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

2. COUNCIL COMMUNICATIONS
The Council has three primary communications channels:
E-Blasts (mass s distributed via Emma)
Social Media: Facebook & Twitter
Our Website:

3. COMMUNICATIONS
E-blasts: mass s 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

4. 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

5. 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

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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. EXAMPLE OF A CLICK MAP

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

12. 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

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

14. 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

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

16. Facebook audience

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

18. Immediacy and reach

19. ANOTHER EXAMPLE

20. 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

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

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

23. OUR WEBSITE: NHCHC.ORG

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

25. 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

26. WEBSITE METRICS, pt. ii

27. 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

28. WEBSITE METRICS, pt. iV

29. 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

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

31. THE DESIGN DRAFT

32. 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

33. 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!

34. QUESTIONS?