Strategies for online measurment and offline action
Introductions
- Riana, Young Invincibles
- High degree of online presence, not much engangment on the areas they would like
- Monthly analytic reports
- No print
- Have a written comms plan
- Crystal, Labor Community Strategy Center
- Recently started with social media efforts (social media team for just over a year)
- Multi-generational
- Weekly analytics meeting
- Little-to-no print
- Does not have a written comms plan
- Yuri, Ccisco
- Online presence
- Lots of print and face-to-face
- Analytics
- Javier, Aspiration
- Weekly traffic report (blogs, social media, emails)
- Developing a comms plan
- No print
- David, California Pan Ethnic Health Network
- Launching a new website
- Has a comms plan
- Monthly analytics report
- Media tracked on ad-hoc basis
- Email newsletter
- Twitter better than Facebook because they don’t share many photos
- What to keep an eye now
- Jocelyn, California Latinas for Reproductive justice
- Handle mail list (Constant Contact)
- New comms person handling social media and analytics
- Trying to get more people to their events
- Jonathan, Children’s Hunger Fund
- Just listening, but how can IT best support comms needs
- Adam, Mid-City CAN (City Heights)
- One-man communications team
- Basic metrics
- Print newsletter
- Social media
- Have a comms plan
A Few Thoughts
- Why ask about print?
- The majority of money given is from people over 60 and given by check
- Temper expectations regarding social media
- Have you mapped out a (communications) ladder of engagement? (cf. fundraising ladder of engagement)
- What are the steps to get from social media to higher mediums of engagement?
- Examples of organizations? Surf Rider Foundation DoSomething.org
- DoSomething.org = various projects to help youth
- Do you do A/B testing?
- E.g. what text message is going to best reach 500,000 youth? Test version A with 500 people and version B with 500 people. Whichever gets the better response is used for the remaining youth.
- Avoid data silos - comms department needs to share analytics with the larger org
- Comms department isn’t on the field; field workers are and should be informed
- Do you provide translation for your website?
- Even if it’s a single page in a variety of languages with a basic introduction, helps feel connected
- Comms often leads with facts and figures following funding needs, but the story is the better lead
Improving Communications
- Re-consider direct mail
- Asking what form of communications constituents want
- Sometimes people say they only want email (not direct mail), but then respond really well to direct mail
- Hand-written notes, followed up by phone calls
- Sounds like a lot of work; how to justify expense?
- Measure what you’re doing and see what you’re wasting - replace that
- What metrics are you tracking?
- Separate vanity metrics (TBU - true but useless) from actionable metrics
- Visits and time on site need to be monitored but aren’t helpful most of the time
- Need to know more about content
- How are you monitoring analytics across systems? What single tool can do everything?
- None
- Pull data from multiple systems into spreadsheets
- See Swords to Ploughshares for an example of an org learning to listen
- Curse of knowledge - you know something they don’t and may not be able to relate to
- Website can lead people through something that social media can’t - a "knowledge pathway”
- Use discreet and specific actions in social media
- Let people share (e.g. "What are you having for dinner on Sunday night?”)
- Don’t just pass on a social media post; *curate* it (be selective and comment on it)
- Try experimenting with print pieces
- E.g. Use different calls to action
- What about save-the-date messages?
John: Probably best to send notifications when registration opens.
Crystal: Send it for a large political event; no call to action, just a light touch to “remember us?”
Make your comms campaigns easy for your staff to do
John: email is generally a lot more effective than social media
Success Stories
- How do you get people to come to your events?
- The web can be a real “echo chamber” - just hearing ourselves
- How do you get your message beyond your current constituency
- CPEHN - has used word of mouth (social media also offers a little)
Fundraising engagement
Surfrider
DoSomething.org – old cellphones victims of domestic violence
Microsteps>videos explaining why you should do it
- Dosomething- discrete specific
- Why bring me along
Personally, culturally
- Letting people share, opinions content
Social media to email landing page with 3 newsletters – links to full newsletters
- Short, concise
Closing
- Learn from other organizations
- Use teasers
Around the table
Adam: Curious about examples of other orgs to learn from. “Analytics are like exercise” - we know we should be doing it but…. How much time should we spend on it?
John: At least 15-20 mins/mo to collect the data, and a 1-2hr quarterly meeting
Javier: A/B testing was interesting
Jonathan: Children’s Hunger Fund volunteering good example of getting people from social media to events
Jocelyn: Also found A/B testing interesting. Leading people with personal stories, and following through with valuable information and opportunities of communication.
John: and don’t forget the significance of staff stories
David: Helping the board understand what you’re learning
Yuri: Being transparent across the organization
Crystal: Leading from social media to engagement with the website before the action
John: Give people a picture of what they’re moving toward (e.g. screenshots of your email newsletter)
Riana: Need to focus on email