Social Media Marketing Best Practices For Nonprofits
Are you looking for strategies to boost social media marketing for your nonprofit in 2021?
Covid pandemic has led to many of the nonprofits working on the frontlines in helping affected communities. Social media is assisting nonprofits worldwide in donation action drives or fundraising activities or generating awareness.
But social media marketing for nonprofits is becoming overwhelming as it can be hard to juggle between all the tasks & responsibilities during these times.
You need to understand a few social media marketing tactics for nonprofits to get the most out of social media. Each social media channel has its features and special perks. If you do not have a deep understanding of these facets or do not follow a proper social media marketing strategy, social media for nonprofits can turn into sour grapes for your organization.
To leverage social media for nonprofits, we have compiled a few things in this blog to help you to achieve your organization's goal. Dig deep to understand the challenges of social media for nonprofits, best practices for social media for nonprofits, or to know how to start social media marketing for nonprofits in 2021. Let's get started.
- What Are The Challenges Of Social Media for Nonprofits?
- Why Set Your Niche for Social Media Marketing Best Practices?
- Insight On Social Media Platforms For Nonprofits
- Top Social Media Marketing Best Practices for Nonprofits
- Statusbrew As Social Media Marketing Tool For Your Nonprofit
You can directly jump to a section of your choice or keep scrolling.
What Are The Challenges Of Social Media for Nonprofits?
Usually, most nonprofits are charity organizations that work for a specific cause or advocate a particular point of view. A few nonprofits generate revenue with the help of training programs or selling merchandise, but most nonprofits are run on the donations of the stakeholders and supporters.
Besides, nonprofits usually have a small team assigned with different responsibilities. However, to understand the depth of the issue, let's check out the following points:
Limited Workforce
Nonprofit organizations have a team with limited human resources. The responsibilities are shared between the paid team members, the volunteers, and the board of directors. The skeletal team also manages social media marketing for nonprofits. But since the team has other responsibilities, they may not concentrate fully on social media.
After managing their work profile or other responsibilities assigned to them, they have little time to spend on social media profiles. Therefore sometimes, it is not possible for the team to regularly monitor & maintain an active social media presence.
Besides, the person who is managing your social media may not have expertise in this field. It also may happen that there is a lack of motivation to understand the know-how of social media marketing for nonprofits after doing their other responsibilities. Your team may know the goal or issues, but they do not know how to attain the goal with full potential.
In that way, team members or the volunteers who are managing your organization's social media handle may not maintain the frequency. The varying frequency of posting affects the engagement and reach of your content to your target audience or donors.
Statusbrew's publishing and scheduling features can help you maintain content frequency. You can schedule your post up to one month in advance.
Minimal Budget & Hesitation
Nonprofits run on the funds provided by the stakeholders or the donor. Hence the organizations are usually on a limited budget. After spending funds on advocacy for the cause your organization is working for, there is a monetary constraint to spend much on other marketing activities.
It isn't easy to raise funds with similar nonprofits competing for it. You need to create the impact with a minimum budget and it is possible by following certain social media best practices for nonprofits.
Further, the member of your organization managing social media might have hesitation to use social media. Hence your organization may face the potential conflict between the goal and the content of the post.
The social media manager of your organization may be afraid that they may post controversial content that harms the organization's image. Out of hesitation, they avoid posting with a free mind. It affects content creativity.
Compassion Fatigue
Compassion fatigue is a new phenomenon. Compassion fatigue is primarily seen in helping professions like nonprofits; as per research, between 40% to 85% of human beings working in the helping profession undergo compassion fatigue at some time. Your teammates can also face this issue due to excessive streamline of news or social media campaigns.
It can affect the performance, morale, rational, and behavioral aspects of your team members. It can directly affect the organization's growth and image.
Multiple Social Media Channels & Multiple Profiles
Social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google My Business differ from each other, and all of them have the potential to enhance your organization's growth. If you want to achieve your goals through social media for nonprofits, try to consolidate these platforms to one dashboard.
In that way, it is easier to understand the reach and impression of your social media marketing for nonprofits. Also, you can measure and understand your audience's likes and dislikes through sentiment analysis. Statusbrew is one such platform where you can consolidate your social media channels. It can also help you analyze your audience and supporters' needs.
Another issue that nonprofits deal with is multiple social media profiles. Volunteers and team members who want to support the organization. But multiple profiles create chaos and negatively impact the organizations. Stakeholders and supporters find it confusing to understand which profile bears the flagship of the organization.
To mitigate this issue, select one lead among your team members to handle your nonprofit's social media. Assign teammates from account to maintain content regularity, also create a social media marketing strategy to help them with best practices for social media for nonprofits.
Statusbrew can also help in this regard. In Statusbrew, you can add multiple teammates to work on your social media profiles but can keep the authority on your hand. If they want to post content on your official social media pages, they are required to take your approval. Besides, you can decide which section of the profiles are accessible by your teammates.
Visibility Issue And Broad Niche
Visibility is one of the significant parameters for your organization's growth. But due to competition in the nonprofits sector, it is challenging to maintain visibility. To attract the attention of the traditional media, your organization has to do unique work that is newsworthy. It is not always possible to be in the press with this kind of work.
