strategy – Amy Sample Ward https://amysampleward.org Tue, 19 Feb 2013 00:30:31 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://amysampleward.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/cropped-ASW-Purple-Wall-32x32.png strategy – Amy Sample Ward https://amysampleward.org 32 32 Slideshare and Pinterest for Nonprofits https://amysampleward.org/2013/02/20/slideshare-and-pinterest-for-nonprofits/ Wed, 20 Feb 2013 17:00:48 +0000 https://amysampleward.org/?p=3179 Continue readingSlideshare and Pinterest for Nonprofits]]> I’m a monthly guest on Tony Martignetti’s Nonprofit Radio (which you already know because you’re a subscriber, right?) and on this last episode we talked about two popular tools: Slideshare and Pinterest. There’s always more to say than just what we can cover on the air so I wanted to follow up with some infographics and highlights.

Slideshare

I use Slideshare for my presentations and other workshop or training materials. It’s easy to use, and it makes archiving and sharing materials with attendees really simple. Column Five has a new infographic about Slideshare user data with some interesting highlights. First and very striking is the 3 billion slideviews/month number! Slideshare reminds me of YouTube in that many nonprofits and even individuals use YouTube as the online storage space for videos that they plan to embed on their website or blog and otherwise share across the web. You benefit by storing the videos in a public and popular place so those that aren’t already watching your website can still come across your video and get engaged. Slideshare, with that many views, is serving a similar purpose where users are uploading content to be stored on Slideshare that they intend to embed or share elsewhere but benefit from those on the platform coming across the material and learning more.

Another highlight is the organic search traffic that nonprofit should take more advantage of. Have you spent days putting together a presentation for your board or a potential funder that highlights your work and impact? Maybe outlines how a new program is going to make a specific change to your community or the world. Putting that presentation on Slideshare where the title and the slide material can be indexed for searches means the next time I’m online searching for “important programs to end homelessness in NYC” I find your slides, your ideas, and ways to get involved with your organization.

It’s also noteworthy the high percentage of business and organizational leaders using Slideshare. Even more reason to expect that those coming across your material there to be potential partners, donors, or volunteers. There is no need to highlight specific case studies here as Beth Kanter has, of course, already ccreated a great list!

Pinterest

wishpond’s new infographic on Pinterest user data has some interesting data but I also know far more organizations experimenting with Pinterest or even using it well already. The first thing that struck me about the Pinterest data is the stat 80% of pins are actually repinned from another board. It’s really similar to the high percentage of content on Tumblr that’s reblogged from another blog. Couple that stat with nearly 84% of the time pinning content and what that really tells me is users enjoy the site and they enjoy sharing and collecting content; they do not, however, probably want to leave the site just to look at your website.

According to the infographic, 57% of the content on Pinterest is also food related! Considering all these dynamics, I think City of Hope’s shared board collecting recipes for mushrooms as part of the Mushrooms for Hope campaign is right on target. It’s a great example of creating content that is mission-supporting, true to the audience and platform, and really creates great opportunities for people to have interaction with the organization that is valuable to them and not just part of an ask.

Are you using Slideshare or Pinterest?

How is your organization creating or sharing content on these platforms? Would love to hear your lessons and stories!

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Measuring Impact: Feature Article from the Latest Issue of NTEN:Change https://amysampleward.org/2011/12/22/measuring-impact-feature-article-from-the-latest-issue-of-ntenchange/ Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:38:37 +0000 https://amysampleward.org/?p=2773 Continue readingMeasuring Impact: Feature Article from the Latest Issue of NTEN:Change]]> [Note: The following is an excerpt of an article in the December 2011 issue of NTEN:Change. Read the complete article, “From Outcomes to Impact,” by subscribing to the journal for free!]

By Julie Macalik, with Greenlights for Nonprofit Success

The first step in starting to measure your impact is to identify the major outcomes that you want to examine. In order to be successful in this step you will need full management support and a dedicated key project lead for your team. This person will take the helm on laying out tasks in a sequence, informing other staff of their roles and assignments, and providing assistance to people as they complete their parts of the evaluation.

