If you’re a nonprofit, the idea of using social media marketing might be daunting. After all, your organization doesn’t want to come off as desperate for money or attention. It’s also often difficult to measure how well your social media efforts are working. But if done right, using social media can be incredibly effective in raising funds and engaging with potential donors daily.
The average American spends over 5 hours daily on their phone. When it comes to teenagers, the numbers go even higher to over 7 hours. Much of that time spent on mobile phones is spent scrolling through their Instagram or Facebook newsfeed!
So if you’re not already investing resources into social media marketing, chances are your competition is already doing so or will soon if they haven’t already started. And while it may seem counterintuitive for nonprofits to compete with other businesses to get donations, it’s one of the easiest ways to get funding online today!
Content Is Critical
Content is critical. Content is king. Content is the key to social media marketing success. How much content you need depends on your goals and your audience, but as a general rule of thumb, try to post something every day or multiple times a week, at least.
If you’re already posting enough content, how can you ensure it’s high-quality? The best way to do this is by creating relevant and engaging posts that appeal to longtime fans and those who have never heard of you.
For example, a nonprofit that works with children might post about a new program they launched at an elementary school near their office. If one of their board members has written an article on early childhood education in their state newspaper, they could share it on Facebook. If one of their volunteers just completed training for being an advocate for children who have been abused or neglected, they could share her story as well!
Use the Right Platforms for Your Audience
When it comes to social media, there’s no such thing as one size fits all. While Facebook is a popular choice among older generations, younger folks are likelier to turn to platforms like Snapchat and Instagram. It’s important to know where your audience is hanging out online so that you can speak in the language they’re most comfortable with. If your prospective donors are Millennials, then, by all means, use Instagram to showcase your work—but if they’re Gen Xers or Baby Boomers, focus on Twitter instead.
If you haven’t done the research yet about which platform works best for your organization or cause, look at what other organizations in similar fields are doing. You’ll likely find that many of them have already completed this task for themselves and compiled some valuable data.
Seek Professional Help When Necessary
One of the biggest mistakes nonprofits make is trying to do everything themselves. This problem is that creating and implementing a successful social media marketing strategy requires a lot of expertise. If you don’t have the expertise, your marketing campaign won’t be successful due to the increased competition on these platforms.
A social media marketing agency can help you out here. Look for someone who can offer exceptional social media and marketing services for nonprofit organizations. Go through the firm’s previous work, reputation, testimonials, reviews, etc. Selecting the right agency for your needs is vital to achieving desirable results.
Be Strategic About Paid Promotion
Besides selecting the right agency and creating compelling content, you must also have a strategy. Here are some aspects to consider for creating a strategy.
- Know your budget. As with any other aspect of your business, you need to know how much you’re willing and able to spend before you begin.
- Know your audience. If a paid promotion goes viral, it’s likely because of the target audience that shared it organically and not because of anything else (unless there was some mistake in the copywriting). It’s essential to understand who would be interested in what you have to offer so that when someone shares something on social media, they can say, “Hey! This is exactly what I need!”
- Know your goals. Before launching any new campaign or promotion, ask yourself why you are doing this. Is it to get more likes? More followers? More engagement overall? You should always have a goal in mind when planning any paid advertising—whether through Facebook Ads or Google AdWords—and use metrics like cost per click (CPC) or cost per acquisition (CPA) as indicators for success or failure.
Drive Donations With an Easy-To-Use Donation Form
One of the most important ways to get people to give is by creating an easy-to-use donation form. The key to success here is ensuring you’re giving your donors a seamless experience from start to finish.
Here are some tips for doing just that:
- Make sure it’s easy to find. If you want your donors to use the donation form, it has to be readily available on your site or social media page. This means you should ensure people can find it without having to scroll around too much or hunt for it in different sections of your site/page. You could put a link directly on your homepage and ensure it appears at the top of every page after that. Or maybe include an icon on each post so they can quickly click through when they see a relevant ad or blog post before going back into their newsfeeds later.
- Make sure its design matches other elements in the same space—especially if those elements come from another platform such as Pinterest, where they have their designs already implemented beforehand rather than being created especially for these specific pages like with WordPress sites which rely heavily on themes instead.
Use Social Media to Build Your Email List
You can also use social media to build your email list. It’s a great way to connect with your audience and keep them engaged so that when you have a special event or fundraiser, they’ll be ready to share the news with their friends. This way, instead of sending out an email blast that gets lost in the clutter of everyone else’s inboxes, people will be excited about what you’re doing and want to spread the word themselves.
Also, having an email list is one of the best ways to reach out to potential donors—you can send them updates on your nonprofit’s progress toward its goals and ask them for donations or help spread awareness about issues that matter most in your community. Plus, it lets you keep in touch with past donors—they may be willing to provide financial support and offer advice on other ways they want their money spent down the road!
Conclusion
In short, social media is a powerful tool for raising awareness and funds for nonprofits. But it requires careful planning and execution. To ensure success in your nonprofit’s social media marketing efforts, focus on the six critical points mentioned above.