Whether you are a nonprofit or an individual holding a fundraiser, it is crucial to master the art of social media marketing. This article offers a combination of practical, algorithm-based advice and tips to appeal to the emotions of your future donors.
Step 1: Decide Who, What, When, Where And How
You have seconds to convince a viewer to donate to your cause. Be strategic!
To determine how you structure your social media marketing, it’s critical to determine the five Ws (and one H) of your strategy. Here are the questions you should ask yourself:
- Who: Who is your target audience? What age, region and interest group are you hoping to reach?
- What: What are your goals? Are you raising money for startup costs, seeking ongoing monthly donations or hoping to cover a specific emergency cost?
- When: What time frame or time restraints are there? What is the end date?
- Where: Where do members of your target demographic congregate? What platforms do they use?
- How: How can you get donors’ attention? Images and videos? Emotional stories? Clear cut facts pertaining to the effectiveness of your project?
- Why: What do you want to accomplish with your outreach?
The answers to these questions will serve as guides for crafting posts that further your goals.
Step 2: Compare And Contrast Fundraising Platforms
Two popular platforms for fundraising are GoFundMe and Facebook. As with any resources, there are advantages and disadvantages to each, so choose the tool best suited your cause.
GoFundMe
Using GoFundMe allows you to market to multiple platforms, like newsletters, instead of having your fundraiser run strictly through Facebook. Here are a few other features to consider:
- GoFundMe charges a processing fee of 2.9% plus $.30 per donation.
- GoFundMe can offer an advantage by promoting your cause for you:
Encourage followers of your page to share your fundraiser and tag their friends.
According to GoFundMe, “[Promotion] could come in the form of including you in their newsletter, writing a blog post about your campaign, sharing it on social media, text message or even reaching out to the larger media to get attention to the story.”
While there are no fees for donations made to nonprofit fundraisers based in the US through Facebook, payment processing fees still apply. At a similar price point to GoFundMe, Facebook costs 2.60% plus $0.30 USD.
One drawback to a Facebook fundraiser is that it can limit your ability to market it, as it must stay on the Facebook platform.
Step 3: Accumulate Fundraiser Donors
When it comes to growing your audience for any cause, you need to know what they care about. Once you do, you should use targeted keywords, hashtags, power words, and language to direct patrons to your cause. Think strategically about what causes, words and phrases would be used to find a fundraiser like yours.
Some other strategies to keep in mind for growing your fundraising platform include:
- Using Hooks: You have seconds to grab the attention of someone scrolling. Use a statistic, frame a question or state a dire need.
- Incorporating Narrative: a heart-wrenching story that pulls at the heart strings and share how you’re changing lives.
- Making It Personal: Post testimonials or individual stories to personalize your fundraiser.
- Including Low-Effort CTAs: Asking for a specific, small and manageable donation is always an effective way to get more people to participate.
As you accumulate fundraisers, remember to be clear about where their money will go. People will be more likely to hit “donate” if there is a clear-cut goal they feel they are contributing to directly.
Step 4: Create An Effective Fundraiser Post
Make sure your social media post is shareable. This means your text will include all relevant information, like where the money will go and a link to a website where more information can be found.
The more personal and engaging you make the fundraiser post, the more it will resonate with people.
One tip from GoFundMe is to ensure that your fundraiser title is descriptive. This includes an “action-driven” statement, as well as the name of the person or organization funds will support.
Don’t limit yourself to solely words, though. Captivating images and videos are excellent tools to illustrate your point or explain your cause. Imagery with faces and people outperforms images with text or graphics. Also, make sure the image is high-resolution.
Step 5: Continue To Interact With Fundraiser Followers
Whether you’re a marketing business or a nonprofit, social media is not a one-and-done tool. The people who care about your cause want to feel involved in the process, so involve them! Here are some ways you can continue to interact with your donors:
- Track benchmarks and update followers on the progress. Your business can post updates like “We’ve made it halfway to our goal!” or “So far, your donations have paid for 30 hot meals!”
- Continue to thank and follow up with donors to show your appreciation for their support. You can also invite your audience to be part of the grassroots fundraising. Ask them to share your posts with their friends and family.
- Facilitate conversations and ask questions. Encourage followers to engage with and comment on posts.
- Post regularly with useful statistics and information in bite-sized pieces to stay relevant and keep followers informed about your fundraiser.
- If donors share their email, send emails to help reach your goal. You can also use a newsletter or existing email blast as an opportunity to share a link to your fundraiser. GoFundMe even has an article with email templates to inspire you.
Step 6: Strategize Your Fundraiser’s Recurring Posts
Even the most dedicated donors are susceptible to losing attention. If someone has to spend a long time deciding whether to donate, you will likely lose them. Include a call to action and link to an easily accessible and well-designed page to learn more and donate.
As money accumulates, keep followers engaged by posting regularly.
Don’t be afraid to use different strategies, as well. You don’t have to collect money all the same way or use the same type of posts. While it’s important to have a target audience in mind, your audience is made up of different people. Some types of social media content will resonate more with specific members your audience, so shake things up to engage different sub-groups.
A few effective strategies that also encourage interaction are polls, surveys, requests for personal stories and open-ended questions. Make sure you also engage with people without asking them to contribute money, time or material goods.
Need Help With Your Social Media Fundraising?
If you have questions or would like the assistance of a professional marketing agency to help you market your fundraiser, Three Girls Media is happy to help! We offer a free, 30-minute consultation to learn more about your specific needs. Give us a call and find out what we can do for you.
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