Measuring Your Impact & Creating Policies for Social Media

AVI CHAI Tech Academy March 30, 2011

Elizabeth Ricca (@elizabethricca) Farra Trompeter (@farra)

What are your goals for social media?

Reasons Nonprofits Communicate

What’s the value/purpose of each goal?

•  When we engage parents, _____ will happen

•  When we grow our email list of alumni, we can do _______ better

•  ????

•  How much money are you spending? •  How much staff time are you spending? •  Is the return (meeting your goals)

proportional to the investment (time and money)?

Remember: Return ≠ $ alone

Measuring ROI

Source: Internet Management for Nonprofits, pg 22

Image by http://www.flickr.com/photos/aussiegall

Types of Metrics

1.  Views 2.  Followers 3.  Engagement 4.  Conversion 5.  Feedback (bonus)

Nonprofit Social Media Decision Guide, pg 13

Source: http://rhappe.typepad.com/thesocialorganization/social-media-metrics.html

What does success look like?

Set/Track Benchmarks

•  Compare to your own performance •  Compare with peers •  Compare with general nonprofit industry

Source: 2011 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study, http://e-benchmarksstudy.com/,

•  Google Analytics •  Facebook Insights •  TweetStats •  Feedburner •  PostRank •  Analysis Exchange

Use Tools to Measure Progress

Dashboard Example: Facebook

Activity April 2011

Number of likes (at the end of the month)

Number of likes in the past month

Number of unlikes in the past month

Total post views

Total post feedback

Total number of posts

Average views per post

Average feedback per post

Dashboard Example: Facebook

Activity April 2011

Top referrer

Wall views

Info views

Welcome views

Photos views

Get Involved views

Events views

Source: Internet Management for Nonprofits, pg 48

•  Website: referrals from social media sites •  Facebook: likers, views, comments, etc. •  Email: list size, open and clickthrough rates •  Twitter: Followers, retweets, lists, etc. •  Bit.ly: track clicks for the links you share

Review Performance Monthly

•  What’s working? What’s not? •  What kind of links get likes and comments?

•  Which tweets are most retweeted?

•  Are you achieving your goals? •  If yes: How can you build on your momentum? •  If no: Why not?

Most common reason = not enough time

Assess Impact Quarterly

•  Examine goals—still relevant? •  Consider staff/time—is it enough? •  New tools we should explore? •  Revisit online engagement priorities •  Reprioritize as needed

Review Strategy Bi-Annually

Creating a social media policy

Why create a social media policy for your school?

So what goes into a social media policy?

Example: AVI CHAI Foundation

1. Overview of your social media presence

Example: Vanderbilt University

http://bit.ly/VbiltSocialMedia

Example: University of Michigan

2. High-level guidance

http://bit.ly/UMichSocialMedia (PDF)

http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/developing-a-social-media-policy/

AVI CHAI Foundation Social Media Guidelines

•  Be smart •  Write what you know •  Be respectful •  Work matters •  Respect privacy of others •  Don’t tell secrets •  Be responsible

Nana Jewel

Think before you post: WWGT?

3. Specific guidelines

•  Who’s in charge of social media for your school

•  Who’s allowed to post •  Rules & expectations for specific tools •  Acceptable topics for online discussion •  Guidelines for using the school’s brand •  When to ask for help

Example: Hamilton College

http://www.hamilton.edu/social

Example: HJUHSD | http://bit.ly/HJUHSDSocialMedia

Example: University of Michigan

Things to Consider When Beginning to Use Social Media Applications that allow you to interact with others online (e.g. Facebook, MySpace, etc.) require careful consideration to assess the implications of “friending,” “linking,” “following” or accepting such a request from another person. For example, there is the potential for misinterpretation of the relationship or the potential of sharing protected information. Relationships such as faculty-student, doctor-patient, supervisor-subordinate and staff-student merit close consideration of the implications and the nature of the social interaction.

Example: UN Women

http://www.facebook.com/unwomen

4. Conversation guidelines

•  When to respond to a comment or question

•  Who should respond •  How to respond •  Managing negative comments/difficult

interactions

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremiah_owyang/3154057414/

http://www.johnhaydon.com/2010/08/org-facebook-page-decision-flowchart/

Steve Heye, YMCA of Metro Chicago

Example: Miles at National Wildlife Federation

5. Personal/professional boundaries

Example: University of Michigan

Guidelines for individuals •  Be authentic •  Use a disclaimer •  Don’t use the U-M logo or make endorsements •  Take the high ground •  Don’t use pseudonyms •  Protect your identity •  Does it pass the publicity test? •  Respect your audience •  Monitor comments

Example: Vanderbilt University

6. Tips and how-tos

http://bit.ly/VbiltSocialMedia

Example: Vanderbilt University

Example: University of Michigan

What’s in a social media policy?

1.  Overview of your social media presence 2.  High-level guidance 3.  Specific guidelines 4.  Conversation guidelines 5.  Personal/professional boundaries 6.  Tips and how-tos

How do I get started?

Review examples

•  Social media policy generator: http://socialmedia.policytool.net

•  University of Michigan: http://bit.ly/UMichSocialMedia

•  Vanderbilt University: http://bit.ly/VbiltSocialMedia

•  Hamilton College: http://www.hamilton.edu/social/

How do I get started?

Review examples (continued)

•  University of Oregon: http://bit.ly/fSE4LN

•  Hanford Joint Union High School District: http://bit.ly/HJUHSDSocialMedia

•  Bishop Lynch High School: http://bit.ly/fjqddU

•  Social Media Governance Policy Database: http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php

How do I get started?

Involve your staff

•  Identify a go-to person for questions •  Conduct surveys/interviews to get

feedback, assess interest, etc. •  Share draft policy in a staff meeting and

invite feedback/questions •  Provide informal trainings on privacy

settings, tools, etc. •  Include in trainings for new staff

How do I get started?

Sample questions for staff

•  What social media are you familiar with? •  Are you comfortable combining personal

and professional use of social media? •  How involved should our school be in

social media? •  Would you be willing to contribute to a

blog, Facebook Page, Twitter feed, etc.?

How do I get started?

Tips for a successful policy

•  Strike a friendly tone in your policy •  Encourage experimentation & questions •  Try to keep guidelines open-ended where

possible, rather than restrictive •  Appoint one or two people to manage •  Keep your audiences in mind—what do

they expect from you?

How do I get started?

Resources

•  The Nonprofit Social Media Decision Guide www.idealware.org/reports/nonprofit-social-media-decision-guide

•  Internet Management for Nonprofits www.amzn.com/0470539569

•  The Networked Nonprofit: Connecting with Social Media to Drive Change www.amzn.com/0470547979

•  “10 tips to manage your professional and personal brand in social media” www.bigducknyc.com/blog/?p=3704

Let’s discuss

© Jeremy Crow

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