The standard nonprofit data points come from fundraising, communications, programs, and finance so consider these sources when gathering your team.

The standard nonprofit data points come from fundraising, communications, programs, and finance so consider these sources when gathering your team. For example, a representative from the fundraising department can make sure you consider when your funders’ reporting cycles are so that you are producing outcome measurement results at a time that aligns with their requests for information about your programs. Also, those most directly affected should provide meaningful participation, so don’t forget about your front-line staff directly involved in providing services.

Next you will want to select the outcomes that you want to examine and prioritize them. For each outcome, specify what observable measures, or indicators, will suggest that you’re achieving that key outcome for impact. After you have made your selection you can then identify what information is needed to show these indicators.

There are many types of technology and other management tools available to assist in this process, and now is the time to take stock of your technology and the tools you are going to use to track your data. Decide how information can be efficiently and realistically gathered utilizing the different methods that are best for your organization including:

  • Surveys – Consider what features you will need. If you’re just looking to get your feet wet with a quick survey, one of the many free or low cost online tools will do the trick. In fact, a more sophisticated survey package could be considerably more difficult to use. On the other hand, if you’re looking for survey software to support rigorous research, the more advanced packages are more likely to have the features you need.
  • Interviews and focus groups – The desired outcome of this type of method is to solicit data without any influence or bias. This also allows you to develop a relationship with clients or other key stakeholders and get a full range and depth of information. One benefit of focus groups is the ability for participants to feed off each other’s energy and bounce ideas off one another. Consider using an outside facilitator to help develop questions and protocol and to help identify themes from your data.
  • Documentation Review – Looking at internal records including applications, forms, procedures, and finances allows you to get an impression of how programs operate without interruption and identify new methods of collection.
  • Databases – Nonprofits can use these tools to track data in real time and report on results. Internally they can assist in managing performance at the departmental or affiliate-level using dashboards and benchmark progress over time.

After the data is collected, organize the information into similar categories (i.e. concerns, suggestions, strengths, etc.). From here you can identify patterns and themes to help you categorize and analyze data according to the indicators for each outcome.

Continue reading this article, which includes more resources and tips, when you subscribe to NTEN:Change for free!

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Is social media helping you meet your mission? It can! https://amysampleward.org/2011/11/17/is-social-media-helping-you-meet-your-mission-it-can/ https://amysampleward.org/2011/11/17/is-social-media-helping-you-meet-your-mission-it-can/#comments Thu, 17 Nov 2011 23:16:55 +0000 https://amysampleward.org/?p=2759 Continue readingIs social media helping you meet your mission? It can!]]> Last week, I had the opportunity to run a webinar on Nonprofit Webinars. I had thought to myself that there wouldn’t be anyone registered because it wasn’t a very buzzy topic. I was presenting on the way we can identify metrics in social media that help us reach our mission and how to use those metrics strategically. No “make money on social media” or “top 5 Twitter tips”. I was so thrilled, then, to see a couple hundred registered! Thank you to everyone who participated and recognized the value in being strategic with our use of social media!

Strategic Data

I have done a few webinars and presentations about social media tracking and metrics and frequently used the phrase “actionable data.” After one of these presentations, a participant came up to me and pushed back a little on what I’d said, explaining that data was for evaluation and that seemed very passive. I responded that data, without action, isn’t worth our effort to track it. That’s what actionable means.

But then I realized, the reason people didn’t see action tied to their data was because they didn’t see how the data, or even the actions that data could indicate, were strategic. Data we don’t want to take action about is even worse. We need strategic data. And, as it turns out, that doesn’t just mean data from your programs and services, but from your social engagement, too.

Step 1: Linking Strategy to Goals

Most of us on this call probably have an elevator speech or even a few that we use to explain what it is we do as an organization, what our role in the organization is; maybe even why people would want to get involved or donate. That’s where we start. We can use that general or generic even mission statement to start putting our social media use into a strategic place.

