What We Learned: Evaluating New Media Effectiveness

The January 2011 meeting of Public Policy Communicators NYC focused on Evaluating New Media Effectiveness – What are the best ways to measure and track the impact of new media [...]

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Buy online zithromax, The November 2010 meeting of Public Policy Communicators NYC was all about how to develop effective communications plans.  We set out to examine:

- How to produce realistic, focused communications goals and objectives.

- How to gain clarity and agreement on the specific target audiences and the modes of communication best suited to reaching them.

- How to get REALLY REAL about time allocation with both staff and organizational leadership on trade-offs, Buy cheap zithromax online, opportunism and sticking to a plan.

Edith Asibey – who has been a consultant to many foundations and international nonprofits on this topic, is a board member of our partner The Communications Network and is currently doing just this kind of work on a daily basis at The Atlantic Philanthropies – led our discussion.  And, of course, order cheap zithromax online, the PPC members in attendance contributed lots of great thinking about how the concepts we were discussing played out in their work.

Edith began by stating her position that communications planning is a prerequisite for effectiveness.  “How do you know if your communications are effective?” she asked.  You simply can’t know if you haven’t taken the time to create a real plan against which to measure success.  Further, Azitromycin, while large-budget organizations may have the luxury of spending in a way that throws lots of resources onto the wall to see what sticks, those with limited resources face an even greater imperative to plan in ways that directs resources only to the efforts that are most likely to have the greatest impact.

She asked the group to consider two questions: First, how would you rate the quality of your existing plan, buy online zithromax. It became clear that very few in the room considered their plans particularly good, let alone excellent, zithromax 600, and quite a few had no plan at all. Second, Zithromax 250 mg, she asked the group whether or not their organizations actually stick to the plans that they create. The commonalities in the responses showed that many of us are in the same boat – one that leaks.

That second question also produced a line of conversation among participants that became one of the strongest themes of the day: How do you create a plan that is targeted and strategic, but also allows for flexibility and responsiveness to opportunities within the news hole?  Some said that you can create a plan that actually allows for that kind of flexibility – one which has a limited number of deliverables but which also has more loosely defined areas where new opportunities will be pursued, generic zithromax 500mg. Buy online zithromax, Others said you simply had to live with knowing that you will never fulfill your plan in its entirety. “If you stick to a plan exactly, then you probably won’t really be that successful, Buy zithromax uk, ” one person asserted. Edith said that planning for flexibility can actually help deal with unpredictability and challenges by defining priority areas, so that those opportunities that fall outside the priorities don’t become distractions.  But, she said, z pak for sinus infection, sticking to the plan and pursuing other opportunities will always be a balancing act.

Steering the conversation toward specific ways of making more productive communications plans, Zithromax no prescription, Edith presented an example from a media campaign she led in Paraguay several years ago. She talked about the ambitions of the campaign and showed the goal statement that the campaign organizers had developed in the planning process: “Raise awareness of the Paraguayan population about the major environmental problems facing the country: deforestation, soil degradation, water pollution, z pak uses, loss of biodiversity.”

To many of us in the room, it seemed like a decent goal.  Edith said that, Buy zithromax capsules, in fact, this was an example of a “monster goal,” one so broad and ill-defined that it could not adequately focus the work or lead to any understanding of how well one had moved toward achieving the goal.  Several people in the room commiserated, saying that they had all seen communications plans that sought to “raise awareness” among a general population, buy zithromax without prescription, among “media,” “thought leaders, Z pak dosage, ” “within the community” or other hugely general audiences that provided little guidance in how to really target and reach key people within those populations.

In developing more meaningful goals that drive good plans, it is essential to gain clarity and SPECIFICITY about:

-       Goals (these are the ways in which you want the world to be different within 3, 5 or 10 years, and which your communications efforts will have contributed to making happen)

-       Objectives (while we did not cover it in detail during the meeting, I would like to include here an excerpt from Asibey’s “Are We There Yet?”: Objectives are different from goals: they are more specific and have a shorter time frame, typically one to two years, buy online zithromax. Think of objectives as a series of benchmarks on the way to your goal. Most likely, you will have a few intermediate objectives that will progressively lead to your goal, zithromax tri pak dosing. A good objective should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Zpak antibiotic, Attainable, Result-focused and Time-specific.

-       Audiences

-       Messages

-       Messengers

-       Tactics

-       Measurements

The process of gaining clarity and specificity about these elements will lead organically to an effective and focused communications plan.  In fact, Edith said, z pak dose, specifying audiences is the only way to create good strategy. Buy online zithromax, In the Paraguay example, she suggested, as an alternative to working with such a broad goal, to instead create a series of concrete, incremental objectives that would anchor a much better communications plan.  As an example, she suggested an objective that looks like this:  “Secure support of 30 mayors in the most affected provinces to protect water sources.” This objective not only focused on mayors—a well defined target audience – but also honed in on the environmental element that had the greatest potential impact on the whole system.

