Nonprofits can utilize social media and crowdsourcing to increase donors.
Social media can be a powerful tool to assist nonprofits in their fundraising efforts. To get the full benefits of social media, it is key that a nonprofit provides quality content, and engages with its audience daily. Social media can boost the success rate of a fundraising campaign if a few concepts are included in the nonprofit’s strategy.
Did you know that nearly one in three people worldwide donated to their favorite charity in 2015? Also, did you know people between the ages of 40 – 59 are most likely to give a monetary gift to a nonprofit online? These statistics reinforce that nonprofits can utilize social media to increase donors. Now let’s look at some strategies that your nonprofit organization can incorporate into your social media strategy to get better results from fundraising campaigns.
Nonprofits can utilize social media, especially Facebook!
Facebook has become a great platform for nonprofits to use in their fundraising strategy. A recent study suggests that 28% of referred traffic to a nonprofit’s fundraising pages, on their website, is coming from Facebook alone. If your organization is not using the Facebook ads feature for targeting specific demographics with your message you are missing out. Facebook ads are cost-efficient, easy to optimize, and very targeted.
Nonprofits can also use Facebook for fundraising purposes by setting up their business page call to action to take visitors to the donation page on their site. Finally, Facebook recently launched a new set of tools for nonprofits to use to reach more people in their fundraising campaigns. In order to access these tools, a nonprofit will need to apply with Facebook for the features.
If your nonprofit is not incorporating Facebook into your fundraising efforts chances are that you are missing out on a great opportunity.
Focus Messaging on Your Nonprofit Impact
Your nonprofit should focus your social media content, regardless of the platform, on the impact that your organization is making in the community. Make sure that your nonprofit is incorporating its mission, and values into all the content that you share on social. You also want to make sure that you have a purpose for each piece of content, or collateral that you share with your audience. In other words what action do you want your visitors to take after consuming the content you share?
Content should be consumable
Make sure that the content you share is easily consumable, as you only have the attention of your visitor for a short period. Also, make the content you share easy to engage with. You want your following to be able to interact with the content you share. A great way to do this is by posting open-ended questions and replying directly to all comments that your posts receive.
Consumable and engaging content is also ideal for your nonprofit's mobile audience. One of the best types of content to share with your mobile audience to capture their attention is video and images. Your nonprofit should rely on as little text as possible when optimizing social media content for your mobile audience. Keep in mind that your nonprofit will want to test and optimize the headlines of your social posts to see what snippet of information is generating the most buzz with your audience.
Utilize Crowdsourcing Platforms
Crowdsourcing platforms have become all the rage over the past few years to ask an audience to support your cause. Your nonprofit can use crowdsourcing platforms such as USEED or Kickstarter to tell your nonprofit’s story and ask for monetary gifts. The biggest benefit to crowdsourcing platforms is your messaging can primarily focus on the ask. Most crowdsourcing platforms also allow your nonprofit to over donors a gift in exchange for their financial pledge. Optimizing and testing different crowdfunding platforms can lead to fundraising success for a nonprofit. According to nptechforgood.com, the average crowdsourcing page receives over $9000.00 in donations from its audience.
A few crowdsourcing tips to keep in mind
– Communicate your nonprofit’s goals quickly
– Use video and photos that are compelling, and demonstrate your organization’s mission
– Nonprofits can utilize social media by focusing content on storytelling
– Be specific in what your organization hopes to achieve with funding
– Link to other social media outlets to build a relationship with visitors
– Ask your social audience to share your crowdsourcing page link
If you’re a nonprofit looking to utilize social media, and crowdsourcing platforms to boost fundraising success you have a lot of options available at your disposal. The key to being successful is to create a strategy and identify the platforms on which you want to have a presence. Finally, your nonprofit should be testing and optimizing platforms to get the best return on your effort.