If your organization has a strategic plan or even a Theory of Change, you are already equipped with even more deliberate language that can help you get started. Most strategic plans include program area or service area specifics and you can use those to help frame why you use social media.

Step 2: Linking Goals to Social

Now that we have identified some areas where social media fits with the overall purpose of the organization, we can start putting certain aspects of social engagement into goal areas. We want to be specific here about the why and less specific about the what. For example, our goals with social media should identify the influence or impact we want to make, but not necessarily say we will do it on facebook. You may, actually use facebook for part of your social media activity, but you want to form your goals so that they are impact-specific, and open to either multiple or changing platform use.

Step 3: Acting on Strategic Data

And the last part, identifying your metrics to track and really tracking it! When it comes to tracking, there are a few things I recommend:

  • Nothing is finished: if you’re tracking something and the number is the same every single week, that’s an indicator that you should see if you are able to influence that area; if you try and no matter what you do, that number is the same, maybe it isn’t the number you really need to track. Remember, you want this data to be actionable for you!
  • You may not have all the numbers you need: it might take you a couple weeks or months of tracking in this way to realize you really need some other numbers to really tell the full picture of your online impact. So, add them! Don’t feel that all your data has to start on the same day. It’s better than you realize it and add in the new metrics as you go, than never add them in for fear of consistency.
  • Let the numbers tell stories: use the data in your social media tracking to identify the larger stories of your organization’s work or impact. Look for patterns or activity that comes from other actions in the organization (do Facebook comments increase when a staff person attends an offline event? do website visits change depending on comments?), help identify opportunities for coordinated effort.
  • Share it back: Be sure that you don’t just track and store the data, but you report back out to the organization and even community. Be sure you share some of the highlights and trends back to your organization/staff and includes ways they can help influence your numbers and reach goals (do you see certain kinds of stories do better than others? let your staff know so they can keep their eyes out for you!). Don’t just share with your staff, but share back with your community!
  • Context is king: don’t just use social media data! Be sure you’re tracking what happens on your website, newsletter, and others actions like whether staff were mentioned in the news or on a blog, if staff attend or present at an event, etc.

 Get Started

You can use this template to get you started. Be sure to change the blue rows in the document to reflect your goals and align your various metrics underneath. Make a copy of the file for your own use (otherwise anyone on the web will see your data if you put it in my template), or download the file.

>> http://bit.ly/DIYmetrics

Slides & Video

You can review the slides below, or check out Nonprofit Webinars to watch the full recording!

Photo credit: Flickr myklroventine

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Social Media in 30 Minutes a Day https://amysampleward.org/2011/06/06/social-media-in-30-minutes-a-day/ https://amysampleward.org/2011/06/06/social-media-in-30-minutes-a-day/#comments Mon, 06 Jun 2011 19:39:39 +0000 https://amysampleward.org/?p=2520 Continue readingSocial Media in 30 Minutes a Day]]> Today, at the 2011 MyCharityConnects Conference in Toronto, I had a ton of fun leading a session and discussion around making the most of social media in just 30 minutes a day. Ultimately, it’s less about the amount of time and more about the consistency – and planning, tracking, and everything else! Here are the slides from the session and links to get you started:

Templates

Books & Collections

Resources

Questions? Ideas? Examples you’d like to share? Drop any questions or things to add to the resource list in the comments here for others to check out!

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Guest Post on Online Community Report: Sustainable Community Building https://amysampleward.org/2010/05/07/guest-post-on-online-community-report-sustainable-community-building/ https://amysampleward.org/2010/05/07/guest-post-on-online-community-report-sustainable-community-building/#comments Fri, 07 May 2010 14:55:00 +0000 https://amysampleward.org/?p=1544 Continue readingGuest Post on Online Community Report: Sustainable Community Building]]> This is a guest post I wrote for the Online Community Report.
You can find the original post and the community there.

