Wired Causes

You are browsing the archives of 2011 June.

Using the social web to market your cause, communicate your services, and interact with your audience is an important part of the communication function for many socially-foucused organizations. One thing that many of these groups have found is that the internet allows us to not only tell our story, but also get an honest understanding of the perception of our organization.  With that in mind, we asked you for your advice for monitoring online feedback as part of this month’s Net2 Think Tank:

Topic: What are your best practices for effectively monitoring online feedback about your organization, cause, or enterprise. What are your favorite tools and tactics for listening, and how do you use your findings to inspire practical change from within?

Below, we’ve compiled all of the community responses.

While this month’s Net2 Think Tank is now closed, you’re always welcome to add your feedback on the subject. Feel free to add your ideas in the comments section at the bottom of this page.

Tactics

Here are several techniques you can use to strategically listen to and interact with the people you are targeting online:

Know what people are saying about you

• “Before you can start listening and monitoring feedback, you have to understand where it’s coming from. I spent my first 3 months in this position simply observing and finding the conversations. Once I knew where people talk about NTEN, I could start paying attention to what they were saying. Some people like the river, others spend all day in the wave pool; the same rule applies to social media. If you can discover what brings a group of people to your Facebook page vs. your Twitter account, you’ll really start to understand what types of conversations they want to have there. Then you can start engaging them in those conversations.” - Sarah Janczak on the NTEN blog
• “Is our story being told? And how is it being told?  - Although this sounds dangerously close to marketing speak, it actually touches on our sense of mission and purpose. If we are working towards ultimate benefit, how is our organization being spoken about (if at all)? How about our partners? Our overall issue? By knowing the tone and extent of conversation, we can identify opportunities to more clearly advocate” - Gordon Dymowski on MetroShrink

Be there

• “Who and where are people talking? - Twitter and Facebook are the de facto channels for consumer driven conversation, but for our cause? It may be better to use monitoring tools to find channels of current activity.” - Gordon Dymowski on MetroShrink
• “This is where the people are. If you can identify the channel that draws the largest crowd, or the most interactive crowd, you’ll have the opportunity to start prioritizing your work flow. It’s the place where you’re most likely to miss something when you’re in a meeting or otherwise unable to keep up in real time. It’s also the place you can try out new experiments and ask questions – and count on consistent feedback. It’s an invaluable resource for you and a link to your community, a great place to go when you need a quick snapshot of how your donors are reacting to the latest fundraising campaign and you don’t have time to sort through all the feedback.” - Sarah Janczak on the NTEN blog

Make a Plan

• “Spend 10 minutes each morning and sort through your day. When do you have 20 minutes to check the LinkedIn group and respond to posts there? When you have to pull together data for your dashboard, it’s ok to walk away from Twitter; just make sure you stop by and check things out later. Scheduling your day will save your brain from the oh-so-common “what was I just tweeting about?” syndrome, allowing you to write more detailed and meaningful responses when you have the time set aside.” - Sarah Janczak on the NTEN blog
• “I have found it helpful to have a plan in place for how the results will be used to inform decisions BEFORE starting to gather data. To easy to have goals gather data and then feel lost knowing exactly what to do with it. This can be supported by having a policy ahead of time that helps identify in part what to do with feedback as well.” - Ash Shepherd on Linkedin
  

Keep Records and Identify Trends

• “Document your findings - Creating a regular report for monitoring can be as easy as a spreadsheet or document, noting both quantitative and qualitative data. It sounds counter to wanting to engage on a human level, but what this does is allow for further justification should you require to seek funding, other organizational support, etc.” - Gordon Dymowski on MetroShrink
• “Look beyond the obvious - choose to observe rather than see - Part of monitoring is to find themes and patterns within online conversation, both driven by your organization and by others. Be willing to make deductions based on what you are observing, and let what you find and deduce shape your approach to social media and online conversation.” - Gordon Dymowski on MetroShrink

