Session 2
In this session, we started to think more about our audiences… We have two audiences; our peer network and our end-users. We know we have different clusters of audiences we serve in different community groups as well as professional artists too. We know what is happening at the moment - but we want to have a very different relationship on-line and we are exploring tools to do this…
Funders have different requirements - which makes standard data models hard to impose on an organisation, given our resources, but it is an exciting idea and helps with the bigger picture. We often can't analyse data in the way we would like to and we don't have the time or the headspace but we do try to show impact and value-added.
We also have to be mindful of data privacy. We work in small and vulnerable local communities and it would be relatively easy to track people we work with, from stories of how we helped them and this could remove the benefit of our service to them. We are very mindful of who owns the stories. We sometimes use actors to retell stories to keep people anonymous.
When we develop data - can we think about data visualisation to help people get an idea of what is going on? Not everyone can easily see how the stats and numbers build a picture of what is really going on. But we need to see both the qualitative and quantitative data - for the project and the organisation.
We started to explore a basic data model which could help us to analyse.
The We are Open team offered a bluffers guide to audience analysis - to help us understand what is possible.
Can we have a goal to have 3 points of qualitative and quantitative data - to build a realistic picture of what we do...
Qualitative data:
Why is the user here - goal?
What are they accessing -habits?
What do they want - motivation/aspirations?
Quantitative data:
Where is the traffic?
Demographics?
Devices?
We can collect data using a variety of tools to deliver a basic data model that works for the organisation, this could include:
- Google Forms can be used for questionnaires.
- Mail Chimp - can distribute and provide information -but the We are Open team highlighted some of the data privacy issues with this tool. But can tell something like what is the best timing for sending stuff out?
- Google Analytics - has a lot of information which is really insightful - where is the audience coming from - are they following our social media links? What browser or device are they using? This can influence what we develop.
YouTube or Google Academy has a lot of 3-5 minute videos that help you to use analytics. This is all free! You can track campaigns and the links they used.
- Google Data Studio - creates dashboards and visualise the data coming from multiple sources.
We use WordPress - there are plugins we can use, that allow free analytics e.g Google Analytics. This may require some security issues to be addressed. We like the idea of a simple dashboard to give us insight, like Data Studio.
We also find structuring questions that gather information a challenge and it requires real skill. So this is something we will have to explore in order to have an effective, more standardised qualitative and quantitative data model.
This workshop has encouraged us to look at the analytics across our social media platforms and websites, to examine further how users are interacting with our content.
Image credit: @visualthinkery / @bryanmathers