When it comes to social networking and social media for nonprofits, statistics matter. I’m a sucker for analyses and stats and all things that measure results. Goodness, if only my many former math teachers could see me now. They would be collectively so proud. And nothing short of astonished to hear me waxing poetic about numbers.
Back to nonprofits. When it comes to nonprofits, results matter a lot. Many of them are working with small staffs and small budgets and every dollar raised is precious. At least that’s usually the case with the nonprofits I most enjoy working with and helping.
When you think about it, any marketer, regardless of field or specialty, who doesn’t love numbers, metrics and analyzing results, isn’t worth much. At V3, we are fond of saying pretty much ad nauseum: If you’re not measuring, you’re not marketing. And it’s true.
If you’ve not yet discovered it, it’s my pleasure to introduce you to Frogloop. Frogloop is Care2’s Nonprofit Marketing Blog and is an invaluable resource for all that matters when it comes to the latest trends in nonprofit marketing, communications, technology and fundraising. And, if you’re a nonprofit looking to use or using social media networking in your marketing and outreach efforts, you really want to be tuned into this blog.
If that’s not enough of a reason to subscribe and read Frogloop’s blog, my amazing and wicked smart friend, Allyson Kapin, founding partner of Rad Campaign, a firm that builds award-winning websites and marketing campaigns and recruitment programs for nonprofits is Frogloop’s Blogger-in-Chief. Her brilliance is, quite simply, not to be missed.
I know Frogloop’s in my reader, and on the “don’t miss” list.
Frogloop’s Justin Perkins has developed a calculator called The Social Network ROI Calculator, specifically designed for nonprofits using – or thinking of using – social media as part of their networking and fundraising efforts. It’s an interactive form that you can plop your data into and it’ll help you calculate your ROI in ways that’ll make your head spin.
This form takes into consideration your email marketing efforts, projected response rates, projected fundraising results and a bunch of other data and you’ve really got to just dive in and experiment with it to get a measure of all its goodness.
I know you’re dying to try it out, and I’m sure you’ll love it as much as I did. Here’s a link – and, if you use it, I’d love it if you swing by later and let us know what you think. Tools that calculate ROI of social networking and social media efforts are always hot commodities around these parts. And if you’re smart, pay as much attention to the folks at Frogloop as I do. In addition to stalking their blog on a regular basis, you can also follow them on Twitter.