sexta-feira, 29 de outubro de 2010

Investing More Time Brings Sophistication to Social Media Efforts

Nonprofits that spend the most time see the most success

Nonprofits, which have sometimes shown themselves to be ahead of their counterparts in the business world when it comes to social media marketing, are also divided depending on their experience with the medium. What makes the most experienced users stand out?
According to August 2010 research from Ventureneer, a provider of online tools for nonprofits, and Caliber, nonprofits that had been using social media the longest also tended to spend the most time on their efforts. Among respondents that had used social media marketing for at least two years, 68% spent at least 25 hours a week on it, compared with just 12% of nonprofits that had been active in the space for less than a year.
The experience that marketers gained from more time in social media was highly valuable. Nonprofits that spent at least 25 hours a week on their social media activities had more goals for their efforts and were more likely to cite goals that went above and beyond just building awareness. Nine in 10 “power users” used social media to drive traffic to their website, compared with 68% on average, and they were also more likely to use social media to raise money (54% vs. 43%), mobilize people (49% vs. 39%) and conduct cause marketing (50% vs. 31%).

Reasons that US Nonprofits Use Social Media, Aug 2010 (% of respondents)

Power users also showed more sophistication in their measures of social media success. They were more likely to keep track of page views rather than just overall visitors, though they still used both metrics more than average. They paid more attention than average to new visitors (72% vs. 53%), retweets (59% vs. 39%), bounce rates (50% vs. 30%) and leads (24% vs. 13%). And they did not care as much as their less-experienced counterparts about how many community members, fans and followers they had.

Ways US Nonprofits Measure Social Media Effectiveness, Aug 2010 (% of respondents)

Their usage and measurement habits led power users to report significantly more success marketing through social media. Nearly half described Facebook as effective, compared with 22% of respondents overall and just 12% of those who spent less than 5 hours a week on their activities. YouTube was effective for 36% of power users, vs. 23% of respondents overall, and 31% of power users reported success with Twitter, compared with 20% of all nonprofits.
As the report says, “practice, it seems, makes perfect, or at least more effective.” Investing large amounts of time in social media marketing may play down how inexpensive the channel seems at first glance, but the increase in sophistication and effectiveness can mean more bang for the buck.
Original paper: eMarketer

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