Benchmarking Social Media for Nonprofits
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The document summarizes a session on benchmarking and key performance indicators (KPIs) for measuring social media efforts at nonprofits. Three organizations - the American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium - shared their experiences developing SMART objectives, identifying relevant peer organizations for benchmarking, and establishing KPIs to track performance. The session provided an overview of benchmarking and KPIs, and highlighted examples and challenges the organizations have faced in designing and implementing social media measurement pilots.
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Benchmarking Social Media for Nonprofits
- 1. Peer Exchange Group 2: Measuring the Networked Nonprofit: Proving Results To Improve Session 4: October 27, 2011 Benchmarking: Networked Nonprofits Measure Social Media in Context Beth Kanter, Visiting Scholar, Social Media and Nonprofits The David and Lucile Packard Foundation Organizational Effectiveness Program
- 2. Welcome! If you experience any technical difficulties logging into the system, please contact Ready/Talk Customer support: 800.843.9166 Please use *6 to Mute your conference line While we are waiting, type into the chat: Have you finished designing your measurement pilot plan? What is most exciting about it? What is most challenging?
- 3. This call is being recorded *2 Flickr Photo by Malinki
- 4. Peer Exchange Group 2: Measuring the Networked Nonprofit: Proving Results To Improve Session 4: October 27, 2011 Benchmarking: Networked Nonprofits Measure Social Media in Context Beth Kanter, Visiting Scholar, Social Media and Nonprofits The David and Lucile Packard Foundation Organizational Effectiveness Program
- 5. On The“wikito Today your reflections Don’t forget jot down in your Call journal” Beth Kanter Becky Jain
- 6. Agenda A Few Reminders Beth’s Reflection/Journal Last Month: Quick Review Definitions: Benchmarking and KPIs Measurement Pilot: Peer Share Debbie Ford-Scriba, ALFSV Danielle Brigida, NWF Geoff Drake, MBAYAQ Next Session Reflection Ask Your Questions and Share Your Insights in the Chat! Hashtag: #measurenp
- 7. Reminders to jot down your reflections Don’t forget in your “wiki journal” Wiki Journals Facebook Group Office Hours Scoop.It Resources
- 8. Beth’s Journal Program Outcomes At least 50% of 27 participants implement a social media measurement pilot that helps document value/results or improve social media practice by end of the Peer Group 1/2012 At least 50% of 27 participants, generate case studies and/or insightful quotes for the Measuring the Networked Nonprofit book by 1/2012 http://measure-netnon.wikispaces.com/Beth-Kanter-Journal
- 9. Beth’s Journal 85% have written about their pilot in the wiki journal 44% have had used the office hours 90% have joined FB group 90% attendance on calls (playbacks) http://measure-netnon.wikispaces.com/Beth-Kanter-Journal
- 10. QUICK POLL -Have not started planning/designing -Have started planning/designing, but not finished because stuck or have questions -Finished designing, haven’t started implementation yet -Finished designing, started implementing -Finished implementing
- 11. CHAT: If you are finished designing, what helped you the most?
- 12. CHAT: If you have started planning/designing, but not finished - why? Are you stuck? Do you have questions? What do you need to move forward?
- 13. Strategy Plan Research Refine Do Adapt KD Paine’s Basic Steps Measurement STEPS Analyze Measure
- 14. KD Paine’s Basic Steps Define Results Strategy Benchmarks Metrics – KPI Costs Select Right Tool To Collect Data Turn Data in Action
- 15. How will I know if I got taller next year? Measurement is a Comparable Tool
- 16. Benchmark: a point of reference from which measurements may be made The most effective comparisons are to peer organizations or to your organization’s past performance over time. What is important is to benchmark against what matters to your organization.. essentially whatever keeps the board and the executive director up at night.
- 17. Benchmark Study: Looks at larger group of organizations or departments using a metric and also learning about strategy and tactics. Prelude to measurement process, part of strategy formation and ongoing learning.
