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eAdvocacy: Building Your Base Online

Supplementary Materials and Resources

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Assessing Your Current Audience

Website Audience Metrics

Questions to Ask about your Current Web Audience

Metric Description

What is the size of your web audience?

How many living, breathing human beings are coming to my website every month?

Unique Visitors (not hits or just visits)

This is the number of actual individuals that visited your website as opposed to hits (which simply count files served, including images) and visits (which don’t adjust for repeat visitors).

How do visitors find my website?

Are they typing my URL directly into their web browser? Are they following a link from another website, or maybe an email, Twitter message?

Referral Source Indicates how a web visitor got to your website:

By typing your website address into their web browser

By clicking on a link (from another website, email message, or twitter message)

From a search engine

Are they finding their way to my site from a search engine? If so, what are they typing into the search box that ultimately leads them to me?

Top Keywords and Phrases

For web visitors who found their way to your website from a search engine, what keywords or keyword phrases did they type into the search box? You should generally identify the top 5 and track their changes over time.

How engaging is my website content to visitors?

When people visit my website, do they come to my homepage, get nauseous and then leave? Or do they hang out a bit and look around?

Average Page Views The total number of page views divided by the total number of visitors over a specified time period.

Besides by homepage, what other pages on my website

Most viewed pages What are the pages most viewed on your website. It’s generally good to

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do people tend to view the most?

track the top 5 pages over time.

What documents do people download the most?

Most downloaded documents

What documents are downloaded the most by your web visitors. It’s generally good to track the top 5 downloaded documents over time.

Where are my web visitors geographically located?

Are they in my city, in California, or in Bangladesh?

Geography Where are your web visitors geographically located? In tools like Google Analytics, you can drill down all the way from the country level, to the state and city levels.

Tools for Measure your Website Audience

To get the Web analytics for your website, you should contact your webmaster, IT department, or the

company that hosts your website. Sometimes, these statistics are “server-reported” statistics available

from your web host versus those obtained from “tagging-based” services. The most robust analytics

tool that is available for free is Google Analytics (available at http://www.google.com/analytics/).

Server-reported statistics are generally inferior and often prone to inaccurate counting. If you’re relying

on server-reported web data, you may want to consider transitioning to a tagging-based service like

Google Analytics. See below for more explanation of these types of tools and popular vendors.

There are basically two types of web statistics tools:

Analytics Tool Vendors

Basic Tools 1. Log-File Analyzers (Server-Side Data

Collection): statistics packages provided by shared web hosting providers.

2. These tools are typically accessed through your hosting provider.

3. They are generally inferior to more advanced Tag-Based packages like Google Analytics

AWStats

Webalizer

Mint

Advanced Tools 1. Tag-Based Analytics (Client-Side Data

Collection): Javascript page tags collect data

Google Analytics (free)

Webtrends

Omniture SiteCatalyst

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via a website visitors’s web browser. The tags, also called “beacons” are placed on each page of your website, and

How to install Google Analytics http://www.google.com/analytics/education.html

Email Metrics

These data should be available from your Email Service Provider (e.g. Constant Contact, Vertical

Response, MyEmma, etc.). You should review these statistics for the current month and last 6 months

to identify trends.

Initial Email List Assessment: How many email addresses are in your list? How many are bad addresses (undeliverable)? How many people on your list are from identifiable organizations (work addresses)? Where did the majority of my email list subscribers come from (website, event sign-ups, conference,

business cards, etc.)?

Questions to Ask About Your Email Audience

Metric Description

N/A Messages Sent The total number of messages sent for a particular mailing

When I send out an email, how many bounce because I’ve got a bad address in my database?

Bounce Rate Percentage of email messages in a mailing that was undeliverable due to bad addresses. Total messages sent minus total email messages that bounced equals the total messages delivered.

When I send out an email blast, how many people subsequently unsubscribe from my list?

Unsubscribe Rate The percentage of email message recipients who unsubscribed from your list out of all email messages delivered

Of those who receive my email, how many actually open it?

Open-Rates The percentage of email messages in a mailing that were opened of those that were delivered.

Of those who open my email, how many are interested enough to click on a link in the message either to read something or respond to a call-to-action?

