Social Media For Nonprofits- A Guide

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In this digital age, social media has made it easier to remain in touch with people. We are all familiar with it (social media) since it allows us to communicate with one another and share our experiences easily through text and visual content. Nowadays, most of us have profiles on at least one or more social networking websites because of the simplicity with which we can communicate. You might be amazed to learn that, according to Kepios, as of January 2022, there are 4.62 Billion active social media users worldwide, accounting for around 58.4% of the world's population. Therefore, it is no surprise that so many corporations have found social media to be the most efficient means to engage, communicate with the audience, and bring their work to the forefront.

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The nonprofit sector isn’t a stranger to social media either. Many nonprofits are in fact leaders when it comes to using social media for their cause. The World Wide Fund For Nature's "Earth Hour" campaign is one of the most well-known instances of how the power of social media has been leveraged to raise awareness about climate change and bring change to the world. The "Earth Hour" campaign urges people, communities, and businesses all over the world to turn off their lights for one hour on the last Saturday of March in support of the fight against climate change and protecting nature. According to the Earth Hour 2014 report, the campaign produced an astounding 10.1 Billion+ social media impressions (the number of times the campaign was shown to people) and trended across 35 countries on Twitter and Google searches! This demonstrated how social media can be used to mobilise people for such significant initiatives to create big impacts.

Social media can be a great way for nonprofits with limited budgets to reach a larger audience in a fast and cost-effective way as noted by MissionBox. These platforms can provide nonprofits with the much-needed space to promote their fundraising efforts and attract new donors across the globe, highlight their work, engage their audience with stories and real-time updates from the field, increase brand awareness, engage an existing audience and gain new ones, and more.

Beginners may find social media to be overwhelming and out of their reach, but by reading this article, you will learn how to navigate the various social media platforms and their features with ease. You can develop a social media strategy to capitalise on the benefits of social media for your organisation with the help of nonprofits who are already doing so, as examples.

Nonprofits and social media are a perfect match!

While social media is undoubtedly effective for quickly reaching a wide audience, it might appear overwhelming at first because of its scale and variety of features. Gaining an understanding of social media can be a gradual process, but the rewards of this knowledge can be enormous. According to Nonprofit Tech For Good, 87% of nonprofits worldwide use social media. Let's find out how social media is benefitting these nonprofits.

  • Fostering community bonds: When it comes to nonprofits we know how crucial transparency is, in fostering the development of reliable and trustworthy community bonds as well as showcasing the organisation’s credibility.  Social media can be a useful tool for nonprofit organisations to demonstrate transparency in how they use donor money and what they accomplish with the support of volunteers' time.  Communities often feel more a part of the cause when they are aware of the work being done and this can be noted by the Global Trends In Giving Report. According to the report, 29% of online donors have agreed that connecting with nonprofits through social media to understand their work have inspired them to donate more!
  • Connecting with potential global donors and volunteers: With the power of social media, it’s so much easier now to reach and engage with donors and volunteers globally. You may engage with existing donors, stakeholders and supporters or even encourage new people to be part of your cause and community. Your social media posts can be a wonderful way to persuade donors to donate more by keeping them informed about the work you're doing, the progress you're making, and the positive impact you're bringing. And this is rightfully attested by 71% of Nonprofits worldwide, who concur that social media has greatly helped them in running successful fundraising campaigns!

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  • Spread awareness about your cause and organisation: To continue making an impact, it’s essential for nonprofit organisations to have a robust community of supporters. Finding donors and volunteers who are willing to help is easier when you are able to successfully mobilise the people in support of your cause. Additionally, having a social media presence that highlights your work can be a terrific approach to demonstrate your knowledge and skill in the field, attracting more attention from relevant people and building a trustworthy environment. This also helps in creating a lasting image which facilitates the audience’s choice in the future and could be the deciding factor between which organization he/she donates to.

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  • Enhance your fundraising activities and reach: Activities like fundraising are crucial to nonprofit operations. It enables them to reach more beneficiaries, aid them, and raise awareness of the cause among more people. Social media makes it easier for Nonprofits to develop campaigns and effective fundraising activities, all without using a lot of resources. The best part is that the organisation can use targeted fundraising efforts to mobilise and sensitize many people throughout the world who were previously unaware of the cause. According to Nonprofit Source, 55% of people that engage with nonprofits on social media end up taking some kind of action!

