Bee Measure

Get Direction From Your Data

By

Google’s Advice for Ads, Drowning in Donor Data & Political Ads Online

My favorite part of December isn’t the decadent food, cheesy Netflix movies or the endless holiday parties (though, I do love all those things). It’s the year-end “best of” lists. This month, however, is not only the end of 2019… it’s the end of an entire decade. That means an abundance of 2010s nostalgia lists.

Everyone from Buzzfeed to The New York Times is pondering how this decade will be remembered (What will we wear to the 2010s theme parties of the future???). Journalists can argue about whether this decade’s key historical contributions were meme culture, smartphones, YouTube or #MeToo. But I feel like a decade’s culture doesn’t quite solidify until well into the next one.

What seems so clearly defined in retrospect is fuzzy and haphazard when you are living through it. But in reading through these lists, one thing *is* clear to me. The digital world is ever-changing. Staying up-to-date with the trends and skills ⁠— from targeted ads to better UX to online privacy ⁠— is both more important and more difficult than ever. For me, writing this newsletter has been an excellent way to keep up, and I hope you all feel the same.

So raise your glass to the end of 2019 and the start of the 2020s! 🥂

From Fake News to Full Transparency

The 2010s can be described as the decade “fake news” became prominent as a buzzword online. Yes, it’s been around for longer than that, but digital media secured its prominence. People are very skeptical these days with so much fake information out there, so it’s important we keep that in mind as we create new digital content and products. Designing for transparency should be our goal in 2020 (and beyond).

[Read more…]

By

My Favorite Advice & Data Viz of the Month

My Favorite Advice

Getting Ready For Giving Tuesday.

With year-end giving season upon us, I thought this was a very relevant article on how to test fundraising copy. Nonpartisan fact-checking website PolitiFact helps the public know when they can trust a politician. This summer, they decided to incorporate that same message of trust and transparency into their fundraising language. They found that when language about their brand’s values, goals, and processes were added, it encouraged more, higher dollar amount donations.

[Read more…]

By

Boost Donations for the Holidays, Google’s New Privacy Tools & 1-Click Donation Forms

This newsletter has been following political advertising on FACEBOOK since the Cambridge Analytica story broke. And the controversy hasn’t stopped since. With Twitter’s announcement that it’s banning political advertising, the focus is now on FACEBOOK.

My feelings about this are too mixed to fit into one bite-sized intro. But banning political advertising outright isn’t a real solution. This hurts new, upstart candidates who need a way to get their message out. The real issue, in my opinion, is exactly what makes FACEBOOK advertising so attractive in the first place: the ability to hone in on a very specific audience. (It’s especially appealing to budget-strapped nonprofits trying to reach a certain demographic or potential donors).

Unfortunately, it’s also what makes political advertising so problematic. It’s hard to debate what politicians are promoting there if you can’t actually see the other side’s ads. I doubt the answer is as easy as “more visibility,” but it’s a start.

‘Tis the Season For Giving

You are probably sick of hearing aquaintances floundering for small talk remark on how the holiday season starts earlier each year, so I’m going to cut to the point. Thanksgiving is coming, and you really need to figure out your year-end digital fundraising. While this article is directed toward boosting holiday sales, it also applies to boosting holiday donations! I absolutely love the advice to use Google Search Ads to build an audience and use Facebook to close them.

[Read more…]

By

My Favorite Advice & Data Viz’s of the Month

Wait… There’s a New Definition of Spam?

Turns out, yes! The new definition of spam is, “Is this email likely to be engaged with?” rather than simply, “Is this email unrequested?” As we’ve covered here and here, engagement is the name of the game in 2019, which means deliverability is more important now than ever. Amy Chin-Lai goes in-depth in this Medium article about email deliverability, what it means and how to improve your organizations’. It’s a good one.

[Read more…]

By

Data on a Budget, Running Better Search Ads & New Help With GTM

One of my favorite shows, The Great British Baking Show, is back on Netflix. While watching this season, it struck me that host Paul Hollywood seemed to mostly give handshakes — a reward for a contestant’s top-quality baking — to men. Investigating this theory led me down a data rabbit hole.

First, I found Buzzfeed documenting all of Paul’s handshakes. But Buzzfeed wasn’t quite giving the whole picture because women tended to go father in the competition than their male counterpoints. Then, I found Wikipedia graphing how individual contestants performed. This would make it possible to chart the ratio of male/female handshakes for individual episodes! I had to cut myself off there, though (my husband wanted to finish the episode).

Although my current theory remains unproven, I was impressed by the data already available online. Do you have any theories you’ve been longing to prove?

Exploring Engagement Beyond “Likes”

This was such a great article to read, especially with the news of Instagram hiding “likes” swirling around. While measuring engagement is helpful for reporting purposes, it’s important to think about engagement as more than just “likes.” This article got me pondering the importance of looking at content as a whole package — rather than a single post or article — and how to quantify those important intangibles, such as thought provoking-ness.

[Read more…]