Social media is one of the best ways for your Michigan non-profit organization to connect to potential donors and volunteers. Many individuals across the US use social media everyday (89% of those between 18 and 29) and 71% of the US market have a Facebook profile. Twitter is also heavily subscribed to and is considered the second largest social media network; although this can be heavily disputed.
Whichever social media network your Michigan non-profit decides to use; there are universal best practices that can be applied. Here are some of the best tips to get your social media profiles noticed, interacted with and recruiting donors and patrons.
Quality Is Better Than Quantity
Many small businesses or ‘newbies’ to social media believe that more is better in numerous aspects of social media. However, this is often not the case. It would be nice to have 10,000 fans across your social media profiles, but not all of them are going to be engaged with your content or relevant to what you provide. There are also those on social media who are out there just to sell their services to you.
You need to consider not how many follow or interact with your Michigan non-profit but who is interacting with your profiles. It is better to have 10 loyal engagers who each spread the news to another 10 loyal followers who spread it to another 10, etc; than to have 10,000 followers who do nothing when they read your content.
The same can be said for your content. Sometimes it is best to concentrate on just three high performing social media networks than to have six or seven struggling profiles.
Images Are Key To Grabbing Attention
Images are incredibly important on social media. Nearly every single network has a facility to share images with content and this can increase engagement with your content.
To get the best benefits ensure images are high quality and relevant to the message that you are portraying in the rest of the content. For example, if you are writing about your latest fundraiser, have a picture of the event. Instagram can be hugely popular for this style of social sharing.
Don’t Go Silent
Radio silence is not an option on social media. Although not every network requires you to post every day, you should not have any lengthy periods of time where you are not releasing new content for your audiences.
If you are struggling with getting yourself online all the time; then consider using social media management tools like Hootsuite or Buffer.
Be Personal
Social media is all about grabbing the attention of the individuals and nothing does that better than have a personality. Give your brand and the social media profiles you create an identity people will want to interact with.
This may mean that you write in a certain style or have certain content you share at specific time (being consistent is important); as long as you have a clear definition of that brand identity; audiences will pay attention to you.
Don’t Forget Your End Goal
The end goal is for your followers to become donors, volunteers or additional opportunities for marketing: don’t forget this when you are creating social media marketing strategies. Always have options available where followers can find out more about how they can donate, volunteer or spread the word of your good deeds.
You can achieve some of this by asking your followers. Research has shown that by asking for your followers to share content will increase the number of social shares. This can gain you more followers, donors and volunteers without you having to pay anything.
Conclusion
Your Michigan non-profit organization can grow with the help of social media. By using some of the best practices and tips above you can improve the effectiveness of your social media campaigns and gain more awareness for your charity as well as numerous volunteers and donors.
Does your non-profit organization use social media yet?
Take Action:
- Sign up to three social media networks.
- Publish content to attract audiences in Michigan and other areas you operate.
- Develop a strategy to continuously use social media.
- Create content to inform followers how they can volunteer and donate to your organization.
by NJE Design