—–

I love my community. Whether I’m talking about my role at NetSquared, my blog, or my network of friends, I am inspired every day and find value in, and rewards for, my participation. Regardless of whether I feel like, or am trying to be, a community builder, the community always provides opportunities for others to join me. These spaces are built on distributed power and that makes the community a moving, growing, living thing that I am a part of, rather than a weight, trouble, or burden that I’m responsible for.

But, it ain’t easy. Being a Community Builder (I refuse, on principle, to use the word Manager) is a lot of work. So, how do you do it without losing sleep or sanity?

Here’s my 3×3 to Sustainable Community Building.

1. There are no short cuts.

Lead by example
Interact, use tools, and create and share content the way you want your community members to do so. Seeing you leave a comment, or share a resource, will model the desired behavior so others can see what to do (especially if they are new to social media or new to your community) and how to do it (especially if they are new to your tool or platform).

Operate in public
When it comes to “administrator” or “moderator” activity, always conduct it in public unless it requires or involves personal information. Don’t send a private welcome message – do it in public so others can benefit (they too can see, join in, and find someone new)! Don’t remove or edit contributions, but leave a comment to suggest how they can be improved. If there’s offensive or inappropriate behavior, note it in public so others can learn what’s okay and what isn’t, and feel empowered to help moderate as a community.

Ask for feedback and help
Asking for help or ideas means that 1.) you trust the community, 2.) you know that your community is valuable and smart, and 3.) you are interested in collaborating (not dictating). Don’t be shy about it – post blog entries or conversation starters, share your own feedback (operate in public), and provide places for the community to share ideas or feedback at any time (not just on specific ideas or proposals).

2. Know your community.

Let the community know itself: Working in networks means that the “center” (that’s you) is no better than any of the other parts. You don’t have all the answers, all the information, all the best jokes. So, help your community know its self. Messages shouldn’t just be about you, stories shouldn’t just be about you. Find content and value from the community that you can help put the spotlight on; find stories and changemakers from the community that you can support. Make connections and introductions.

Know your role: Knowing your community means figuring out what they need from you, how they need your help, how they need you to help them to succeed. Some communities may need a “manager” to help keep everything moving along, and others may need an “operator” to make connections and recommendations. Some communities need a “friend” to share ideas and honest feedback, others may need a “champion” that can help push ideas and opportunities forward. Find your role (by asking for feedback and help!) and take pride in operating the way your community needs.

Help it grow: Part of knowing your community means recognizing when it needs new blood, a fresh wind, or a change of pace. That doesn’t always mean just one or the other. New blood = new members. If this is the case then help the community to promote itself and attract others interested in participating. Fresh wind = new topics or ideas. Sometimes, conversation can grow stagnant and ideas can fail to materialize into projects. It is your role to help find new inspiration. Change of pace = new way of operating. This may mean that the community has outgrown its facebook group and needs someone (you) to help move it onto the next platform/space where it can do more. You may need to be the one willing to say what everyone’s thinking and take on the task of making change.

3. Strive to be replaced.

Encourage interaction without you
The goal of operating in public and leading by example is to enable the community to know how to operate without you. There can be interaction and exchange without your permission. There can be conversation without your moderation. Encourage the community to take control by giving them the responsibility and opportunity to do so.

Reward and spotlight leaders
Your goal should be to be replaced by other community members, as this means that you’ve created something so valuable, with members so dedicated to it, that they are willing to steer the ship and man the sails themselves. To begin nurturing those who may become the captains, start highlighting members who are contributing value. Shine the spotlight on those taking on extra responsibility. Operate in public by thanking them for their work in a way that’s visible to the whole community.

Share your toolbox
There’s no way that the community can take responsibility and contribute equally with you if you hold the key to a hidden set of tools. Open up all functionality to anyone who has proven their elevated role in the group. Share resources like strategies, best practices, and examples with the community so everyone can learn and contribute at the level you do. By sharing resources, you’ll probably find that the community has some to share back that will make your work even better, too!

