9 Steps for Getting Kickstarter Dollars

These days, more Kickstarter campaigns are achieving success than we can keep track of. The iPhone-friendly Pebble watch earned $7.6 million more than its $100,000 goal. And the Galileo iPhone platform closed its Kickstarter campaign at $702,000, far surpassing its $100,000 goal.
Not to mention, Kickstarter recently reported it has raised $200 million from over 2 million backers.
How does one cash in (literally) on the Kickstarter craze? For starters, it helps to have a unique concept, wicked ambition and one unforgettable pitch. We've read all of Kickstarter's guidelines, FAQs and tips, and have researched testimonials from successful campaign alums to compile a set of tips that will help launch you into the Kickstarter hall of fame.
1. The Scope
Kickstarter projects are just that: projects. And Kickstarter has strict parameters to define a project. It's "something finite with a clear beginning and end." In other words, Kickstarter is not meant to help you earn money to launch a business. Rather, it’s about earning money to complete a finite goal, whether that’s releasing your band’s latest album, completing a book, etc.
Now, if that project just so happens to coincide with the launching of your business, so be it. However, don’t expect to use Kickstarter funds toward anything related to general business–you can use the money towards the development of your project and in paying the necessary people to get your work off the ground. So, set very specific and measurable project goals. Not only will Kickstarter approve your project, but potential backers will have a firmer understanding of what they’re funding.
2. The Timeline
One of the biggest factors to take into account is your project’s timeline. This will dictate how long your Kickstarter campaign should run and how long it will take to deliver the finished product.
You can set a Kickstarter campaign to run anywhere between one and 60 days. Keep in mind, however, that projects lasting 30 days or less have Kickstarter’s highest success rates. A project’s momentum climbs in the beginning and the end, but can lag during a too-long middle time period. Find a happy medium between your timeframe and your audience’s attention span.
A timeline is also important so that you can set mailing dates for your backers’ rewards, another essential piece of the Kickstarter experience. Be sure to give yourself enough time to complete your project once the Kickstarter campaign has been funded; that way, you won’t disappoint your backers with late or rushed rewards.
3. The Money
Once you have a clearly defined project, it should be relatively straightforward to define a funding goal. It’s as simple as putting together a budget.
Take into account the following: production, manufacturing, labor, packaging and shipping costs. Factor in your “salary,” too; if you’re using Kickstarter to help you complete a book, backers are paying for your time. (Just be sure to make that clear in your project description.)
The most important thing to remember is that Kickstarter uses an all-or-nothing funding model. If your project doesn’t reach its financial goal within the specified time period, you’ll receive no money. Therefore, don’t set the bar unreasonably high. On the other hand, if you’ve accurately budgeted the project and are fully transparent to potential backers, you should see healthy returns.
4. The Tiers
Hand-in-hand with your budget, you’ll need to determine the proper rewards to return to backers once the project is completed. Rewards are tangible returns for a backer’s money, and can vary widely from project to project. A popular example is rewarding your backers with something made by the project itself, like a copy of a newly recorded album.
Rewards are determined by different funding tiers. Let’s take the CD example: You might estimate that a backer who pledges $20 deserves a copy of the CD. However, if a backer pledges $50, maybe he or she receives a signed copy of the CD. And if he pledges $100, it’s two signed copies plus a concert ticket.
Kickstarter data shows that the most popular pledge is $25, but the average pledge is around $70. Kickstarter also shares that projects with no reward succeed 35% of the time, while projects with a reward less than $20 succeed 54% of the time. Don’t be afraid to vary your pledge tiers widely to accommodate all budgets.
5. The Video
Kickstarter projects with a video component succeed at a significantly higher rate than those without (50 percent vs. 30 percent). So yes, a video is important. According to Kickstarter, this is what makes a killer vid:

• Tell us who you are.
• Tell us the story behind your project. Where'd you get the idea? What stage is it at now? How are you feeling about it?
• Come out and ask for people's support, explaining why you need it and what you'll do with their money.
• Talk about how awesome your rewards are, using any images you can.
• Explain that if you don't reach your goal, you'll get nothing, and everyone will be sad.
• Thank everyone!