If it Sounds Too Good to be True…

• “Beware of a self-appointed “Moriarity” - Much has been said about the self-proclaimed “social media expert”; let me change this to a different type of person. A person who claims on some level to have “a web with a thousand radiations”, yet seems to have nothing more than a pleasant personality. Any efforts to engage within social media need to have a solid strategic basis which includes monitoring and further engagement.” - Gordon Dymowski on MetroShrink

Tools

The following tools may help you listen, monitor, meassure, and ask questions so you can begin to understand the conversations that are of interest to you and your cause on the web:

Social Media Monitoring Tools

• Radian 6 - “Data-centric” says Gordon Dymowski on MetroShrink.
• Spredfast - mentioned by Mazarine Treyz on Wild Woman Fundraising
• UberVu - “user-friendly” says Gordon Dymowski on MetroShrink.
• Tattlr - “open source” says Gordon Dymowski on MetroShrink.
• Google Alerts - “setting up Alerts about your brand name, current issues related to your brand or the names of competitors.” Tip from Christopher Nicholas on Linkedin.
• Addictomatic - “Simply type in your business name and see where you appear on the web”. Tip from Christopher Nicholas on Linkedin.

Online Polling Tools

• Polldaddy - “Although as a therapist I often believe I know what people’s needs are, this tool has helped me know what the customer views as their needs. It has been eye-opening to find out from them what their needs are. It helps me to know rather than guess what the needs of my customers are.” - Jeffery Murrah on Linkedin
• Poll Function on Hubpages - “I have also found the poll function on hubpages useful in assessing customer needs as well. The polls on hubpages has been helpful in narrowing down the needs identified with tools such as polldaddy.” - Jeffery Murrah on Linkedin

Measurement by Channel

The following channel-based tips are all from Mazarine Treyz on Wild Woman Fundraising

• “For Facebook: Edgerank for measuring the efficacy of your Facebook page, although, frankly, I’ve never had any luck raising serious money with Facebook and I think there’s so much noise there for the average person that you might have a hard time being heard. But if this is one of those things that you HAVE to do, then try this tool. “
• “For Twitter: Sprout Social, which helps to measure the return and reach you’re getting with your Twitter account. It shows you how many followers you are getting, when influencers retweet you and how much this increases the radius of your tweet, and also demographic data like age and gender of your followers. You might also like TweetPsych, TweetSprout, and TweetStats.”
• “For your Emails: Your e-newsletter software. I prefer AWeber. You can track who opens it, when they open it, and if they click and give. So, this is another dimension of your marketing efforts that should be pretty easy to measure”
• “For your website: Google Analytics. This is usually a conservative estimate of how many people are coming to your website, but it’s better than nothing. And it’s easy to set up and log into.

Learn even More:

Here are a rew more resources for you to delve even deeper into online listening:

• “Amy Sample Ward has put together a marvelous resource list here. And you can also buy The Networked Nonprofit by Beth Kanter and Alison Fine, and Social by Social, by Amy Sample Ward and others, put out by OpenMute press.” Mazarine Treyz on Wild Woman Fundraising
• View the previously recorded TechSoup Webinar, Social Media Listening Dashboards, with presenters Amy Sample Ward and Allen Gunn. 

About Net2 Think Tank:

Net2 Think Tank is a monthly blogging/social networking event open to anyone and is a great way to participate in an exchange of ideas.  We post a question or topic to the NetSquared community and participants submit responses either on their own blogs, the NetSquared Community Blog, or using social media.  Tag your post with “net2thinktank” and email a link to us to be included. At the end of the month, the entries get pulled together in the Net2 Think Tank Round-Up.

Thanks again to Mazarine Treyz of Wild Woman Fundraising for suggesting this month’s Net2 Think Tank topic!