But remember: all communities are unique, just like the members that comprise them. You can’t expect every group to operate the same way as others, or for one successful example to hold true in another setting. Communities are made up of people and the best approach you can have is to remain human. Organizations are buildings: they aren’t any fun, they aren’t very conversational, and they’re often made of neutral colors. You’re a human: you’re passionate, you’re interesting, and you have something to say. So even if you have different tools, different ideas, and different goals from one community to the next throughout your work, remember to stay human.

For more on my experience with community building, read Online Community Building: Gardening vs Landscaping.  To get the original post on the Online Community Report, click here.

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Messages, Stories, and Conversations: Creating a Strategy for your organization and your supporters https://amysampleward.org/2009/11/24/messages-stories-and-conversations-creating-a-strategy/ https://amysampleward.org/2009/11/24/messages-stories-and-conversations-creating-a-strategy/#comments Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:26:32 +0000 https://amysampleward.org/?p=1230 Continue readingMessages, Stories, and Conversations: Creating a Strategy for your organization and your supporters]]> I have said it many, many times and so have lots of others—you’re probably tired of hearing about how social media is supposed to be “a conversation.”  And that’s okay!  Because it isn’t JUST a conversation!  There’s calls to action, story telling, questions and requests, and much more.  And, more importantly, some of the messages, the stories and the campaigns don’t even come from you!  They come from your supporters. 

How can you create a strategy for your messages and campaigns in social media that respect this fact?  Here’s how!

This process is great to do as a team or as an organization.  If you have a room where everyone can sit, and an hour or two to bring everyone together, I really recommend you use this topic as an opportunity to hear what each department identifies and shares when working through the process below as the conversations that come up can be another chance to break down silos inside your organization!

On a flip chart or whiteboard (or if you are working through this by yourself, just use a piece of paper or a spread sheet on your computer) draw 4 vertical lines, creating 5 columns.  You may want to turn the flip chart sideways or use separate sheets for each column.

#1: Who are “They”

This column is for identifying all of your audiences.  Be sure to really consider this as there are probably many different groups, supporters, collaborators, or other audiences that you may not list right away!  It’s a great opportunity to bring different departments together to create a complete view of the organization’s audiences.

#2: What we Want

This is where you can list actions, knowledge, messages or anything else you want to give to your audience or have them do.  List these next to each audience group from the first column.  Remember that there could be more than one What we Want item per audience.

#3: How it Happens

In column 3, list how you deliver these messages or requests.  Are they online: in email, website, social media platforms (which ones?), etc.  Are they offline: at events, in your office, elsewhere?

#4: What they Want

Now it’s time to list what your different audience groups want from you!  Do they want information, support, value or recognition; maybe they want to be included, give feedback, share their stories or campaign on your behalf.  Again, there can be more than one What they Want per audience group.

#5: How it Happens

Just like in column 3, this column lists how these requests or exchanges can happen.

Stand back!

You’ve just created a map of all your audiences and how you and all of them can be sharing, conversing and campaigning in an aligned way!  The two “How it Happens” columns are great opportunities for evaluating which social media tools you are using for different audiences, something I’ve talked about on this blog before.  You can also easily see which messages and audiences naturally go together and which are separate.  And, if you did it as a team or full organization you can feel like you are all on the same page (or at least closer to it) by working through the process together!

What do you think?

How have you mapped your conversations and messages at your organization? Do you have any tips or suggestions you can share?  I’d love to hear how you’ve done it!

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Twitter Lists for Nonprofits https://amysampleward.org/2009/10/30/twitter-lists-for-nonprofits/ https://amysampleward.org/2009/10/30/twitter-lists-for-nonprofits/#comments Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:16:02 +0000 http://www.amysampleward.org/?p=1087 Continue readingTwitter Lists for Nonprofits]]> Lauren Cochrane has a great post today with ideas for lists organizations could create with Twitter’s new List function.  If you haven’t heard about Lists yet, you’re not behind! They have only been rolled out to around half of the users so far.  You can read more about Lists on the Twitter Blog here.

Lauren outlines 7 Lists that organizations may find useful, including:

  1. Your organisation’s chapters and campaigns.
  2. Related international organisations and campaigns.
  3. Organisations that are somewhat related to your organisation.
  4. Celebrities, politicians and others with a high profile.
  5. Media.
  6. Volunteers.
  7. Retweeters and people who have contacted you.

