Engage, inform and recruit with compelling content

Target audience: Nonprofits, cause organizations, foundations, NGOs, social enterprises, educators, fund-raisers, volunteers.

Guest post by Alec Stern
Vice President of Strategic Market Development, Constant Contact

Engagement marketing, when done well, can become the single best source of new members, volunteers, or donors for any nonprofit organization. By delivering great experiences and content to your key constituents, you can use that engagement to drive social visibility. Great content and experiences make people feel connected to an organization, and when these connections happen on places like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, one-to-one conversations turn into socially visible endorsements for an association or nonprofit.

So how can a nonprofit use social media to inspire donations and grow its volunteer base?

The key is using the right content for your organization to engage your audience, inform them about your mission, and then recruit them to support your organization — through financial support, in-kind donations, or volunteering — once you’ve built a relationship.

Engage your audience with compelling content

Engaging your audience means sharing content that encourages them to act. You can see how successful that content is when people comment, share, like, retweet, and repin.

What kind of content is engaging?

• Multimedia – Use photos and videos to engage your audience. The Pajama Program provides new pajamas to children in need, and their photos of smiling kids and families are a powerful way to tell their story. I couldn’t find one of their hundreds of Facebook photos that didn’t have some fan interaction.
• Inspirational – Get your audience thinking about what they can do to help. UNICEF has an entire Pinterest board of inspirational quotes and photos.
• Asking a question – The Girl Scouts got a lot of mileage on Facebook recently just by asking a few questions: “So we’d love to hear your good news about girls: what skills are they learning? What educational trips have you taken? In what way have they awed and inspired you?” That simple post got 186 comments, 422 “Likes,” and 35 shares.
• Humor – Animal photos and humor are a natural fit for The Humane Society. Every one of the pins on their cute animal photos Pinterest board have been repinned. Your nonprofit might not have anything to do with animals, but sharing funny content is always a good idea.

Keep potential donors or volunteers informed

Social media allows nonprofits to interact with their audience on a daily basis. Take advantage of that interaction by informing your audience about your mission.

• Share your news – This is basic, but it’s important. Regular posting of your accomplishments, announcements, and events help to remind your fans of the vital role you serve in your community.
• Education – Your knowledge is valuable — use it to educate your social media audience. The ASPCA has a Pinterest board full of pet care tips. Each pin links to a full article on the organization’s blog.
• Events – Definitely invite your followers to events via social media, but make sure you’re posting after the event, too. Event photos and videos allow you to show off your hard work. Make sure you tag participants — people, sponsors, and other nonprofits — in your photos to get more traction like the United Way of North Central Massachusetts did during their annual Day of Caring. As your fans interact with your content, their networks will see it, allowing you to spread your message even further.

Recruit new donors or volunteers to your nonprofit

You’ve engaged and informed your followers, and formed a connection with them. They’re thinking about you on a regular basis and they support your cause. Reach out to them through social media to recruit them as volunteers.

• Share links to your volunteer opportunities – You can post the link and add a description on Facebook and Twitter, but don’t forget about Pinterest. The San Antonio, Texas, Food Bank has a Pinterest board of volunteer opportunities and donation drives.
• Talk about your industry – The Massachusetts Service Alliance, which works with dozens of nonprofit agencies, shared this Americorps infographic about what just one Americorps member contributes through his or her work. It shows your followers how they can make a difference.
• Use statistics – The Red Cross has posted daily Hurricane Sandy relief updates on Twitter, including volunteer needs. They tweeted that 90% of their 5,700 workers helping with Sandy relief are volunteers, and linked to a website to sign up for Red Cross opportunities.
• Try LinkedIn – The Heart of West Michigan United Way posts opportunities on their LinkedIn page, and they link to their website, which has a volunteer matching service.

The post How nonprofits can use social media to recruit donors & volunteers appeared first on Socialbrite.

3 ways nonprofits can boost their social interaction

Guest post by Jim Belosic

For nonprofits, money and resources are often tight, but social media is free to use and can be a very effective fundraising and volunteer-recruiting aid.

Facebook in particular is one of the most powerful online resources a nonprofit organization can use. Those who choose to fully leverage the platform are at major advantage because it’s the perfect place to rally together sponsors, supporters and volunteers.

Facebook apps can be created for little to no cost by using third-party applications. Third party applications — which is what we make at ShortStack — also save organizations a lot of time and stress.

To boost engagement and Likes for your nonprofit’s page, here are three effective and simple ways to use Facebook apps.

Use an app to inspire volunteering

As many nonprofits know, there are lots of people who are motivated to help. They just need an invitation, some encouragement and some direction.

To recruit time donations, try creating an app to display volunteer information, directions, volunteer site locations, and most importantly, sharing features so people can invite their friends and family on Facebook to volunteer with them.

A Facebook app like this can also be designed to collect volunteer information. Have an entry form for app visitors to submit their email addresses so that your nonprofit can send them volunteer information later via email.

Always remember that volunteering makes people feel good and it can be a lot of fun! Your Facebook app should communicate that.

Ask sponsors to match your nonprofit’s efforts

If you’re a nonprofit, set a goal and ask sponsors to match a target dollar amount.

To use Facebook to raise your nonprofit’s portion of the donation, try creating a simple contest app. The user who shares your nonprofit’s app with the largest number of Facebook friends wins a donation made in their name to your organization.

Your nonprofit can even take a cue from the Prostate Cancer Foundation’s Movember efforts. Use your app to inspire users to take your nonprofit’s fundraising efforts into their own hands.

Encourage sponsors to use a Like-Drive

What’s more powerful than having the backing of your sponsor? The answer: having the backing of your sponsor’s community

Team up with your sponsor to host a Facebook app on your sponsor’s Facebook Page. Use the app to either display information about your nonprofit or use it as an opportunity to pull from your sponsor’s community to enhance your fundraising efforts.

Last year ShortStack created an app using the Like-Drive template to help a family in need. The Like-Drive template is special because it allowed us to drive and track new Page Likes while earning money for a really important cause. For every new Facebook Like we earned, we donated a dollar.

What boosts engagement with your Facebook Page?

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