Spreadsheet Aerobics: Actionable Measurement for Social Media

Photo by Metro Library and Archive

I'm working with a small group of Packard Foundation grantees on a social media lab where they are implementing different social media experiments.  Part of the process includes regular check-in calls to reflect on what we're learning.  I have been thinking a lot about actionable social media measurement strategies that are fit and trim and light on their feet!     

Inspired by the Measure Everything:  Is Your Nonprofit Facebook Page Worth It?, I thought I'd share how I look at my Facebook page data.   I've been collecting it during the past 9 months, with a little bit of spreadsheet aerobics.  It much easier to collect, analyze and take action with your data when you do a little bit each month or every other week.  It is a lot like trying to get back in physical shape after you've slacked off.   It's much easier to do a 20 mile bike ride when you've been riding everyday! 

We know that good practice is to establish measurable objectives for your social media strategy and identify the audience before you executive.  You should also be thinking about what to measure and an efficient method for collecting that data before you begin. And, of course, making the time to actually look and think about what the data means.  We get so overloaded by meaningless data collection, that we're exhausted before we get to do the fun part:  making sense out of it.   

My Facebook page is focused on a listening and engagement objective - starting and maintaining a conversation.  I view it as a focus group that offers content ideas for blog posts as well as to provide another conversation channel to share insights about social media.  The target audience is people who work for nonprofits. 

Here's my description:

This is a focus group and sand box to learn more about how nonprofits can use social media effectively, especially Facebook. You are all the experts here!

That statement guides how I engage and what content I share.  That in turns drives my measurement strategy.   It makes it a lot easier to cull down what I data points I'm collecting.

The one strategy step that I didn't do at beginning and that I'm doing now as my blog is going through a redesign under the capable hands of Allyson Kapin - is to figure out an integrated content strategy between my blog, Facebook page, and other social media outposts.   This is multi-step process looking at your web site content, events, and social media properties.

You also need to think through the details of your content and engagement tactics.  Your Facebook Page is like a garden that needs regularly tending.  While automatically streaming content can give you some gains in efficiency, you can't be an absent landlord.  You need to visit your page every day - especially if your engagement strategy is working and your fans are posting content, questions, or responses. One participant on my Facebook page, Maggie Leifer McGary discovered this as well about her nonprofit's fan page (check out her case study)

While it is possible to go back and download an export of daily metrics from the Facebook insights tool from the beginning, it can be a huge pain.   It's better to set up your trusty spreadsheet at the get go so you can track monthly or every other week.  The challenge, of course, is that you have to make it habit and grabbing data, cutting and pasting it into a spreadsheet.  It isn't the most thrilling activity.  I try to do it monthly, but maybe your organization add this to your intern's work tasks. 

The data collection tools for Facebook are still evolving. There are some new third party analytic tools (and some are free) that can more easily gather up metrics into a spreadsheet than the insights tool, but you do have to talk with a sales person first. They recently announced a new analytic product called "insights for your domain" which allows you to gather FB insights data if you add a like button to your web site. (To install the new Insights, you can visit the Facebook insights page and click on the “Insights For Your Domain” button.)

It's still in the early stages of development, but if and when more sites adopt adding the Facebook "like" button, collecting this data will be become more important to informing your strategy. alled "insights for your domain" which allows you to gather FB insights data if you add a like button to your web site. 

I don't look at all the metrics that Facebook insights provides because it I find it overwhelming and a lot of won't help me measure and refine my strategy.   The key here is actionable data.  What does that mean?

• Measurement should inform specific decisions and/or actions.
• Do not measure everything, but do measure what is most important to your goals.
• The data you gather should help you learn

Here's my spreadsheet aerobics.  I grab the monthly daily data from the insights tool and download into a spreadsheet.  I have separate worksheet for each month and run totals.  I look at the following metrics:

• Total Interactions
• Likes
• Comments
• New Fans
• Unsubscribes
• Page Views
• Unique Page Views
• Photo Views

I also have columns in daily spreadsheet for labeled "content" and "promotion".  In the content line, I put a link to the actual post noting the type, voice, or if it was a fan posting.  I also make notes about what promotional tactics I used.   Then at the end of the month, allocate a half hour to look at the numbers for the month in comparison to other months - and look for insights and trends.  

In reviewing my spreadsheet, I discover what works. For example, questions work, particularly those that accompany a link to a good post.

• Questions that encourage people to share wisdom about their social media strategy: "What are the 7 most important things you need to know about using Facebook Pages effectively?" or "How to Increase Fan Engagement?"
• Questions that encourage people to share resources:  "What resources are available for smaller organizations to customize their Facebook Pages?"
• Questions that encourage healthy debate:  "What are some good ways to pick a fight on your Facebook Fan Page?"
• Questions that encourage sharing of stories:  "What are you best success or horror stories about how to best activate your Facebook fanbase once they join?" or "What are the best approaches to managing bi-lingual Facebook Pages?"

