3 Social Media Tips to Support Your Nonprofit Marketing Plan

Picture this: your nonprofit has a fundraising gala quickly approaching. You’ve sent out your direct mail to major donors, created an engaging event landing page on your website, and highlighted your upcoming gala in your email newsletter. What’s missing from this marketing recipe?

The answer is a social media marketing plan! Social media is an effective way to grow your reach and get existing supporters excited about fundraising. With a strong social media strategy, you can boost awareness around your upcoming events and campaigns, drive traffic to your website, and encourage supporters to complete important actions like registering, signing up to volunteer, or donating. 

Let’s dive into three tips you can use to leverage social media as part of your marketing plan:

• Choose the right platforms

• Generate engaging content

• Tap ambassadors to help

Keep in mind that the key to reaching your social media goals isn’t the quantity of posts you produce; it’s the quality of your content. By generating content that is eye-catching and tailored to your audience’s interests, you’ll be more likely to keep engagement levels high and build support for your cause. 

Choose the right platforms

There are a variety of platforms that nonprofits can use to spread the word about their missions, from traditional marketing channels like Facebook to newer, more casual platforms like TikTok. To decide which platforms your nonprofit should focus on, consider the following questions: 

• What is the demographic of your target audience? Different platforms attract different age groups, so it’s important to focus your efforts on the platforms where your target audience will be most likely to see your content. For example, if your nonprofit is hoping to reach a younger audience, you might invest more time and effort into generating content on TikTok and Instagram versus Facebook and LinkedIn. 

• What are your marketing goals? Think through which platform will lend itself best to achieving your goals. For instance, if you’re leading an awareness campaign, you’ll want to choose a platform that’s more conversational and allows users to easily share content with their personal networks. It can also be helpful to consider what form of content would be most effective for pushing your goals forward. If your nonprofit’s primary goal is to educate your audience, you might opt to use a platform like Facebook, which is well-suited for longer-form content. 

• What resources are available to your nonprofit? Think through your marketing budget and the staff you have available to support your social media strategy. Some platforms might require more work than others. For example, generating video-only content on TikTok might require having a video camera and investing plenty of time into editing. 

Once you’ve nailed down which platforms make the most sense for your marketing plan, Getting Attention’s guide to digital marketing recommends tailoring your content to the specific platform you’re posting on. Each platform has ideal size constraints for photos and videos, so optimizing your visuals according to these specifications will ensure that your content looks professional and will perform well. 

Generate engaging content

Creating a variety of content will keep your social media feeds looking fresh and visually appealing, helping you to drive more audience engagement. Generate the following multimedia content to bring attention to your cause and inspire stronger supporter relationships: 

• Photos: Share photos that illuminate your nonprofit’s impact. For instance, you might share images of beneficiaries you’ve recently helped, along with a brief overview of how your nonprofit transformed their lives in the caption. This will help to add legitimacy to your cause and show how donations translate to tangible change in the community. You might also share photos to get supporters excited about upcoming fundraising campaigns and events, such as images of your volunteers setting up your venue or a sneak peek of items up for bid at your silent auction. 

• Videos: Videos can help present important information in an engaging and easily digestible manner. For example, try sharing a video of your nonprofit’s fundraising team explaining the purpose behind your upcoming campaign and why supporters should get involved. Or, film a testimonial video of your beneficiaries explaining how your nonprofit made a difference. Make sure to keep your videos short and sweet so you can sustain your audience’s attention. 

• Graphics: Graphics are a great way to break down complex information into a comprehensible visual. For example, you might create and share an infographic that shows the projected impact of your capital campaign to attract the public’s support. Or, you could create a visually appealing graph to illustrate your nonprofit’s accomplishments from the beginning of the year and encourage donations for your year-end campaign. 

Work with your team to create a comprehensive content calendar so you know what kind of content to post and when to post it. Make sure to outline responsibilities, so everyone on your team has a clear understanding of how they’ll contribute to your social media goals.  

Tap ambassadors to help

To amplify your reach and get even more people interested in your cause, ask ambassadors to help. Ambassadors are your well-connected supporters who are passionate about your mission and would be eager to spread the word about your nonprofit to their many social media followers. 

The OneCause guide to nonprofit marketing plans recommends recruiting ambassadors among your: 

• Major donors

• Staff and loyal volunteers

• Board members

• Fundraising event committee members

• Supporters with large social media followings 

• Sponsors and local business connections

Once you’ve enlisted outgoing and influential people to serve as ambassadors, set them up for success by providing clear instructions on how to support your marketing goals. For instance, it can be helpful to share your verbal and visual branding guidelines, so your ambassadors can accurately represent your organization to their followers. 

To keep energy levels high, consider hosting social media contests in which ambassadors compete to get the most likes or impressions on a post related to your nonprofit. Make sure to thank all of your ambassadors for their efforts so you can retain their support. 

Wrapping Up

Social media is a powerful tool to add to your marketing toolkit. With the right content, you can build meaningful connections with your supporters and grow your donor pool. As you share content, track relevant engagement metrics like impressions and follower growth so you can optimize your social media strategy as needed.  

Eager to learn more about honing your organization’s overall strategy? Explore how Mission Capital can help you harness your nonprofit’s full potential.