Workshop Summary: The New Metrics Of Social Media

Over the last decade, the landscape that NGOs use to communicate with their constituents has shifted dramatically. Instead of organizations and the media being “gatekeepers” and deciding what the public hears, today everyone is at the microphone thanks to social media. But how do you measure your impact? Heather Holdridge, Fenton Communications’ vice president for digital in their D.C. office, and Victoria Marzilli, new media specialist for Oxfam America, examined this issue in an engaging panel at InterAction’s Forum.

Holdridge emphasized the need to know your goals, and to know your audience. Once you know those, measuring your impact is much easier. Since social media is so different from social media, she suggests that you measure it by what your constituents see (your number of followers), what they say (how many times they echo your message), what they feel (if they personalize your message), and what they do (if they take action on your message). She emphasized that without good content, social media is infinitely harder.

Marzilli presented a case study on an Oxfam America social media campaign around the 2010 UN MDG Summit, called “The World I Want.” She then explained the metrics they used to measure their impact—number of uses of their Twitter hashtag, number of new followers, number of influential people who participated, and the overall sentiment participants expressed—and why. She emphasized that social media campaigns are about your followers, not your organization.

Audience members then lined up a series of in-depth questions for the panelists, making a rich and thoughtful discussion.

By Tawana Jacobs, associate director of public relations at InterAction