Cookies: Sinful or Secure?
This article is a TLDR version of Safari’s latest ITP (Intelligent Tracking Prevention) initiative. If your job involves digital communications, it deserves at least a quick glance. These changes are great for user security and privacy, but not great for people trying to understand their website users. Prior to this change, Google Analytics cookies expired after two years. That means — theoretically at least— you’d recognize a repeat visitors to your site even if their previous visit was 23 months prior. ITP means that cookies expire after a week. Now when someone doesn’t visit your site for two weeks, their next visit is counted as a new user all over again. Basically, if your organization has goals around growing an “audience of loyal users who visit the site once or twice a month,” Safari’s making it a lot harder to measure your progress.
Europeans, They Are Just Like Us
This newsletter is a sucker for survey results. This time, European charities tell Salesforceabout their marketing challenges. Here are my favorite stats: For 75% of nonprofits in Europe, “raising awareness of their cause” was the top reason to use social media. But 96% (!) said they aren’t using digital marketing “to its fullest potential.” What’s holding them back? These organizations report struggling with selecting the right social platforms, using paid search (including their Google Ad Grant) and measuring outcomes.
It’s All in the Form
Oh, the struggles of form abandonment. We’ve all experienced it. You spend your hard earned marketing dollars corralling people to your donation form, only to discover they’ve dropped off before giving. Bummer. Rather than use guesswork to figure out what went wrong, you should be turning to form analytics. The important thing to remember is this: more data handled poorly isn’t useful. Do yourself a favor and make sure you’re looking at the findings objectively and are tracking submissions properly.
Lights, Camera, Action!
Social media is still a good tool to use for fundraising (don’t let that earlier Salesforce report scare you off from those platforms entirely)! In particular, IGTV may be an excellent use of your valuable time when hunting for donations and funding. IGTV is “a new app for watching long-form, vertical video from your favorite Instagram creators.” It’s also available within the Instagram app itself if you prefer to utilize it that way — between liking photos and browsing through Stories, of course. The best part about IGTV for nonprofits is that you don’t need to fork over thousands of dollars for production. If you have a smartphone, you have the power.
Billion-ads
I think we can all agree that politicians (more specifically, their teams) are master fundraisers. With millions spent on digital ads since the 2018 midterm election, we’re seeing an influx of emotionally-charged issues being brought to the forefront. It’s partly because it’s attention-grabbing, and on social media, that’s the difference between a “like” and someone scrolling right past the ad. With the help of Facebook and Google reporting political advertising data, we now have a more clear picture of the types of messages going out.
Register For the Next Webinar
Analytics Q&A
It’s about time I did a special analytics webinar, Q&A edition! I’m taking questions about analyzing your digital communications, tracking your website, understanding your website users and more. Basically, ask a question and get free advice.
Time: Friday, May 17, 2019 2 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Interested? Sign up here!
My Favorite Advice
Steal These E-Commerce Strategies for Your Org’s Site
Strategy means everything to a nonprofit. Since there aren’t millions of dollars to throw at marketing initiatives or to hire mindblowing website developers, the trick is to get creative. This MarketingProfs article is written for businesses, but its clever tactics for improving conversions (i.e. donations, registrations, subscriptions) will also work for nonprofit sites. No matter your website goals, it recommends getting cozy with Google Analytics — and I’m inclined to agree!
A Very Cool Visualization
The Intricate Web of the Marvel Universe
I’ve only seen a handful of Marvel movies (don’t hate!). My biggest problem is that large casts and overlapping universes can make the stories hard to follow. So, when I stumbled on this masterpiece, I knew I had to include it for you. Learn everything there is to know the movies and characters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, like who is related to whom and the answer to “What’s that actor’s name that played James Rhodes again?” You’re welcome.