Focus on what you should be measuring so you can streamline your PR measurement tracking

Target audience: Nonprofits, cause organizations, foundations, NGOs, social enterprises

When it comes to the latest in PR measurement, the mere thought of it may make you feel like it’s impossible to “keep up.” Before you overwhelm yourself, take a deep breath and focus on growing your skills by incorporating these three principles into your regular routine. By focusing on these simple – not to mention, free! – tips to refine your skills, you’ll become a measurement star before you know it!

1. Simplify and Streamline Tracking

As I mentioned in a previous Socialbrite post on creating a measurement program, most of the time we don’t have access to fancy dashboards; because we are often limited by client budgets in the tools we can and cannot use. That’s ok, because I’ve found that the more uncomplicated you keep tracking, the better.

Here’s how you can do this:

• Use an Excel or Google spreadsheet to track outputs and outcomes
• Making sure the time frame within which you’re tracking different things – e.g. traffic, downloads, purchases, whatever – is the same
• Watch your Analytics (at the very least, Google Analytics) at the same time, and regularly look to see if there is a correlation between outputs and outcomes.

2. Two Tools to Know and Love

Let me preface this by first reiterating one of my big “don’ts” – don’t get caught up in shiny new measurement tools. Focus on what you should be measuring, as opposed to getting bogged down, overwhelmed, or limited by a tool. That said, there are some tools and techniques that are just crying out to be used.

I’ve already referred to it once, and I’m doing so again: it’s time to become BFFs with Google Analytics and the Google URL Builder. The tracking of URLs has been around in the marketing world for a while now; and it’s something PR pros should know how (and why) to do. Especially for campaigns where you’re driving calls-to-action online, it’s one of the best ways to understand what is driving actions, clicks, downloads, purchases, sign-ups, etc.

After all, it’s only when you know what is and isn’t working that you can adjust your strategy to make it more efficient, effective, and ultimately more successful.

3. Spread Your Measurement Wings

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” Just as it’s important to continue to track and measure the growth of a campaign or initiative, it’s equally important to facilitate our own growth as industry professionals… and that means seizing every opportunity for learning when we can.

Here are a few free ways to spread your measurement wings:

• Read. It’s that simple. By regularly reading smart bloggers who regularly talk about metrics (Lee Odden and Jim Dougherty spring to mind) you’ll be one step ahead on the PR measurement front.

Want to go the extra mile? Make a point to add a couple of smart books to your library. Social Media Metrics by Jim Sterne is one of my faves.

• Events. Attending or taking advantage of free events seems like a no-brainer, no? Here are just a few:

○      AMEC Measurement Week: presented by Cision (disclosure: client) and Vocus, this free five-day event takes place September 15–19, 2014 in New York City. It will bring together more than 16 speakers who are experts in measurement and analytics across the communication spectrum, and includes keynotes from Mark W. Schaefer and Peter Shankman… and me! Seriously – if you’re going to be in/around NYC next week, you really should attend. Register here, and the hashtag to follow on Twitter will be #AMECatWork.

○      #measurePR Twitter Chat: As the founder of #measurePR, I’m clearly biased, but I’m proud that in its fourth year, #measurePR still connects measurement geeks across the world. From newbies to old hands, they (we) all congregate here… and I hope you will too! #measurePR takes place the first Tuesday of every month, 12-1pm ET (the September chat, however, is on the second Tuesday, Sept. 9, to accommodate returning from the Labor Day holiday).

○      Webinars: Find and participate in free webinars focused on measurement every chance you get. Now, I know it can be tough to find really good webinars (though Cision – and yes, I’m mentioning them again – offers them frequently), so head to PRSA and IABC’s online events calendars to see what they have coming up. That’s a very good place to start.

I hope this helps you get started on spreading your measurement wings. And remember if you’re going to be at AMEC Measurement Week, or drop in at #measurePR, please give me a holler – I’d love to say “hello”!

The post 3 ways to sharpen your PR measurement skills appeared first on Socialbrite.

Target audience: Nonprofits, cause organizations, foundations, NGOs, social enterprises, journalists, educators, general public.

While a number of promising Web 2.0 social enterprises have launched in the past few years, SourceRise, which just soft launched in beta last week, is showing great momentum right out of the gate. SourceRise, founded by our very own Caroline Avakian (managing partner at Socialbrite), connects journalists and bloggers to sources at international NGOs and nonprofits in an effort to diversify the voices represented in the news and to increase the number of well researched, compelling development and foreign news stories in traditional media.

Last week I interviewed Caroline to find out more about SourceRise and how it’s building bridges between the media and nonprofit sources.

