In June 2010, 211info set out to analyze the media consumption behaviors of our supporters. Our goal was to more effectively communicate with them, in the places they consume information.
Below are the results from 200 participants. We used out email list, Twitter and Facebook to distribute the survey. Gift card rewards were offered to a random sampling of participants. This is by no means a scientific or professional survey, but merely a chance for us to learn more about the folks we serve.
Feel free to use the data in your own work, if you find it useful.
Feedback
Generally feedback was positive for the manner in which we communicate with supporters. Almost unanimously people preferred to hear from us via email. And among the areas for improvement were including more specifics about resources in each community (especially with an emphasis on resources outside of the Portland area) and a clearer delineation between types of emails.
We also heard feedback that sharing information about 211info through materials should be easier and that we should be more present in advertising and traditional media.
211info Action Items
Based on your feedback here is what we are working on changing in the next 6 months:
Emails:
In the coming week we will be shifting the service we use to distribute emails. This, in combination with a new website launching Fall 2010, will help us provide more of the information you need. We will be offering more regionally focused email updates. When we hear about a new social service or an existing one that changes in your region – if you are subscribed – you will hear from us via email. We will also give you more email options such as receiving an email every time a blog is posted. We will also be working to provide more community data. You will be able to sign up for those emails, too. All emails will have a slightly different look and feel, so you can tell what you are getting. And at any time you will be able to control the number of emails we send you.
Spreading the Word about 211info:
A primary feature of our new website will be what we call our “Action Center.” Any time you want to download materials, share your stories, submit a blog post, video or picture, and give or volunteer – you will have one place to go on our website. Our primary goal as an agency is to connect the people of Oregon and Southwest Washington to the community services they need. You will be hearing a lot more about these services. Sometimes we’ll do this with a quick tweet, but sometimes with in-depth blog posts or videos. We need your help, however, to get information distributed. We are a relatively small agency (about 30 people with an outreach staff of two). We can’t be everywhere at once, but with your help we can reach all the people who need these services.
Survey Highlights
A majority of respondents were from Portland (98), however Vancouver residents had a good showing as well (39). Almost every respondent could be placed into the broader category of social services. If I had to do the survey again, I would offer suggestions of fields and not have it be an open-ended question.
Trainings
I was surprised by the number of people who prefer out-of-office trainings (61.8%) vs. in-office or webinar trainings. This will greatly aid us in our outreach strategy.
Mobile
Nearly half of respondents did not own a smart phone, while those who do own such a device don’t rely on it heavily for Internet use.
Newspapers
The division in print newspaper consumption was interesting with 25% reading the paper every day, 22.6% reading it less than once a week and 22.1% not reading it at all. Almost 45% of respondents seemingly don’t rely on print newspapers as a source of information. Of the newspapers people did read, The Oregonian was most read (88) and The Columbian was second most read (26).
Online newspaper consumption is slightly more popular, with 33.6% reading daily or more than once a day. 21.4% did not read online newspapers. The Oregonian was most read online, with The New York Times coming in second.
Trade Publications
More than 60% of respondents did not read online or print trade publications. And there was no consensus among those publications that were read.
Radio
68.1% of respondents listen to the radio once a day or more. Oregon Public Broadcasting/NPR received the vast majority of news station listeners.
TV
A note on TV: We did not ask about the TV consumption behaviors of our supporters, because quite frankly we can’t afford to have a paid TV presence. In retrospect, not asking about this was short-sighted I should have focused on news consumption behavior.
Social Media
40.2% of respondents spent time on a social media website at least once a day. However, a surprising 22.7% spent no time on such sites. Of those who participated in social media, 59.8% indicated they didn’t use it to gather information about their professions. Here is the breakdown of the big three social media sites:
| Facebook |
110 |
| LinkedIn |
32 |
| Twitter |
15 |
Online Consumption of Professional Information
70.2% of respondents spent 1-2 hours online every day to get information about their professional, while 20.8% didn’t go online at all. This latter number was surprisingly high. 70% of respondents did not read information from a blog or rarely read information from a blog. I would like to explore the general understanding of blogs among this community.
46.6% of respondents find their information online through links on search engines, websites or emails. I would like to break this down more specifically next time around.
Email
62.6% of respondents use their email to get professional information at least once a day. 74% of respondents read emails from third parties at least once a week. List serve usage was also high. 67.6% read list serves at least weekly, and the majority of this group read them multiple times a day.
Thanks so much to those who filled this survey out! You helped us get better as an agency for doing so (and some of you got a nice little gift card for your troubles).
Here are the reports to download if you would like to look at the data.
Report Summary - MediaConsumptionResults_June_2010 (PDF)
Respondents Fill In fields – MediaConsumptionResponses_Public (PDF)
Open ended responses on 211info communications – Last_question_responses (PDF)
Once again, I am not at all trained at crafting surveys and would love any feedback or advice for next time around. Either way it was great hearing from supporters!
Multnomah County:
