Survey Results - Social Media and Website Use in the Third Sector

Back in June 2014, we asked a number of charities and community groups to help us out with a short online survey. 

Its aim was to get a feel for how the sector was - or was not - using social media and websites as part of every day activity.

Well, we've now had a chance to crunch the numbers and here are some of the things we learned...

Q1: What type of organisation are you?

The vast majority of respondents (90%) said that they were representing charities, while the remainder described themselves as social enterprises or community groups.

Q2: Having an online presence is essential for what you do. Agree or disagree?

Here's what they said...

• 82% either agreed or strongly agreed with the statement;
• 18% disagreed with the statement;
• ...and noone sat on the fence!

Additional comments from those that disagreed, revealed that, although it was recognised as potentially useful, using social media was "not a high priority for investing time in."

Other comments included:

• "We target young people around the community and a lot of young people these days use social media rather than emails, flyers etc.. It is a better way to target our audience."
  
• "It is essential however it depends on the audience you are aiming to engage / share messages with. It's totally redundant if user groups do not have access to the internet or IT to get the messages in the first instance."
• "I think an online presence is really important for adding credibility to your organisation and helps to support your wider communications strategy. It also makes it easier for people - whether it's potential volunteers, funders or other professionals in your sector - to find out more about what you do, and how they can get in touch."

Q3: Does your organisation have a website?

All of those organisations that did not have a website said they were looking to set one up.

Q4: Who is responsible for keeping you website up to date (if you have a website)?

Apart from those that responded with "Noone updates it; that's the problem!", there was an interesting mix of responses to this question:

• 36% of respondents advised that updating their website was the responsibility of one person, but it was not the main part of their role.
• 27% stated that all staff are responsible for updating the website and each have a different part of the site to maintain.
• Only 18% of respondents advised that they had dedicated, in-house teams to take care of website maintenance.

Q5: Does your organisation use any social media and, if so, which platforms?

Those that responded with 'Others' used a range of video platforms such as Vimeo.

And finally, Q6: If you do not use social media at all - or not very often - what are the reasons for this?

Interestingly, the most popular response to this question was 'You do not feel that you have the right skills' - 60% of respondents chose this.

Close behind this was lack of time, with 40% of those responding to this question citing that as the reason for not using social media.

Other responses included:

• "Don't know what to say"
• "I can't help feeling that using Facebook, Twitter etc is just playing about."

What next?

We hope to build on the success of this survey by incorporating what we have learned from it in to how we work with charities and community groups. I'm sure there will be more surveys to follow too!

We want to hear your thoughts on this topic as well, so please feel free to comment below. Do these results mirror your experiences, or are you surprised by some of the responses?