As I added to Lauren’s post in the comments, I think there’s a lot of opportunity for organizations to leverage the List functionality for boosting visibility of their work and finding new supporters.  Think about the way Facebook Fan pages work, the way we see when others add a Fan page and we may join as well, and so on.  This kind of visibility work taps people’s desire to be cause-related in self identity.

Here’s my idea for an organizational visibility campaign using Lists:

Create a list for Supporters. (Make sure it’s a public list, and link to it from your website and elsewhere.) Encourage people who want to be included on that list to publicly @reply to you and say why they support you. Then, add them to the list.

So, they’ve already publicly promoted you to their whole followers list and as a member of the list can feel a bit more connected with the organization (to retweet messages in the future, help promote campaigns or other projects, etc.).

What do you think?

Would love to hear if you have other ideas about using Lists for organizations. Do you already have the Lists function enabled on your account – have you used it yet?

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Managing Twitter, One Account at a Time https://amysampleward.org/2009/09/15/managing-twitter-one-account-at-a-time/ https://amysampleward.org/2009/09/15/managing-twitter-one-account-at-a-time/#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:11:45 +0000 http://www.amysampleward.org/?p=966 Continue readingManaging Twitter, One Account at a Time]]> There are so may stats, reports, assumptions and speculations every day about who is using Twitter, let alone how and why.  I recently read a reflection on Twitter called How To Use Twitter When You Follow Several Thousand People.  And it got me thinking, not necessarily about how I filter through the stream and so forth, but how others who are filtering through their streams, find me!

I’m not the only one that is follow lots of interesting, valuable, fun people on Twitter – so are many of you!  So, how do I create ways for people to pick up on my content or shared learning in ways that is visible (and not just sucked into the stream)?  How do I ensure that the stream I’m creating, isn’t overwhelming as well?

With these questions in mind, I decided to start a second Twitter account – and I want to share with you my strategy and implementation steps – so you can see if something similar is right for you, too!

Why Create Two Accounts

My Twitter account is @AmyRSWard and I have, currently, over 3,000 followers.  I’m not one for popularity and don’t view follower counts as a reflection of such.  I think that at one time or another, those 3,000+ people found an interesting link I shared, read a blog post I wrote and wanted to get more, or connected with me in one way or another online, at a conference, or through email.  The way I see it, those 3,000 people are “following” the content or value I can add to their work, not necessarily my coolness.

But, I’m human! Not everything I say is smart, valuable, insightful or useful.  Sometimes I just want to say, “hi” to my mom on Twitter, and that’s okay.  But for people who don’t want to follow everything I say, and really just want real-time access to my shared brain, well, why not them have it!

Purpose of @AmySampleWard

As I explained above, the purpose of the second account, @AmySampleWard, is to provide a pipeline to valuable content.  I intend to use this second account for three main things:

  1. Sharing links to posts as they go up: Whenever a new post goes up on this blog, a tweet with the title and link will go out!
  2. Sharing links to interesting things I read: Whenever I tag something using Delicious that I think is of interest to you all, a tweet with the title and link will go out!
  3. Livetweeting and Twitter-chats: If I go to a conference or an event or am participating in a Twitter-based chat, I always think about the tweet-overload I create for people who follow me as my messages go from # of tweets per day, to # of tweets per hour or minute.  This way I will have a separate account to use for following a conference session or speaker, etc.

Set Up of @AmySampleWard

I have to give tons of credit to Joe Solomon, my friend and colleague and rockstar, for his help getting me set up.  I asked for his advise (he’s the man behind @nptechblogs among other Twitter mutations) as there are TONS of tools out there to choose from when setting up an account.  So, the steps below are generated from Joe’s smarts as well as my applications.

