Great Question Karen!  Mostly we are still figuring out what to do with it!  It is a HUGE help to have detailed contact information for folks that we just had name and address for before.  I hope that we'll be able to do some individual invitations asking people to join us from the networks that they are part of.  It's a huge challenge to get all current 9to5 supporters to follow us on our social networking channels.  If you have ideas please let us know!

Here's a comment I received from Hans Johnson at Progressive Victory:

"One plain high-value use is to target records with higher #s of networks and fan/follower #s  for [personal outreach] by nonprofit or campaign staff. That means phone call, personal letter, and [individual e-mail] (esp. with image- or attachment-laden messages that would not otherwise circumvent spam filters and folders). Making people care what they're getting--in short and long term--is what builds the relationship and effectively makes use of the data for targeting.

In traditional terms, this is like a data flag for a lit-dropper: the person can circulate info widely in a neighborhood or community. Treat them with the according priority and personal treatment."

Thanks, Hans!

Another great comment from one of our consulting partners, Michael Stein of DonorDigital:

"If an organization can identify whether a supporter or donor is registered on a social network, this can be useful as a means for deeper interaction and online organizing.

For donors, they can be asked to leverage their next online gift into a friends-asking-friends "match" campaign, whereby they commit to making a larger gift if their friends can kick in some money too.

For non-donor supporters, they can be encouraged and shown how to spread the word about the organization, perhaps spread an advocacy  message, share a video.  Pre-written blurbs formatted for Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn can make this process go more easily.

Many individuals are registered with social networks but know relatively little about how to use them to help an organization they support.  An organization should encourage and show its supporters and donors what to do that will help.  Many individuals will appreciate this."

Michael Stein is a Senior Account Executive with Donordigital in Berkeley, CA.

I see three major ways that the append data can be leveraged to improve outcomes. The broad categories are market intelligence, planning, and calls to action.

Market Intelligence, understanding your members / donors

In the offline world, non-profit organizations have been building audience profiles for many years and using the information to target segments with applicable messages and appeals. Age, family demographics, magazine and newspapers read, memberships, recreation choices, technology purchases and so forth have all contributed to this insight. You may have this kind of information about your audience. The append data overlaps with some of those data elements, adds some new ones, and puts the whole focus into an online context.

Looking at the append data in aggregate helps you understand the online and community profile of your constituents. That in turn provides valuable input to strategy development, planning and operational decisions. In particularly, several “readiness” indicators come to mind.

• Social readiness gives you a read on the degree to which your  members / donors are part of and active in online communities, and even indicators of their level of social engagement such as the presence of Digg friends.  Segmentation analysis of a readiness index refines the marketing insight.
• eCommerce readiness is a measure of the degree to which your lists is experienced with online purchasing, suggesting potential interest in and comfort with online financial transactions.
• An analysis of the subscription levels for online news such as the NYT helps provide insight on how your constituents get news and information and their willingness to exchange value (dollars or registration information) to obtain that information.

Planning

The market intelligence will inform planning. Should you have a presence on one of the major social networks? If so, which one or ones. Who will you be targeting at those sites and what is likely to engage that segment of your audience? How much should you emphasize online giving and what options might work best? Going to your audience where they already gather is generally the better strategy to reach them and others like them who might become donors or members. Should enews have more complete articles or more links back to longer articles on your website. What is the best integration between online and offline elements in your contribution and volunteer campaigns.

Calls to Action

Moving from aggregate to individual data, the append information will help you target campaigns and communications. Promoting your Facebook or LinkedIn presence to existing, active users is a good strategy to build that presence and reach out to the friends of those individuals. Similarly, individuals with active social network profiles are likely to be a good candidate to set up a personalized fundraising page. Less obvious example might be crafting your message and appeals somewhat differently for Washington Post and NY Times readers than some other segments. Those will hotel accounts might be good targets for “donate your miles or points” campaigns.  Targeting will depend upon the major segments within your overall audience profile.