This led to a discussion of one of the other major themes of the day: the often delicate relationship of communications to “program.”  Clearly, Azithromycin zithromax online, when communications become central to the organizational discussion about how to achieve goals, some tensions arise about the right mix of communications efforts that are integrating “program objectives” and efforts aimed at heightening general awareness of the organization, improving its reputation.  Some in the group expressed some anxiety about asserting themselves too strongly into the work of “program,” and said that their charge within the organization was to stick with media relations aimed at improving general awareness of the organization.  Others embraced the idea of stepping back from the frequent task of trying to place OpEds from the President of their organization and helping the organization think through how communications could really help achieve program goals, zithromax azithromycin 500mg.

Asibey noted that the ability to play the role of internal consultant on how communications can produce program results may depend on how long you’ve been at the organization and how much trust has been established. She said it helps to sit down with program folks and really understand what they want to accomplish and learn more about their target audiences so that you can figure out how communications can help reach them.  Those discussions with program people will also help flesh out the messages and messengers that will resonate with target audiences. Buy zithromax online no prescription, She said that, if your plan includes audiences described simply as “policy makers,” “funders” or “the media,” it is not specific enough.  She cited an example of an organization she worked with that, what is z pak, instead of laying out categories of people they wanted to reach, went through an extensive process that resulted in exactly 450 named individuals that they wanted to influence.  Once they identified those exact individuals who they believed could advance their objectives, they developed messages and modes of communications tailored to how those individuals receive information.

The remainder of the discussion ranged over participants’ experiences trying to force greater specificity to how the imperative to focus on core audiences squares with the new pressures many of us are feeling to spend more of our time and resources on social media, the effects of which seem to be diffuse at best, buy online zithromax.

Edith conceded that even good planning won’t solve all of these challenges, still “Specificity is very satisfying!”

Many in the group expressed a desire to talk more about this subject and delve more deeply into the planning process, which lead to a discussion of planning resources. One attendee said that PPC-NYC member Nancy Schwartz, who runs the Getting Attention! blog, is a great resource and an effective consultant helping communicators develop good communications plans.

Other PPC-NYC members who do consulting in this area include:

Douglas Gould, Douglas Gould & Co.
Rochelle Lefkowitz, Pro-Media Communications
Amy Sutnick Plotch, Amy Sutnick Plotch Consulting
Michael Remaley, HAMILL REMALEY breakthrough communications
Farra Trompeter, Big Duck Communications
Lisa Witter, Fenton Communications

Asibey’s communications evaluation report “Are We There Yet?” also provides great insights into communications planning and how to go about it.  Those seeking communications planning literature should also check out the Knowledge section of The Communications Network’s website at: http://comnetwork.org/knowledge_research.

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500 mg cephalexin, The January 2010 meeting of Public Policy Communicators NYC at the Ford Foundation had a great turn-out.  As always, we started with half hour of informal networking meet-n-greet, and I was very happy to meet some of the new additions to the group.

The topic of the day was “How to Use Low-Cost Multi-Media to Maximal Effect, Ic cephalexin 500 mg, ” which was chosen by members at the last PPC meeting before we went on hiatus. While many of our meetings rely simply on the experiences of our own members, this time we had an expert (even though she insisted that I not call her that) to help us think through the topic: Susan Herr, cephalexin 500mg strep throat, President of PhilanthroMedia. Cephalexin 500 mg per capsule, Susan started with the core point that thinking about what is “low cost” should take a step back from the costs of relatively inexpensive items like video cameras and video editing software, and look more broadly at the many other cost elements associated with producing good multi-media.

Using the example of her work organizing the “Gorilla Engagement Squad” at The Communications Network annual conference, cephalexin 500 mg uses, she talked about how inexperienced and experienced camerapersons using Flip Cams and Tweeters could use inexpensive technologies in combination to extend the reach of a conference outside those present, Cephalexin 500mg and alcohol, as well as develop relationships among those on-site. But she made clear that the real cost was not the video cameras, etc., but the human resources to plan the video capture strategy, corralling interviewers and interviewees, and putting the pieces together into a compelling story.  It takes a lot of time (and someone fairly experienced in pulling it all together), 500 mg cephalexin. This link features some of the participants in that effort talking about how it worked: Gorilla Engagement Squad 2009 http://vimeo.com/8174186

Then she talked about Video Skype and using it to produce “Diavlogs,” which, cephalexin 500mg alcohol, for the uninitiated, Levaquin for urinary tract infection, are essentially synched video of two people doing an interview showing both on-screen (usually from separate remote locations). The point here was that doing interviews and putting them up online is exceptionally easy and a potentially great way to share ideas/information in a conversational format. But just like any other interview – it has to be interesting to the audience!  Two people talking is easy to produce, cephalexin 500mg and alcohol, but to get people to watch, Cephalexin capsules 250 mg, there has to be great content, on both the interview and interviewee sides.  Here is a link to some examples of diavlogs: Beyond Branding http://vimeo.com/8265230

