These days, it is practically unheard of for a brand or charity not to have a social media presence. Whether you’ve been operating for a while, or whether you are just starting out, you’ll be well aware that you need to be on social media to connect with your donors, increase awareness and raise funds for your organisation.
Since we don’t need to convince you of the benefits of having a strong social media presence, here’s a list of tips and tricks to help you obtain just that:
Start off by understanding your target audience
In order to create social media content that is relevant for your audience, you should have a good understanding of their interests. If you don’t spend enough time doing this research up front, then you’ll find that the content you post is unlikely receive much engagement. You may also find people unsubscribing or unfollowing your page if they don’t see relevant and engaging content on your feed. Spends some time creating a profile for your audience and create tailored messaging and content for them.
Create a social media strategy with clear goals and objectives
As social media channels are so easy to set up, some charities just set them up and start posting content on an ad hoc basis. It is important to have a defined strategy in place, using the insights that you have gathered about your audience. This strategy can evolve as you start to gauge the performance of your content. Also, make sure you start off by setting some clear goals. For instance, decide whether you want the primary aim of your social media content to be about raising awareness or raising funds or both? Put some tracking measures in place to see how effective you are and check in with these objectives on a regular basis.
Make sure you pick the right time to post
Timing is everything when it comes to asking for donations on social media. There are certain times of the year when people are feeling more charitable. According to Ross McCulloch, (director of Third Sector Lab) “11% of annual giving occurs on the last three day of the year and 29% of annual giving occur in December, according to the Network for Good Digital Giving Index.” If you pick the right time, you’re likely to raise significantly more for your cause.
Engage with your social media followers
Some companies are really terrible at responding to comments and queries on their social media channels. As a charity, it is particularly important that you are quick and efficient and doing so. It is important as it builds up your trust levels and connection with your audience. Once you have posted something, make sure to check in frequently for any comments and queries. These are also invaluable at helping you get a clear picture of sentiment towards your charity. You can also use the comments as insight that you can base upcoming content on.
Follow the right accounts
Social media can also prove invaluable for keeping an eye on your ‘competitors’. You can seek inspiration by seeing what other brands and charities are doing to raise awareness amongst their followers. Keeping an eye on content that other charities are creating that users are engaging with is a great way to kick off brainstorming sessions for your own content. Though you should always endeavour to be original and tailor your own content for your own audience.
Maintain a regular rhythm of content
This is especially for those charities who can’t afford to have a full time member of staff dedicated to social media. If you are setting up social media channels for your charity, you need to ensure that you are posting on them regularly. If you don’t have a regular frequency of content, it is likely that users will start to unfollow and unsubscribe your channels. You can always schedule your posts in advance using platforms such as Hootsuite and Buffer.
Set aside a small budget for paid posts
Facebook Ads are a great way to grow the reach of your posts. They are relatively cost effective and the great thing is that you can view detailed results and tweak your targeting based on your performance each time. This is a great marketing tool for charities with small budgets, as it means you can get your message in front of your target audience quickly and easily. If you haven’t used them before, you can find lots of great guides for beginners online.