Teach me how to do metrics. Metric, insight, recommendation for a non profit across media

Welcome! I'm excited to help you master the Metric, Insight, Recommendation framework so you can turn raw media data into powerful strategies for non-profits.

Before we dive into the framework, it would be incredibly helpful to know a little bit about your background so I can tailor our examples.

What is your current level of experience with analyzing media metrics or working with non-profit marketing and fundraising data?

I'm a complete beginner, starting from scratch.

It is great to have you here! Starting from scratch is actually a massive advantage because you get to build clean, strategic habits right from the beginning without having to unlearn any bad ones.

Let's kick things off by mapping out a custom learning path. This will show you exactly how we will go from absolute beginner to confidently presenting data-backed strategies that non-profits desperately need.

Before we dive into the math and tools, let's look at the absolute core of this entire system: the (MIR) framework. It is essentially a storytelling tool that turns raw numbers into real-world action.

Think of it like a visit to the doctor:

Metric: The "What". This is the raw data or vital sign (e.g., your temperature is 39°C).
Insight: The "Why". This is the translation of the data (e.g., you have a fever because your body is fighting off an infection).
Recommendation: The "Now What". This is the concrete action plan (e.g., take this medicine and rest for two days).

Does that three-step medical analogy make sense to you as a starting point?

Yes, makes complete sense! Let's continue to the next step.

I am glad that analogy clicked so well. Let's put the Metric, Insight, Recommendation (MIR) framework into action with a real-world scenario you will often encounter in the .

Imagine a non-profit called Save the Paws. They just ran an Instagram post with a link to their donation page to raise money for a new animal shelter. Here is what happened:

The Data: The post received 500 clicks, but only 2 people actually made a donation.

Using our doctor analogy, we can break this down to find out what is actually going on:

Step	Save the Paws Example	The Simple Explanation
Metric	"We got 500 clicks on our Instagram post, but only 2 people completed a donation."	The raw, objective numbers.
Insight	"People are highly interested in the cause (high clicks), but they get confused or lose interest when they land on the donation page itself (low donations)."	The translation. Why the numbers look this way.
Recommendation	"Simplify the donation page layout, reduce the number of forms a donor has to fill in, and test a larger 'Donate Now' button."	The action plan. Now what we do to fix it.

See how we did not just stop at reporting the low donations? We identified exactly where the friction was happening (the landing page, not the Instagram post) and proposed a concrete fix.

Now, let's look at what to avoid. One of the biggest pitfalls for absolute beginners is reporting raw metrics without any insights. It is like a doctor walking into your room, saying "Your blood pressure is 140/90," and then immediately walking out without telling you what that means or prescribing medicine.

Before we move on, let's see if you can spot the difference between a raw metric, a deeper insight, and a strategic recommendation. Ready to try a quick exercise?

Let's do the exercise

Let's put your skills to the test with a quick matching exercise! I've put together three pieces of information from a recent campaign, but they've been scrambled up.

Your mission is to look at these three statements and identify which one is the Metric, which one is the Insight, and which one is the Recommendation:

Statement A: "We should add a prominent 'Sign Up' button directly to our homepage and shorten the registration form fields."
Statement B: "Our monthly newsletter signup page had 1,500 visitors this month, but only 15 people registered."
Statement C: "Supporters want to receive updates, but the length of the sign-up form is creating friction and causing them to abandon the process."

B is Metric, C is Insight, A is Recommendation

Spot on! You absolutely nailed that exercise. Statement B is indeed the Metric (the raw data), Statement C is the Insight (the underlying 'why' explaining the friction), and Statement A is the Recommendation (the concrete action plan to solve the issue).

Now that you have a firm grasp of the core MIR framework, let's step up to the next level: analyzing Social Media Metrics.

Because non-profits often operate under tight budgets, social media is a vital channel for driving awareness and donor engagement without spending a fortune. To get the most out of it, we need to look beyond vanity metrics and understand what the numbers are actually telling us.

The Five Essential Social Media Metrics

When you look at a social media dashboard, you'll be bombarded with numbers. For a non-profit, we want to focus on five key that actually tell us how well we are building our community.

Metric	What It Measures	Why It Matters for Non-Profits
Reach & Impressions	Reach is the number of unique people who saw your post. Impressions are the total number of times your post was displayed.	Tells you if your overall brand awareness is growing or stagnating.
Engagement Rate	The percentage of people who interacted with your post (likes, comments, shares, saves) out of those who saw it.	High engagement means your message is highly resonant and emotionally connects with your audience.
Follower Growth Rate	How quickly you are gaining new followers over a specific period.	Shows if you are successfully expanding your community of potential supporters.
Referral Traffic	The number of people who clicked a link on your social media post and actually landed on your website.	Directly connects social media awareness to website actions (like signing up to volunteer or donating).

Let's put this into a realistic non-profit scenario. Suppose Save the Paws experiences a sudden 20% spike in their Follower Growth Rate over one week, but during the same week, their Referral Traffic to the donation page actually goes down.

What kind of 'Why' (Insight) do you think could explain a situation where more people are following the account, but fewer people are actually clicking through to the website?