Sharing links from your blog:

I used TwitterFeed to set this up.  It’s really simple.  Just put in the RSS feed of your blog, and then use the Advanced Options to add a preface or suffix to your posts (this is where you could say, as I do, “New post:” or something).  As Joe advised, and I TOTALLY agree, be sure to select the option to show only the Title & Link – as including any more means a really jumbled tweet.

Sharing links you tag onling:

I use Delicious to tag content online instead of saving bookmarks locally to my computer – this way I can access things I’ve saved from any computer and can share content easily.  Using Twitter to share is just one more option!  If you do not already use Delicious, it’s easy to get started – visit the site for more. I used TwitterFeed again to coordinate auto-tweets of items I tag.  I used the RSS feed of a specific tag, because I didn’t necessarily want every single item I bookmark to be tweeted out.  This let’s me choose which items to share.

We’re in Business!

So, the new account is all set up! It’s already tweeting out blog posts, interesting links, and more. Follow it here!

What do you think? I’d love your feedback on my strategy and process – if you would have done things differently or if you have questions about how I’m making it work!

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5 Steps to a Successful Social Media Strategy https://amysampleward.org/2009/08/18/5-steps-to-a-successful-social-media-strategy/ https://amysampleward.org/2009/08/18/5-steps-to-a-successful-social-media-strategy/#comments Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:31:45 +0000 http://www.amysampleward.org/?p=929 Continue reading5 Steps to a Successful Social Media Strategy]]> I have a guest post up on John Haydon’s blog!  You can visit his blog to read the post and join the conversation there.  The post is republished below.

I’m always weary of posts that claim to pronounce the 10 Best Things You Can Ever Do, or 7 Steps to Success, or any other lofty achievement wrapped up in just a number of items.  But, that doesn’t stop me from doing it myself!  Though, in these 5 steps, you’ll see there is a lot more to do, think about, and work on – no quick tick-off on this list!

Social media, as many have said time and again, is only part of your campaigning, part of your fundraising, and part of your communications.  It isn’t something that lives in its own department, nor does it have staff that are separate from the rest of the organization.  Just as the content distributed and conversations participated in are integrated into many different aspects of your organization’s work, so should the knowledge, access and responsibility to participate be integrated across your staff.

With all that being said, let’s dive in!

These 5 Steps are intended to help you create a successful social media strategy, but as you will see, they focus on your organization’s overall strategy!

1. Goals & Objectives

Evaluate your goals and objectives, as an organization.  You will not be able to identify tools and engagement methods for your organization online without knowing the bigger picture and without knowing it in concrete goals that will let you build and work towards them.  Hildy Gottlieb’s Pollyanna Principles are a great place to start if you want to learn more about how you can evaluate and identify your organizational goals (and larger view) in a way to successfully design projects, programs and even partnerships for real impact.

For more resources on goals & objectives:

2. Capacity

Before sitting down to work on your social media strategy, evaluate what kind of capacity you already have in your network.  Things to consider include: staff knowledge and experience with different tools as well as other internal knowledge or previous work experience.  It’s also a good idea to evaluate the capacity (especially if you think collaboration or partnership is an opportunity) of related organizations.  Lastly, consider what other organizations, companies or campaigns in your sector have already done!

For more resources on capacity evaluation:

3. Strategy

Now it’s time to focus in on the meat of this post, the actual “social media strategy” part—apologies for making you wait this long! 🙂  But, there’s a catch: it’s another 5 steps!

