Is something related to social media and fundraising on your to-do list? Is that something getting done? If your answer is no, you aren’t alone. A recent Inbound Marketing survey found that 38% of non-profits spend only 1-2 hours a week on social media. However, statistics also show that you may want to reorganize your list. For example, Facebook referred 29.4% of traffic to donation pages on Giving Tuesday in 2013. That statistic, paired with the fact that online giving grew by 13.5% in 2013 alone reinforces the need for non-profit fundraising professional to make the most of what social media has to offer.
That doesn’t mean you don’t need to spend hours a day on you or your organization’s social media fundraising presence. Even taking 15 minutes out of your day to give to social media can make a difference. Here are a few ways to get started:
- Look at next week’s calendar. It’s easy to let important events or observances fly off your social media radar. Looking ahead is a great way to determine what’s coming up, what’s relevant to you or your organization, and what’s going to be featured on your social media profiles. Facebook offers a scheduling tool so that you can write posts days, or even weeks, in advance. You can also use free tools like Hootsuite to schedule and manage postings across social media platforms.
- Update your status. Information sharing never stops on social media. Take some time each day to share what’s going on with you and your organization. Don’t forget to use hashtags to help you track your posts and more important, introduce more people to your cause and conversation. A recent study found that tweets with one or more hashtags are 55% more likely to be retweeted.
- Reply, retweet, respond or re-post. When it comes down to it, social media is about creating and maintaining conversations. It’s important that you spend part of your 15 minutes adding your organization’s voice to the conversation. Scan your Facebook newsfeed for posts to like or share. Respond to friend or follow requests. Reply to a comment on a post you wrote for your organization’s blog. Write or request a recommendation on LinkedIn. Whatever you do, know that your actions will help raise more funds for your organization. According to a Waggener Edstrom study, 55% of those surveyed who engaged with a non-profit have been inspired to take further action.
- Check out your stats. If you still have a few minutes left, look at your social media page’s performance to see what’s working and what’s not. Facebook offers free insights that not only evaluate how many users your posts are reaching, but how those users are engaging with your content. You can also use twitter analytics to see how many users are viewing and responding to your tweets. Based on what you find, you can determine what posts are most popular with your followers and create your future content accordingly.
Visit Sumac’s “Mastering Social Media” section to find more tips and tools for using social media to achieve your organization’s goals.
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