Digital marketing is a great way for those in the nonprofit sector to expand their sphere of influence. Many charities continue to rely heavily on direct marketing tactics such as flyers and direct mail campaigns.
Although these offline strategies are an important part of a well-balanced marketing plan, organization run the risk of missing out on increased reach and donations if they fail to incorporate digital into their overall business objectives.
In this blog, find out how social media can help you to increase donors, retain your existing database and share the story of your brand to a global audience.
How Social Media and Nonprofits Complement Each Other
Using social media as a marketing tool has quickly become the norm throughout a range of industries.
According to IDC, a global marketing intelligence firm, buyers who use social media regularly have larger budgets than those who do not use social media. Typically, this budget is 84% larger.
The good news? This increase in budget relates to the increase in exposure that social media marketing provides charitable organizations.
Many large-scale non-profit organizations like Greenpeace, UNICEF, and PETA With more and more people using social media daily, social media engagement allows charity organizations to widen their net and reach a larger audience on a relatively limited budget.
By increasing exposure to potential donors, a well-rounded social media strategy positions your success by spreading awareness and generating donations.
Get Ready to Launch an Effective Social Media Strategy
Effective social media usage provides an efficient platform to tell the story of your charitable organization.
By engaging with those who support and appreciate the work you do for your community, a best-in-class non-profit social media strategy can help you find those who believe in the work you do.
Set your non-profit organization up for success by taking advantage of the opportunities and connection that social media can provide with these steps for a successful social media launch:
1. Set up accounts as nonprofits
Most social media platforms offer special features and resources for nonprofits.
Facebook and Instagram allow nonprofits to add “donate” buttons and run fundraisers from their accounts. YouTube offers Link Anywhere cards, production resources, dedicated technical support, and fundraising tools.
Make sure to enroll as a non-profit in order to access these benefits.
Here are platform-specific links for nonprofits:
- See if you’re eligible for Facebook fundraising
- Sign up for Facebook’s Charitable Giving Tools
- Enroll as a charitable organization Facebook Payments
- Sign up to accept donations from personal fundraisers
- Enroll for Facebook’s Charitable Giving Tools
- Switch to a business account (if you haven’t yet)
YouTube
- Check to see if you’re eligible for YouTube’s Nonprofits Program
- Enroll your channel for the Nonprofits Program
TikTok
- Inquire about TikTok For Good options, including promoted hashtags
- Sign up for Pinterest Academy courses
2. Add donation buttons
If your non-profit collects donations, make sure you’ve added donation buttons on Facebook and Instagram. Both platforms have fundraising tools, too. But you never know when someone may discover your nonprofit on social media and want to contribute.
How to add a donate button to your Facebook Page:
- Go to your nonprofit’s Facebook Page.
- Click Add button.
- Select Shop with you or make a donation. Pick Donate and click Next.
- Click Donate through Facebook. (You’ll need to be enrolled with Facebook Payments for this to work.)
- Select Finish.
How to add a donate button to your Instagram profile:
- Go to your profile and open the menu.
- Select Settings.
- Tap Business then Donations.
- Turn the slider on beside Add Donate Button to Profile.
While you’re adding buttons, add links to your social media accounts to your website, newsletter, and email signatures. Make it easy for people to connect, and give them confidence they’re following official accounts. Find all the icons you need here.
3. Take advantage of free training and resources
There are tons of free resources available on social media for nonprofits. So many, in fact, that the time it takes to wade through them almost outweighs their benefits.
We’ve pared the top social media for nonprofit resources down into a concise list, sorted by platform.
Facebook and Instagram nonprofit resources:
- Take Facebook Blueprint Free Online Training courses, especially Nonprofit Marketing
- Follow Nonprofits on Facebook to stay on top of upcoming tools and training
YouTube nonprofit resources:
- Enroll in YouTube Creator Academy courses, especially: Activate Your Nonprofit on YouTube
Twitter nonprofit resources:
- Twitter’s Flight School
- Read the Campaigning on Twitter Handbook
- Follow Twitter Nonprofits for case studies, training, news and opportunities
LinkedIn nonprofit resources:
- Take Learning LinkedIn’s Get Started with LinkedIn course
- Talk with a LinkedIn nonprofit consultant
- Watch LinkedIn’s nonprofit webinars
Snapchat nonprofit resources:
TikTok nonprofit resources:
- Inquire about TikTok For Good account management and analytics assistance.
Hootsuite nonprofit resources:
- Apply for the HootGiving nonprofit discount
- Learn How to Use Hootsuite for free
4. Brainstorm and outline your social media goals
Okay, you and your marketing colleagues have decided that implementing a social media strategy is the right step to boost donations and connect with supporters. The first step in creating a high-performance social media strategy? Outline why you’re doing it.
What do you want your non-profit’s social media strategy to accomplish? If your organization provides shelter to vulnerable populations, your goal is to get individuals off the street.
Or, perhaps you’re an animal rights advocacy group. In that case, your goal may be to share information that keeps people informed about how they can protect wildlife in your area.
Your social media goals should align with your mission and value. Ideally, your organization will choose to create a social media strategy that accomplishes one or all of the following:
- Boosts donations
- Recruits volunteers
- Engages with your target community and supports
- Develops your brand and shares the story of your charitable organization
After you and your team have established the goals of your social media presence and marketing, it’s time to figure out how you’ll track and measure the success of your social media strategy.
