ShoppingGives Social Media Marketing Guide

Transcription

1 ShoppingGives Social Media Marketing Guide

2 Table of Contents 01 Introduction 02 Fundraising Tips & Tricks 03 Facebook & Twitter Tips 04 Instagram Tips 05 Social Media Mistakes 06 Downloadable Resources 2

3 01 l Introduction By now, social media marketing has become a must do for any type of business. It s affordable, efficient, hyper-targeted, extremely effective, and with forty percent of the world s population being online at any given moment, the desire to stay virtually connected has now made social media the #1 online activity. 1 Below are some quick stats to further strengthen social media marketing with fundraising campaigns: 27% of total US Internet time is spent on social networking sites Approximately 46% of online users rely on social media when making a purchasing decision 2 We know the majority of the US population is active amongst social networking sites. It s also important to note that this is recognized by non-profit organizations, and they are using social media to their advantage: 95% of non-profit organizations worldwide have a Facebook 83% of non-profit organizations worldwide have a Twitter profile 40% are active on Instagram 18% of all online donations come from mobile device users Given the opportunity, 48% of American adults would make donations within a mobile app. 3 While marketing has been the breadwinner with online donations for fundraising, resulting in one-thirds of online fundraising revenue, social media is growing every year due to the rising popularity in peer-to-peer fundraising. Peer-to-peer fundraising, also known as people-to-people or P2P fundraising, is when someone is personally reaching out and asking for help/donations. Kickstarter and GoFundMe are the most relevant examples of P2P fundraising. As of September 2015, nearly one-third of all online donations are now a result of peer-to-peer fundraising HubSpot. 18 Fresh Stats About the Current State of Social Media Marketing 3 npengage Nonprofit Tech for Good, September

4 02 l Fundraising Tips & Tricks Branding your fundraiser First off, what is a brand? The term is widely used, but majority of people can never give a clear answer as to what brand means. The first definition of brand is the name given to a product or service from a specific source. If you think of the term brand in this sense, it s very similar to a trademark. 5 For a second definition of brand, one of the best descriptions we ve found, comes from a Forbes article written in 2011, titled What is a Brand, Anyway? Put simply, your brand is what your prospect thinks of when he or she hears your brand name. It s everything the public thinks it knows about your brand offering- both factual and emotional. Your brand Name exists objectively; people can see it. It s fixed. But your brand exists online in someone s mind. Establishing a brand can do wonders for your fundraiser. Branding your fundraiser will help you tell your story as it sets the framework and makes it more memorable for contributors. One of the best ways to establish a brand through social media is by creating a hashtag. They re trendy and users can include your hashtag when posting about your fundraiser, generating you earned and shared media. When a user clicks on a hashtag, it will display posts from everyone who has shared it. 6 Hashtags can be as simple as the name of your fundraiser or as creative as a catchy slogan. For more local fundraisers, the simple route works best, as it will include your business name and easier to remember with limited reach. 5 6 Forbes What is a Brand, Anyway? Dec. 21, 2011 Salsa Labs, March

5 For example, #SaveSmithHigh: If your hashtag starts to trend, your fundraiser is set up for a successful future! Other popular ways to brand your fundraiser would be creating logos and images specifically for your fundraiser. This should be included in every social media post, e-blast, and any other outlet you re using to market your fundraiser. Hashtags and logos should be created by the fundraiser and added into the marketing suite that Shopping.Gives provides, personalizing your marketing. This will help keep your brand original and authentic. Share Your Story Share your passion to your followers by telling a story. It can be a personal story or one that s simply about making a difference for an important cause. Sharing your story can help motivate contributors to participate. Again, this unique content should be created by your fundraiser as it s personal to your specific brand. Consider using one of the or social media templates provided by Shopping.Gives to help get your story into the world. 5

6 For example, identify specifically what you are fundraising for and how your supporter s contribution would mean to you: Remember: always include the link to your fundraiser page with every post! Target your supporters effectively Make your posts and s more effective by catering them to specific demographics. This allows you to target your supporters more effectively by make different posts/ s to separate groups based on their interests and concerns. For example, you might send out an promoting a Shopping.Give deal on Lululemon yoga pants to women who enjoy fitness while sending a separate about Spring Break vacations to people in high school and college. In short, your goal is to capture someone s attention with your posts, and the best way to do this is by catering your message specifically to who you re talking to. 6

