Taking Your Organization’s Temperature: What Social Media Can Tell Us

This is for those of us who use social media outlets to communicate the message of our nonprofit organization. What is your biggest issue with your social media campaigns? Chances are you will answer ‘the need for analytics on my posts, Tweets and blogs’. Again, you are not alone. Every corporation, nonprofit, or small business in the social media space is looking for the same thing.

Domo, (www.domo.com) an executive management platform and information aggregator, has identified some useful analytics topics to measure the effectiveness of social media campaigns.

1)  Gauge Social Sentiment-Social sentiment is the tone and volume of the comments about your organization. Capture what people are saying about you through Tweets, Facebook, blogs, and LinkedIn comments and analyze the results. Is your strategy on track, or are your communications being misinterpreted? We only have to remember the repositioning of Netflix this past summer or the dismal failure of the opening of the movie ‘Borat’ to understand how influential social sentiment can be, and how quickly it can be disseminated.

2)  Employee sentiment-Think your employees aren’t on Facebook, LinkedIn or Tweeting? Think again. Tracking what your employees are saying about your organization can be very helpful. Is your organization a stimulating and friendly place to work or so consumed with the bottom line that it is a pressure cooker? What is the atmosphere you want to convey? Listening to employees over social media may seem like ‘Big Brother’, but it is effective.

For those not comfortable with this approach, here is another option. Offer a workplace blog space for employees to anonymously communicate their thoughts about the organization-positive and negative- for managers to hear. The anonymity of a blog can let many employees feel that their concerns will be heard without personal repercussions. Hearing your employees’ concerns can help you to react to trends in the workplace. Acting on or verbally addressing your employees concerns (within reason) can lead to more positive reviews of your workplace in their social media space.

    Don’t forget to ASK your employees to Tweet, Blog or post the positive steps that your company has taken. Good news travels slower than bad news, so ask your social media employee ambassadors to spread the word!

3)  Share of Voice-This pertains to those actively using social media. To appropriately gauge share of voice (social media market share) you need to know what your competitors are doing. How many ‘friends’ are on their Facebook page, how many Tweets do they put out/receive each day (follow their conversations to find out), how active is their blog or their LinkedIn profile? Where does your organization sit in this competitive landscape? There may be opportunities here for nonprofits with similar Mission statements to partner on blog posts or Tweets in favor of raising awareness to larger issues. 

Stories are sexy, but Analytics drive decisions. Your organization’s public image profile and success at conveying its message lies in the numbers and tone of the conversations about your organization. Determining where you stand in your sector and the impact of your message can help you to reposition yourself or to capitalize on your ‘buzz’.

Social media outlets are tools. Use the tools.

I would like to thank DOMO for distilling the three main topic statements-‘Social Sentiment, Employee Sentiment, and Share of Voice’. Detail about these statements are mine and do not reflect the views of DOMO.