It’s time to continue our 2-part blog series on the winners of the Terry McAdam Book Award. This post will be reviewing Measuring the Networked Nonprofit by Beth Kanter and Katie Delahayne Paine. By the way, they both have great blogs of their own (Beth’s nonprofit network blog and Katie’s measurement blog).
3-word synopsis: Practical. How-to. Encouraging. (there we go cheating with the hyphens again…)
Before going any farther, what’s a networked nonprofit? It’s an “organization that uses social networks and the technology of social media to greatly extend its reach, capabilities, and effectiveness.” Sounds good to me! As you might have guessed, this book is about marketing basics, focusing on social media measurement.
As this book poignantly points out, getting likes on your nonprofit’s Facebook page is not victory. Social change is. This book guides you through how to leverage your network to make and measure greater social impact. You definitely need to read this book if you’re a non-profit who’s:
- Madly updating Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. and asking yourself, “Why?” or “To what end?”
- Collecting a lot of social media data, but don’t really know what to do with it
It’s time to make use and learn from the data social media has provided us. Transform your data into insights and stories that will engage your stakeholders. Know with confidence that your social media efforts are useful and helping your organization move your needle.
This book is engaging, approachable, and has a good dose of humor. It meets you where you are through a great, but simple framework of “Crawl. Walk. Run. Fly.” (…and now the blog title makes sense…) Another highlight: really thought-provoking reflection questions at the end of the chapter that you don’t want to skip!
One nugget to think about – this book focuses specifically on social media, but these concepts are applicable in the larger “impact” arena. How are you using data to change the world? Share your comments below.
Want to read it? (and you should) Buy it here.
Read our book review for another Terry McAdam Book Award finalist: With Charity for all
Interested in the other two finalists? Take a look:
- Group Alchemy: The Six Elements of Highly Successful Collaboration
- Social Change Anytime Everywhere: How to Implement Online Multichannel Strategies
Enjoy reading!