The Freakonomics team recently put the concept of emotion vs. analysis up for debate in fundraising.  They tested emotion vs. fact appeals to donors to Freedom from Hunger, with mixed results.  In response, I interviewed one expert, Mark Rovner on the topic of emotion vs. analysis in giving.  Today, I talk to one of the smartest people I know on this important topic -  Greg Ulrich of Hope Consulting - who has done extensive research on what motivates giving.  Hope Consulting’s fascinating study, Money for Good, is full of rich and nuanced findings about how donors think.

Katya: So the body of research is pretty clear, right?  Donors are driven by feelings, not fact?

Greg: First, I agree with you in that individual donors are predominantly driven by emotions, not an analytic mindset. I thought Mark Rovner put it well in a recent interview with you when he said “There’s a myth, at best partially right, that higher dollar donors are more rational and analytical in their thinking.” Indeed, our research of over 8,000 individual donors shows that individuals rarely research donations, and that holds true for wealthy donors as well as the ‘masses’. Further, when we do see donors research charities, we see that they are usually looking to validate their decision to give to a particular nonprofit. Very seldom do we see donors research to find the ‘best’ nonprofit out of a group.  So, based on the data we have gathered, I side with you (and with Mark) that charitable giving is primarily an emotional act for individual donors.

Katya: Great, so that’s settled.  It’s that simple?

Greg: I think one thing that can hamper the field are these types of generalizations. We tend to characterize people as a homogeneous group: “donors don’t research”; “the new generation wants information via social media”; etc. What we at Hope Consulting try to do is not to paint the world as black and white, but to identify the different groups within it. In that light we find that about 15% of donors really care about the impact that a nonprofit is going to have (what we call the “High Impact” segment), and we see that about 20% of donors research charities as their ‘norm’. Now, to be clear, these donors aren’t behaving like “mini foundations”, rigorously evaluating organizations and trying to find the highest performing nonprofits out there, but they are open to information and to learning more about nonprofit organizations. 

Katya: So how do we accommodate donors who do want this kind of information?

Greg: Our current research, which we are working on in conjunction with GuideStar, is helping us understand how the field can best interact with donors – including those that regularly research charities. Specifically, we are looking at what kinds of information, in what format, and through what channel, will have the most impact on donors’ giving behavior. More on those findings to come soon!

Stay tuned!

The first Hack for Change event took place Change.org’s headquarters in San Francisco, CA. It consisted of 50 engineers and designers challenged to build mobile or web apps for social good over just a 24 hour period. A panel of judges that included Craigslist founder, Craig Newmark, selected the top three apps from the 24-hour hackathon to receive $10K in seed money.

“In just 24 hours the contestants built a series of incredible social good apps and Change.org would like to thank all of the participants for competing,” said Ben Rattray, founder and CEO of Change.org. “We look forward to more “Hack for Change” contests in the months and years to come.”

The winners, Brent Fitzgerald and Huned Botee from San Francisco, took the top prize with a community based text messaging service, “Good Neighbor,” that sends messages when neighbors need a hand with quick tasks or errands.

The first runner up was ”Project AnonyMouse,” a platform developed by Aaron Moy and Aashay Desai that connects members of LGBT community in need with mentors. The second runner up was ”FindMeAPet.org,” a service that text messages you when dogs get added to a shelter in your area. It was built by Catrina Roallos, Corey Grusden, and Charles Finkel.
 
For a full list of the “Hack for Change” apps: https://github.com/hackforchange

The weekend event hosted at Change.org in partnership with Code for America, Mashable, the Sunlight Foundation and others aims to accelerate a growing movement of companies and entrepreneurs who seek to create web and mobile applications to advance social change.

Follow the “Hack for Change” conversation on Twitter: #hackforchange.

They aren’t saying this, but they might be thinking it.

1. They’re unhappy.  Customer experience guru John Goodman told me a fascinating fact this week: there are two industries in which people are often unhappy with service but don’t complain: health care and nonprofits.  Just because you’re not hearing disappointment doesn’t mean your donors are pleased with you.

2. They’ll vote with their feet.  The number one reason donors stop supporting a charity is the way they were treated by the charity: a lack of gratitude, no clear understanding of the difference they made, endless solicitations.