Finally, be sure that your video thumbnail is strategic, inviting and piques the visitor’s curiosity. Consider featuring a prototype or a design element. After all, it’s the first image people will see when they visit your project page.
6. The Project Page
Now that you’ve defined your project’s parameters, it’s time to communicate them to potential backers and supporters. Kickstarter emphasizes the most important thing to remember is to be transparent at all times.
That means clearly defining your project’s scope and how you will achieve your goal. It’s also imperative that you explain precisely how you plan to use backers’ money.
Then, explain why you are the best person, company or group to complete this project. Why is your team qualified? What are your past experiences and accolades? Also, create a sense of urgency and timeliness–why do people need this project right now?
Remember to be concise but thorough. Ask yourself, "What questions would people have about my project before pledging money and support?"
7. The Community
Now that you’re ready to launch your project, it’s time to call on your community. Kickstarter recommends tapping your social media followers, but advises a gentle approach. Don’t spam your friends and goad your followers with self-promotion. Consider several different kinds of outreach so as not to overload one network.
And remember: Your community isn’t enough. Consider drafting a pitch document for media coverage, no matter how small the outlet. And ask for help from your local community so they can share in the success–pass out fliers in local businesses and make nice with your town’s radio DJs.
An often overlooked tactic is to tap your backers’ networks, too. Once a person supports your project, he or she is obviously invested in its completion. So ask backers to share the project among their communities.
8. The Updates
Your backers are the lifeblood of your project. They deserve to be updated frequently and thoroughly, as if they were on the team alongside you.
You may choose to either make updates public, or share them privately to backers. To make them feel invested, consider e-mailing updates that include video and photos of your progress, important milestones and team events.
9. The Rewards
A project’s completion means you need to start mailing backers their rewards. You’ll be able to send backers a survey upon completion of your Kickstarter campaign, in which you can ask them to provide their contact information and other requests (T-shirt size, color preference, mailing address, etc.) Kickstarter offers a spreadsheet tool to help you keep all of this information organized.
Staying organized is key. Many Kickstarter alums share that the most challenging part of the process was meeting the mailing dates for rewards. But the process should be pretty straightforward, as long as you account for every step of the process: collecting surveys, calculating shipping costs based on package weight and backer location, purchasing supplies, printing shipping labels, packaging, transporting and finally mailing your rewards.

08:01 by Robert dawne · 0

Tumblr Adds Facebook Timeline Integration

Tumblr is joining the Facebook Timeline integration bandwagon.
The social blog announced today that sharing posts to Facebook would get “a billion times” easier. Tumblr posts now appear on your Facebook Timeline, News Feed and Ticker when you chose “send to Facebook.” Tumblr likes and replies will appear on Facebook, as well.
Tumblr users can adjust their blog settings to share posts on their Timelines. If you already have your Tumblr linked to Facebook, you’ll be get a notification that says, “We’ve improved Facebook sharing. Upgrade now.”
Your Tumblr posts will now be grouped together on Timeline — just like Spotify songs, Pinterest pins and Foursquare checkins — making Timelines easier to navigate.

1. Quadro

From the font to the layout, the Quadro theme is a close tie with the Pinterest pinboard.

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2. Kinley Lite

Kinley Lite uses a very similar pinboard layout, as well as a similar color and font style.

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3. Star-Aurora

Star-Aurora is another mosaic-style option with a bolder font.

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4. Meringue

The Meringue theme also has the same pinboard feel to it.

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5. Nominal

This theme uses a crisp font, and has a clean, mosaic look.

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6. Cargo

Cargo has the same mosaic asthetic as your Pinterest board, but it's a little more minimalist.

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7. Canvas

This example includes text, however, it's still the same board-like layout. This theme also includes the infinite scroll option.

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8. Tessellate

For Tumblr users who post mostly images, Tessellate is a no-brainer.

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9. Photo Stack

When you hover over the scattered stack of photos, the theme organizes into a neatly arranged board.

18:22 by Robert dawne · 0

Facebook on New Timeline Apps: ‘We’re Going To See the Next Pinterest’

Facebook’s Open Graph has made it possible for developers of all sizes to tap into Facebook’s Timeline and post when their members listen to songs, browse for images, or read stories. Facebook’s Malorie Lucich told Social Times, “It’s a huge opportunity for startups. I think we’re going to see the next Pinterest come up through these kinds of integrations.”