Furthermore, many nonprofits tend to expand their niche of working when they see a decline in their supporters. Over-expanding of your organization's niche results in diluting the message. It also loses focus. It becomes difficult to comprehend your priorities.
Image Source: NOAA's Ocean Service Twitter
When your organization has a specific niche, even though you face the issues for outreach, it becomes easier for you to overcome the challenges. You can create a social media marketing strategy as per your audience's demographic and create a user persona for the social media content.
Why Set Your Niche For Social Media Marketing?
Choose a niche and set your goal accordingly to attain the most out of social media. Following other nonprofits is good, but make it clear to have a niche of your own. Understand your audience demography and set a specific role your organization can perform or work for. Choosing a distinctive mission is one of the social media marketing best practices.
Nurturing the same niche fully makes your organization more prudent. It can impact your supporters; your messages through content can touch them quickly, and the followers become your supporters or donors. A specific niche helps you to stay focused.
For example, the charity organization Pencils Of Promise is a nonprofit with a very focused and clear niche. The organization is working towards providing quality education to the kids belonging to underdeveloped communities across the globe. Organization's social media page is well defined and with engaging content. Right from the unique storytelling to the visuals from their organization's work, their Facebook page is engaging and transparent.
Image Source: Pencils Of Promise Facebook
Choosing a specific niche is helpful for social media marketing for nonprofits because:
Creates The Right Connections
Niche social media marketing for nonprofits makes it easier to reach your target audience, stakeholders, and donors. Your campaign or event can get the desired result even within a limited budget and time frame. Your campaign can create more impact among the selected mass since there is no ambiguity in the message.
Also, it helps your organization to make the right connections that can strengthen the organization's workforce. Since people can relate to the message quickly, you can get more volunteers or supporters who willingly come forward to support your cause.
It's also easier to connect with peer organizations or create an association with other nonprofits stand behind the exact cause. You can design your campaign with an excellent social media marketing strategy choosing the right platform. Understanding audience demographics will also become easier for you.
Image Source: Mental Health America
Focused Content
According to Massachusetts University's Center For Marketing Research, 71% of nonprofits use social media for donation drives. Niche social media marketing for nonprofits is hyper-focused. It can boost your donation drives. You can create visual content for storytelling, share individual stories or impact stories. Whatever content you create is focusing on only one niche.
When there is no ambiguity in the content, chances of audience engagement are high. You'll also be able to study the audiences of the nonprofits working on the exact cause. With all these steps, you can create the user persona of content, and it comes under one of the best practices of social media for nonprofits helping your organization's growth.
Insight On Social Media Platforms For Nonprofits
To get results from social media for nonprofits, you need to be focused, committed, and strategic. Besides getting your desired results, there should be a balance between your time, effort, and resources.
You perhaps question yourself if you annoy your followers by posting every day on each platform. Or you may be uncertain what if your followers don't want to communicate with you several times a day. To get rid of this fear, it is essential to understand the algorithm of social media.
You do not annoy your followers if you share valuable content or unique content after understanding the audience's needs. Posting timely and relevant content is one of the best social media practices for nonprofits.
When you choose the right channel with a good social media policy for nonprofits, it enhances its engagement. Sharing information also makes your organization credible, which helps in relationship building with your supporters or followers, or donors. The number of post per day depends on your organization's social media strategy, but here are some guidelines to help you out:
Facebook For Your Nonprofit
According to data, in 2021, Facebook has 2.74 billion monthly active users. The information also revealed that 32% of people between the age group 12-34 use Facebook regularly. 77% of the users of Facebook are within the age range between 34 to 49 years.
Facebook has special features for nonprofit organizations, like the donation action button or the fundraising tools for supporters or donation reporting features. Once your nonprofits qualify for this feature, Facebook can be your organization's voice on social media.
Image Source: Mental Health America Facebook
Using the fundraising tools, you can share content or events related to your organization's vision and mission. With a wide range of users, it can be a powerful platform for your organization's growth.
Focus on creating quality content that can draw attention. Share content in the form of video, images, or text. Try to tell a story with your content, share first-person narratives. Make sure to add good visuals with each content.
Twitter For Your Nonprofit
Twitter is the platform for real-time news and to know about ongoing trends. It is the platform where news and information spread incredibly quickly, and your nonprofit can use this platform to share timely news. Besides, you can connect to your supporters rapidly on this platform.
According to a recent survey, the most considerable age demographic in Twitter is 18 years to 29 years, and the platform has 353 million monthly active users. 77% of users on Twitter feel positive when organizations or brands reply to their tweets.
Before you use Twitter, ensure to review how other nonprofits are using this platform. While you are preparing content, make sure to amalgamate visuals content with your brand to the full potential use of the platform. Also, make it a point to understand Twitter's features like Twitter hashtags, followers lists, Twitter alerts, and analytics and try to use Twitter fleets as well.
Nonprofits like the National Forests Foundation or American Heart Association are playing the Twitter game on point. The National Forests Foundation uses visuals in most of its Tweets. Another social media best practice the organization follows is engaging with followers and other organization's replies and reciprocity.