3. They want you to do better.  They want to be acknowledged, involved and informed.  Treat them better—it’s the single best thing you can do as a fundraiser.  Keep the donor you have and you won’t have to worry so much about finding new converts.  A little gratitude goes a long way.

They aren’t saying this, but they might be thinking it.

1. They’re unhappy.  Customer experience guru John Goodman told me a fascinating fact this week: there are two industries in which people are often unhappy with service but don’t complain much: health care and nonprofits.  Just because you’re not hearing disappointment doesn’t mean your donors are pleased with you.

2. They’ll vote with their feet.  The number one reason donors stop supporting a charity is the way they were treated by the charity: a lack of gratitude, no clear understanding of the difference they made, endless solicitations.

3. They want you to do better.  They want to be acknowledged, involved and informed.  Treat them better—it’s the single best thing you can do as a fundraiser.  Keep the donor you have and you won’t have to worry so much about finding new converts.  A little gratitude goes a long way.

From Mashable, a wonderful bird’s eye infographic of social media:

I’ve been experimenting with posting different types of content and engagement techniques on my Facebook Page this past month based on what the research says about increasing engagement.  This week, the post that got the most conversation was a playful and visual one.    Using the photo above,  I asked people to share their best social [...]

Today, I’m featuring a guest post from Mark Rovner.  Mark is founder and principal of Sea Change Strategies and a Heath-certified “Lead a Switch” workshop trainer. Based on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal best seller – Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard – “Lead a Switch” workshop, will give you the hands-on tools that will help you break through barriers to change.  Mark will be presenting an open “Lead a Switch” workshop for nonprofit communicators, marketers, and fundraisers on July 26, 2011 right here in Washington, DC. If you’d like to participate, you can register here.  I think it is worth every penny, because Mark is one of the most effective presenters and trainers I’ve ever encountered. He’s smart, stimulating and stellar on his feet.  Be prepared for an experience that is as enriching – and entertaining – as they come. 

Who are you?

Depending on the moment, you might answer in 100 different ways.  For me, that could include: husband, dad, scuba fanatic, Buddhist, fundraiser, crazy person, dog lover, etc…

More significantly, evoke one of my many “selves” and you might get a completely different set of responses and actions.  When I am really cranky and hard to work with, my business partner Alia will often incant “Buddha Mark” to remind me to bring up my more open, generous and calm self.  It’s amazing how often it works. Just ask her.

Appeals to identity are among the most powerful, and least used, tools in the persuasion toolbox.  In their groundbreaking book Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, Chip and Dan Heath refer to this strategy as “growing your people.” 

One story the Heaths tell is the rescue of the St. Lucia Parrot from near extinction.  In 1977, there were fewer than 100 of these resplendent and raucous birds left in the wild.  Working with no funds and even less clout, a young scientist named Paul Butler developed a strategy based on the fact the bird lived no where else but the tiny Caribbean island from which it gets its name.  He sought to make saving the parrot, widely considered a pest by many St. Lucians, a matter of national pride.

He worked with local ministers who sermonized on the bird’s behalf.  He organized music festivals, gave away t-shirts, and got people dressed in parrot costumes to visit local schools. His message was simple, powerful, and effective – you St. Lucians are the sort of people who save your island’s wild creatures.

Two years after Butler began, the St. Lucia Parrot became the island’s national bird.  Today, the bird is flourishing.  And Paul Butler’s approach became the germ for wildlife conservation pride campaigns that have helped rescue endangered animals in more than 205 places around the world.

The next time you write a fundraising appeal or design an engagement campaign, think hard about whom you are engaging.  Which of your audiences’ selves will be most receptive to your call to action.  How can you evoke it?

Too often we think narrowly about our target audiences, or we think in sterile demographic terms.  Address them instead as champions of justice or devoted parents or animal lovers or practitioners of compassion.

You might be amazed by the result.