Social media is the perfect tool for encouraging people to sign up to support your charity and reminding them to receive donations. People are spending increasing amounts of time on Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, so make sure you’re using these platforms to catch their attention! Here are a few top tips that will help you to get to grips with social media fundraising!
1 – Set a Goal
If you want to experience success in social media fundraising, the first step that you need to take is setting a goal. Choose an amount that you’d like to raise and a date that you’d like to achieve it by. Once you’ve done this, you’ll automatically have much more direction. You’ll also be able to see whether your approach to social media is effective or not, as you will be able to see what kind of posts are encouraging your supporters to raise more and which posts aren’t being met with a response. You can then continue using effective techniques and less effective approaches can be altered!
2 – Fill-In Your Bio
Facebook and Twitter allow you to write some sort of “bio” or “about us” section that can let people know a little more about your cause and what it does. Make sure that you have filled this in – people are more likely to follow if they know what you’re all about! Make sure that your description includes information like:
- Your cause name
- Your cause’s values and goals
- Exactly how your cause helps others
- What donations will be used for
Also make sure to include an up-to-date link to your cause page, so people can easily sign up and start raising donations.
3 – Use Your Promotional Toolkit
We’ve created a Promotional Toolkit that provides you with everything you need to raise more with the help of social media. It has your first five messages to post on Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. By the time you’ve got through these, you’ll have a better idea of how to explain easyfundraising to people and what kind of posts work well.
4 – Post Frequently and Consistently
This is a rule that goes for anyone who wants to experience success on social media, but it is particularly important when it comes to social media for charities – post frequently and consistently. Nowadays, people are faced with so much information that it’s easy for messages to go in one ear and right out the other. You don’t want people to forget to raise donations for your cause. So, post frequently and consistently to remind them! Just make sure you don’t overload supporters with messages – they may get frustrated and unfollow or unsubscribe from your posts.
5 – Use Hashtags
Hashtags are essential when it comes to social media for charities on Facebook and Twitter. Hashtags let other people find your posts easily and if you get enough people sharing them, you could even see your cause trending, drawing in interest from new supporters. This means your messages will reach a bigger audience. So, make sure to put them in your posts. It’s generally best to put hashtags in front of the most important words in your message. They could include brand names and words that naturally draw people’s attention like “free”, “charity” or “fundraise”.
6 – Engage in Conversations
People may have questions to ask about your cause, easyfundraising, or how they can raise. So, make sure to keep an eye out for interactions and reply to any queries. Having good relationships with your supporters will also increase the chances of them remembering to raise for your cause.
7 – Include Pictures
People’s feeds and timelines are likely to be full of written content. It’s hard to make text stand out and catch people’s eye on its own. So why not include pictures? Images that are relevant to what you’re talking about can make people pause while they’re scrolling and encourages them to read your posts.
8 – Post at Peak Times
Believe it or not, there are peak times online. More people will be checking their social media feeds in the evenings when they are home from work or in the morning during commutes on public transport. Try to post at these times. It’ll increase the number of people who see your content and can really see your social media fundraising take off!
These tips are all pretty easy to implement into your use of social media for fundraising. So, don’t hold back! Put them into action as soon as possible! Register your cause with easyfundraising and remember to use your Promotional Toolkit, which will get you off to the best start!