Social media use by nonprofits continues to increase. A benchmark report found that nonprofit audiences on the three most popular social media platforms grew steadily in 2017, with Facebook audiences growing by 13%, Twitter by 15%, and Instagram by 44%. These numbers aren’t surprising, and they’re not expected to slow anytime soon.

But if your organization is like most small and medium-sized nonprofits, you face a number of challenges. Optimizing your social media use can feel overwhelming, especially given that most organizations must operate within tight budget constraints.

Fortunately, you don’t need unlimited funds to make a splash online. The following tips can help your nonprofit make a big impact on a small budget.

Create a Plan

You wouldn’t operate your nonprofit without a strategic plan. Similarly, don’t approach your social media without a written plan in place. Start by gathering or developing the following information:

• Which platforms you currently have a presence and audience on
• Which platforms are currently producing the best results (likes, follows, engagement, donations, sending viewers to your website, etc.)
• A social media mission statement that aligns with your organizational mission
• Your organization’s target audience
• Key goals (Sharing news? Increasing donations? Attracting volunteers?)
• Key success metrics

Once you’ve identified these factors, you can come up with a content strategy. It may help to think of your social media content as an extension of your other communications efforts. Align your social media posts with your website, blog and email outreach to create consistent brand messaging. Remember: your content should offer value to your audience, as well as ask for their support.

Next, create a publishing calendar that meets your audience’s needs. Balance your social media communications with other types of content like blog posts, emails, and newsletters. Not only will having a calendar make it easier to keep up, but you’ll also ensure that your organization stays top of mind for your audience.

Enlist Supporters to Boost Your Messaging

If you’re just getting started on social media (or your efforts need a bit of a boost), enlist some trusted supporters. There’s no shame in asking staff, volunteers or long-time donors to engage with your posts. An active group of supporters can go a long way toward amplifying messages, especially when you’re building up a new audience.

Include Interactive Content

When it comes to social media success, engagement is key. Posting interactive content boosts engagement, as it asks your audience to do something. Bonus: creating interactive content can be easier for you, as it may not require hours of writing to come up with a unique post.

Examples of interactive content include:

• Polls
• Quizzes
• Surveys
• Calculators
• Q&A sessions
• Webinars
• Asking your readers to share their stories
• Asking your readers to like, share, or respond with an emoji

Respond Quickly and Consistently

You want your social media to spark engagement…but that means you have to be engaged, too. When a reader reaches out through social media, respond quickly. The timing of your response is important, as it may help cement their image of your organization as responsive and reliable. Check your notifications regularly and respond as soon as you can.

Some sites, such as Facebook, will publicize your response rate on your profile. If your organization “typically responds within a few weeks,” people will be discouraged from reaching out to you at all.

Utilize Hashtags

Large social media platforms — like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram — are pay-to-play. That means they have their own search engines and organizations can pay to increase the reach of their posts. But if your nonprofit doesn’t have the budget for this, using hashtags may offer a solution.

Adding the right hashtags to your social media posts will increase your organization’s visibility in search results. How do you choose an effective hashtag? There are two ways:

• Using an already-popular hashtag
• Creating your own branded hashtag

At first, jumping onto an already-trending hashtag may be most effective. As you grow your audience, start using branded hashtags of your own. Encourage your followers to use your hashtag when they share or re-post your messages. You may have to test a few options before one takes off, but the payoff can be huge.

Use Visuals in Your Posts

Studies indicate that social media users are much more likely to engage with posts that include pictures or videos. Large, high-quality images tend to attract the most attention. Experiment with embedding videos, infographics, GIFs and photos that resonate with your audience. Pictures of donors and events may be especially effective, as they showcase your organization’s personality.

Build Relationships with Donor Management Software

Once you’ve acquired a crowd of social media followers, how do you turn them into a strong support base?  Using the right donor management software makes it easy.

As you engage with new supporters online, be sure to add them to your donor management software. From there, you can easily organize your contacts, track offline interactions, and improve your outreach through customized and automated workflows.

To further streamline your social media and fundraising efforts, include a link to your online donation page in your social media profiles. When an individual enters a donation, they’ll automatically be logged as a new donor in your database — it’s that simple.

Conclusion

When you’re working with a small budget and limited staff, as most nonprofits do, optimizing your social media usage can feel overwhelming. However, tracking the connections you make, automating your follow-up communications, and providing convenient opportunities to donate allows you to make the most of this popular marketing strategy. That’s why Method:Donor is here to assist, with donor management software that helps you turn social media followers into loyal supporters.

The post Big Impact on a Small Budget: Social Media Tips for Nonprofits appeared first on Method.

The social media landscape has also changed significantly in a short period of time. Back when Wasek started her firm, VM Wasek CPA, LLC, in 2010, no one used Facebook for business marketing — the platform was strictly for personal connections with your “real” family and friends. Today, it’s just one of several social platforms that are heavily used by businesses of all sizes.

While social media marketing might seem intimidating, Wasek believes it is a powerful tool for all modern accountants and bookkeepers: “I have grown my business entirely through online sources.” Her goal for the session was to take the guesswork out of social media by covering her seven tried-and-true strategies for engaging new clients online.

1. Know Your Audience

Knowing your audience is absolutely essential to engaging them through your social media endeavors. You have to know exactly who your ideal customer is because the goal isn’t necessarily to reach a lot of people – it’s to reach the right people.

“Be intentional about the types of clients you choose to work with,” advised Wasek. The clients you’re aiming for are the ones who will value you and pay a premium for the work that you do. Build a profile of your ideal client — Wasek likened it to the exercise of listing your ideal qualities in a mate. Where are they located? What industry are they in? How large is their business? These clues will help you craft the messages you’ll post on social media.