SourceRise is a social enterprise that directly connects journalists to sources at international NGOs and nonprofits. In a time when international news gathering budgets are shrinking at record rates, it is becoming more difficult for major news outlets to independently cover international and development news stories. Via a network of journalists and expert global NGO sources, SourceRise enables development foreign news reporting rooted in real time, accuracy, and deep context

SourceRise is a social enterprise that directly connects journalists to sources at international NGOs and nonprofits. In a time when international news gathering budgets are shrinking at record rates, it is becoming more difficult for major news outlets to independently cover international and development news stories. Via a network of journalists and expert global NGO sources, SourceRise enables development foreign news reporting rooted in real time, accuracy, and deep context.

We connect journalists and nonprofits by sending out source request emails from journalists to sources, and by facilitating digital media briefings on breaking global hot topics or humanitarian crises. SourceRise also holds media call-to-actions around global issues that aren’t getting the media coverage they deserve, by connecting journalists and bloggers to sources who can immediately provide information and context around important issues. In addition, SourceRise matches journalists, photojournalists and other media makers with NGOs able to host them in the areas of the world they want to report on.

A couple of years ago, when I actually started telling people about my budding idea that would eventually became SourceRise, colleagues would tell me, “Yeah, nice idea but aren’t there already development news sites writing about these stories?” I realized that when people free-associate on “foreign” or “development news,” there’s an underlying assumption that it should live on a separate news site, that there’s no place or desire for it in mainstream news. Interestingly, we know that’s not the case. Data shows us that people actually want more international news brought to them on the news channels and sites they’re already watching and reading. It became very apparent to me that there is a perception and language disconnect when we speak about development or foreign news. That disconnect fuels my efforts to mainstream SourceRise and change the way we view and create news.

SourceRise is different in that our focus is on development news reporting, something that other reporter/source connector sites don’t focus on. At a time when foreign news desks are shutting down due to budget constraints, our mission as a social enterprise is to solve that problem by helping journalists connect easily to vetted expert sources they can trust and quote in their pieces, which ultimately provides better, more contextualized development and foreign news coverage.

Mainstream media and NGOs have had a longstanding relationship. Journalists often reach out to NGO expert sources for access to remote parts of the world — they rely on them for quotes, to provide context to political, social and cultural issues on the ground, to give them info and statistics they can reference in their stories. Currently, we are seeing a huge shift in the international reporting landscape that has led to the shut down of many foreign bureaus of even major news outlets. This has led to many NGOs and nonprofits researching and pitching their own stories, sharing sources and analysis and even providing travel logistics, guides and housing to reporters. In short, without the help of NGOs, many foreign news stories would never be told. SourceRise is the result and the logical next step to advancing this mutually beneficial relationship.

A recent survey by MPO Research Group found that American media are missing the mark when it comes to providing international coverage to the public. When MPO asked respondents what they think about the coverage of international news, over half said there should be more of it and just over a quarter think it’s fine just as it is, indicating that there’s a lot of room for improvement from our media outlets.

The bottom line is, we look at the Internet and think we have this wide view of the world, when in fact we’re not really as connected as we think we are. In the 1970s US global news was about 35-45% of the mainstream media we consumed. Now, it’s about 12-15%. Development and foreign news have been relegated to “special” news sites. You have to go searching for that news, because you’re not really going to find much of it on the sites you’re likely already reading. So, we’ve slowly adapted to that shift through the years. I think that’s really problematic on many levels. The real problems of the world we need to solve are global in scale, that require global conversations to get to global solutions. We’re nowhere near that right now.

SourceRise is currently in beta and a social good startup to keep an eye on!

• Sign up on the SourceRise website

• Nonprofits/NGOs can sign up directly here

• Journalists and bloggers can sign up directly here

• Follow SourceRise founder Caroline Avakian on Twitter

• Follow SourceRise on Twitter

• Fan SourceRise on Facebook

The post SourceRise: Connecting nonprofits/NGOs to journalists appeared first on Socialbrite.

Unless you have a publicist, public relations strategies at small to medium nonprofits are often on the back burner. There are press releases that wind up sitting on your website and not getting much distribution. Press pages with long listings of news article from 2010. You get the picture and we get it too — it’s difficult to focus on PR, especially when you’re a small to mid-sized organization with limited staff and resources.

The good news is that there are a handful of social startups out there focused on helping businesses and nonprofits have an easier time of getting their news out, and helping you find the outlets you should be focusing on. So, I’ve compiled a short list of social public relations tools that will help your nonprofit take the next steps into your newly revitalized public relations plan!

