Ways to Donate to Charity with Social Media
Digital marketing is about much more than just for-profit endeavors, and whether you’re running a nonprofit organization or just promoting a good cause on behalf of your business, there are plenty of ways you can raise money for charity with social media.
In fact, you might be surprised at how supportive people are in your online social circle. Think about how people get on social media because they’re hoping that it will make them feel good. They like seeing pics and reading posts about accomplishments and happy occasions going on in the lives of their friends and family. And when they see a greatly needed charitable cause? Well, it delivers the same emotional impact—and it’s something that they can be part of.
Your goal, as someone who is putting together a campaign to promote that charitable cause, is about making sure that emotional impact motivates people to stop scrolling and take action, either by signing up to volunteer or by making a monetary donation.
Why social media?
Plenty of for-profit ventures understand the power of digital advertising, and those same benefits apply to nonprofits and charities. Social media offers you a huge reach—billions of people are on social media platforms. Social media is also something that’s free to use (although you do have the option of sponsoring posts for extra reach), and your social media page is an easy way to spread the word and keep your supporters engaged.
Ways to use social media
Using social media to promote your charity isn’t something you have to overthink. In some cases, these are tactics you already use every day. Here are a few simple ways you can engage with people:
Tell your story
There’s a reason you established this nonprofit or adopted this cause as the designated charity for your business—so tell people about it! If it feels a little personal, that’s okay. Social media is a chance for people to be real and be human. Your followers will want to know why this cause means so much to you.
Share testimonials
But it’s not just your own story you want to share. Be sure to share the stories of those who directly benefit from this good cause. If you have beneficiaries whom you’re close to, don’t be afraid to ask for them to provide a testimonial. They can even do it anonymously if they would like to stay private. You’ll be amazed with how much their story resonates with your followers.
Go across all social media networks (if applicable)
Don’t limit yourself to just one social media platform. Because each platform has different demographics, you’ll have the biggest impact if you maintain an active presence on all of them. Just remember that your format is going to be a little different with each platform. Ask yourself how you can convey the same info with a 240-character post on Twitter and with a visually appealing graphic on Instagram.
Use Facebook’s fundraising tools
Facebook has fundraising tools built directly into its platform. There’s no need to link to an outside fundraising website. All the money goes directly to your organization (that is, Facebook doesn’t take any percentage for itself). Plus it’s easy for people to share your fundraiser and receive updates.
Test different campaigns
Get creative in your calls to action for your charity. For one, you might ask for donations of items (like canned goods, school supplies, clothes, or toys). For another, you might simply ask for monetary donations. And in yet another, you might announce that you’re looking for volunteers. Some campaigns will do better than others—and they might do better at different times of the month or even different times of the year. Asking for volunteers might be hard in the summer when a lot of people are out of town. On the other hand, asking for monetary donations at the end of the year is usually easy because people are trying to make end-of-year tax deductions. Track the success of each campaign and tweak as needed.
Show people where the money is going
People want to see first-hand what a difference your charitable cause is making. Just as you asked beneficiaries for testimonials, you might consider posting photos, videos, or even infographics with statistics that demonstrate exactly what a difference their support is making.
Share user-generated content (and create a hashtag)
Once people start to get involved, you won’t be the only one creating social media content surrounding your cause—donors and volunteers will be writing posts and sharing photos about their involvement, and many of them will be honored if you ask to share it. This user-generated content will inspire others and demonstrate how meaningful it is to be involved with your charity. Need help tracking all the user-generated content out there? Create a hashtag that your supporters can use. Just be sure to use something that’s easy enough to remember while still being specific enough that you won’t end up with a lot of irrelevant content as well.