Click-Through Rates

The percentage of email messages that a user clicked a link in of those that were delivered.

Of those who click in a message and reach my website to take an action that I’ve requested of them, how many actually take the requested action?

Response Rate (also called conversion rate)

Of those who clicked through on a “call-to-action” email (total click-throughs), how many took the requested action (whatever you asked them to do)

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Facebook Metrics

The metrics described below are available through the Facebook Page Insights analytics tool. Facebook Insights measures user exposure, actions, and behavior relating to your Social Ads and Facebook Page. To learn how to access Facebook Page insights for your Facebook page, follow this link: http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=915#!/help/?page=1030

Questions to Ask About your Facebook Audience

Metric

How many people are fans of your Page or have indicated they “Like” it? Total Likes (formerly fans)

An interaction occurs when a fan writes on your Wall, comments on your posts, or likes your content

Total Interactions

How many comments were made on your facebook page? Comments

How many new fans/likes has your page received in the past month? New fans

How many people have chosen no longer to be a fan or “like” your fan page?

Unsubscribes

How many times has your Facebook page been viewed? Page Views

How many individual people have viewed your Facebook page? Unique Page Views

How many times have your Facebook photos beens viewed? Photo Views

Twitter Metrics

There are several tools for analyzing your Twitter audience and mentions of your organization or Tweets on Twitter.

Graph Edge: http://www.graphedge.com/

Twitalyzer: http://www.twitalyzer.com/

Twitter Counter: www.twittercounter.com

Tweetstats: http://tweetstats.com/

Twitter Analyzer: http://twitteranalyzer.com/

Tweeteffect: http://www.tweeteffect.com/

Metric Description

Total Tweets Your total tweets

Followers Your total followers

Unfollows The total number of followers who opt to no longer follow you. Check out Graph Edge to track this metric.

Follower Growth Rate The increase in your followers over a specified time frame (e.g. monthly)

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Total Retweets The total number of your tweets that others have re-tweeted to their followers

Follower Retweet Percentage

The percentage of your total re-tweets that are tweeted by those following you versus those who are not currently following you.

Benchmark Metrics

Benchmark

1. These data are summarized for a non-random sample of nonprofits of varying size mailing lists and

missions and tend to come with the following caveats: 1) small sample size; 2) vendor bias; 3) use

different non-comparable summary measures (average vs. median, etc.)

2. Nonprofits with smaller email lists tend to have higher benchmark performance on average

Benchmark Metric eNonprofit Benchmark Studya 2009 Average per Mailing

Convio Online Benchmark Studyb 2009 Average

Email Benchmarks

Annual List Growth 51% (n=31) 27% (n=499)

% of Email List that is Unusable 44% of email lists were unusable in 2009 (back email addresses or unsubscribed)—lower for membership orgs

Email Newsletter Open-Rates 14.5% (average) 20% (median) (n=420)

Newsletter Click-Through Rate 2.5% 3.3% (median) (n=420)

Unsubscribe Rate .25%

Web Benchmarks

Unique Visitors ~11,000 (n=166)

Email Sign-Up Rate per Month (of total unique visitors)

~2% (down from 3% in past few years)

Advocacy Benchmarksa

Response Rates 4%

Page Completion Rates ~80% (generally lower for smaller email lists)

Facebook Benchmarksc

How often do orgs post on Facebook

average 6 times per week

Subscriber (fans/like) Growth 3.8% average per month

Unsubscribe rate (fans/like) Average 2% per month (removed themselves or hid news feed)

Page views per week (per 100 10

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Benchmark Metric eNonprofit Benchmark Studya 2009 Average per Mailing

Convio Online Benchmark Studyb 2009 Average

fans)

Unique page views per week (per 100 fans)

2

% Fans Views per Org Page Post

~.5% of a pages fans viewed a page per Org page post

Average weekly Fan Rate (number of actions per fan per week)

2.5%

Twitterc

How often do orgs post on Twitter

4-5 times per day

Subscriber (follower) growth 9% per month

Sources: a See 2010 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study: An Analysis of Online Messaging, Fundraising and Advocacy Metrics for Nonprofit Organizations (2010), M+R Strategic Services and NTEN b See The Convio Online Nonprofit Benchmark Study (March 2010), Convio c See 2010 Nonprofit Social Media Benchmarks Study: An Analysis of Growth and Social Engagement Metrics for Nonprofit Organizations (2010), M+R Strategic Services

