As nonprofit organizations we get focused on appeal and end of year letters, especially during this time of year. However, letters aren’t the only way to reach donors. Quite often you need to get your message to them where and when they are. This means taking advantage of social media.
The main issue with social media is that as an organization you cannot control to whom or how your message is seen. And because someone may not be online when you share your message, it’s possible that you’ll miss your donor all together. So it is important to control the things that you can take control of.
What can you control? What you post. When you post. How you post.
Using analytics you can see which of your posts get the most engagement as well as the most popular time for you to post on various social media platforms. While this is a very in-depth topic that you can very wrapped up in, the important things to note are in general when your people seem to be most active on social media and what type of content they prefer. Are the posts asking for support or volunteers getting more traction than say pictures of the good work you do or videos? Answering questions very broadly, even as analytics is a much deeper topic, can help point you in the right track.
With these answers, you can begin to craft your organization’s social media strategy. You can also use this information to help you create compelling, actionable correspondence for your donors. For example, if you receive more interaction on posts that talk about the work you do with pictures, see how you can incorporate that information into your letters.
It’s important not to forget about social media or the impact social media can have on your other correspondence.
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