Social media is 100% essential for any nonprofit in 2021. It’s a place to tell the story of your organization, promote your mission and utilize your network to fundraise and gain support. However, it can be overwhelming to know which platforms are relevant, who you should be targeting your content to or what to post on a daily basis. Each social media platform has a distinct style and audience. What should your nonprofit be posting on each platform? We’ve gathered everything you need to know below.
To start, we need to go over some of the basics so you’re guaranteed to be successful.
Post a Variety of Content
It’s tempting to just click copy and paste onto each social media platform for each post, but this isn’t going to cut it. In fact, this might leave your followers feeling bored and uninterested in your organization. You can post for the same call to action, but try switching up the words, photos, videos or emojis you use so that every social platform doesn’t have the exact same message.
For example, on Facebook, you might say…
“Have you put in your RSVP? We are just 10 DAYS away from our annual fundraiser. Support us by signing up and joining us for an evening of fun for a great cause. Sign up at donorview.com today!”
But on Twitter, you might want to go with…
🚨 10 DAYS AWAY 🚨 Our annual fundraiser is coming in hot- don’t wait, get your tickets now before it’s too late at donorview.com!
Get Visual
Posting photos and videos along with your message is one of the best ways to guarantee more engagement online. As a nonprofit organization trying to appeal to more supporters, it’s vital to showcase your story and the impact you’re making. For example, which post below catches your eye more and makes you want to donate?
Stay Consistent
It’s so important to maintain a consistent presence on social media. Posting as regularly as you can is key. Don’t get too crazy and send out 10 posts a day. Just try to remain consistent and relevant to your followers and potential supporters by posting once a day. If you’re struggling to keep up with posting, start with small goals of three posts a week or once every other day. This allows you to understand what it takes to maintain and keep up with your page and eases you into a more consistent posting schedule. Even if you haven’t posted anything in a month and you think you should just give it up, don’t. You can always come back with a strong social media plan when the time is right for your organization.
Create a Social Media Calendar
Having a calendar isn’t just for events and special dates… a social media calendar helps you plan out your posts week to week and sets you up to post more regularly. This also allows you to stay up to date on any upcoming national holidays that are relevant to your organization and mission so you can be sure to have content to post! Keeping a social media calendar is one of the easiest ways to guarantee your organization will stay on top of its social media game.
You might be asking yourself, what type of posts make the most sense for each social media platform?
In order to be successful, you have to know the ins and outs of what content resonates with your audiences, who your audiences are and what type of content you should be posting. You have to be aware that some things that you post on Twitter, might not be fit for Facebook, and some posts you make on LinkedIn won’t suit you well on Instagram.
Facebook is a platform with a wide demographic range. However, it tends to gather a bit of an older audience than some of the other platforms. Facebook allows you to type out longer posts with no character limit, giving you a wide ability to tell stories.
Best for:
- Videos
- Longer Posts
- Feature Stories
- Promoting Events
Twitter is a crowd favorite for younger generations and people tend to follow and retweet with missions and causes that really align themselves with. Twitter gives you a character limit, so it’s best to keep things short and sweet.
Best for:
- Short & Simple Posts
- #Hashtags
- Utilizing Trends/Memes
This social media platform revolves around pictures and videos. On Instagram, it’s essential to draw people in with this type of content rather than your words. Also, don’t forget- links don’t work in your caption, so you’ll need to put a link in your bio to get people to click on it.
Best for:
- Photos
- Videos
- Capturing Live Story Footage of an Event
LinkedIn is full of professionals all over the world who have large networks. It’s also a place where people are looking for opportunities to help!
Best for:
- Job & Volunteer Opportunities
- Sharing Events
- Showcasing your employee/volunteer efforts
Social media has the power to increase your supporters, donations and so much more! All DonorView forms and event pages can be posted right on your page- take what you’ve learned here and send out a post today!