General Social Media Tracking Tools

SocialToo: http://www.socialtoo.com SocialMention: http://www.socialmention.com BlogPulse: http://www.blogpulse.com PostRank: http://www.postrank.com BoardTracker: http://www.boardtracker.com Xinu Returns: http://xinureturns.com

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Online Presence

Facebook: Add the Static FBML Page and Designate Your Landing Page

1. Add the Static FBML App

The tabs at the top of your Facebook Fan Page are apps. Some, like your wall and photos are built into Facebook.

Others are essentially plug-ins where fans can view external content, like YouTube videos, Flickr photos, etc.

The app you need for your custom page is called “Static FBML,” located here. If you’re logged into Facebook, you

can add it to your Page. It is essentially a blank canvas where you can add whatever content you want, including

custom graphics and links via standard HTML.

2. Set Up Your Tab

Once you’ve added the Static FBML app, click “Edit Page” below your company’s profile image. This will bring up all

your settings and apps. Look for the FBML app and click the “Application Settings” link.

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The app can function in two ways: As a set of boxes, or as one dedicated profile tab. If you’re building a splash

page, you’ll probably want to use it as a tab, so go ahead and make sure that the “Box” setting is removed, and the

“Tab” setting is added. You can always experiment with boxes later if you find them more useful.

3. Add Your Content

Once you’re in tab mode, go back to your settings and click the “Edit” link under the Static FBML app. This opens a

standard text field where you can add your content.

“Box Title” will be the name of your tab, so you’ll want to change it to something appropriate, like “This Week’s

Deals,” “Special Offers,” or simply “Welcome,” depending on how you plan to use your Page.

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The main text field is where your content goes, and you can add standard HTML to the page as you would any

website, including images, text, links, and other formatting. No need for HTML, BODY, or HEAD tags.

Note that your images must be hosted elsewhere (on your company’s website, for example) and only referenced in

your HTML code.

4. Make It the Default Landing Page

If you want this new tab to be the “face” of your business Fan Page, head back over to your page settings and edit

your “Wall Settings.” There is an option for “Default Landing Tab for Everyone Else.” From that menu, select your

new tab.

SOURCE: http://mashable.com/2010/02/22/build-facebook-landing-page/

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Facebook: Add an Email Sign-Up Form to Your Landing Page

Do you want to add an opt-in email form to your site? In the search pane, type in “Static FBML” and then click on the application. Once you are on the application’s page, click on the link in the upper left that reads “Add to my page” → then a pop up menu will appear prompting you to select your page → after selecting your page, go to your business page and click on the link under your profile photo that reads “edit” → from here you click on the “static fbml” application and click edit → copy and paste the code given to you from your email marketing company → save your settings. Once you have saved the code, go back to the main page and click on the + sign at the top of your page and from here you can add the tab for your form. If you use Vertical Response, they have a video tutorial highlighting the process – should only take a few minutes to set up.

Twitter

Create a custom twitter background that reflects your organization’s mission and brand

List the twitter handles of the staff contributing to your orgs feed

Create a twitter list of your organization’s staff, partners or supporters

Use twitterholic to connect with the top 50 tweeters in our city

Build real relationships by replying, retweeting and joing discussions, especially with those who

tweet about your issues

Make your tweets retweetable

Recruit new staff and volunteers via Twitter

Monitor your organization’s name on Twitter

Piggyback on Twitter’s trending topic if they are related to your issues or cause

Promote an event, campaign or movement with twitter hashtags (#)

Start, organize and join conversations on Twitter with hasthtags

Empower your followers with actionable information in support of your mission

Organize a Tweetup

Use bit.ly to track effectiveness

YouTube

Use the YouTube Nonprofit Program to Create Money for Advocacy

Premium branding capabilities and increased uploading capacity

The option to drive fundraising through a Google Checkout "Donate" button

Listing on the Nonprofit channels and the Nonprofit videos pages

Ability to add a Call-to-action overlay on your videos to drive campaigns

Posting a video opportunity on the YouTube Video Volunteers platform to find a skilled YouTube user to create a video for your cause.