Totem

My new favorite PR tool for nonprofits is Totem. Totem is a simple app that creates professional looking and comprehensive press pages for your website. Typically, a press page is a place for you to put all the information a reporter needs to write about you. If they’re writing a story about your organization, they’ll often need to use a logo, fact sheet, a photo or two, some video. The problem is this kind of information isn’t available on most websites. Many nonprofit sites aren’t designed with the reporter in mind, and there is much to gain by making it easier for a reporter to cover your news. Sure, if they’re writing a story, they can always contact your communications staff, but a nicely stocked press page makes it easier for reporters to cobble together a story last minute and it gives off the impression that your nonprofit is media friendly – both good things when you’re looking to drum up press. If your website’s press page only has published coverage and press releases, then it’s time to make your press page work a little harder for you.

Pitch Engine

PitchEngine is a social media press release app that allows you to pitch all kinds of content, including text, slideshows, a video section, captions, tags for blog posts, link to related news and a ready made tweet.

Combining short paragraphs and bullet points with Web-friendly links and multi-media, the PitchEngine aims to give reporters and bloggers the key ingredients for a story in an immediately scannable and digestible fashion.

One of the reasons social media press releases have been successful is because it capitalizes on three big trends: The use of multi-media, emphasis on press release search engine optimization and because email has allowed anyone to pitch a story, making the social media release valuable because its format enables reporters to quickly assess what’s newsworthy.

Another big reason I really like PitchEngine is because it lets you easily distribute your release by typing in whom you want to send it to (via email, Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook). All releases created in the system automatically appear in their PitchFeed, a stream of current pitches that can be accessed by reporters and bloggers on site or via RSS.

I think it’s a great tool for nonprofits because of how easy it is to use and how low cost it is. There’s a free version and you can also pay for more features. It’s a nice alternative to shelling out upwards of $350 to get your news release out on the wires, something that can be cost-prohibitive to many nonprofits.

Newsle

Newsle tracks your Facebook friends, LinkedIn connections and email contacts in the news. You just sign up, and you can follow everyone you know. Newsle notifies you about important articles and press, seconds after they are published and you can choose to follow anyone not just the people in your networks. Newsle lets you stay up-to-date on your board of directors/CEO achievements, your peer’s latest projects, and explore articles on your favorite thought leaders, bloggers and trendsetters all in one place.

I find it also gives me ideas on different ways to partner with individuals and their organizations, and also just motivates me to get out the messages that I know deserve that same kind of attention. I hope it does the same for you!

Any tools that are helping you ramp up your PR? Share them with us in the comments below and tell us why you like them!

The post Three free tools to boost your nonprofit’s public relations appeared first on Socialbrite.

To prepare for this session, I asked colleagues in the US to share their collective wisdom so we could see the US perspective. In addition, during a roundtable on social media at the conference, I was fortunate to meet social media experts in India (@nirav, @amnigos, @pranavbhasin, @paritoshsharma and @avinashraghava), who shared some examples.

For social media to have full impact, it needs to scale within an organization. Your organization’s social media strategy should be not implemented by one lonely intern sitting in the corner of your communications and marketing department.

You may be wondering if that means that your executive director and CEO needs to write a blog or have their own Twitter account to share their wisdom. I think it depends.

There are definitely some benefits to having your executive director or CEO being present on social media channels. They can provide a human face to your organization’s work, a unique viewpoint, and serve as a thought leader in your field. And if your organization finds itself in the middle of groundswell or if there is a major news event or a public relations crisis happens and it is being discussed on Twitter or other social media spaces, your CEO can join it without having to get up to speed.

But it is also important to understand that there are challenges to be overcome as well. These includes investing the time to make it successful because a CEO presence on social media is nothing that should be “ghost” written. It has to be authentic and reflect the CEO’s personality. There is also the issue of comfort – both with the technology and being transparent.

Here are some good examples of CEOs’ and executive directors’ use of social media in the US social sector:

Holly Ross is the executive director of NTEN, the nonprofit technology network in the US. She uses Twitter to share what’s going on at NTEN, announce new initiatives, and have conversations with NTEN members. She often uses Twitter to get ideas and feedback on NTEN’s various programs. Checking her Twitter stream and sharing some tweets probably takes her 15 to 20 minutes a day and is part of daily routine.

Holly also shares more of her in-depth thinking about the nonprofit technology field on NTEN’s blog. It is not a “CEO” blog where she writes daily, but a blog that includes the voices of NTEN staff and members. This is a good option for CEO’s who don’t have the time or bandwidth to write a whole blog along, but still want to be present in the blogosphere.

Holly’s Twitter account is her personal but it is clearly branded as NTEN. Even the user name, “ntenhross” incorporates her organization’s brand. This is a good example of a “Blended profile.”

