15,000.
At the time, Morgan had completed market research concerning post-911 veterans and how they were more apt to use social media than any other form of communication. Using a grant, PHWFF was able develop targeted Facebook advertising exposing users to their cause.
In 2015 and 2017, PHWFF won the best local media campaign for #GivingTuesday, witnessing over 60 percent of their donations derived from Facebook directly, 70 percent of them being first-time givers.
The industry average, Morgan said, hovers around the 10 percent range. “Using some of the stuff I’ve learned, in conjunction with the small business team at Facebook, really helped us reach that goal,” he said.
Through thank-you posts following the day and day after the campaign on December 1, the organization raised an additional $5,000, bringing the total amount to over $20,000 raised in the 2015 campaign. In 2017, they raised over $32,000, with the same percentage coming from Facebook.
Tips for local businesses
While trending on Facebook may seem daunting at first, the first step begins with logging in.
“Just being on [Facebook] and communicating is a huge first step,” said Morgan. “That’s going to speak towards recruitment, retention and just general name recognition. When it comes to local businesses there’s a lot of opportunities, it’s infinite what you can do with your Facebook page, whether it’s an organic thing, such as a non-paid campaign, or through a paid campaign.”
If one does decide to pay to campaign, Morgan knows how best to take advantage of Facebook ads.
In his strategy for #GivingTuesday, Morgan started his campaign a month before most other organizations did, spending $30 to run ads for their targeted audience of Facebook users — those who displayed an interest in charities and fly fishing. These ads increased their audience by 621 new fans.
In preparation of the #GivingTuesday campaign, Morgan additionally sent each partner in every state a marketing kit that included tools such as branded images to FAQs for them to share with stakeholders.
“The big step is to start way back in your planning,” said Morgan. This can include identifying key goals and objectives, from increasing sales to increasing one’s volunteer base.
“Even at the micro and local level, it’s just as important for a small business to be utilizing these tools as it is for some large, multi-national corporation,” said Morgan.
According to Morgan, people in the U.S spend on average 41 minutes a day looking at Facebook on their phones. “So if you’re not developing mobile-friendly content, you’re going to miss out.”
Finally, the power of digital connections is the best fuel for any organization’s engine, and through mastering the art of a social media presence an organization can reach the success they desire. “As my stepfather always said, excellence is a collective enterprise,” said Morgan.
