Megan Siegel

Hunting camp on Cabin Porn

All of my dreams have come true. A pic of my dad’s hunting camp Doug Estey, (thanks Doug!) made it on what is quite possibly my favorite website in existence. They even linked through to our websites. Thanks, Cabin Porn!

Click through to see the post and many other amazing cabins. In the meantime, here are a few more shots of the camp.

The next 3 I took with my cellphone, but had to put them in here to show you how awesome this place is.

Isn’t this just the most beautiful place you’ve ever seen?

Social media and non-profit organizations

*This is a blog post I wrote back in March after attending Social Media Week

My agency is devoted to giving back to the community. Nearly half our clients are non-profit organizations and charities, so we’re constantly honing our skills to be able to make the greatest impact in the world of fundraising, especially here in the social media department.

Last month, I attended Social Media Week on and tuned in on sessions focusing on the effects social media is having on the world of online donations. Here are our take-aways on things charities should be doing in the digital space:

1. There is no longer a need to convince charities to be on social media. They all know they should be on it, we just need to teach them what they can get out of it and how to use it most effectively.

2. Over 50% of Canadians maintain at least one social networking profile. The average donor is a woman in her 40s. The average internet user is also a woman in her 40s. Therefore, it only makes sense to tap into the online audience.

3. Charities are most commonly on Facebook and Twitter, but they are now even joining Pinterest. Just imagine how many shares photos of cats who need homes could get!

4. That said, if you are a charity, don’t join Pinterest just because everyone else is doing it! Go where your audience is. If you have 50, 000 fans on Twitter and only 5 on Facebook, it might be time to drop Facebook and put the focus where your audience is.

5. 92% of non-profits in the US use social media even though there is only anecdotal evidence that it is doing good for their company. It is harder to prove that social networks are bringing in money than it is with telemarketing and door-to-door canvasing, but charities all believe social media is making a difference.

6. The average charity gets 10-14% of its donations through the web.

7. Online donations are the fastest growing channel for charities right now. This is over door to door, direct mail, telemarketing, etc.

8. The average amount each online donation is also larger than any other channel.

9. It’s the cheapest method of donation to process and execute. Some charities are reminding people to donate online through offline donation tools because of this reason.

Although social media is an ever-changing world, charities have mostly jumped on board. They’re not sure where they’re going with social media or even how to measure its success, but it’s great to see that they are embracing the future and taking advantage of this new-world audience. Social media is not going away, so it’s best to learn what you can as early as possible.

How to sell things on Craigslist

I guess it’s that time of year. I’ve been seeing lots of people I know posting furniture for sale on Craigslist, and it seems like seems like many of them are having a hard time getting rid of their junk. 
 

When I left Fredericton and moved to Toronto, I successfully sold ALL of the things I had listed on Craigslist (**Kijiji, actually). Initially I wasn’t selling my things to make money, I was mostly selling them so I wouldn’t have to deal with disposing of them. People weren’t biting, so I made some tweaks to my listings and had overwhelming response, which is when I realized maybe I could actually make some money off my junk with proper wording. Here are some tips:

1. “Reduce” your price
I was selling a boxspring and mattress for $50, but no one was responding, so I “reduced” the price. The new listing read, “**REDUCED PRICE boxspring and mattress - $50.” Sold. Instantly.

2. Is it old? It’s an antique!
Technically, an item has to be 100 years old to be an antique. I was trying to sell a crappy old dresser from my parents’ house for $20. When no one responded to that listing, I thought about it and realized the dresser was from the early 1900s. Just a few years shy of antique-dom. I put “antique dresser” in the title, upped the price and put the year it was made in the description and let the buyer be the judge. Sold for $40.
 

3. Not old enough to be an antique? It’s vintage!
People love vintage. Vintage clothing shops in Toronto are often more expensive than buying clothes new. Same goes for buying furniture on the internet. And if that doesn’t work, call it retro! 

4. Test the waters
If you post a couch for $50 and get 20 responses, chances are you can get more $ for that item. If you’re not pressed for time, delete the old listing and re-post with a higher price. Repeat until you aren’t getting responses and then sell it to the highest bidder.
 

That’s pretty much it. I’m no Craigslist expert, but I’ve recently seen postings that could benefit from wording tweaks. Also, I had success selling a mattress and boxspring in New Brunswick, but don’t expect to have the same luck in a big city like Toronto. Cheap beds usually = bed bugs. 

**If you’re on the east coast, replace every mention of Craigslist in this post with Kijiji. For some reason, everywhere else in North America seems to use Craigslist except for the Maritimes.