- 18. Key Peformance Indicators: Most important metrics based on data that you can collect to measure your progress towards reaching your SMART objectives. No more than 7! You become what you measure, so they have to be meaningful, actionable and relevant. Fundraising % increase in donations % increase in new donors or members % reduction in cost per member acquired Social Media % increase in share of desirable coverage (desirable can mean positive tone, favorable positioning, % increase in share of conversation % increase in number of supporting conversations (expressing support for the cause) % increase in conversation that contains our key messages
- 19. Linking Benchmarks and KPIs to SMART Objectives for Social Media Debbie Ford-Scriba, American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley
- 22. Objectives and Audience Defined
- 25. Peer Organization Peer Org Peer Org Our Org
- 28. National Wildlife Federation’s Pilot Project Creating a learning process and metrics dashboard
- 29. What are the SMART objectives? Benchmark Study NWF Outreach 6 Regional Offices/Programs improve Educate x number of people about Twitter/FB practice by learning from NWF issues and viewpoints benchmarking study process NWF creates a shared dashboard that X number of share NWF messages easily allows programs to view data NWF facilitates dialogue between 6 X number of advocates are inspired to regional programs that leads to one take action (calling legislators, one- insight per month click actions, on FB, or Twitter) X number of people donate to NWF through social media channels
- 30. Where we started… • Monthly Blog Report – Top visited posts – Top shared posts • Quarterly Report – Number of Followers/Fans – Visited content – Shared content – Lessons Learned/Successes – Tips/Tricks and Industry Trends
- 31. Ways We Measure Social Media • Web Analytics • Sharing Analytics • Subscribers • Linked Sites • Comments • Actions
- 32. We need to simplify!
- 33. Facebook/Twitter Presences All Over the Country @NWFgreatlakes @NWFCalifornia @NWFTribalLands @NWFPacific @OurPublicLands @wildlifeaction @NWFalaska @TXwater @restorewetlands
- 34. Goals Benchmarking Study: Create a process for collecting data across the organization and learning from it Design: Use our social KPI’s and create a dashboard that’s online and easily accessed.
- 35. Gathering Input Facebook Twitter Klout # of Fans # of Followers Klout Score # of People Talking # of Mentions/RTs N/A About This # of Posts # of Posts N/A
- 36. Good Example
- 37. Challenges • Technology • Picking the right KPI’s • Not taking on too much • Competition/resources
- 38. Monterey Bay Aquarium Social Media
- 39. Our Objectives: -To drive attendance to exhibits, programs, and activities at the Aquarium -To keep people connected to the Aquarium before, during, and after visit regardless of geography Key Facebook Measurements: - Facebook check-ins - Facebook Deal redemptions - Growth in Likes - Growth in Interactions (now “Talking About”) - Comparison of content types (photos vs. videos, subject matter)
- 40. Benchmarking 1. St. Louis: 191,887 2. MBA: 115,391 3. Henry Doorly Zoo: 112,346 (NE) 4. San Diego Zoo: 106,727 5. Brookfield Zoo (IL): 89,263 6. Memphis Zoo: 70,881 7. Columbus Zoo: 69,419 8. Shedd Aquarium: 64,881 9. Georgia Aquarium: 60,614
- 41. What works: news about our animals and exhibits…
- 42. Social media and storytelling… Social media is the best and most immediate way to get news about our animals, exhibits, events, and conservation efforts.
- 43. How often and when we post… • Facebook: 10 am and 2 pm • Twitter: – All Facebook posts – Conservation and other news throughout day (no limit) – Use scheduling tool such as Tweetdeck
- 44. What we measure: overall fan growth… MBA Facebook 120,000 100,000 80,000 60,000 40,000 20,000 0 4/13/09 8/11/09 12/9/09 4/8/10 8/6/10 12/4/10 4/3/11
- 45. What we measure: Facebook interactions, (now “Talking About”)… MBA Facebook Interactions 3,500 3,000 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 0 2/8/10 5/9/10 8/7/10 11/5/10 2/3/11 5/4/11
- 46. Sample campaign: shark finning… • 15 posts • 1.5 million impressions • 6,500 interactions
- 47. Our strategy… • Translate social media success into onsite activity and conservation action • Work with departments throughout the Aquarium to implement goals • Measure, improve, measure some more!
- 48. Onsite promotion: World Oceans Day • Special promotion for Facebook “likers” • Say the secret phrase, or check-in using GPS • Result: 305 store purchases
- 49. What’s next? • We’re working on the appropriate level of engagement for individuals at the Aquarium • Social media policy soon to be rolled out • We’re making social media part of how we do business!
- 50. CHAT: Reflection Questions: What do you need to benchmark to put your SMART objectives in a context? What is an easy and simple way to implement benchmarking? What are your KPIs?
- 51. Next Session: Overview of Measurement Tools November 17th 11:00 am PST/ 2:00 EST Tool Share: Five Minute Presentations from participants Homework: Complete the description of your project using worksheet from Session 2. Start benchmarking and identifying KPIs Identify what you need to move forward – what’s keeping you back Office Hours
Editor's Notes
- What are benchmarks? What are KPIs?How to define the perfect KPINetworked learning with benchmarksReflection Questions:What do you need to benchmark to put your SMART objectives in a context?What is an easy and simple way to implement benchmarking?What are your KPIs?
