2013 NTC: How 2 Nonprofits Utilize Social-Media Data, Part 1

"Finding and cultivating key influencers is critical to expand your network," Davis said. "You want to cultivate them to become an extension of your high-level volunteers on social media."

Engagers: Engagers represent about 5 percent of the social-media population. They also communicate broadly but generate the majority of content on social networks. They tend to have strong connections with key influencers, and they have a very strong influence on their connections, Davis said. Engagers are not as broad-based as influencers, but they are highly trusted, which is important because more and more people are making buying and donating decisions based of other people's opinions.

Multichannel consumers: These are typical multichannel consumers that are on two or more social networks. However, they don't have as much influence — they're the ones consuming the content, the people you can reach, Davis said.

Standard consumers: They are on just one social network and don't consume as much as multichannel consumers, but they can still be reached, particularly if you engage the key influencers and engagers.

Obviously, it's vital to connect with the key influencers and engagers to get the most out of social media and reach the largest pool of donors.

NWF
"NWF's social data story started in 2006-07 with me just jumping in to social media, and no one really knew what I was doing," Brigida said. "But as the years have gone on, social has become a connector to give insight into other areas of the organization for NWF, informing our followers on all we do."

Three years ago, NWF set out a "social experiment" to give it a real shot. Then two years ago, NWF finally embraced the fact that social media was here to stay, but still thought there was little impact for the organization. Then last year, NWF finally embraced social and had its data analyzed on its donors and its social-media followers. Here's what NWF found: