Prepared by Gina Michelin, Community Relations Coordinator
Constant Contact (Email Newsletter)
Audience engagement remained strong into June, maintaining a 62% open rate, which outperforms the typical non-profit industry average of around 20%. While overall email volume and deliveries shifted lower following the heavy campaign pushes of the previous months, the click rate stabilized at 3%.
| Metric | Jun-25 | May-26 | Jun-26 | Month -over-Month Change (%) | Year-over-Year Change (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Emails Sent | 6,381 | 6,382 | 4,607 | -27.8% | -27.8% |
| Delivered | 5,714 | 5,718 | 4,396 | -23.1% | -23.1% |
| Bounces | 667 | 664 | 211 | -68.2% | -68.4% |
| Opens (Open Rate) | 3,641 | 3,769 | 2,704 | -28.3% | -25.7% |
| Clicks (Click Rate) | 193 | 217 | 129 | -40.6% | -33.2% |
| Unsubscribed | 6 | 4 | 1 | -75.0% | -83.3% |
Breakdown of Email Engagement
- Opens by Device: Mobile (51%) / Desktop (49%)
- Clicks by Device: Mobile (58%) / Desktop (42%)
The “less is more” strategy continued into June. While post volume increased slightly compared to May, content efficiency improved significantly, with the engagement rate per reach increasing by 57% to 3.3%. However, overall reach and year-over-year views experienced drops.
| Metric | Jun-25 | May-26 | Jun-26 | Month -over-Month Change (%) | Year-over-Year Change (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Followers | 5,646 | 6,323 | 6,400 | 1.2% | 13.4% |
| Net Follower Growth | 78 | 35 | 40 | 14.3% | -48.7% |
| Total Views | 54,230 | 57,216 | 50,000 | -12.6% | -7.8% |
| Total Engagement | 824 | 852 | 791 | -7.2% | -4.0% |
| Posts Published | 65 | 68 | 68 | 0.0% | 4.6% |
Breakdown of Post Interactions (Month-over-Month)
- Reactions: 712 (May) → 758 (June) (+6.5%) (758 reactions computed from 791 total engagements minus 26 comments and 7 private messages)
- Shares: 127 (May) → 72 (June) (-43.3%)
- Comments: 11 (May) → 26 (June) (+136.4%)
Instagram metrics showed a strong recovery in visibility during June, reversing the declines we saw in May.. Total views rebounded with a 26.5% month-over-month increase, and the overall engagement rate per reach grew to 6.8%.
| Metric | Jun-25 | May-26 | Jun-26 | Month -over-Month Change (%) | Year-over-Year Change (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Followers | 1,617 | 1,953 | 2,000 | 2.4% | 23.7% |
| Net Follower Growth | 25 | 25 | 26 | 4.0% | 4.0% |
| Total Views | 12,569 | 12,645 | 16,000 | 26.5% | 27.3% |
| Total Engagement | 302 | 309 | 427 | 38.2% | 41.4% |
| Posts Published | 80 | 61 | 61 | 0.0% | -23.8% |
| Engagement Rate | 6.17% | 2.40% | 6.80% | 183.3% | 10.2% |
Breakdown of Post Interactions (Month-over-Month)
- Likes: 265 (May) → 371 (June) (+40.0%)
- Shares: 27 (May) → 43 (June) (+59.3%)
- Comments: 20 (May) → 4 (June) (-80.0%)
YouTube
Following a strong surge in May, YouTube traffic experienced a typical seasonal cooling trend in June. However, the audience baseline remains interactive, and showed a slight lift in the baseline click-through rate compared to last year.
| Metric | Jun-25 | May-26 | Jun-26 | Month -over-Month Change (%) | Year-over-Year Change (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engaged Views | 623 | 432 | 355 | -17.8% | -43.0% |
| Unique Viewers | 450 | 310 | 281 | -9.4% | -37.6% |
| Returning Viewers | 69 | 46 | 38 | -17.4% | -44.9% |
| Total Channel Views | 623 | 444 | 355 | -20.0% | -43.0% |
| Watch Time (Hours) | 20.6 | 15.4 | 14.7 | -4.5% | -28.6% |
| Subscribers | 4 | 4 | 2 | -50.0% | -50.0% |
| Total Impressions | 5,222 | 3,711 | 2,883 | -22.3% | -44.8% |
| Click-Through Rate (CTR) | 4.94% | 5.00% | 5.45% | 9.0% | 10.3% |
June Top-Performing Videos on YouTube
Traffic for the month was heavily anchored by our seasonal promotional campaign for Summer Reading, alongside steady baseline views from core youth programming content - “Slippery Fish” is still strangely a huge hit and our most viewed video.
SSPL Summer Reading Video 2026 - 78 views and 2.22 hours watch time. This targeted campaign video was our primary driver, generating an exceptional 17.95% click-through rate.
This Month’s Takeaways…
Less is More
Holding post volume steady at 61 posts on Instagram and 68 on Facebook allowed us to maximize audience focus. Instagram views grew by 26.5% month-over-month and interaction metrics surged by 38.2%, affirming that more targeted content is better than over-publishing.
Hashtag Performance Tracking
The hashtag #SSPL served as a major engine for Instagram visibility this month, generating 3,102 total interactions. We have consistently used this hashtag in every post, and obviously will continue to do so. Its sudden spike as a visibility engine in June isn’t due to where it was placed, but how the audience interacted with the content attached to it during the month. On Instagram, when a post receives more engagement (likes and shares), the algorithm treats its associated hashtags as “trending” or highly relevant topics. This pushes those posts higher in the feeds of users who follow or interact with the library, creating greater visibility that builds on itself.
Campaign-Summer Reading 2026
Looking back across the data, while standard YouTube metrics experienced a month-over-month dip, the performance of the “SSPL Summer Reading 2026” promotional video proved that campaigns get noticed, pulling a notable 17.95% click-through rate from impressions. This confirms that seasonal marketing initiatives are a reliable strategy for getting focus back onto our YouTube channel. That said, our YouTube video posts have been sporadic since the Pandemic days. So, it’s all relative.