- Remind people to call for tech support*6 to mute conference line*7 unmuteFinish the plan for measurement pilot. Take the first steps. Figure out what's holding you back and do it. Set up an office session if you need it!
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/malinki/2621920871/sizes/o/Start recording about 2 minutes late to let people join *2
- What are benchmarks? What are KPIs?How to define the perfect KPINetworked learning with benchmarksReflection Questions:What do you need to benchmark to put your SMART objectives in a context?What is an easy and simple way to implement benchmarking?What are your KPIs?
- Beth will read list of participantsBeth will introduce herself“The last few calls I realized that it was hard for me to moderate, work the software, take notes, read the chat and present. So, I’m lucky to have recruited a fabulous co-moderator, Becky Jain. She is going to help me with the back channel – the chat.Becky is a blogger and active on many social media communities. After studying at Wesleyan and the London School of Economics, she came to India to live with her husband, and to work in the development sector. Say hello!
- This is our agenda – we’ll pause along the way for questions.Use this #measurenp on Twitter
- If you haven’t started keeping your wiki journal, please try to spend a few minutes on the site.If you haven’t joined the Facebook Group, please do so https://www.facebook.com/groups/193416010707686?ap=1Remember, office hours if you’re feeling stuck. I’ve added some more optionshttp://measure-netnon.wikispaces.com/Office+Hours_Group+2As soon as we get the pilot projects organized, I’ll add some small group cohort coaching time
- I’m keeping a public journal too – about the program and using it to reflect on what I’m learning about tracking the program against the SMART objectives. I will be tweaking as we go to get better results …. And welcome you to add your reflectionshttp://measure-netnon.wikispaces.com/Beth-Kanter-Journal
- I’m keeping a public journal too – about the program and using it to reflect on what I’m learning about tracking the program against the SMART objectives. I will be tweaking as we go to get better results …. And welcome you to add your reflectionshttp://measure-netnon.wikispaces.com/Beth-Kanter-Journal
- In KD Paine’s decades of experience, the measurement process looks like this – no matter what you’re measuring to get at measuring what matters … The strategy piece includes creating a plan, it might include research (audience research or benchmarking w/peers). For some of you, your pilot might be “prospective” – as part of planning a future campaign or program. Or it might be analyzing the past – something you’ve already implemented but want to go back and measure results/value for planning next reiteration or to do present to senior management to pave the way for more incorporating social media into your program delivery or communications channel. The do part – your tactics, tools – The measure is your data collection – as part of your strategy you define this – it includes analysis – you don’t just collect data, you figure out what it means in terms of improving your results – and then you adapt your plan/strategy and the cycle continues.Make sense? Does this sound familiar? Is this way you measure other programs or communications efforts that do not include social media?
- These are the basic steps that you will follow for your measurement pilot …. Or any project that involves social media ..The challenge here is that you are not just measuring, but measuring around your practice or strategy.The pilot is making it very simple.What are benchmarks? What are KPIs?How to define the perfect KPINetworked learning with benchmarksReflection Questions:What do you need to benchmark to put your SMART objectives in a context?What is an easy and simple way to implement benchmarking?What are your KPIs?
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevlar/2636361561/sizes/o/in/faves-cambodia4kidsorg/Measurement is a comparable tool. One of the most common question that many nonprofits ask when crafting SMART objectives is, “How do you know that we’ve identified the right how many number?” You always want to know not just the number of the month or the quarter, but whether that number is bigger or smaller than something else. Last month, or last quarter, or the peer organizations. So the next step in this process is to decide what you are going to compare yourself to. The most effective comparisons are to peer organizations or to your organization’s past performance over time. Sometimes the latter is difficult because social media is relatively new for many nonprofits. So most organizations begin by measuring over time, and then add in peer institutions or organizations with whom you might collaborate with … for share of volunteer hours or share of wallet. Again, what is important is to benchmark against what matters to your organization.. essentially whatever keeps the board and the executive director up at night. Doing a benchmark study of similar organizations doesn’t have to be an elaborate time consuming burden. Pang HouaMoua is the first communications director hired for SEARAC, a national organization that advances the interests of Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese Americans by empowering communities through advocacy, leadership development, and capacity building to create a socially just and equitable society.“I didn’t want to pick a number of out of the air – or one that was too high and created unrealistic expectations or a number that was so low that we easily made it.”
