15.06.05 Using web and social media metrics to measure success and drive digital strategy harvard it summit-06-05-14
1. Using Web and Social Media Metrics to Measure
Success and Drive Digital Strategy
Michael Pastore, Senior Communications Manager, New Media & Technology
Alyssa Swander, Communications Project Manager
2. Introduction
Mission of the Center on the Developing Child:
To drive science-based innovation that achieves
breakthrough outcomes for children facing adversity.
Communications work focuses on the translation of
scientific knowledge into accessible formats to inform
innovations in child development policy and practice.
Activities include producing a wide range of publications
and multimedia products to give audiences multiple
ways to engage with and understand the science of
early childhood development.
4. Overview: What? So What? Now What?
WHAT? What are metrics and how do they relate to a
web & social media strategy?
SO WHAT? What can metrics tell you about your
progress in achieving your organization’s goals?
NOW WHAT? How can you use this data to identify
improvements to your website & drive your strategy
moving forward?
5. Web Traffic Audience Demographics
Publication Downloads & Video Views Sharing via Social Media
Metrics: What We Collect
7. 3 Key Elements of Web & Social Media Strategy
1. Goals
• How would you define a successful website for your organization?
• What does success look like? How will you know when you have been
successful?
2. Target Audiences
• How would you define your target audiences? What are their
characteristics?
• What are your assumptions about why each segment will come to the
site? (User needs, interests, and goals)
• When, where and how will users access the site? (environment and
context, technology, etc.)
3. Measurable Usability Objectives
• What do users come to your site to achieve?
• Which tasks are most important to users? Which features of the site
do you assume users will use the most?
• What will compel users to return to the website?
8. Step 1: Define Goals of Web Presence
Effectively communicate the science of early
childhood development in a variety of formats
and styles
Provide information and education to various
audiences about using science to drive
innovation in policy and practice
Effectively communicate who we are and why
we’re a credible source of content
9. Step 2: Define Target Audiences
Policymakers & policy advisors: to find out what the
science says and how to use it to back up policy-related
decisions
Academics/scientists: to find out who we are, what
we do, and how they might learn from, add to, or
benefit from being involved with us
Students: to find out who we are, what we do, and
how they might get involved
Funders: to find out who we are, what we are doing,
what impact it’s having, and to determine whether we
are worth investing in
10. Step 3: Identify Measurable Usability Objectives
Subscribe to receive updates about the
Center’s work (sign up for mailing list, follow
us on Twitter, subscribe to our YouTube
channel, etc.)
Search for or view content aggregated by
keywords/topics
Find the Center’s contact information and the
appropriate staff member to contact
11. USABLE
USEFUL
6 Key Elements
to Providing a
Meaningful &
Valuable
User Experience
DESIRABLE
CREDIBLE
ACCESSIBLEFINDABLE
User Experience Honeycomb
Source: http://usability.gov
12. Using the UX Honeycomb to Identify Measurable
Objectives & Key Performance Indicators
CREDIBLE
USEFUL
FINDABLE
Media coverage of the work of the Center & its affiliates
Academic citations of the Center’s work
Users sharing the content with their peer networks via
social media channels
Users actively requesting to receive information about
the Center’s work
Top keywords and search traffic patterns
(both in-site and off-site)
13.
The amount of data available through services like Google
Analytics can be overwhelming.
Therefore, focusing on analysis of metrics related to
specific goals can help in identifying ways to use this data
to inform decision-making:
1. Driving targeted traffic to the site
2. Understanding which content visitors find most useful
3. Persuading visitors to take desired actions (e.g.
signing up for mailing list or download a publication)
Analyzing Metrics to Inform Decision-Making
14. Tip: Join the P.A.L.M. Club
Source: http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/actionable-tips-web-data-metrics-analysis/
People Against Lonely Metrics
Example: Using “Secondary dimensions” in Google
Analytics, compare pageviews to:
• “Traffic Source/Medium” to learn which traffic
sources are most effective in driving visitors to a
specific page
• “Bounce Rate” to identify instances where users are
exiting a page without clicking links to other relevant
pages
• “Time Spent on Page” to identify instances where
users are not staying long enough to engage with
content on a specific page
15.
1. Driving Targeted Traffic to the Site
SEARCH TRAFFIC
DIRECT TRAFFIC
REFERRING TRAFFIC
SOCIAL MEDIA
EMAIL CAMPAIGNS
16. Example: Using Metrics to Identify & Leverage
Sources of Targeted Traffic
Source: https://media.twitter.com/best-practice/news-the-impact-of-tweeting-with-photos-videos-hashtags-and-links
Tweets containing photos, quotes,
and numbered lists have been most
effective in driving traffic to the site
Home page is by far the most visited page
for traffic from Twitter
17. 2. Understanding Which Content Visitors
Find Most Useful
More than just looking at most visited pages (e.g. top
pages with extremely low averages for time spent on
page are not what we would consider effective)
Key performance indicators we collect:
Examples of users incorporating the site’s content into
their own work (i.e. usage of the Center’s videos and
publications; requests for permissions to use the
Center’s materials in their work or to schedule a
presentation by a Center affiliate)
Users sharing and discussing the site and its content
within their peer networks (i.e. social media activity
related to the site’s content)
18. Examples: Using Metrics to Understand Which
Content Visitors Find Most Useful
Proactively gathering more
specific data about user needs
Content development based on
effective formats & popular
keyword searches
19. 3. Persuading Visitors to Take Desired Actions
Examples of actions we aim to encourage:
Subscribing to receive information about the
Center’s work and updates about new and/or
relevant content available on the site (i.e. signing
up for the Center’s mailing list, following the
Center on Twitter, and subscribing to the Center’s
YouTube channel)
Sharing the site’s content via social media
Staying on the site to view related content
20. Encouraging sharing of
content via social media:
Ease of viewing & sharing via
social media channels.
Promotion of related
content: Reduction of “exit
rate” by prominently featuring
related content.
Retention of visitors:
prominent links to sign up for
Center’s mailing list, Twitter
feeds and YouTube channel
Example: Using Metrics to Persuade Visitors to
Take Desired Actions
21. What’s the simplest change
you think might fix it?
Start with
a problem.
Try a different
tweak.
Do you still
think this tweak
might work?
Did it fix the
problem?
Make the
change.
You’re done!
Try the same
tweak again,
only louder.
Make sure you
didn’t break
anything else.
YES
NO
NO YES
Identifying Site Improvements: “Tweak, Don’t Redesign”
Source: Rocket Surgery Made Easy: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding & Fixing Usability Problems by Steve Krug
22. Analytics tell you what people are doing on your site
(example: “42% of all visitors left the Home page after
less than 5 seconds”) The problem: analytics can’t tell
you why users are doing those things.
Usability Testing: observing real, representative
users of the site as they complete specific tasks.
Goal is to identify usability problems and generate
potential solutions to improve the design, architecture
and navigation of the site.
Limitations of Metrics
