Social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn dominate the way individuals and companies communicate. Creating and maintaining a social media presence is essential for your nonprofit to expand its reach and generate interest in today’s digital age.

Social media allows you to connect and engage with larger groups of people, helping your organization to grow and build an online presence that will help you reach your goals and objectives. You can use your social media properties to help:

  • Build trust in your community
  • Engage with your audience to create a connection and fierce loyalty to your organization
  • Promote events and fundraising opportunities
  • Grow your network and increase your brand awareness
  • Generate website traffic from quality visitors
  • Create and cultivate your nonprofit’s character and personality

Steps to Build Your Nonprofit’s Presence on Social Media

Creating profiles and collecting followers on popular social media platforms and then not taking full advantage of the power of Facebook, Twitter, and the others is like gathering a database of physical and email addresses and not sending them any materials or promotions. It takes time, effort, and a bit of trial-and-error to make your social media accounts work for you.

The following are steps you can take to increase your social media presence and grow your online brand.

Create a Profile

This is the first thing visitors will see when they find you on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn. It is important to keep the same name and profile photo throughout all of your social media accounts. This will create consistency across your social media assets and make it easier for people to find you on all of them.

Elements to include in your social media profiles include:

  • Use your nonprofit logo for your primary profile image
  • Physical location and website address
  • Company information, goals, and missions
  • The cover photo can be updated to promote your nonprofit’s events and programs

Posting Content

Posting original content on your social media pages will promote engagement with your audience and keep the conversation going. Highlight your mission, show off your organization and staff, and feature upcoming and past events and programs. Use your social media content to display your personality and passion for your cause. Each post should contain some visual elements, whether it is a single picture, photo gallery, or video.

The goal of your social media content should be to engage your followers and compel them to like, comment on, and ultimately share your posts with their friends and contacts. This will grow your presence and expand your reach exponentially.

Content that has the best chance of making an impact on your social media efforts include:

  • Fundraising updates, events, and campaigns
  • Non-promotional content that adds a personal touch and promotes audience engagement, such as:
    • Company party photos
    • Office gatherings
    • Staff photos
    • Team profiles and new member introductions
  • Program updates and case studies
  • News items related to your industry or fundraising efforts

Create a Posting Schedule

The ideal times to post original content on your social media pages can vary from industry, location, and other factors unique to your organization. There are no tricks or formulas to maximize your posting schedule, though the goal is to post content when your followers and other users are most likely to view your page and engage in your content.

Monitor Your Progress

Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram allow access to crucial analytical information on user statistics and other data that will help guide your campaigns and outreach efforts. Setting specific goals for metrics like comments, shares, tags, and gathering of email addresses can be used to focus on those areas that are most important to your success.

Insights your analytics will provide for you include:

  • Overall numbers for likes, shares, and comments on your social media content
  • Discovering the user habits of your followers
  • Measuring how long users engage with your content and how often they return
  • Specific audience demographics of your social media followers

Intrackt Can Set Up, Manage Your Social Media Accounts

In many ways, the world of social media is the Wild West of the internet. Protocols, functions, features, and user trends are continually changing and adapting to today’s digital age.

At Intrackt, we work with nonprofit organizations like yours to establish a presence on social media that will draw the maximum numbers of users that will become donors, fundraising volunteers, or get involved in other ways. Contact Intrackt to get started on taking full advantage of the power of social media today.