Photo by Alex Bruski on Unsplash
It’s January! A time of making resolutions, looking forward, and gearing up with big plans. And better yet, it’s 2020: not just a new year, but a new decade, fresh with promise that we can make it… if not amazing, then at least better than the toxic quagmire of the past few years.
But before you put 2019 behind you entirely, take a little time to look backward. Right now is the perfect time to do some analysis on your digital channels’ performance, gleaning insights to help you level up in the coming year. In such a busy year, with so much at stake across so many issues, it’s especially crucial to analyze, learn, and improve. Because those who don’t learn from history – including our own histories – well, you know how the saying goes.
Here are some of my favorite analyses to run at the start of each year, to inform plans for the coming year:
- What channels, organic and paid, have been most effective at growing your supporter base? Look not just at numbers of new supporters, but also cost per acquisition.
- For each channel, how many of those new supporters are still subscribed? How many have become action takers? Donors? What’s the year-long ROI on your advertising?
- What were your most effective campaigns this year? “Effective” can mean a lot of things, depending on your goal, but look at which exceeded (or failed to meet) your expectations, and which topics really resonated with your supporters. Are your “best” campaigns the same for your email list as they are for social media?
- What was your most popular website content this year? Look both at all-time content, and content that was published this year.
Once you’ve pulled all this data and crunched the numbers, take a step back and see what conclusions you can draw from it:
- What tactics worked well or exceeded your expectations? Why do you think that is? Can you do more of them this year?
- What tactics didn’t meet your expectations? Why do you think that is? Which ones aren’t worth the time or money you’re putting into them? Can you do less of those things this year?
- Are there things you wanted to try last year, but didn’t get to? What should you prioritize this year, and what new tactics should you try out?
Armed with this data and insight, you can push forward into 2020 with new and effective plans.