If you’re like me, you have a few friends who share their stories about volunteering on Facebook. We all have friends who run 5Ks, friends who help with walkathons, and friends who volunteer at dog shelters.
Although it’s great that Facebook has become THE place for people to share volunteer experiences, trying to recruit volunteers on Facebook can sometimes feel like pulling teeth. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Following are three simple tips for recruiting volunteers on Facebook, along with examples:
1. Leverage Your Nonprofit’s “Friend” Voice
People use Facebook to connect with friends, not brands or nonprofits. And as mentioned earlier, people love to share their volunteering experiences.
Instead of only talking about your volunteer stories, encourage volunteers to share their volunteer work via Facebook and other social media. This community-generated content highlights what it’s like to volunteer for your nonprofit, providing some pretty awesome word-of-mouth marketing for your volunteer program!
2. Promote Your Facebook Page on Your Website
Chances are, the most frequent visitors to your website are supporters and volunteers. On your website’s top-viewed pages, make sure you ask these people to like your Facebook Page. Facebook can then be another channel to reach these website visitors, and get them talking with their friends about volunteering opportunities.
The best way to promote your Facebook Page on your website is with a Like Box.
The Like Box is a social plugin that enables users to:
- See the faces of friends who have already liked your page, a powerful form of social proof.
- View recent posts from the Facebook Page.
- Like the page with one click, without needing to visit your Facebook Page.
The last point ensures that website visitors don’t leave your website to visit Facebook.
3. Post Updates About Outcomes
Research on donor behavior says that people are more likely to support nonprofits that regularly report outcomes.
Share stories around outcomes, specifically photos and videos, which tend to get the most engagement on Facebook. Make sure the focus is always on volunteer work, rather than your nonprofit.
Learn more about VolunteerHub’s volunteer recruitment software.