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Mobilizing Your Supporters: Taking Action An Online Mobilization Scenario

Ideally, this hypothetical messaging strategy for mobilizing a set of supporters would be integrated

across all of your messaging tools (Facebook messaging, Twitter, Blogging/RSS Feed, etc.). Email,

however, would be the central vehicle. Messaging on Facebook, Twitter and your blog/rss feeds would

be more informal in tone, smaller and punchier, and would lead back to your website for more

information. Those audience members should all be encouraged to sign up for email.

Timing Goal Email Message

8 weeks out from legislative vote

Inform our audience about the problem, the policy and pending vote. Call-to-Action: Tell 3 friends about this issue and the need to act

Problem Policy Vote in 8 weeks Take Action: Tell-a-

Friend [REPEAT for each week of messaging: More informal message added to Facebook; compelling headline with a link on Twitter; full message posted to your blog with a compelling headline]

6 weeks out Inform your audience about the politics of the policy (Who the bad guys are). Update them on what the campaign is doing: getting endorsements, speaking engagements, meeting with legislators, gathering allied support. Call to action: write your legislator, or tell-a-friend in that legislator’s district.

Create sense of urgency to act

Give sense of the political players and their latest maneuverings

Provide campaign updates

Remind about the vote in 6 weeks

Take Action: Write these legislators and urge them to act

REPORT BACK: Tell your supporters what happened. How many letters were sent? Declare victory and positively spin the results. Forge ahead.

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Timing Goal Email Message

4 weeks out Create a greater sense of urgency and report on the variety of campaign activities underway. Set explicit goals to have impact over the next week. Call-to-Action: Make clear in your calls-to-action this month that you want your supporters to strive for specific goals. For example: 1) We want 200 people to attend a rally two weeks out; 2) We want to generate over 300 calls to these target legislators, etc.

The vote is rapidly approaching and we need to rachet up our efforts

Discuss media coverage, new endorsements, new tactics being pursued on the inside

Emphasize emerging priorities of the campaign (e.g. fundraising, more phone calls, etc.)

Take Action: Help us generate a rally of 200 people; or, help us generate 300 calls to these legislators from their constituents

REPORT BACK: Tell your supporters what happened. How many people attended the rally with ample photographs posted on the website? Describe the number of calls generated and if possible pull out a story of a particular supporter. Declare victory and positively spin the results. Forge ahead.

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Timing Goal Email Message 3 weeks out Update on building momentum and pending

campaign goals. Provide an update on the political situation. Provide quotes from supportive and opposing legislators. Frame the opposition more stridently (or the failure to act of uncommitted), Provide additional media coverage. Call-to-Action: Whatever is crucial at this juncture from an organizing standpoint (e.g. join a rally in front of the statehouse; write a letter to the editor)

Our campaign momentum is building with just 3 weeks left until the legislative vote

Overview of the politics of the policy

Media Coverage Take Action:

REPORT BACK: This was what you all achieved and helped us move closer to our goal which is getting the vote we need in 3 weeks.

2 weeks out Taking stock of the campaign. What we need to win. Help us get there. Call-to-Action: Whatever is crucial at this juncture from an organizing standpoint (e.g. join a rally in front of the statehouse; write a letter to the editor)

We’re in the final stretch

How many votes do we need

This is what we need to get those votes

Take action: to help us get those votes

1 week out Create urgency regarding the vote this week. Emphasize what’s need for victory and make a strong cal-to-action Call-to-Action: Whatever is crucial at this juncture from an organizing standpoint (e.g. join a rally in front of the statehouse; write a letter to the editor)

The vote is this week. Who are the hold-outs

that we need to win We must act now or

never. Please take the

following actions and make your voice heard.

After Deadline Has Passed

Postscript: Victory or Live to Fight Another Day Explain the vote and its outcome. Declare victory if the goal is accomplished. Declare that the fight goes on if not. Create a sense of continuity going forward.

Victory or The Fight Goes On… Declare victory (or declare this is the first battle in a long war) Thank supporters for their amazing efforts to carry to victory (or note the support shown is a victory in its own right) Congratulate the legislators

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Timing Goal Email Message

who carried it to victory (or note the legislators for whom this vote will haunt them)