People “gravitate to the types of activities they enjoy in the real world,” said Lucich, like fitness, fashion, and food.  The key is to base the app on some kind of action, like listening, watching, reading, or reaching a goal. If your site is about wine tasting, for example, users can post when they’ve tried a new wine.
In the end, all of the activity ends up in one box on each user’s profile page, giving members a look at what they’ve achieved throughout the year, whether they’ve logged every mile they’ve run or clipped every news article they’ve read. “It looks really beautiful on all the maps,” Lucich said.
For a startup company, the Timeline presents an opportunity to reach Facebook’s millions of users. Spotify recruited 4 million new users to its digital music service by streaming users’ playlists on Facebook. When Pinterest had its beta testers post images they liked on Pinterest to their Facebook Timelines, the site’s daily active Facebook user base grew by 60 percent.
In the last three months, Facebook has approved 3,000 Timeline apps that help people share their interests. A recent wave of 60 new apps expanded the offerings with videos from VEVO and fashion from Pose, among others.  But even companies that weren’t lifestyle-related found a way to get on board.
RockMelt created a social reading feature to introduce new users to its Web browser and iPhone app. Launched in 2010, the startup puts a social spin on popular browsers like Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox. RockMelt has Facebook notifications, instant messaging, and updates from sites like Twitter and Tumblr built into the browser for easy access.
When making the decision to use the Open Graph, RockMelt CEO Eric Vishria told Social Times that “Facebook was a natural fit” for the socially-enabled browser. None of the other browsers had tried it yet, he added, “so we’re unique in that regard.”
With the Timeline app, users can turn on “social reading” to share the articles they read online with their friends on Facebook. The article appears on the timeline with the note, “recently read on RockMelt.”

News articles fall under the category of “safe content,” Vishria explained, which are things that people can share with their friends online without making things awkward. RockMelt connects to 150 “white-listed” sites, like CNN, that have safe content. “We want to make sure it’s a good experience,” he said.
RockMelt found that people were more likely to read an article that came from a friend.  Using the Facepile plugin, which shows the Facebook profile pictures of friends who have also read an article through RockMelt, has led to an increase in click-through rates of about 20 percent.

Users add an average of 14 new articles per day, most of which involve humor or breaking news. And once RockMelt’s users enable social reading, 75 percent of them choose to leave it on while they continue to browse the Internet. The most prolific social readers are between the ages of 18 and 34.

Facebook’s Timeline has also led to a 5 percent increase in new user growth for the browser.  To date, 2 million people have tried RockMelt and 100,000 of them now use it on a daily basis.  Said Vishria of the Facebook Timeline, “It’s a powerful thing.”

11:23 by Robert dawne · 0

Facebook Pages Race To Adopt Timeline, 8M Of 37M+ Upgraded In 10 Days

On March 30th, Facebook will forcibly migrate all Pages onto the Timeline redesign, but Facebook tells me it only took 10 days for 8 million of the more than 37 million Pages that have been set up to opt into the change. The stats are a sign of success that show the added features are ones admins want, considering tons of Facebook Pages get set up and forgotten about.
However, it will take a while to see whether Timeline actually helps Pages market more effectively. So far the most popular Pages that have switched haven’t seen growth rates increase. With more to look at, the Like button might be overshadowed.
Reach Generator which launched at the Facebook Marketing Conference and allows Pages to pay a fixed fee to guarantee distribution of their content to over 75% of their fans is picking up customers. Dr. Pepper reached 83% of its 8 million U.S. fans over a 28-day period, had a 140% increase in people talking about it on Facebook, and saw an 80% increase in engagement. Ford plans to buy logout page ads where big photos of their cars can be featured, which wouldn’t fit in Facebook’s tiny traditional sidebar ads.
Typically when Facebook launches redesigns they’re met with fear and apprehension. But Timeline’s big flashy cover banner seems to be pretty for Page admins to resist. There are some concerns about the removed ability to set a custom promotional app as a default landing page, but those are offset by eagerness for pinned posts, bigger photos, and more presentation flexibility.

Brands also probably didn’t want to get left behind by competitors, leading roughly 1 million Pages per day to migrate to Timeline in first days after its launch. Now they’re likely taking the time to go back, hide irrelevant or weak posts, and add milestone moments to their story. 2 weeks after launch and 2 more before the forced migration, Facebook tells me a “significant percentage” of Pages have switched. In its S-1 Facebook noted that 37 million Pages had been set up as of December 31, 2011.
While the long-tail of Pages are actively migrating to Timeline, Facebook’s most popular Pages have been conservative with their adoption. Only 8 of the top 20 Pages have migrated, and none of those have seen their rate of new fans increase significantly according to Inside Network’s PageData tracking service. In fact, some are seeing slower growth, possibly because users have to re-learn where the Like button is.

06:13 by Robert dawne · 0