Social media for nonprofits

Social media for nonprofits is using social media platforms and online communities to boost awareness, connect with donors, and help NGOs (non-governmental organizations) reach their missions. Social media networks allow nonprofits to communicate with their target audiences, share stories, engage with supporters, and raise funds.

In this article, we’ll unveil the reasons for nonprofits to use social media and the benefits it carries for them. We’ll also provide a guide on building a social media strategy for nonprofits, some excellent tips, and examples.

Why should nonprofits use social media?

There are numerous reasons for non-profit organizations to start using social media. Below, you can find the biggest ones.

• Better visibility and reach. Since social media networks have billions of users who actively use the platforms, NGOs can expand their audience and act not locally but internationally. They can connect with donors, supporters, and volunteers worldwide, reaching their missions faster.
• Cost-effective marketing. Social media networks provide a cost-effective and powerful means to communicate your message to the right audience, allowing more people to participate in your social impact. They enable you to share content in various forms, including videos, images, and stories.
• Community building. With Instagram and Facebook, nonprofits can establish and nurture communities of supporters, volunteers, donors, and beneficiaries. You can create dedicated groups, pages, or hashtags where members can connect, share resources, and participate in discussions about your NGO's mission.
• Fundraising. Social media gives you access to various fundraising tools to collect funds and engage donors. You can use these channels to promote fundraising campaigns, crowdfunding initiatives, and donations, allowing individuals to send money through Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
• Engagement. You can share compelling stories, testimonials, and success stories related to your cause. By sharing your mission and possible social impact, your nonprofit inspires and engages its audience, fostering a deeper emotional connection and sense of solidarity with supporters.
• Awareness campaigns. Social media serve as a valuable tool for nonprofits to advocate for social and environmental causes, raise awareness about important issues, and attract supporters for advocacy campaigns. Your NGO can use social media to amplify your messages, share relevant news and information, and search for public support for policy change, social justice, and environmental conservation efforts.

Now let’s review the pros you can reap after incorporating social media into your marketing strategy.

Benefits of Social Media for Nonprofits

Social media offers numerous benefits for nonprofits, providing them with powerful tools to reach their missions, engage with donors, and drive impact. Here are some of the main pros.

• Cost-effectiveness. Social media provides cost-effective marketing and promotion channels to raise awareness about your mission, programs, and events. Nonprofits can leverage social media to share stories, videos, photos, and other content without incorporating expensive advertising campaigns.
• Real-time communication. You can communicate with your audience in real-time through social media, providing updates, news, and information about programs, events, and impact. These platforms help you respond to inquiries, address concerns, and start conversations with your followers.
• Donor acquisition. Social media platforms offer powerful tools to interact with donors and encourage them to participate in your initiative. They allow you to showcase your impact and highlight the importance of financial support, inspiring people to contribute.
• Data and analytics insights. Social media networks provide powerful analytics tools your NGO can use to track the performance of your posts, campaigns, and engagement metrics. By analyzing this data, your organization can gain valuable insights into its audience demographics, content effectiveness, and engagement trends, enabling you to improve strategies, optimize outreach efforts, and maximize impact.

Now that you know about the pros, it’s time to proceed to the short guide on building a social media strategy for nonprofits.

How to build a social media strategy for nonprofits?

Creating a social media strategy for NGOs implies following several important steps to ensure effective communication, engagement, and fundraising efforts. In this section, we’ll provide you with a well-structured guide on doing this.

1. Define goals. Before diving into a social media strategy, you should figure out what you want to achieve through social media. For instance, your goal can be raising awareness, increasing donations, or recruiting volunteers. When making up your main objectives, ensure they are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely.
2. Identify your target audience. The next step involves understanding who your target is: donors, volunteers, beneficiaries, or another group of people. For this purpose, consider conducting audience research and finding out about their demographics, interests, and behavior.
3. Determine the networks your audience uses. You need to identify the social media platforms where your audience is most active. Networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok are suitable to communicate your message, yet based on your audience demographics and content type.
4. Create attention-catching content. When developing content for your NGO, you should ensure it aligns with your mission and resonates with your target audience. Consider sharing stories, testimonials, impact updates, and behind-the-scenes so that people can know what you do and how you bring change to society. They can feel the atmosphere and other people’s problems and strive to help your organization.
5. Engage with your followers. Communicate with your audience in various ways, including comments, messages, and mentions. By encouraging user-generated content and participation through contests, polls, and challenges, you’ll make your audience more active and eager to bring change to the problems your nonprofit fights with.
6. Add visuals. Since visual content performs better on social media, consider using images, videos, and graphics when making posts. For the best results, incorporate relevant visuals that have high quality.
7. Use hashtags and trends. To improve the visibility of your posts and join relevant conversations, consider using relevant hashtags. Tracking trending topics and hashtags allows you to participate in broader discussions and boost your social media reach.
8. Assess performance. Pay attention to key metrics, including engagement rates, reach, click-through rates, and conversions. When utilizing social media analytics tools, you can collect insights into your content and make adjustments to improve your strategy accordingly.
9. Collaborate with opinion leaders. It would help if you collaborated with other nonprofits, influencers, or businesses to spread your message to a wider audience and bring more volunteers and donors to your organization. By establishing positive relationships with followers, supporters, and community members online and offline, you’ll be able to engage with them and encourage them to impact your initiatives.

