I have had quite a few users ask me about Facebook and what exactly it does or why to use Facebook in Blackbaud NetCommunity. After looking over our functionality and seeing how complex it could seem, I thought it would be a great topic to write about. Over the next few articles I will discuss what Facebook is, why you should use it, and how to get the most out of it.
What is Facebook?
Facebook is a social networking site that empowers users to connect to others who share the same interests, experiences, professions, employers, schools, etc., through groups and direct user to user interaction. In a nutshell, it's a large network of networks.
Why utilize Facebook?
Social networking has been an important part of the internet's development over the last few years, and it is continuing to grow in users. This is an important market to break into as it will help reach a wider and younger audience that isn't being reached by traditional fundraising campaigns. So why Facebook over MySpace or another option? Facebook is a leader in this area and provides a professional looking yet friendly approach to user interaction. In more numeric terms Facebook gets more traffic and has better opportunities for increasing your user base. According to Complete.com, ever since Facebook overtook MySpace last December, they have continued to grow rapidly. In the last month alone they have experienced an increase of unique visitors by a little less than twenty-million.
How do I get started with Facebook?
There are several resources about Facebook. I recommend doing the following:
So what about Blackbaud NetCommunity?
So how do you integrate and see Facebook content within Blackbaud NetCommunity or see your website content in Facebook? I'll get into this functionality in my next few posts. In the meantime, check out Blackbaud on Facebook.
Posts in this series:
Facebook and Blackbaud NetCommunity Part 1
Facebook and Blackbaud NetCommunity Part 2
Facebook and Blackbaud NetCommunity Part 3
You've spent hours setting up your parts, pages, templates, and layouts. You can analyze your site's flow and efficiency using Google Analytics with Blackbaud NetCommunity to form an accurate and robust reporting tool for website traffic.
In version 5.6, Blackbaud NetCommunity improves integration with Google Analytics to make sense of the hits, visits, and views on your site. While Blackbaud NetCommunity offers its own traffic reports, you may find Google Analytics’ robust reports an invaluable tool for gathering stats and data about visitors’ web viewing habits.
To begin utilizing Google Analytics, set up an account with Google and obtain your Google Analytics tracking script.
Next, open Blackbaud NetCommunity and go to System Options to add your Google Analytics script.
Each time a Blackbaud NetCommunity page is loaded, the snippet of JavaScript is injected into the page. The script calls back to the Google servers where visitor data is collected for processing.
In about twenty-four hours you can begin viewing your data.
We are continuing to work on improving the reporting of site referrers and will be utilizing the eCommerce features in Google Analytics as well.
Stay tuned for future posts where we will delve into data and uncover the meaning behind the stats...
Further reading:
The Official Google Analytics Blog - http://analytics.blogspot.com/