As one of the most popular social media platforms, Facebook can help your non-profit engage with supporters and promote your fundraising campaigns. It’s not always easy to know how to get the most from it though. Maybe you’ve set up a Facebook page for your nonprofit and have seen a small amount of engagement with…
As one of the most popular social media platforms, Facebook can help your non-profit engage with supporters and promote your fundraising campaigns.
It’s not always easy to know how to get the most from it though.
Maybe you’ve set up a Facebook page for your nonprofit and have seen a small amount of engagement with your posts. You can probably see the potential but you’re not sure how to build on it.
Or maybe you’ve been able to secure an impressive number of followers, but you’re not seeing much engagement on posts.
Your nonprofit doesn’t have to appeal to a young audience to do well on Facebook. Stats show that Facebook is becoming more popular with users aged 65 and over. If your nonprofit is targeting this demographic, your Facebook presence can be more important than you might think.
With so many companies and organizations using Facebook, how can you help your nonprofit stand out from the crowd?
Good content can help with this. Facebook rewards content that is high-quality and interesting to your audience, and this can have the added bonus of engaging your supporters too.
If you want to get more from your Facebook page, think about why your nonprofit is using it and who you’re trying to reach.
Your nonprofit may be using Facebook to build a bigger profile, engage with supporters, or secure new donors, for example.
Pro tip: Think about who your audience is and what encourages them to take action. How old are they? Where are they based? What interests them? This helps your nonprofit create Facebook content that interests and engages supporters.
Completing the About section of your Facebook page is a very important element for being more visible.
Talk about your nonprofit’s background, mission, and impact in your About section.
Paint a picture who you help, the impact your work has, and how donors can help you do more of it. People who come to your Facebook page won’t always know much about your nonprofit, and you can use the About section to turn them into supporters.
Using the right keywords here will also help your nonprofit to be more visible. When people search for these keywords, they’re more likely to find your nonprofit.
Pro tip: Don’t go overboard with keywords. Include important ones and make sure that they sound natural.
Images and video content can share the impact of your work in a format that is easily digestible.
Images can be very powerful for sharing your nonprofit’s impact. People often respond well to visuals and they can work well for engaging a range of emotions.
Share high-quality photos that help tell your organization’s story so that people can see the impact of your work as they scroll through your Facebook page.
For your cover image, choose a high-quality image that demonstrates the impact of your mission. A positive, uplifting image can encourage more people to want to find out more about your organization. Changing your Facebook page’s cover image regularly can improve your engagement. Your supporters will often like and share your new cover image, which helps to grow your reach.
Pro tip: Facebook regularly changes the guidelines on cover images so it’s important to stay up-to-date on the latest rules.
Share video content that features your supporters to build your nonprofit’s credibility and show the impact of your work. It’s a form of social proof that can build trust with potential donors.
Pro tip: Take advantage of the fact that videos start automatically when people scroll down the news feed. Make the first few seconds of your video content as compelling as possible to encourage your supporters to stop scrolling and watch the video in full.
Facebook Live videos can be a great way to interact with your supporters. To get the most from the Facebook Live feature, make sure your supporters know that you’ll be going live at a set time and what to expect. This makes it more likely they’ll watch and leave comments.
Tell stories through your content. This humanizes your nonprofit and brings your work to life. You can tell stories about your staff and volunteers, and the people you help.
Pro tip: Post photos from fundraisers and other events, and tag your volunteers and donors in the posts to say thank you. This lets them know you appreciate their support, and it also helps promote your nonprofit if their friends get notifications about it.
Use the same logo or brand image across all your social media networks to help build a consistent brand for your nonprofit.
Having different brand images for each channel can dilute your nonprofit’s identity.
Facebook events can promote your nonprofit’s fundraising activities to a wider audience.
Your supporters can invite their friends to your events, and their friends will be notified about comments they post on your event page.
Some tips to help you create a successful Facebook event include:
Are you struggling to get much engagement from your supporters on your Facebook posts?
Try implementing some of these tips to boost your engagement levels:
Pro tip: With Donorbox, your organization can track whether specific Facebook campaigns are encouraging donations.
Gamification is a growing trend, and contests are one of the ways your nonprofit can use this on your Facebook page.
Facebook competitions can be a great way to reach new supporters. For the biggest impact, host a contest that resonates with the interests of your supporters. Donor management tools can help work out which themes could be a good fit.
Photo contests can get your supporters involved. Ask them to submit photo entries as submissions. Alternatively, you can let them choose from pre-selected entries.
You can also encourage video submissions and let your supporters bring their creativity into play.
Pro tip: With the current rules on Facebook contests, you can’t ask your supporters to enter by sharing your contest on their timeline or tagging their friends.
With call-to-action Facebook ads, you can target specific demographics that may be interested in supporting your organization. You can reach people according to their age, gender, location, income, education level, and interests, for example. This helps promote your nonprofit to the demographics that are most likely to become supporters.
Set a SMART goal for what you hope to achieve through call-to-action ads.
Your goal should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely.
You could set a goal to achieve 100 registrations for a fundraising event by a set date, for example.
You can create various ads to target different sections of your audience.
Ads are more likely to be successful if they’re targeted—this can be an effective use of your advertising budget.
Test out different versions of your Facebook ads to see what works best. You can change the photos or text you use, or the landing page you link to, for example. Testing your ads can be important if you’re advertising a fundraising event, as the right version can help raise more funds.
Pro tip: Set a budget for how much your nonprofit will spend on Facebook ads. It’s easy to spend more than you’d hoped, especially if you’re advertising a fundraising event.
Choose a photo that evokes a particular emotion and is linked to your mission. This can be eye-catching and encourage an emotional response that compels more people to act on your call-to-action.
Use photos that are visually appealing and tell a story about your work. For most nonprofits, your logo won’t fit in that category, for example.
For ad copy, keep it tight and try to encourage a specific call-to-action. You may want people to visit your website or donate, for example. Appealing to certain emotions can be a smart move too.
If you’re creating video ads, keep them to just a few minutes in length. Including on-screen captions can draw in people who don’t have the sound on.
Post engagement ads can also increase engagement as more of your followers will see them. Facebook’s algorithm changes can mean that your content isn’t shown to all of your followers, but you can beat this by promoting posts.
Your nonprofit can use Facebook retargeting to reach people who have visited your website in the past. You can choose to retarget supporters who have visited your donation page, for example. This can remind them of their past support and encourage them to reconnect with your nonprofit.
With the right tactics, Facebook can be a powerful social media platform for promoting your nonprofit.
Many of your supporters are probably spending time on Facebook, even if they’re not currently engaging with your organization.
Focus on using Facebook as a platform to engage with your supporters and promote your fundraising events. High-quality content, Facebook events, and contests can help with this. And if you want to reach a targeted audience, advertising can help.
Take a look at our nonprofit blog for more resources on how to market your nonprofit and engage with your donors.
Raviraj heads the sales and marketing team at Donorbox. His growth-hacking abilities have helped Donorbox boost fundraising efforts for thousands of nonprofit organizations.
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