Now that you know how to create a social media strategy for your nonprofit organization, it’s time to check out some useful tips.

12 Best Tips for Nonprofits Using Social Media

Using social media for nonprofits is a must since they can engage with supporters, raise awareness about their cause, and drive donations. Yet you should do it right to achieve the necessary results. Here are some valuable tips for improving your organization's impact on social media.

1. Tell stories of impact. Consider sharing success stories and testimonials to humanize your organization and demonstrate your impact. You can share stories of your volunteers and other people involved from their perspective.
2. Contribute to user engagement. Encourage interaction and engagement with your audience by asking questions, hosting polls, and responding to comments and messages quickly.
3. Utilize visual elements. You should use visually appealing images, videos, and graphics to catch people’s eyes and communicate your message. When adding visuals to your Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok, ensure they resonate with your audience and your organization.
4. Optimize timing and frequency. Before sharing your posts on social media, you need to find the right moment. Consider posting content when your audience is most active and likely to engage. To identify the right timing and frequency, conduct a short research. It will help you to find out what works best for your organization.
5. Use hashtags effectively. Consider researching to identify the relevant hashtags you can use to increase the visibility of your content. You can add popular and niche hashtags to your posts to reach a broader audience.
6. Develop a posting schedule. You can keep your audience engaged and informed by sticking to a regular posting schedule. For creating a posting schedule, consider utilizing special tools to plan and automate posts and adjust to current events and trends.
7. Collaborate with partners. Partner with other nonprofits, influencers, businesses, and community organizations to amplify your message and reach new audiences.
8. Give value. When posting on social media, make sure your content is valuable and informative, meeting your target audience's needs and interests. Consider giving helpful resources, tips, and educational content related to your organization and mission.
9. Include calls to action. Add CTAs to your posts, encouraging your followers to donate, volunteer, or sign petitions. They should be clear and visible to users.
10. Track and analyze performance. After incorporating your social media strategy, monitor its performance. Consider using analytics tools Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and other platforms offer. Once you receive the insights, you should adjust your strategy to improve the performance over time.
11. Stay transparent. When communicating with users on social media, you need to maintain transparency and authenticity. Your posts should be honest and genuine, sharing information about your organization, activities, and impact.
12. Consider establishing a community. By building trusting relationships with followers and creating a community, you encourage them to participate actively in conversations. They can support relevant causes and highlight the achievements of others in your community.

Now that you know some effective tips, let’s proceed to the examples.

Nonprofit Social Media Examples

Numerous NGOs use different social media networks to reach their goals and bring social impact to societies worldwide. In this section, we’ll review some successful examples of incorporating social media into nonprofits.

Feeding America: Informing about Events

Feeding America is a well-known organization with 200 food banks focusing on hunger in the United States and striving to fight these problems. This nonprofit network uses social media to boost awareness, bring more donors, and increase food supplies to those in need. The organization uses various Instagram tools, including stories, posts, and highlights, to communicate the problem to a broad audience worldwide and fight hunger, which is still a big problem for many countries in the 21st century.

The nonprofit informs about its upcoming events through Instagram stories and saves all the important information in its highlights. This is necessary for those who missed stories but would like to know more about a webinar or offline event and maybe attend it.

Save the Children

Save the Children, the humanitarian nonprofit established for children, actively uses social media to promote its initiatives and gain support from all around the world. The organization shares stories on Facebook and encourages donors to participate in making the children’s lives who suffer from wars and extreme violence better. This NGO starts various initiatives on holidays, including Valentine’s Day. Save the Children invites you to join the Save the Children Action Network and donate to kids worldwide.

Danish Refugee Council

The Danish Refugee Council is a nonprofit organization focused on helping refugees flee their homes. The organization takes care of people who have to leave their houses because of wars, earthquakes, flooding, and other disasters. This NGO encourages social media users to donate and help people who have their homes destroyed.

Congrats, now you know what social media for nonprofits is and why it’s crucial. Hope that our guide and examples will inspire you to create an outstanding strategy for your social media strategy.