Using social media is a great way to build bridges in the community. If you are not using social media you are missing out on a great opportunity. The environment we live in greatly affect the way social media is used. In general, conventional style of marketing is still cloudy in such environments and if only that is bridged to online style of marketing then shall they see the need for social profit. More than 30,000 nonprofits have an active Facebook page. It allows for fans/donors/friends to connect with your NPO in authentic, engaging, and honest ways. It’s become the number one source for passing along information about your NPO as well as promote events that many may be interested in attending. You can also have actual conversations on your Facebook Fan Page where anyone can be heard (their concerns, opinions, complaints, etc). You can even stream or host a speech, a quick thank you message, or a conference. Chan Zukerberg Initiative, a project by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is focusing on science, education and engineering to advance Facebook’s goals.
With Nonprofits’s people take the need for the extra push for granted as they are passionate about their cause and think that others will be too. For nonprofits who owned websites, they are either inexperience online or less reluctant to invest on social media. These are some emerging marketing and social media techniques that can be leveraged by nonprofits:
1. Creating awareness about the cause nonprofit is supporting.
One idea is to establish their brand identity so that they are noticed on different media outlets and more recognizable. Using your network to share the news from the non-profit and need to make it easy for your supporters. The more times they see your brand or logo, the more interested or knowledgeable your audience will become. Important to be a consistant presence without flooding the chosen site. If you use more than one social media site, change up your message - many people will follow you on all the sites on which you post. To see the same message copy/pasted looks unprofessional. Automation can really help. Hootsuite offers up to 3 free accounts you can manage and post to multiple channels quickly saving time by scheduling posts.
2. Reach out to the various stakeholders of the ecosystem the nonprofit is serving
Hiring an SEO Specialist in every organisation whose role is to ensure online success. It has the potential to attract new donors, new volunteers and other new supporters, to sway public opinion or educate the public regarding whatever the Nonprofits is concerned about (HIV/AIDS, poverty, immigration, etc.), to give recognition for the accomplishments of the nonprofits, to give recognition for the efforts of the nonprofit’s volunteers, or to attract attendees to an event or program activity. A blog is the key between building relationships and maintaining a strong connection. Blogs represent your NPO’s personal stories, recent events, real-life authentic content that can drive emotion as well as personality. They take on a friendly outlet and voice while being conversational, not institutional.
Related: Child Labour in Pakistan
3. Nurture a community of volunteers who could spare time and contribute towards on ground activities
Social Media has the potential to outbeat all the above mentioned challenges with precision. The Medium facilitates effective storytelling with rich media, the element of interactivity and shareability paves way for the amplification of the core message propounded by any Nonprofits. The Free Nature of the medium makes it a better choice for dissemination of information which might help in tackling the range of challenges faced by these organizations. Social media “takeovers,” where an influencer in your nonprofits niche posts from your say, Instagram account for a specified period of time is quite popular. Make sure you are talking to your Gen Y’s and Z’s (staff, volunteers, donors, etc.) regularly, so that your content/platform remains relevant and effective. The other strategy is to come to people, rather than want people to come to you: leave comments on other people’s Twitter posts, or Facebook pages. By creating a group or company page on LinkedIn (Under the Nonprofit cateogies), you can connect with potentially over 100 million LinkedIn users. Groups can be powerful and can feature the best discussions from staff to admirer. It’s an actively growing platform and it allows for profiles to feature blogs or slideshows about your NPO.
Related: Moral Degradation of Society
4. Attract funds which could be channelized towards the greater good
Having the option to donate by text using Tailwind can be very impact full. The American Red Cross had a pretty good campaign result where they had U.S. cellphone users donate $22 million to Haiti earthquake relief via SMS. However, one would not like their donation money to SKMCH being cut down into hidden charges by Telcos and services taxes towards the Government (especially the Imran Khan Supporters). Geo-tagging services such as FourSquare and Gowalla. You can add a NonProfit Venue/tag which relays all contact information back to your HQ as you add ‘tips’. Tips are a great way to promote nonprofits to the FourSquare community.FourSquare allows to you create a ‘To Do’ list that is featured on your profile. When you complete items on your To Do list, you can promote an NPO message or create events that people can ‘check in’ at to accrue more exposure.
Related: Why Pakistanis Are Actually Evil To Adopt Foreign Nationality?
5. Many Nonprofits are discouraged from investing in this kind of capacity building
Creating a unique hashtag for the event allows participants & supporters to share their photos & thoughts of the event within their groups for a personal touch - the organization benefits with branding & different touch points. On Twitter, use hashtags that attract people from the Nonprofits world. e.g. #globaldev #volunteering #poverty etc. This is how you can get people to find you on Twitter in the first place. If Facebook is the main source of information, Twitter is the active customer service/source of feedback for NPOs. Twitter has also become a necessity since information services are 24/7 and we want to answer everyone’s question. Twitter also allows for the empowerment for Brand Ambassadors; many NPOs have become great ambassadors for their respective fields due to their strong Twitter presence. A new generation of users are on Twitter and the demographics also span through generations. To have a follower, YOU have to BE a follower first.