Once you know who your ideal client is, you need to figure out what their biggest needs are. These needs may be related to emotion, time, or money. Identify how your product or service can solve the client’s problem and resolve their frustration. Then, think about how you can build a connection with them by answering these questions:

• What are they searching for online?
• How can you provide value?
• How can you meet their specific needs?

2. Stand Out and Get Noticed

Chances are, you’re not the only one targeting a certain group of clients. This means you need to look at where you fit in the market — and determine what makes your firm stand out from the others. “If you don’t stand out from the competition, all you can compete on is price,” said Wasek.

However, your ideal client is looking for more than just a discount. They want to make a personal connection with you; they want to work with a real person. Social media gives you an outlet to showcase who you are as a person and a company, thereby allowing you to make an authentic emotional connection.

Avoid solely sharing sales information or promoting your services on your social media channels. Instead, take the opportunity to tell your story and your employees’ stories in a fun and unique way. Wasek encouraged the audience to think about the aspects of their “normal” lives that they could bring into their businesses: Who are you? What are you passionate about? What are your interests?

Wasek offered some other tips for letting your company’s personality shine through on social media:

• Use headshots instead of logo images. Your logo is an important part of your branding, but no one wants to work with a logo. Let potential clients see the real person behind the company.
• Share behind-the-scenes photos of your team. These are super effective because people love to see the personalities of the professionals they’ll be working with. Hire a photographer and devote a few hours to capturing what life really looks like in your office.

• Share videos. Videos are another highly effective way to connect with your audience because they help clients determine if they would enjoy working with you. You can produce scripted videos for a more polished performance, or share more casual peeks into your everyday office life or big events.

3. Establish Yourself as an Expert

In order to cut through the noise on social media, you need a reason for people to pay attention to you. Take stock of your “superpowers.” Do you have extensive knowledge in certain areas? Do you specialize in a particular niche that no one else covers?

Also consider any special credentials you have, including awards, honors, and accolades. This is where you need to stop being humble and make sure that you publicize your strengths. “If there’s ever an opportunity for an award — I nominate myself,” explained Wasek. You can increase your “trust” factor by highlighting your expertise on your social media profiles.

Producing content is another great way to demonstrate your authority in the industry. This might include blogging, writing guest posts for industry blogs, creating video content for YouTube, producing ebooks — whatever plays to your strengths. You should also make sure that your LinkedIn profile and Find-a-ProAdvisor listing are up-to-date and that they highlight your credentials. Remember, your ideal clients will pay premium prices to work with a trusted expert.

4. Make Connections

What if one social media post led you to find some of your biggest clients? “It can happen — it happened to me,” said Wasek. She went on to tell the audience how her LinkedIn activity led to two referrals that ultimately netted $200,000.

But before you can get the valuable referrals, you need to establish connections. Your goal is to use social media to build relationships with as many people as possible. Look for industry and niche influencers, other trusted advisors (including accountants, bookkeepers, consultants, and attorneys), and prospects who fit your ideal client profile. All the while, you’re aiming to increase your “know”, “like” and “trust” factors.

One of Wasek’s pro tips for making connections on LinkedIn is to ensure that your headline clearly spells out what you do. “This is essentially free advertising if you use the headline effectively,” she noted. She recommends using a simple magic formula: “I help [ideal client] to [achieve a desired outcome in terms of time/money/emotion].”

5. Share Valuable Content

Content really is king. Wasek explained that by sharing valuable, informative content with your ideal clients, you help them move beyond the searching stage and into the engaging, connecting, and trusting stages.

“A lot of times when I talk to prospective clients, they say ‘I feel like I know you’ — and that is powerful because when your prospective client feels like they know you, they’re ready to work with you.”

Of course, it’s not just about putting out any old content — you need a strategy. You already know your audience and what their biggest needs are, so your next step is to come up with content topics that address those needs. These topics will often be based on the questions that clients ask you — for instance, how to do something in QuickBooks. Wasek also recommends looking at what types of things people are searching for on Google or what offerings Intuit is currently promoting.

There are many different platforms where content can be shared, including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn Publishing, or your personal blog or podcast. But you don’t have to do it all! Instead, focus on your strengths and put effort into creating unique content that resonates with your audience.

6. Build Community

If social media has taught us anything, it’s that people want to be part of a community. “I didn’t realize that until I started a Facebook group,” said Wasek.

Wasek strongly recommends Facebook groups as the best way to connect with like-minded people online. You can join groups for accountants and bookkeepers or for specific industries or apps. You can also establish your own groups to mark yourself as an expert in your field and generate referrals.

Regardless of which groups you’re in, aim to start conversations, build relationships, give value, and learn from others. The more communities you’re involved in, the more you can build your network and grow your social media audience.

7. Craft a Powerful Call-to-Action

At the end of the day, you want your social media strategies to help you turn prospects into clients. This means you need to master the art of the CTA, or call-to-action.

Your CTA is the action you want a prospect to take when they visit your pages; this prompt should be included wherever you share your content. For example, you might ask prospects to learn more about your services, join your mailing list, or book a discovery call. The idea behind a CTA is to keep the conversation going and guide your audience through the next stage of your sales funnel.

Wasek ended her session by encouraging the audience to join her own Facebook group — a real-life call-to-action that reinforced just how powerful these seven social media strategies can be.

Want more #QBConnect content? Check out our full coverage of QuickBooks Connect San Jose 2018!

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