Adding and tracking social media followers in RE

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Benjamin Kuzemka
Benjamin Kuzemka
Seventh Anniversary First Comment Facilitator Level 1 Pollster Level 1
in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®: General Discussion
Hi. Has anyone tried to add and/or track social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) followers and/or likes in RE? Do you use the preexisting Facebook link on the phone table, an attribute, or something else entirely? Thanks!
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  • Jen Claudy
    Jen Claudy
    Tenth Anniversary 1,500 Likes 1000 Comments Name Dropper
    It depends on what version of RE7 you have, and whether you have NXT.  If you are on 7.94+ then your social media links will go on the [Links] Tab of the Phone Grid.  In NXT, links appear under [Online Presence] on the [Contact Information] Tile, as shown here:

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  • David Ritchie
    David Ritchie
    Tenth Anniversary 25 Likes 10 Comments Photogenic
    Hi Ben,

    We use EverTrue for tracking our constituents Facebook and LinkedIN engagement. We do not add that linkage in RE.


    Cheers,

    David
  • John Heizer
    John Heizer
    Ancient Membership 500 Likes 500 Comments Photogenic

    Benjamin Kuzemka:

    Hi. Has anyone tried to add and/or track social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) followers and/or likes in RE? Do you use the preexisting Facebook link on the phone table, an attribute, or something else entirely? Thanks!

    What do you want to do with the data in RE? 


    Who your followers are can fluctuate wildly and quickly so keeping track of this in RE sounds like a data entry nightmare.


    As you know, you can put links to their social media account on their record, but it sounds like you want to be able to differentiate between "followers" and non-followers and still be able to have links in the system for non-followers. In that scenario I'd suggest an Attribute.  There's also the option of a Constituent Code (which would let you track beginning and end dates) or using a "Facebook Followers" Org record and Relationships to that record (which also lets you track beginning and end dates plus additional information).

  • Benjamin Kuzemka
    Benjamin Kuzemka
    Seventh Anniversary First Comment Facilitator Level 1 Pollster Level 1
    I agree-- tracking social media engagement in RE does sound like a bit of a nightmare. It simply isn't really built for it.


    Thanks for your response. As of now, we're mostly looking to track levels and types of organizational engagement. This would certainly include 'followers' with perhaps some sort of periodical 'likes' update, though only if we can find a reasonable way to do it while maintaining our data veracity. And again, that's difficult given that RE simply doesn't have that function.


    Using attributes for followers has probably been my preference because it provides more interesting information than just the 'phone' link, without being as heady as adding a full Const Code. And using an Org record is an interesting idea. I never would have thought of that, but I think there's an argument that it could be useful in some circumstances. 


    I'm sympathetic to using attributes for first 'likes,' or something of that sort, or somehow compiling a third party FB/Instagram audit, and then keeping that information in Notes (or somewhere else). Once again, though, there are so many limitations to that.  I still think tracking 'followers' could be a reasonably worthwhile headache; I'm unsold insofar as 'likes' are concerned. 


    Thanks again for your response.

     
  • Benjamin Kuzemka
    Benjamin Kuzemka
    Seventh Anniversary First Comment Facilitator Level 1 Pollster Level 1

    David Ritchie:

    Hi Ben,

    We use EverTrue for tracking our constituents Facebook and LinkedIN engagement. We do not add that linkage in RE.


    Cheers,

    David

    I've always liked the idea of EverTrue, especially for networking with Alums. I'll keep that in mind, thank you! Does it work with RE well, or is that process cumbersome?

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