- Measurement is a comparable tool. “I didn’t want to pick a number of out of the air – or one that was too high and created unrealistic expectations or a number that was so low that we easily made it.” Key Performance Indicators are numbers based on data points that you can collect to measure your progress towards reaching your SMART objectives. There are hundreds if not thousands of metrics you could collect. But since the average human can pay attention and remember at most about 7 things at a time, you have to whittle that list down to a couple of “Key Performance Indicators” or the most important metrics that you need to know that you’re on track to reach to your results. The formal term is Key Performance Indicators, but a more accurate term is “Kick Butt Index” -- in other words, if the boss comes in and says, “Damn it, we’re getting our butt kicked out there” what does that mean? And if he/she says “ congratulations, you’re really kicking butt,” what does that mean? So the fourth step in the process is to get broad agreement on what those metrics are. Typical KPIs are The important thing to remember about KPIs is that you become what you measure, so they have to be meaningful, actionable and relevant. And, in fact, if you’ve completed steps 1-3 your KPIs should fall naturally out of the earlier conversations about goals and stakeholder groups. It is just a question of translating the priorities and goals into a number you can calculate like: % increase in donations% increase in new donors or members % reduction in cost per member acquired For social media, typical KPIs are: % increase in share of desirable coverage (desirable can mean positive tone, favorable positioning, % increase in share of conversation% increase in number of supporting conversations (expressing support for the cause) % increase in conversation that contains our key messages http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=117581
- There are hundreds if not thousands of metrics you could collect. But since the average human can pay attention and remember at most about 7 things at a time, you have to whittle that list down to a couple of “Key Performance Indicators” or the most important metrics that you need to know that you’re on track to reach to your results.
- Share our experience in developing our measurement project ..
- http://www.webanalyticsdemystified.com/ae/index.aspWe got help from the Analytics Exchange which provides volunteers who will help your nonprofit make better use of analyticsWe got a mentor and a “student” who the work of helping us think through the design of the project
- These were the project objectives …..
- Describe how you came up with these .. Were these in your communications plan?
- Can you describe how you came up with this? Overview ..It would be fantastic if she would share the PPT – this could be a great template for folks.
- For each of the objectives, the mentor/volunteer – helped us identify a SMART Goal and KPIs for each of the objectivesDescribe the first one around awareness
- We didn’t set the numbers in isolated – we did some benchmarking with peer organizations … describe
- We also looked at our past data ..Talk about what you collect hereWould you be willing to share this spreadsheet?
- We also talked about matching tools for the job, but I’m going to share what we come up and use in November – that’s the session on tools
- work with 6-10 regional offices and programs to pick specific goals within the next six monthsa social media presence and network that educates an increasingly large group of people about our issues and viewpoints and ultimately drives more people to take action by passing on our message, acting as an advocate for the environment by responding to action requests, and donating money to NWF. To do that, we believe we need a suite of tools that, with personalized and compelling content, work together to increase traffic to our regional websites. We also need regional websites that provides visitors a fulfilling experience that allows them to support NWF in a variety of ways, including giving regionally.The fundamental premises of this plan are: 1) that social media provides an opportunity to reach people now and move them to action to protect wildlife now; 2) that social media will be a much more powerful and standard way to communicate in five years if not two years; 3) that people will increasingly make decisions to take action and to support non-profit organizations based on their social media relationships with organizations, and with friends and family who have social media relationships with organizations; and 4) that establishing a much stronger social media presence now will allow us to increase our reach and raise more money now, but is most important because it allows us to position ourselves for the future.
- With blogging, there are several ways to track your “success” and follow how your posts are performing. These are some of the ways we look at, at the NWF. The most basic is Web Analytics, and while you may not be the people tracking the information, it will be useful for you to know what a well-received blog post looks like.
- Show of hands: how many on FB?Twitter? Tweet what had for breakfast?Two primary vehicles: Facebook and TwitterWe also are strongly represented on: SeaNotes blog, YouTube, Flickr, Yelp—plus now tumblr and Google+. Dizzying!SFW also has a strong presence; administration delegated to that team, with input/coordination from us
- Show of hands: how many on FB?Twitter? Tweet what had for breakfast?Two primary vehicles: Facebook and TwitterWe also are strongly represented on: SeaNotes blog, YouTube, Flickr, Yelp—plus now tumblr and Google+. Dizzying!SFW also has a strong presence; administration delegated to that team, with input/coordination from us
- Learned a few things over timeMore I learn the less I know….!
- Vicarious experience; a way to connect to a national audience
- Snapshot of where we’re atGrown sixtimes over since mid ’09; now over 125,000Second overall, top tier in our competitive set
- Snapshot of where we’re atGrown sixtimes over since mid ’09; now over 125,000Second overall, top tier in our competitive set
- Even more important: people are engaging with us, often over 1,000 times per weekThis is the real work of social media: listening and responding
- Session 3: Why Does Bad Measurement Practice Happen To Good Nonprofits?September 22 at 11:00 am PST/ 2:00 ESThttp://measure-netnon.wikispaces.com/Grp+2+Session+3+Bad+Measurement