Some Tips To Get You Started With Social Media

Social media is a great way to connect with your supporters, raise awareness and raise funds. It can also help you recruit volunteers, staff and board members. Social media has become an integral part of non-profit marketing strategies because it's so accessible and easy to use. You can also build your own following on any of the social media platforms with the right strategy and execution! So let's go over the various points you must keep in mind to build on your social media strategy that is suitable for your organisation.

Setting your goals and expectations for social media :-

The first thing to keep in mind is not to spread yourself too thin when it comes to social media. It’s essential to choose the right platform that will assist you in accomplishing your goals. If you're just getting started, you should avoid being on every platform at once because, firstly, it would be difficult to find the time for everything and, secondly, each platform is good for something specific, such as a particular target audience, the ability to grow organically, the suitability for fundraising or networking, etc. When selecting the platform that is best for your work, you may want to consider the following:

  • Connect with your audience on Facebook: Facebook is a great platform to connect with your existing community, especially if you're starting from scratch. While there are also plenty of opportunities to connect with new audiences. According to Statista, there are currently 239.65 million Facebook users in India itself while Backlinko estimates that as of 2021 there are 2.85 billion Facebook active users worldwide. As a result, it's a fantastic platform to spread the word about your cause, build a community and find your next volunteer or donor, as evidenced by the fact that 97% of all nonprofits using social media favour Facebook globally. One thing to keep in mind is the demographics of Facebook, which according to the Hootsuite Digital 2022 Global Overview Report, include men and women between the ages of 35 and 44. Therefore, you are now aware of where to begin your social media journey if the older millennial generation is your target demographic.

Facebook Features To Use For Your Nonprofit:

  1. With the use of the live streaming feature, visual content, events, organization updates, and contact information, Facebook enables organisations to connect with their audience. It's also simpler to give a quick summary of your nonprofit's vision and mission on the page almost like a website hence, it’s a great way to garner recognition.
  2. Facebook allows you to create groups consisting of your organisation's supporters wherein, you could constantly engage with them in a focused way and update them about any upcoming events, fundraising campaigns etc.
  3. What’s exciting is that Facebook has a dedicated interface for nonprofits to assist with fundraising campaign analytics, reach more donors and make engagement with the audience easier. You can get access to all these resources once you register on Facebook as a nonprofit. You can learn more about this here.
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On Facebook, it's usually a good idea to use high-quality visuals and less text to set your page apart from others. You can also use engaging storytelling to make your posts more appealing!
  • Grow and learn through professional networking on LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a wonderful tool for nonprofits to connect with other professionals as well as engage/collaborate with organisations (nonprofits and corporates) that are active in their field of interest in order to give their voice and advocacy efforts the much-needed momentum. It’s the right platform if you’re looking, for donors and investors, to showcase yourself as an expert in your field, to learn from others in the sector, for B2B collaborations, to connect with and hire experienced professionals. Currently, LinkedIn boasts 830 million members across the world including 82 million users from India and 48% of nonprofits across the world using social media agree to using LinkedIn to connect with others! With diverse demographics, according to Lead Genera,LinkedIn is used by people across age groups especially between the age group of 21-45 year olds.

LinkedIn Features To Use For Your Nonprofit:

  1. LinkedIn allows you to showcase your knowledge and authority in your field. By being on the platform you can share well-researched articles, case studies from the field, impact data and stories to showcase your expertise and work. Hence, it’s a great place to attract donations, investors, experienced knowledge partners, CSR partners, and many more.
  2. LinkedIn has a group feature that allows nonprofits to connect and engage with people and organisations interested in similar causes hence, a great place for promoting their events and profile.
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With LinkedIn, you can get access numerous resources for better engagement if you register your page as a nonprofit. To learn more visit this link.
  • Raise your voice and spread the word about your cause on Twitter: Twitter is a fantastic platform for sharing news, events, and other updates about your organization. It can almost function as a PR account for you. It’s also a great way to engage with your audience and promote your nonprofit. A special aspect of Twitter is that each post/tweet can only be 280 characters- hence, it’s easy to provide updates to your followers with the help of short-form texts. According to the Omnicore Agency, as of 2021, Twitter boasts 213 million active users worldwide and most of Twitter’s audience is between 25 and 34 years old. When it comes to nonprofit organisations using Twitter, NP Tech For Good notes that 60% of all nonprofits worldwide who use social media, use Twitter for engagement.

