Evaluating Online Activities:
Online Action Should Create & Support Offline Action & Results

Your organization has a profile on an online social networking site such as FaceBook, and you have hundreds of "friends" linked from your profile.

Your organization has thousands of subscribers to an email newsletter.
So what?

Dozens of people virtually attended your virtual presentation on Second Life.
So what?

You have hundreds, even thousands, of people following you on Twitter or Instagram.
So what?

Hundreds, even thousands, of people voted for you on some contest as the "best" nonprofit, or the one with the best idea.
So what?

Hundreds of "friends." Thousands of followers. Dozens of "virtual" attendees. Those are impressive numbers on the surface, but if those numbers don't translate into more volunteers, repeat volunteers, new and repeat donors, new and repeat clients, greater onsite event attendance, legislation, press coverage, or public pressure, they are just that: numbers.

For online activities to be of any value, online action must create and support offline action or behavior, or measurable engagement with targeted audiences. What could this look like?

• An increase in the number of volunteers providing service to your organization
• An increase in the number of volunteers who stay with your organization over a longer term
• A greater diversity of volunteers providing service, with greater representation from under-represented groups
• Greater numbers of donors
• More repeat donors
• New donors
• Greater attendance to conferences, workshops, etc.
• Greater attendance to events with an entrance fee, which creates greater revenues
• Greater numbers of downloads or purchases of a publication or other product
• Greater numbers of clients or people served
• More repeat clients
• A greater diversity of clients receiving services from your organization
• Larger numbers of people writing government officials, corporate representatives or the media regarding the cause your organization promotes, or engaging in other activism and advocacy on your behalf
• Larger numbers of people filling out surveys that you will use in creating proposals, reports and publications regarding your organization's work
• More feedback from volunteers, donors, clients and the general public regarding your work
• Elected officials, government workers (police, social workers), or other officials commenting on your work (online, or making a reference offline to something you shared online)
• Volunteers and clients reporting a perception of greater support from your organization
• Volunteers and clients reporting a new / changed perception that relates to your mission (for instance, those you engage with online reporting that they are no longer prejudiced against a particular group or community) or a change in behavior or practice that relates to your organization's mission (for instance, if you were an organization that promotes recycling, and those you engage with online telling you they are recycling more)
• Volunteers, clients, staff, the general public and/or the press reporting a perception of greater support from your organization, an improved perception of the organization's impact, an increased awareness about the cause an organization promotes, etc.
• People commenting on your Facebook status updates, asking questions or affirming your message or even disagreeing with something, giving you an opportunity to comment further.
• "Likes" on status updates/messages.

To track the results of your organization's online activities, you should:

• Ask all new volunteers, donors, clients, event attendees and others how they heard about your organization
• Track attendance to all events, from volunteer orientations to large conferences, and compare attendance before and after online activities are launched
• Track volunteer service contributions (when were the offers made in relation to social media activities?)
• Track donor financial contributions (when were the offers made in relation to social media activities?)
• Survey new and repeat volunteers, donors, clients and event attendees regarding why they came or return to your organization or events
• Ask questions in surveys of volunteers, donors, clients, event attendees and others regarding your organizations online activities and how they feel this does, or does not, support them in their relationship with your organization, how it does, or does not, prompt them to write or call government officials, corporate representatives or the media regarding the cause your organization promotes, etc.
• Do pre-online event and post-online event/activity surveys or quizzes, to see if perceptions or awareness changes
• Continually track and review the demographics of volunteers, donors, clients and others involved with your organization
• Continually track and review feedback from volunteers, donors, clients and the general public regarding your work
• Consult with government officials, corporate representatives or the media regarding activities by your supporters and their perception of such

Taking this even further: is your organization touting its online activities as supporting its mission? Then you are saying that your online activities are helping to meet your organization's outcomes -- you are saying these online activities aren't just outputs, but that you have measures to show real impact by your online activities towards your mission. More on Measuring Real Outcomes from Hildy Gottlieb (the "Practical Examples" at the bottom of the page is particularly helpful).

Are there any online results that can reflect success regarding your organization's online activities? Yes. Instead of number of followers, consider these measures:

• Are there any instances of your online community defending your organization to those who are criticizing it?
• Have suggestions that have been made by volunteers, donors or online community members online lead to changes at your organization?
• Are various departments - not just one - at your organization incorporating online engagement into their work plans and strategies?

Contact me with YOUR ideas regarding how to evaluate online activities.