Scott Harrison is the CEO of charity:water. charity:water has a huge Twitter following of over 1 million fans and supporters and has a great deal of expertise using social media to leverage fundraising and raise awareness of their work. The Twestival and Charity Water’s house social network are stellar examples. As CEO of charity:water, Scott is often visiting charity:water projects all over the work. Through his twitter account, he is able to easily first-hand reports and photos of the organization’s work. He is using Twitter for donor accountability. Scott uses his personal account to Tweet which is separate from the charity:water organizational account.

There are a couple of corporate Foundations where we have good examples of CEO’s using social media effectively – in this case Twitter.

Steve Case is the co-founder of AOL and now chairman of The Case Foundation and of Revolution (investor in Revolution Money, Exclusive Resorts, Miraval, Zipcar, Waterfront, etc). His Twitter stream is where he shares what he reading about philanthropy and technology but also his travels to different social sector and technology conferences. You can regularly see him discussing issues on Twitter with other thought leaders and journalists. His Twitter account is his personal account, but he identifies himself with his foundation and businesses.

Reeta Roy, president and CEO of the MasterCard Foundation, is sending tweets from her site visit to Uganda and Kenya. As background, the mandate of the $2 billion foundation is to enable people living in poverty to improve their lives by expanding their access to microfinance and education. Reeta is currently in Uganda, where she’s learning first-hand about the Foundation’s partnerships and programs. While the account is the foundation’s branded Twitter account, she is using it for a project to report on their work in the field.

This is an example of a good idea of how to get your CEO started tweeting. Have them tweet from the organizational branded account for a specific project. This will help learn the work flow, have more comfort, and see first hand if the social media presence provides a benefit for the organization’s work.

At a roundtable, I had to chance to discuss this question with social media experts from India. They pointed out a couple of examples and I hope to learn more later today.

Anand Mahindra is the vice chairman and managing director of Mahindra Group, a large corporation in India. He tweets about many different things, from his company to his family and travels.

Mahindra interacts with customers addressing their questions and complaints. Take a look at his Twitter stream and you will see personal insights, news about his companies, and insights about social media.

Mahesh Murthy is founder and CEO of Pinstorm, a digital marketing firm. He also writes a column for the Wall Street Journal.

Murthy uses Twitter to share information about company, connect with people, and to research for writing his blog posts or encourage conversations in the comments of his blog.

When should your chief exec say no to social media?

Of course, using social media may not be for every CEO or executive director. If they can’t sustain their presence on Twitter or a blog, they should stay away. This isn’t to say that they can’t have an assistant who might do some of the scanning and flag items to respond to, but if a CEO starts engaging with people on social media channels and then there is silence – that is not a good thing.

It is also important that executives don’t just tweet or blog for the sake of doing it. They should must have someting to day that is of value or use it for relationship building. Finally, if the CEO cannot take public criticism or wants to have control over what followers or commenters say, then they shouldn’t use it and delegate the role someone else in the company or organization.

Tips for executives using social media

1. Listen first: Before jumping in, it is useful to do some listening first. Are there other organizations or businesses in your sector where CEOs or executive directors are using social media? Find those and review how they are using it.

2. Safe place to practice: It is a good idea to do a little bit of coaching with your executive to show her how Twitter works and to avoid too much “public learning.” Some organizations use software like Yammer, which is akin to an internal Twitter for companies or organizations, to practice before setting up on Twitter.

3. Get past information overload: It is important to let busy CEOs know that they don’t have to be on Twitter 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This is also a good idea because the thought of opening up another communications channel might be overwhelming for a CEO is already concerned about email and information overload. Help them learn a quick and efficient way to use Twitter.

4. Pick a small project first: Before launching a CEO blog or CEO Twitter account, it might make sense for the CEO to start off using the organization’s branded account or blog, particularly if she is not very comfortable with the tools or plan to devote a small amount of time.

5. Share unique insights from the executive suite: CEOs have perspectives that others in the organization may not. Whether using Twitter or writing blog posts, they should share their thought leadership, know how, and vision with their fans and followers. A good way to do this is share what they are reading and learning.

6. Let them be themselves: CEOs and executive directors who are using social media, above all, just need to be themselves and let their personality shine through.

Resources

• 8 Nonprofit CEOs Who Tweet by Beth Kanter

• Foundations That Tweet – Different Patterns by Beth Kanter

• CEOs Take To Twitter from Business Week

• The CEO’s Secret Handbook from Money Magazine

• CEOs Are Social Media Slackers from Wired Magazine

• First CEO to Tweet Resignation from New York Times

• The CEOs of Social Media from India Leadership Forum

• The Many Challenges of a CEO Blog from Jeremiah Owyang

• CEOs Must Use Social Media from Community Organizer 2.0

• If Chris Brogan was CEO of An Airline and Used Social Media

• CEOs Who Tweet

The post Should CEOs and executive directors use social media? appeared first on Socialbrite.