Summer!

The end of term is almost here, along with the long awaited summer break.  I will be taking a hiatus from this blog for awhile, and will be back posting again in a few weeks.

Best of luck to you all running summer camps, workshops and other events!  Have a great summer!

Promoted Facebook Posts for Non-profits

Earlier this month in my post "Advertising on Social Media"  I explored some thoughts on how effective advertising on social media sites such as Facebook is for small non-profits.  My main point was that social media sharing sites are places where we go to "find out stuff" about friends, relatives, colleagues and each other.

Heather Mansfield in her recent blog post Promoted Facebook Posts for Non-profits: The ROI of $30 spent in advertising shows us how she measured the difference in reach between a Facebook status update that received $30 of ads vs. a status update post that received no special promotion at all.  The bottom line seems to be a 4% increase on exposure on one post for the $30 spent compared to a control post that received no special attention or promotion.  The author feels that $3 would be a better price for this kind of online exposure than $30 and for small low budget non-profits advertising on Facebook is somewhat useless.

The question I ask is how does this really compare with other online ads such as Google or using other online sites such as Craigslist? If a traditional local community newspaper ad increased awareness of your organization by 4% would that be considered to be worthwhile? How about niche non-profit arts organizations that promote the study of classical, jazz and world musics?

If we assume 100% of the population is interested in what we are doing, then 4% seems low. But what percentage of the population is interested in our mission in the first place? If I spend $150 on a display ad in a local paper, it may reach 50,000 readers. But of those readers, what percentage might actually be interested? Of that small percentage of people interested , what percentage is actually going to act on the information in the ad? I suspect that the number is much, much less than 4%.  So is this another case of "we see what we look for" and our perceptions are being skewed by preconceived biases that we have before we even start?

My question is "How can we develop a meaningful set of metrics that can help small non-profits with tiny marekting budgets efficiently evaluate the effectiveness of these various strategies?"

Annual Meeting of the Minds

This coming weekend is the annual meeting of the British Columbia Association of Community Music Schools. This year's get together is hosted by the Chilliwack Academy of Music. The meeting is an opportunity for us all to get together and discuss the trials and tribulations of operating a community based music school among our peers.  The meeting takes place June 15 and 16 at the Chilliwack Arts Centre.

Gary's Social Media Count

If you are a social media statistics junkie, this might be for you!

 

Advertising on Social Media

Since Facebook's grand entry into the world of public trading, or rather lacklustre entry into public trading many are wondering about the value of social media sites in terms of their revenue building potential. So the grand question becomes "Is it good value to advertise on Facebook?"

Some media articles are pointing towards the "no" campaign, like this article in the Globe and Mail that says "Facebook ads just don't work: Poll"  The problem is that if you go out an poll the "Average Joe" on the street they would tell you television ads don't work either. The point being the "Average Joe" on the street in this case is the wrong person to ask.

Companies that buy ads are the people to ask. GM is cancelling its ads on Facebook, but would you buy a car just because you saw a Facebook ad? Would you buy a car just because you saw a TV ad? Would you buy a car because of that radio ad advertising a free ipad 3 which each purchase? The only place I actually listen to the "radio" these days is guess where? Driving in my car!  Hmmmm.....

Bigger question to ask is "why do people use social media"?  There are lots of reasons but "I have a great gob of disposal income to spend today and I want to something to spend it on so I am logging into my facebook account" would be a notion pretty far down on most people's lists (those types would be better to log into their ebay accounts!)
Read more »

Standards Program for nonprofits

A new program from Imagine Canada  (see below)

Imagine Canada's new Standards Program launched on May 8th!  Designed to strengthen public confidence in the charitable and nonprofit sector, the Standards Program is among the first of its kind at a national level.  It offers accreditation to charities and nonprofits that can demonstrate excellence in five key areas:

• board governance;
• financial accountability & transparency;
• ethical fundraising;
• staff management; and,
• volunteer involvement.

The Standards Program is first and foremost a capacity-building initiative. Any organization may use the standards to improve and monitor its practices. Information about how to comply with the standards, as well as tools and resources to help organizations continue to strengthen their practices, is available free of charge. Organizations wishing to demonstrate publicly that they meet the standards can participate in a voluntary peer-review-based accreditation process.  Download our Overview of the Standards Program powerpoint for more information.

Mission: To build excellence within Canada’s charities and nonprofits through common standards of practice and to strengthen confidence in the sector.

The Standards Program is first and foremost a capacity-building initiative. Any organization may use the standards to improve and monitor its practices. Information about how to comply with the standards, as well as tools and resources to help organizations continue to strengthen their practices, is available free of charge. Organizations wishing to demonstrate publicly that they meet the standards can participate in a voluntary peer-review-based accreditation process.

Read more »