Also see this article on how social media success can actually mean a FAILURE in customer service. An excerpt:

No, Michael Dell, I don't want to use (Google+) Hangouts to connect with Dell customer service. What I want, from you or any company, is to ensure I actually get the best customer service experience possible when I actually use your "normal" customer service channels.

And consider this article on HOW TO: Calculate the ROI of Your Social Media Campaign. This is a corporate approach to ROI in social media that has some advice that's applicable to the nonprofit/NGO/mission-based sector - but also shows why for-profit approaches don't always work in the nonprofit world. For instance, I don't encourage anyone to value volunteers or donors only on the amount of revenue he or she will bring to your company over the course of their lifetime with your organization...

Also see:

• Measuring social media success? You’re probably doing it wrong.
  If your nonprofit is an animal shelter, or a farmer’s cooperative, or a community theater, or a health clinic, or any other nonprofit that serves a geographically-specific clientele, having thousands of Twitter followers is not an indication that you are having social media success. So what?

• Snapchat’s Potential Power for Social Good – with REAL examples
  SnapChat is a phone-based app that uses photos or videos, with text, to create its messages to an account’s subscribers; you have a fleeting moment to captivate your audience, because 10 seconds after a user opens the message, it disappears. It's a very popular platform with young people. Should your nonprofit be using it? This page will help you decide. 

• Building a team culture among remote workers
  Coming together face-to-face, in the same room, does not automatically create team cohesion and a strong sense of team. Yet, many people think having online meetings automatically means it’s difficult for staff to have a strong sense of team. When thinking about creating a sense of team online, try to get away from that aforementioned belief. People feel a part of a team if they feel heard and included, whether online or off. And they will attend meetings and pay attention to those meetings if they feel the meeting is relevant to their work - on or offline. This resource offers ideas for live events, asynchronous events & activities that can build a sense of team among remote workers. 

• Handling Online Criticism
  Online criticism of a nonprofit organization, even by its own supporters, is inevitable. It may be about an organization's new logo or new mission statement, the lack of parking, or that the volunteer orientation being too long. It may be substantial questions regarding an organization's business practices and perceived lack of transparency. How a nonprofit organization handles online criticism speaks volumes about that organization, for weeks, months, and maybe even years to come. There's no way to avoid it, but there are ways to address criticism that can help an organization to be perceived as even more trustworthy and worth supporting.

• Using Real-Time Communications With Volunteers
  Many organizations use real-time online communications -- usually called "chats" -- to hold online meetings with volunteers, or to allow volunteers to interact with staff, clients, or each other. This resource provides more information on chats -- what they are, how agencies are using them to interact with volunteers, tips to encourage and maintain participation in chats, and where to find chat platforms. 

• Internet discussion groups for volunteers
  Many agencies have created e-mail-based discussion groups or newsgroups for their volunteers. These asynchronous online tools allow agencies to easily make announcements to volunteers, and sometimes also allow volunteers to interact with each other, get suggestions and feedback, and ask questions. They can also serve as a written record of participation, concerns, trends and issues for volunteers. Unlike chats, volunteers can participate whenever they wish, and they don't need special software to do so.

• Using Video to Support Online Volunteers/Remote Volunteers.
  Video is a great way to further support volunteers, and your computer probably already has all of the tools you need to make a video, or to engage in a live video conversation with others. Video isn't something to use only with online volunteers or remote volunteers (those providing onsite service at a different location than yours). It's also a tool you can use with new and current volunteers. In addition to an organization producing videos for volunteers, it can also work the other way around: volunteers can produce videos for organizations. This resource provides information on your options, and links to my own short video on the subject.

• Stages of Maturity in Nonprofit Orgs Using Online Services
  What does a networking technology-savvy nonprofit organization look like? To help nonprofits think about networking tech standards they should pursue, and possible goals for the future, I've created this assessment of the states of maturity for a nonprofit organization's use of networking/online technologies.

• Safety in Online Volunteering Programs
  Information to help your agency create general safety guidelines for all online volunteering programs, suggestions and examples for those managing programs involving youth as online volunteers, and suggestions for bringing together youth and adult online volunteers.

• How People In Remote Locations Can Work on the Same Document
  The key to sharing documents among people in remote locations isn't your computer technology; it's how your humans save and share information.

• Online culture and online community
  It's becoming the norm for mission-based organizations (NGOs, NPOs and others) to use Internet tools to work with volunteers (including board members), staff, donors and others. This section of my site has been greatly updated, providing even more ideas and resources on how to work with others online, in language that's easy to understand for those considering or just getting started in using online technologies with volunteers, donors and other supporters.