Next, she explored an example where she herself was a one-person camera crew, uses for cephalexin 500mg, working for the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy, Cephalexin 500mg strep throat, gathering footage for an effort to get Presidential candidates focused on urban issues.  As an admittedly only “moderately” experienced camera person and interviewer, but having access to a really well-connected producer and experienced logistical coordinator, she was able to interview 10 mayors of major American cities about the challenges facing urban centers and use that footage to produce a compelling, cephalexin 500mg cap lup, cohesive message, Cephalexin cap 500mg, which was picked up by The Nation, netroots bloggers and many well-trafficked .org sites.  The point here was how key a well-connected producer and logistical-coordinator were, not the expense of the technology and other aspects of “video production.”

Finally, cephalexin 500mg pregnancy, she showed a new website that she has created as an example of how easy it is to do man/woman-on-the-street interviews on a Flip Cam, Cephalexin 500 mg for sinus infection, along with Flickr to host picture slide shows.  She also talked about the social networking aspect (in this case Facebook) of quickly building an audience when you have simple but compelling content.  This is the site (which is based on a $69 template) that she used as an example: http://www.dapperq.com/

As we opened the conversation up to the group, I added a few thoughts of my own.  First, I made the point that, cephalexin 500 mg per capsule, while everyone wants to produce a “message” video that is witty and gets people’s attention so much so that it goes VIRAL and everyone is convinced of your point, Cephalexin 500mg cap, there are lots of other possible uses of video.

This is a classic example of a “message” video (we didn’t show it at the meeting because the video didn’t show well on the projection screen): Lost Generation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA&feature=player_embedded

But you can do lots of other stuff with videos and other forms of multi-media, like…

--Highlighting organizational programs showing the programs in action.  Here’s a great teaser from the Anaheim Ballet that meeting participants loved: Anaheim Ballet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2XmRzaCFFY&feature=player_embedded  This is obviously great for arts organizations, cephalexin 500mg acne, but you can do it with panel discussions and other events relevant to policy-related organizations.

--Using multi-media to extend the reach of conferences/panel discussions 500 mg cephalexin, , etc. Cephalexin 500 mg uses, (i.e. Philanthromedia's work on Comnet09, Public Agenda's policy breakfast series online videos, macrobid for urinary tract infection, TED Talks)  Here is one example of a Public Agenda video highlighting programming: America\'s Financial Future http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mapR6TK8_Fo&feature=player_embedded

-- To tell an organization's history (for fundraising purposes)

-- To take on powerful interests, critique leaders in a witty way

This is one that participant Michael Falco of Pro-Media Communications offered: ABA Showdown http://www.youtube.com/user/ABAShowdown  It is a great example of “taking it to the streets” and then taking the street online to spread virally.  It got a lot of hits.

-- "instructional" : telling people what you want them to do and how to do it, for example: The World Sucks: Help it Suck Less http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeAUQslfFP4&feature=player_embedded

-- To recruit volunteers For example: Into Darfur: A Young American\'s Journey http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BQcSyG7bOQ&feature=player_embedded

-- To sell a policy direction For example: A New Sound: Green For All http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNszFwmSg2Y&feature=player_embedded

The conversation ranged over a lot of territory after that and people talked about their own experiences producing multi-media, including best ways to produce slideshows.  Fenton Communications’ Lisa Witter offered that the organization Duarte is amazing at producing such multi-media slide shows and maintains a blog called “Slide:ology” at http://blog.duarte.com/

She also shared this very inexpensive, provocative video called Milking Cancer http://vimeo.com/6675967 It was produced for $5,000 – which included the actors and editor.

It was noted by several participants that every organization should have a YouTube channel by now, but that Vimeo is also quite valuable because of the cleanliness of the presentation.

Lots of folks offered other examples.  I apologize that I didn’t catch who offered what.  This one is a good example of using lots of forms of media capture and putting it all together on one cohesive piece: MQ2 http://mq2.org/

The conversation ranged across many of the challenges of utilizing multi-media, but several themes kept reoccurring:

1, 500 mg cephalexin. The importance of investing wisely in human resources, and knowing what you can do in-house and what you need to pay an expert for.

2. The ultimate fact that you need to start with interesting content or a compelling story.  You can throw lots of stuff up on a website, but if it isn’t witty or emotionally compelling, no one is going to watch it.

3. Dissemination is not to be overlooked.  We only touched on this topic, which should perhaps be revisited in a future session.  But we did talk about how the first step of getting something to “go viral” (after producing something interesting) is to start with your core audience and creating incentives for them to re-post and share through social networking sites.

I hope these notes are helpful.  They capture only a small part of what I learned from my colleagues at the session.  Another thing I learned is that I need to have someone dedicated to taking notes at the session.  Next time.

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