3 Tips for Nonprofits to Boost Their Social Media Presence

Listen to this article:

Over 90% of Americans actively use social media, making it a powerful tool your organization can use to its advantage–even with a limited marketing budget!

That said, doing it well takes a lot of skill and effort–as evidenced by the number of professionals who do it full-time. Here are a few tips to get started on the right foot:

1.  Identify Goals

This will help direct your strategy and drive content development. Ask, “What do we hope to accomplish: Find and engage donors? Recruit volunteers? Gain community support? Promote services? All of the above?

Using a social media content calendar will help you manage all of that. For instance, you may have a fundraising event one month and no events the next. This will affect what kind of content to schedule–and when to develop it for on-time delivery.

Along those lines, it’s not unusual to have periods of time with a lot of content to post followed by dry spells when there is little or none. However, it is important to continue posting two or three times per week so your audience stays engaged. You can prepare for slower seasons by keeping a library of evergreen content, such as client testimonials, inspirational quotes or verses, that can be used any time of year to fill in these gaps.

2.  Know Your Audience To Avoid Wasting Time and Resources

With limited bandwidth and budget, wisely stewarding your time and resources is important. That means knowing where your audience is–and that means knowing each channel’s niche and audience. Remember: a good social media strategy does not mean you need to be present on every platform.

As an example, LinkedIn provides articles and information to business professionals; Instagram is great for photos and video content; and Facebook is a combination of the two. Instagram and Facebook are also more personal. With that in mind, here are two important things to consider when choosing which to use:

• Community activity: which platform does most of your community use?
• What kind of content resonates with them? If you already have a social channel, note what performs well, do more of that, and post it to the appropriate sites.

Let’s look at examples of top-performing posts from True Charity and Network member accounts in the last year:

• The first is this Facebook post from Durham Rescue Mission, highlighting their fall program graduation. Their audience likes photos of real people and better yet, people they know and recognize. It’s encouraging and their audience enjoys celebrating others’ accomplishments.

• Next is this Instagram post from Save the Storks which received almost 2,000 likes. The photo itself is heartwarming but the backstory really catches your attention. It’s a tear-jerker but moving and uplifting, too. True, it makes for a longer caption but the audience was willing to look past that to engage in a compelling story.

• Finally, here is a post from True Charity’s Annual Summit. It was on all our channels but performed best on LinkedIn because it highlighted networking and professional development. And I’m sure our audience enjoyed seeing friendly faces they recognized, maybe even themselves!

3.  Be Consistent

It’s essential to maintain a clear and consistent voice, tone, and style–which means your graphic design, visuals, and captions should align and support each other across all posts. That’s why it’s helpful to have one person manage your accounts. Too many cooks make for a messy kitchen.

If no one has the bandwidth for this task, consider an intern. High school or college students, especially those with an interest in marketing, are naturals in the social media world. With guidance and direction from your team, it could be a fantastic learning opportunity for the intern and result in a huge benefit for you.