For non-profit agencies looking for a way to easily measure their outcomes, try regularly tracking how often supporters are commenting on your posts, how many direct messages your social media accounts are receiving, or using a “hashtag strategy” to see how often your organization is tagged in posts.
5. Reach the right audience
Your social media strategy is only as effective as the results you receive.
If your charitable organization hasn’t yet defined a target audience, now is the time. As tempting as it may be, it’s important that your messaging is directed towards a specific audience rather than the general public.
Ideally, your target audience is an idea of who your “quintessential” supporters are. To begin generating your charitable organization’s external target audience, it’s wise to start by considering your internal personas.
Compile demographic information and the reasons why volunteers and board members care about your organization and attempt to form various personas based on your findings.
Once you’ve created several personas, it’s easier to determine the values and demographics of the potential external supporters that your social media strategy will aim to connect with.
6. Develop a comprehensive social media strategy
With a clear idea of your target audience and social media goals, it’s time to formulate an actionable plan. The first step in creating a comprehensive social media strategy is discovering what social media networks your target personas spend the most time on.
With so many social media networks available now, it’s important to clarify that you don’t need to be active on every platform to have a successful social media strategy that boosts donations.
Rather, uncover the platforms where your target audience is most active, and focus your efforts on 2-4 of these networks.
Again, survey your volunteer base and board members to gain an understanding of where they spend most their online time to see where your efforts are best directed.
Now that you know where your social media marketing will take place, what posts will be most effective in reaching your target audience and boosting donations?
Ideally, your posts will tell the story of your organization and engage with an audience who will support your mission. Some engaging content groups for charitable organizations include:
- Advertising for upcoming donor events
- Volunteer stories and call-outs
- Successful endeavors carried out by your organization
- “How-to” posts that demonstrate how supporters can help
7. Create a content calendar
A content calendar is a good way to keep your nonprofit team on the same page. It also allows you to plan ahead so teams with limited resources aren’t stretched too thin or left scrambling to put things together at the last minute.
Anticipate key events that are important for your cause. For example, a nonprofit that champions women will likely want to plan content for International Women’s Day, Mother’s Day and Gender Equality Week. Don’t forget traditional holidays or important anniversaries either.
Take a look at Twitter’s Marketing calendar or Pinterest’s Seasonal Insights Planner. Note the keywords and hashtags so you can benefit from increased reach during these events. #GivingTuesday is an important social media for nonprofit event, too.
Once you’ve accounted for external events, get more granular with your nonprofit. Develop a social media content strategy that compliments your organization’s objectives. Decide when it might be best to run campaigns and fundraisers.
Determine your posting frequency and start scheduling content. If possible, aim to post consistently.
When are the best times for nonprofits to post on social media? We break down the best times by platform here. Be sure to also check your analytics to confirm when your followers are most online and likely to see your posts.
8. Share stories about people
People connect with people. It’s as simple as that.
Studies repeatedly confirm that posts with pictures of people in them tend to receive more engagement. Twitter research finds videos that include people in the first few frames leads to 2X higher retention.
Another study by Georgia Institute of Technology and Yahoo Labs reports that photos that contain faces are 38% more likely to receive likes and 32% more comments
These days people increasingly want to know who’s behind the brand and logo. That’s true of nonprofits, too, especially since building and maintaining trust is imperative.
Show your audience who founded your nonprofit and why. Introduce people to your volunteers. Tell the stories of the people and communities you’ve been able to support through your work.
9. Post shareable content
Create content that people will want to share. What makes a post shareable? Offer something people will find valuable. It could be anything from an informative fact to a heartwarming anecdote. And never underestimate the shareability of strong visuals—especially video.
How-to’s and tutorials continue to be popular across social media, from Pinterest to TikTok. If your nonprofit social media strategy includes education, consider trying these formats.
Statistics and facts often reveal the cold truths behind certain issues. Infographics can help you tell the story behind the numbers.
Take advantage of the carousel format on Instagram to parse out complex or multilingual information across a series of images. Try to design each image as a standalone. That way people can share the slide that speaks to them the most.
Strong call to actions and motivational quotes work here, too. Want to rally people behind a message? Imagine your post as a protest sign. What would you want to carry down the streets and wave over your head?
10. Run a hashtag campaign
With the right hashtag and nonprofit social media strategy, your organization can shine a spotlight on important issues.
Choose a hashtag that drives your message home and is easy to remember. For example, UNESCO created the hashtag #TruthNeverDies to raise awareness about crimes against journalists. On its own, it’s pretty self-explanatory, and easy to rally around.
Timed to coincide with the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, the hashtag earned more than 2 million impressions and was shared on Twitter more than 29.6K times.
Other nonprofits have tapped the popularity of hashtag challenges on TikTok.
The United Nation’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) launched a #DanceForChange to promote sustainable farming in Africa. More than 33K videos were created during the campaign, amassing 105.5M views.
Side notes
Just like a for-profit business, non-profits need an active online presence to maintain a connection with their target audience.
By leveraging the power of a comprehensive non-profit social media strategy, charity organizations can experience a boost in both donations and brand awareness.
Thankfully, the implementation of a successful social media strategy can be cost-effective. If your organization is choosing to manage social media accounts in-house, there are a variety of helpful tools to streamline the process and share content quickly across multiple platforms.
When your social media accounts are used to meaningfully share the story of your non-profit and how it helps a community or population, you can cultivate a supportive following, expand your reach, and connect with high-value, loyal donors.