Twitter Features To Use For Your Nonprofit:

  1. On Twitter, you can retweet other organisations' posts. It functions like a share button which could be used to show solidarity for the cause. This feature is in addition to the usual social media functions of publishing texts, photographs, videos, and links. It’s a great way to interact with your audience in real-time.
  2. It's a fantastic forum for starting a discussion with hashtags, encourage thought leadership as well as spread awareness about the cause you're passionate about. This platform is mainly used for discussions and debates and hence a great place to mobilise people towards a cause.
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Twitter can be used by nonprofits to run successful campaigns. You can go through this  link to learn more about Twitter for nonprofits!
  • Showcase your impact and connect with the youth on Instagram: According to NP Tech For Good, 73% of nonprofits worldwide who use social media use Instagram to spread awareness about their cause. Instagram is an excellent medium for marketing to those under the age of 35 because, according to Business of Apps, 70% of its users are under 35. Instagram is mainly a visual platform where users share creative photos and videos. It can be a great platform for nonprofits to connect with a younger audience, share stories from the field through visual media and find volunteers as well as raise funds.

Instagram Features To Use For Your Nonprofit:

  1. Instagram can be used to connect with your audience in a more personalised manner through quality visual storytelling content. You can use popular hashtags to reach more people.
  2. There are features like 'Story' and 'Live Stream' to post live updates from the field, your work, campaigns etc. To provide users on the platform more information about your work in one spot, you can post photographs and videos on top of your profile as 'Highlights' dedicated to specific verticals of your work.
  3. You even have the option to add donate buttons to your page or posts to raise funds directly from your social account.
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Nonprofits can easily grow organically on Instagram more than other platforms; follow this link to learn how you can grow and raise funds through Instagram as a nonprofit organisation.

Creating a social media content calendar:-

Now that you know how different social media platforms are used and have chosen which platform to leverage for your social media presence, it is essential to have a social media content calendar. To maintain your presence, being successful on the platform, and getting the most out of your social media experience, it is essential to have the content and the schedule planned beforehand.

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Create your organisation's social media guidelines:
It's important to have social media guidelines for your organisation. These guidelines would be followed across social media channels and it's especially useful if you target to be on more than one channel. Having a guideline will help you to build a brand that is consistent with tone, palette, and aesthetics. Your audience will be able to recognise you by the tone of your content across platforms, which helps you leave a lasting impression. Along with having a systematic approach to content generation with regard to privacy policies and copyright issues it also facilitates the onboarding process for new employees and volunteers.

Create your organisation's content strategy and calendar:
Once you have guidelines in place you can create a content strategy based on the organisation's objectives and long-term goals at a higher level and posting frequency and platform personality at a lower level. You may use the calendar to organise campaigns and fundraising activities in advance by concentrating on important dates like holidays in your country and throughout the world as well as days when users are the most active.

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An essential tip is to focus on people and their stories. This is a great way for Nonprofits to start when producing content for social media. As you publish more images and narratives from actual people, like your beneficiaries, your content gets more personalized and easier for your audience to connect with.

When a message touches your audience's emotions, they become more easily inspired to support your cause and are also more likely to consider making a donation. In addition, you should have some content that is informative, useful, or relatable because this will encourage your audience to share your content with their contacts, which will help your organization to grow on social media.

Learning to track your social media performance:-

Once you create your content strategy and start posting on your social media channels, it’s important to understand if your content marketing is performing successfully. Once you determine the metrics to judge your content you can easily determine if you need to rethink your strategy. There are ways to gauge your success in accomplishing your objectives on social media, which are often to, have a greater impact, reach and engage more people, and assist more beneficiaries.

First off, each social media site has its own metrics that you can use to find out the fundamentals, such as how many people engaged with your content, how many people you were able to reach and how many impressions it received. While measuring engagement, it’s advised to go in depth. Receiving "Likes" on your content might be fantastic, but it can not necessarily indicate how interested the audience is since liking a post might be the simplest thing to do. However, you can be confident that your post impacted your audience and made an impression if they leave comments or take the time to share it.

It’s also essential to measure your conversions as this will be the determining factor of how impactful your content was. You can check out conversions by tracking the number of people who clicked on your website, blog posts and post links, the amount of funds raised, the number of people who filled out forms or subscribed to you, joined as volunteers, called on you for your service, registered for your events etc.

Do you feel ready to use social media yet?

We sincerely hope that learning more about the benefits of social media for Nonprofits and the ways you may utilise the platforms for your objectives was insightful to you. Social media has become an essential part of modern marketing, and it is a great way to get your nonprofit's message out to potential donors, volunteers and supporters.  Remember though, the most important thing is not just how many followers or likes you get, but what kind of message you want to send with each post! Social networking may seem overwhelming to beginners, but we hope that after reading this, it will appear more achievable to you. If you have any questions or comments on this blog post, please let us know!

Best Wishes from Team NPBridge