Over the last year we have launched and are monitoring a client’s social media program (Facebook and Twitter). I recently took time to review stats on a variety of metrics we monitor outside of social media (email signups, program applications, and web traffic). The existing metrics have all been growing even though we have not made any changes; even more puzzling were some of the questions we were faced with. Why are applications way up for a certain segment of our target group(yipee)? Why is the email list growing faster than ever, even though traffic has been stagnant (a mixed blessing indeed)? Finding answers is important but elusive. I was puzzling over this until it hit me that I was not considering our social media channels. Just because they are still in an experimental phase doesn’t mean that they are not influencing our results. These are indeed variables that have changed in the last six months.
All of this reminds me of the classic line from John Wanamaker: “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” Even in our digital age, it is difficult to determine exactly what works. There is only one thing that is certain – if you continue to do the same thing it will eventually stop working. Experimenting is a vital tool to find new ways to engage prospects, customers, or donors. Not all of it will work, but it is the only way to open up new doors.
Excited to say that our experimenting phase with our client’s Facebook page has moved into strategy. I discerned that we were not reaching our target audience on Facebook, but actually an audience that could be a powerful influencer. Since a post went viral and reached almost 16,000 a few weeks ago we have started developing a strategy to reach these influencers. So where are you wasting your money experimenting with new ways to reach your audience?