I've also learned what content my audience responds to most:

• Mini Case studies like the Humane Society's successful $20,000 fundraiser or what needs to be in your nonprofit's social media policy as it relates to Facebook.
• Posts that share studies or research studies about the ROI of Facebook:  A study about the effectiveness of Facebook Pages as marketing tools or Measure Everything!
• Practical tips for Facebook: 21 Creative Ways to Promote Your Facebook Fan Page or How Switch from Group to Fan Page or Ten SEO Strategies for Facebook Pages or Best Practices for Facebook Page Administrators for Nonprofits
• Technical tips that save people time:  How To Post to Your Facebook Page With Your Mobile Phone.

I note the type of content and engagement.

Questions
Link to an article with a question
Link to an article summarizing best tip
Post w/ a live experiment or sharing something I did on the Fan Page 

I've looked at frequency of posting and the sweet spot for me is 3-5 times per week.  I haven't analyze day of the week because it was extra piece of data to collect and was more interested in click thrus by day of the week and found a good secondary study.

It is also important to track exactly how you promote your Facebook page and what helps you recruit more fans.  I keep notes on when I've tweeted a link, speaking dates, posting updates in my status about my fan page and all the multi-channel ways you need to promote your page.

I also do the same sort of notes for different promotional techniques and I look at the increase (or decrease) in the number of fans:

• Suggest to friends
• Status updates
• Tagging photos
• Tagging a person
• Visiting other fan pages and participating
• Promoting through other channels (blog post, Twitter, speaking engagement, etc)

I've also discovered that it is important to identify as many opportunities to set up experiments that you measure and learn as you go. This is where I've gleaned most of my insights - a combination of quantitative metrics culled from Insights and what people are saying on the page.

As look back on my Facebook page experience, collecting some data points related to objectives and spending some time to think about what it means is very valuable.  

What are you learning from your measurement strategy?   How have you kept your data collection trim, fit, and actionable?  What is the most compelling thing you learned about your Facebook Page through measurement?

Comments

[Chip McComb]

Thanks for sharing how you breakdown and measure your FB page interaction. This will help me manage my non-profit's page much more effectively as are focused on a similar listening and engagement objective.

I'm interested in knowing, have you been able to identify which types of posts lead to more fans?

[Beth Kanter]

It's a combination. The posts that work best are the ones that get people to interact - either respond or like because that goes in their news feed and their friends see it.

[Allison Fine]

I love the phrase "actionable data"! It's great and really speaks to the need to collect the least amount of data not the most which is so easy to do. Great post, thanks!

AF

[Joanna Bartlett]

Beth,
I don't track in quite as much detail as you do (and only just realized I can download an excel file of my insights thanks to this post!). But I keep track of 2 Facebook pages, plus two or three Twitter accounts, our YouTube account, Picasa web galleries, etc.

My observations on what garners the most interaction are anecdotal. Stories about our miracle families get the most comments as do events that are going on in the community. Basically, telling stories about real people that our fans/likers either know or can connect with.

I love it when our fans/likers post things to the pages independently of us, telling us about the things going on in their organizations or lives.

Tagging photos seems to increase interaction as well, although Facebook makes it hard to tag someone who's not a friend or you don't have an e-mail address for. I often have IDs, but am not personally friends with the people in the photos. That's another thing that bugs me about facebook - using my personal account to be the admin of our pages. I'd prefer not to become friends with all of our donors and supporters, but want to be able to better engage and communicate with them.

[Beth]

Thanks for sharing your insights here.  I used to track things annecdotely as well, but when I actually committed to putting it in a spreadsheet and looking at and thinking at it - I got deeper insights about what worked and what didn't. 

[Te Rae]

Hi Beth

Thanks for this. I decided a few months back that while the FB Page Updates were useful they wouldn't mean a lot if I didn't put them in to an excel sheet with similar headings to yours above. I do it weekly (when the updates come through) - while I'm still working out how to best utilize these. They definitely give me a better idea about how our page is tracking and what kind of info is working, but I also keep reminding myself that it is partly about experimentation as well.
I feel very happy that I analyze FB stats similar to a social media specialist like you!
It has brightened up my day!

[Beth]

What have you discovered?

[Lori L. Jacobwith]

This is a great, detailed review of measuring the tools we use. Good fundraisers can use similar metrics & practices with their donor giving history. How long have they given? Where do they give? When? How many times? All of this data, if used properly can increase the relationship being built with a supporter/follower/friend. And isn't that what this is all about? Isn't it why we use social media and meet with people face to face? To build relationships and community? Great post! Thanks, Beth.

[Becky Band Jain]

Thanks so much for outlining in such detail what metrics analysis actually looks like. Though I'm still not convinced that the "fun part" is making sense out of it :) How can I make it seem like not such a daunting task...?

[Keith Morris]

Hey Beth, would you be willing to share your spreadsheet file with us? We don't need to see the data, but it would be super helpful to see how you've laid out your headers.

[Stephanie Janes]

Thanks for sharing, Beth!