  1. Identify the audience or community you want to engage.
    This includes thinking about who you are already communicating with and how, as well as what groups you want to start communicating with who you currently aren’t including.  Who you want to talk to, listen to, and create a community with is the foundation for everything else you do with social media tools because it is what ultimately decides the success or failure of your other decisions—if you base your timing, tools, and process around those you want to be a part of your work, then you’ll be a lot more successful than if you pick tools you like when it’s convenient for you without considering the community you want to use them.
  2. Identify the resources currently available within your organization. Resources include staff knowledge and comfort with different tools, experience levels of staff working with supports, volunteers, and the public, staff with time available, staff with appropriate job duties to include social media, available budget for training or workshops, etc.  Often, we forget that because the actual application/software/tool may be free, really using it is not.  What we put into our social media engagement is what we get out of it, like everything else in life.  If you only have an hour a week to post to a blog, then it is unreasonable to expect a lively conversation and community emerging from it, at least not very quickly.  By evaluating what resources you already have on hand in the organization, you are much more prepared to fully examine your options.  And remember, sometimes you assumptions about social media use and your staff can be way off!  There is something out there for all of us, and more and more people around the world are engaging online, so don’t assume that it’s only your college intern who knows how to use these tools!
  3. Identify what success will look like. This is really helpful in order to evaluate the appropriate tools for your work.  If you want to create a space for volunteers and potential volunteers to share their knowledge and experiences with each other you are going to need very different tools than if you want to create a space for volunteers and potential volunteers to share that information with you.  It’s also important to remember that social media is a changing space, with tools and applications, even functionality, evolving every day.  So, your definition of success has to be flexible to the changing times and the changing needs of your audience.
  4. Identify what technologies are most appropriate. Now that you know who you want to communicate with, who and what you have to work with in your organization, and where you want to go with the relationships, you can identify some tools to start exploring.  There are lots of blogs, directories, and lists available online to help you get started picking tools that match your goals.  One great way to help guide you in the process of identifying and selecting the most appropriate technologies is to ask your community!  What are they using now?  How would they like to engage with your organization?  Explain what success looks like to you and ask how they would go about getting there!
  5. Identify what measures of success can be used. You know who and what, and you identified where you want to go, but before you dive in you also need to establish how you can measure and monitor activity from day 1 onward.  This includes things you are probably looking at already like the number of visitors to your website and subscribers of your emails; but, it also includes metrics based on the funcationality of the tools you choose and how you identified success.  If you are using a forum, then measuring the number of replies to post (or, if your forum allows voting, then the positive feedback on posts) could be appropriate, as well as the ratio of people signed up vs posting vs replying, etc.  It’s incredibly important for the success of your work to evaluate how things are going throughout.  If something isn’t working to the degree you had hoped, it’s okay!  Identify that issue, and correct it with either an alteration to the current tool or set up, or by shifting the group to a different, more appropriate tool.  Just be sure to openly communicate your evaluations, ask for feedback (”Do you see what we see?”), and explain any changes well ahead of time.

For more on building your social media strategy:

4. Feedback

Be sure that you create mechanisms for feedback and input throughout your process and throughout whatever you “build” or use (whether it’s a social networking space, a website, a blog or anything else).  You need to provide opportunities for your community, as well as your staff and any others participating on the “administrative” end of the operations to share ideas.  The best way to approach this is to create feedback opportunities that are “evergreen” or always available, like a contact form or address, a public forum, or commenting; and opportunities that are “seasonal” or based specifically on an event, idea, opportunity, etc. (like a blog post about possible functionality that could be added to the site, asking for feedback and ideas or even voting on the options).  Remember, though, that there is no point to asking for feedback and letting your community suggest their ideas if you aren’t going to listen.  More often than not, the community knows what it wants much more than you do, so listening is key!

For more on feedback and listening:

5. Evaluate

Just as part of the social media strategy process in step 3 above calls for evaluation, so does the overall process.  Evaluation in this step is focused on the higher level:  how have your networks grown or changed? are there new opportunities for partnerships or collaborations? are there new opportunities for empowering your community either in different roles within the social media/online space or in other areas of your organization?  do you have stories of volunteers, staff, community members, or those you serve that could be sharing their stories in new or different ways to highlight your impact? And more!

For more on evaluation:

Then…repeat!

As with most everything else, it’s all a cycle.  You will always be revisiting your goals, your community needs, the options for tools and how to evaluate your work.  Continuing to keep the cyclical process moving, though, means that you will ensure that you give your organization all the opportunities to possible to improve it’s work and further it’s impact.  This is one self-perpetuating cycle that’s good for you! 🙂

What do you think? What lessons have you learned from designing social media strategies in your organization? What did I miss?  Looking forward to your conversation!

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