Social media is a powerful tool for attracting online visitors to your mission and inspiring them to support your cause. Unfortunately, due to time and staff bandwidth restraints, most nonprofits have yet to draft a nonprofit social media strategy that will help them achieve their goals.
The good news is, social media doesn’t have to be a time-intensive, huge lift for your small nonprofit’s staff. In fact, as long as you post with a certain degree of frequency and the content is on point, you will see positive outcomes.
Where it can get tricky is finding the content that will really resonate with your audience and thus create engagement with your cause. While every nonprofit’s mission is unique and therefore attracts a particular set of individuals, there are five things your nonprofit’s social media strategy needs to have to be a successful lead generator for your organization.
So without further ado… here are the five “must-haves” when it comes to social media marketing for nonprofits.
1. Encourages Engagement
Think how many posts, tweets, pictures, etc., your audience sees a day on their social media accounts? TONS. You need to think of creative ways to get your audience to stop scrolling and think about what you have posted. A great way to do this is to ask questions or post a poll.
No Labels does a great job at posting content that encourages their followers to engage. Check out their social channels for some additional inspiration.
2. Illustrates Your Organization’s Relevance
If someone isn’t familiar with your organization and what is does, make it easy for them to understand. One of the best ways to do this is to share current events that relate to your organization and thus situate your cause as a piece of a bigger puzzle they can understand.
Interfaith Alliance is vocal across their social media channels in expressing how current events are directly related to the important work they do.
3. Shows Your Activism in the Community
No one likes an organization that seems out of touch with their community. The best way to help your follower understand that you deserve their support, is to be an active supporter of their community.
Interfaith Alliance did a fantastic job around the Women’s March on Washington in showing their activism and support of individuals in the D.C. area community (and beyond).
4. Gives Followers an Inside Look
What makes your nonprofit stand out amongst the rest? After all, there are a lot of great causes out there. Showing off what makes your organization unique is a great way to connect with a passive follower scrolling through their news feed. Help your audience connect to the people, the tone, and the soul of your organization.
From new team members, to what inspired their organization’s creation, Democracy Fund is fantastic about sharing what’s happening inside of their organization.
5. Invites Others to Join Your Cause
Lastly, and arguably the most important “must-have” of all…. Invite those followers of yours to join in on your organization’s efforts! Whether that’s asking for a donation, encouraging them to sign a pledge, etc., this is the piece that calls the individual to action.
Nonprofit Social Media Strategy
Wondering where to start on your nonprofit’s social media strategy? We can help! Drop us a note and we’ll get started helping you figure out how to engage with your audiences online.
For other ideas about promoting your nonprofit on social media, check out this article by our friends at CharityHowTo: Instagram for Nonprofits | 10 Accounts To Inspire Your Visual Storytelling