7 Highlight Milestones Share the success you re having with the world! Your success will motivate you and your supporters. Supporters want to know how their contributions are helping, so keep them updated! Recognize supporters Everyone likes being recognized for a their good deed. Engage with supporters by giving them recognition in a post! This will also capture others attention and motivate them to join in and help. 7

8 To tag someone in a post simply insert symbol and begin typing the person's name. Once the correct person appears, select the name and you are all set! Mix up your posts Don t sound like a broken record - switch things up! Rather than just asking for money in every post, create a solid mixture of posts up with fundraiser status updates, highlight milestones, recognize supporters, asking for support, etc. Do continue to ask for contributions, but find unique ways to drive your supporters to action, using graphics, contests, or even fun photos and gifs. Be everywhere Successful marketing is reaching as many consumers in as many different ways possible. The more marketing outlets you use, the more successful your fundraiser will be. Utilize Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, campaigns, printed posters and flyers, and any other apps or outlets you know about. 8

9 03 l Facebook & Twitter Tips When to post Best times to post: Monday - Friday, 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. (Peak time: 3:00 p.m.) Worst times to post: Monday - Sunday, 8:00 p.m. - 8:00 a.m. Recommended number of posts Not posting enough will generate a low frequency (the amount of times someone sees your ad), and will lead to people forgetting about your fundraiser. However, posting too much will most likely annoy your followers/supporters. A good rule to go by is no less than one, but no more than two posts per day (per social media network). This will put you at an average of 7-10 posts per week. Media is key Pictures and videos are key tools to increase engagement and awareness. You should include a picture or video in each post. Facebook photos get 53% more likes, 104% more comments, and 84% more click-throughs on links than posts containing only text. Be sure to visit your fundraising toolkit at resources.shopping.gives/fundraising-toolkit for access to a wide variety of social media graphics to use. Recognize donors If someone donates, be sure to mention them in a post! This will show in their feed for others to see. Be Personal Facebook posts tends to be organic and conversational, and your posts should reflect this. You don t want to sound like a robot asking for money - instead, create a relationship with your friends and followers by being genuine and personal. Ask questions of your supporters, and reply to their comments and feedback. The more personal relationships you build, the more your supporters will become advocates for your cause. 9

10 04 Instagram Tips Instagram is a social media platform focused solely around pictures and video. This is a great addition to your social media lineup, allowing different posts to also be integrated into Facebook or Twitter. When to Post Best time to post - anytime! Content Post pictures of your team, you and the organization this fundraiser is supporting, flyers or posters of your ShoppingGives fundraiser! Shopping.Gives will provide customized flyers and images for your fundraiser for social media posts. Recognize donors If someone donates, be sure to mention them in a post! This will show in their feed for others to see. You could post a photo of the donor with the team, or some other type of representation that shows your fundraiser reach its goals. 10

11 05 Social Media Mistakes Automated Posts To avoid sounding like a spambot, personalize your posts. You want all of your posts to be conversational. If you tend to send automated posts regularly, users will begin associating you with spam and ignore your posts. This is an example of creating a negative impact on your brand. Posting too much/not enough Stay active in your social media feed, but don t post too much - that will result in annoying your supporters. A good rule to go by is no less than one, but no more than 2 posts on the average day (per social media networks). This will put you at an average of 7-10 posts per week. Bluntly asking for money No one is going to want to follow someone who only reaches out when they are asking for money. Curating content is always important. Be sure to post things such as interesting reads, videos, blogs, and other content that is relevant to your audience. This is a good way to stay active in your feed, but again, don t post too much. Comment mistakes Be careful when responding to comments, especially negative ones. Responding to comments can result in a PR nightmare if you approach them incorrectly, such angrily or in a defensive nature. Use common sense, don t respond hastily, and avoid anything that can have a negative effect to either sides of the party. 11

12 06 l Downloadable Resources To make it easier to focus on outreach and engaging your supporters, Shopping.Gives has provided a library of resources to help you during your fundraiser. These resources can be found by signing in at Shopping.Gives and visiting your fundraiser dashboard. From there, select Promote in the middle of the page to and a link to your fundraising toolkit. You can also access the toolkit directly at resources.shopping.gives/fundraising-toolkit. Here you will find: 1. Social media graphics 2. templates 3. banners 4. thank you banners 5. Best practices 6. Motivational guides In many instances, there will be multiple options for you to choose from to help you customize your outreach to your supporters. As always, if you have any questions, you can reach our team at! 12