A QUICK LOOK AT COUNCIL COMMUNICATIONS A Lunch & Learn Presentation March 17, 2016 Rick Brown Communications Coordinator

COUNCIL COMMUNICATIONS The Council has three primary communications channels: E-Blasts (mass emails distributed via Emma) Social Media: Facebook & Twitter Our Website: http://www.nhchc.org

EMAIL COMMUNICATIONS E-blasts: mass emails sent to a list of subscribers (in our case, via Emma) Strength: opted-in audience Weakness: little dynamic growth Our Full Database: 7,500 recipients (3/4ths on desktops) Diverse offerings: regular newsletters such as Council News, event communications, institutional announcements, and membership group notices

E-Blasts by the numbers From February 2014 to Present: 304 total e-blasts 269 prior to my arrival 35 since November 2015 Almost 80 webinar notices More than 50 event communications Varied audiences: Respite News: less than 1,000 subscribers (RCPN) Webinar announcement: More than 7,000

A look at feb. 2016: 9 e-blasts DAY E-BLAST TITLE LIST OPEN CLICK 02.03 Respite News | February 2016 RCPN 22 12 02.04 Register Now for the 2016 Spring Regional… Full DB 15 13 02.11 Council News | February 2016 CN 19 16 02.16 HCH2016: Meet the Conference Keynote… 02.17 You Are Invited - TennCare Shelter Enrollment… TC 25 9.5 02.18 Cultural Humility in Focus at 2016 Spring Regi… 5.6 02.23 HCH2016: Spotlight on Pre-Conference Institutes 02.24 Upcoming Webinar: Homelessness as a State… 02.25 HCH Advocacy and More at Spring Region… 14 3.6

GAUGING E-BLAST METRICS Open rates: percentage of subscribers who open an e-blast Click rates: percentage of subscribers who click on a hyperlink--the more significant metric Industry standard: 4.9%* Nonprofit newsletters: 2.9%* *Mailchimp

A look at feb. 2016, PT. II DAY E-BLAST TITLE LIST OPEN CLICK 22 12 15 02.03 Respite News | February 2016 RCPN 22 12 02.04 Register Now for the 2016 Spring Regional… Full DB 15 13 02.11 Council News | February 2016 CN 19 16 02.16 HCH2016: Meet the Conference Keynote… 02.17 You Are Invited - TennCare Shelter Enrollment… TC 25 9.5 02.18 Cultural Humility in Focus at 2016 Spring Regi… 5.6 02.23 HCH2016: Spotlight on Pre-Conference Institutes 02.24 Upcoming Webinar: Homelessness as a State… 02.25 HCH Advocacy and More at Spring Region… 14 3.6

BOOSTING METRICS Best practices in distribution: Avoid poor engagement days (Monday, Friday) 10 a.m.-2 p.m. is a generally reliable window Segmentation: targeting e-blasts to recipients Design: a critical element Best practices memo

ELEMENTS OF AN E-BLAST Subject Line Preheader Text: short summary text Message Body: text, images, and buttons Calls to Action: any textual link, image, or button that prompts a user to perform an action

EXAMPLE OF A CLICK MAP

Designing e-blasts/MESSAGES Define your purpose: what do you want a reader to do? Consider your audience: segment if possible Use actionable language

Designing MESSAGES, PT. II Be mindful of visual hierarchies: place important information “above the fold” Use buttons: up to 28 percent more effective than text Consider personalization: up to 14 percent more effective than un-personalized communications

ASSESSMENT AND STRATEGY Generally successful thus far: implemented best practices, tightened distribution, created timelines Memo Future possibilities: Segmentation Split testing Email automation

SOCIAL MEDIA: FACEBOOK, TWITTER Council on Facebook, Twitter Strengths: Immediacy, potential reach, dynamic audience generation Weaknesses Audience more transitory: opt-out rate higher; other challenges

NHCHC ON FACEBOOK Facebook.com/NationalHCHCouncil 4,762 likes CA18 (07.01-14-Present): 1,365 new likes 536 since October 2015

Facebook audience

Gauging success Measured by the post Reach: the number of users who viewed the post Engagement: clicks, likes, comments, and shares

Immediacy and reach

ANOTHER EXAMPLE

STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS A continuing value proposition: 80/20 informational and promotional content Challenges: dependence upon organic reach and lack of multimedia content The challenge of EdgeRank Limitations Future directions: Content calendar More dynamic content

NHCHC ON TWITTER twitter.com/NatlHCHCouncil Metrics: Impressions: number of users who viewed a tweet Engagement: clicks, retweets, etc.

NHCHC ON TWITTER, PT. II Audience: 1,158 followers CA18 (07.01-14-Present): 551 new followers 171 since Oct. 2015 Significant reach: 15,000 impressions in Feb. 2016 alone Demographic reach: Twitter users often younger, more male than Facebook users

OUR WEBSITE: NHCHC.ORG

A CONTENT-RICH SITE Extremely information-rich 740 discreet pages and posts 314 published pages 426 published posts 141 job listings 27 active forms

WEBSITE METRICS CA18 (07.01.14-Present): > 952,000 pageviews 321,000 unique visitors 428,000 individual browsing sessions 1,561 pageviews per day 43,350 pageviews per month Average session: 2 minutes Average page breadth: 2 pages 74.4 % were new visitors

WEBSITE METRICS, pt. ii

WEBSITE METRICS, PT. III Lifetime of Site (2009-Present): > 2 m. pageviews 645,000 unique visitors 90 percent from United States 82.7 were desktop users; mobile viewership small Strong organic traffic

WEBSITE METRICS, pt. iV

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES Technical opportunities: Implement SEO Unifying Forms Thinking Strategically About Calls to Action Making Better Use of Google Analytics More dynamic content: reduce bounce rate Information management Menu management

THE WEBSITE RESKIN PROJECT February 2015: project initiated Contract: Parthenon to produce new website aesthetics Later 2015: design draft produced

THE DESIGN DRAFT http://nhchc-2015.parthenonpub.com/

THE WEBSITE RESKIN PROJECT, pt. ii Feedback session: project fell dormant Contract: covers implementation but not revisions Movement: Revisions approved Next Steps: revision and implementation

CONCLUSIONS Diverse communications: many opportunities for growth and refinement Next steps: memo and master calendar Need for greater organization Example: Kaiser Family Foundation brief Communications is critical!

QUESTIONS?