Image Source: National Forests Foundation Twitter
To call for action for the donation drives in front of the organization, they pin the posts related to it on their profile. They have also created CTA posts to sign up for their newsletter. They are perfectly making a balance between the informative tweets and CTA tweets.
American Heart Association uses the branded hashtag on Twitter, calling people to share their narratives. The organization is also running campaigns partnering with other nonprofits similar to their cause. The organization also motivates user-generated content by retweeting answers for a healthy heart.
Image Source: American Heart Association Twitter
Instagram For Your Nonprofit
Instagram is a platform primarily for visual content or visual stories. To catch the pattern of your followers, you need to create aesthetic and colorful content loaded with information. If you want to reach a comparatively younger audience, this is the right platform to choose.
According to a survey, 67% of people between the age group 18 to 29 use Instagram. More than 1.2 billion users use Instagram monthly. Around 200 million users on Instagram visit a business profile, and more than 150 million people use Instagram direct messaging to communicate with organizations.
To get the most out of this social media platform, set up a business account so that you can get the insights. Share appealing visuals of your nonprofit's missions, show the hardships of the nonprofits as well.
Post-thought-provoking questions on stories; share your knowledge on the mission you are working for—post reels to share behind the scenes and use relevant hashtags. Instagram has also introduced donation stickers that can boost your fundraising activities.
Image Source: UNICEF Instagram
Top Social Media Marketing Best Practices for Nonprofits
Your digital presence as a nonprofit will define, to a large extent, the success that you see in your field of work, attention, that you can ultimately enjoy.
It is vital that you up your social media game, even more so for a nonprofit, as nonprofits need to have a good network of donors, volunteers, and well-wishers.
Social media for nonprofits is all about understanding how you can best present yourself, the activities that will give a good representation of your efforts, and the motives of your organization.
Users' engagement with your social media accounts ultimately defines the success you will enjoy with your nonprofit. And to create a good and lasting impact that calls people to action, these social media best practices for nonprofits are an excellent way to follow.
Promote Your Website & Email Address
As much as social media has evolved to include various features into their platforms, the traditional promotional practices are still prevalent; email and websites. Emails still give a personal touch, which is essential to create emotional connections for nonprofits to grow. Followers still look up to a nonprofit's website to find out more about them.
Social media still is in the lead, but emails are still the go to medium for official communication. You should, however, never undermine the importance that emails hold in terms of subscriptions. A lot of nonprofits' web portals prompt you to subscribe to their emails.
The look of the website goes a long way to create a positive impression. Today, even when people follow the pages and accounts of nonprofits on social media platforms, some users tend to look for the websites, even within the social media accounts. As a result, several leading social media platforms have started to host websites within accounts.
Social Media Content Calendar
Being a nonprofit, you must keep the funds coming. It is also crucial that you keep a good rapport going with nonprofits and groups working in similar fields as you. For this, you can regularly post updates on the development of your work & your plans. For a personal touch, you should email these developments to your donors.
To update your donors and stakeholders, regularly make a social media calendar in advance. Discuss the content with your teammates. Ensure that your content includes impact stories of your organizations, appreciation towards your supporters, narratives of your teammates, fund drives, etc.
These types of content can attract your follower's attention and make the organization authentic and credible. If you are planning to start a newsletter, also include promotional posts for the same on the calendar.
Call For Action
Some of your posts should regularly go towards making appeals to the users for helping and donating towards your cause. Creating a CTA post is a great way to transform the awareness of your supporters into action. Try to make a post where you can focus on how hard your team is working & all the good things you are doing. This increases loyalty, as well as presents a good image.
You must showcase and share the work of other nonprofits and organizations that are working in similar fields. After all, what you cannot accomplish alone can be accomplished with associates. Your content should be suitable for all modes, i.e., while you design a post, make sure that you don't just make posts accessible to PC users. Design your content so that they are accessible and easy to read/follow on mobiles and tablets.
Consistent Social Media Strategy
Maintaining continuity across all the social media platforms is a good practice for social media for nonprofits. Make sure to use the same hashtags if you are gearing up for a fundraising event or a social media campaign. Maintaining a continuity prevents diluting the focus of the campaign.
Also, coherent social media marketing for nonprofits ensures to build the brand image. Your audiences can identify the brand on each platform, and the visibility of your organization increases.
Measure the success of the campaign by tracking impressions, views, reach. Also monitor the engagement, i.e., likes, share comments, etc. Besides, integrate your online assets.
Statusbrew As A Social Media Marketing Tool For Your Nonprofit
Statusbrew helps you publish, engage with the audience, and create customized reports for all social media platforms from one place.
Create and schedule multiple social media posts on different sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Google My Business with Statusbrew.
Statusbrew's comment management feature helps you automatically hide or delete unwanted comments on your posts & ads.
Statusbrew offers a 50% discount to eligible nonprofits.
Book a free demo with Statusbrew to understand how it can work for your nonprofit organization.
Statusbrew is an all-in-one social media management tool that supports Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Linkedin, and even Google My Business.
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