Over the last year we have been working with Edinburgh based charity It’s Good 2 Give on their website, social media and digital presence.

The charity helps young cancer patients and their families in Scotland.

Never has there been a more important time for charities to be visible online.

Most are currently unable to fundraise and make people aware of their work through their normal channels of physical events and attending functions.

There are numerous ways that non-profit businesses such as charities can benefit from good social media marketing. 

It helps them spread their message to a large and new audience

It can gain recognition for their work

Increase supporters

Gain corporate support

Promote awareness

Save time and money

Continue their fundraising through lockdown

To be able to benefit from platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin and Facebook, non profits need to be aware of some basic social media marketing skills to be noticed.

Here are 10 tips to help your non-profit organisation benefit from social media marketing.

1. Make Sure You Accounts are set up as Non-Profit

Social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram give you the option of creating accounts specifically for non-profits. By doing this, you can access many additional resources and features that you can use to help your organisation.

Using the resources that are provided to non-profits can help you market your organisation easily and they are FREE.

2. Take advantage of free training and resources

There are lots of free resources available on social media for nonprofits. Most platforms have some resources that will be of use to you and your non profit.

Facebook and Instagram nonprofit resources:

Take Facebook Blueprint Free Online Training courses, especially Nonprofit Marketing

Follow Nonprofits on Facebook to stay on top of upcoming tools and training

Twitter nonprofit resources:

Twitter’s Flight School

Read the Campaigning on Twitter Handbook

Follow Twitter Nonprofits for case studies, training, news and opportunities

LinkedIn nonprofit resources:

Take Learning LinkedIn’s Get Started with LinkedIn course

Talk with a LinkedIn nonprofit consultant

Watch LinkedIn’s nonprofit webinars

3. Schedule Your Posts

Non-profit organisations staff and volunteers often don’t have a lot of time to plan and create social media content. If you don’t post regularly you won’t be seen. To combat this problem, you can use various tools to schedule your posts.

Some scheduling tools that you can use for free include Hootsuite, SocialOomph, and Buffer. Many offer special rates fro non-profits. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram can all be scheduled without the use of third party platform. 

Planning your content allows you to be consistent and get your messages out without the panic of remembering to post. However, posting live is still important for Facebooks algorithms.

4. Share Your Stories

The best way to connect with your audience and to provide credibility to your organisation is by sharing your stories and the stories of those you have helped. People love pictures and stories about other people. You can even create a series of blogs about your team and volunteers and share these onto your social channels. 

However, there is nothing better than telling the story of how you made a person’s or family’s life better. With their consent, tell the world about how your organisation works with different groups to make their lives better.

You can also share the story of how your organisation was created and provide a background to your work. This will get people more interested in your organisation and they will want to work with you and help you out in the form of volunteering or donating.

5. Stats and Facts

Use facts and stats about your sector and the people you help. This will remind people why you do what you do and give them a reason to support you or get involved in your events. 

6. Organise Virtual Events

Organising live events where supporters and members of your organisation can gather and participate can still seem like a long way off. However, this is where social media platforms can help out.

On most platforms, you can organise virtual events where your followers can join in and everyone can have a good time. You could also hold seminars and competitions. Collaborating with other non-profits is another great way to host these events, and it also boosts audience engagement for all the organisations involved.

We have helped It’s Good 2 Give host a number of virtual weekend events with various sessions, lessons and fun zoom calls that people could get involved with for a donation.

Virtual events can spread awareness of your organisation and social media presence at a much faster rate than with just posts. It is important to try out new things on social media platforms to keep your followers engaged.

7. Use and Create Hashtags 

Using hashtags is crucial to be able to succeed in marketing your organisation on social media. To spread awareness about your work and those you support, hashtags can increase the number of viewers who see your posts.

You can also use your own hashtags to promote movements and events held by your organisation. 

Since hashtags are a single word or short catchy phrases, people don’t take much time to catch on. It is also something that people can remember easily, and once it goes viral, the whole world would be watching you.

8. Be alert

If you are looking for fresh, current and relevant post ideas, setting up Google Alerts on key phrases that relate to your organisation can bring the latest news on your chosen topics right into your inbox to save you time looking for them. 

9. Insights

Use the insights provided by Facebook to see when your audience is online and when they will see your posts.

Post when your audience numbers are higher so more of your fans can see your messages. 

10. Share

The easiest way to get your messages seen is by sharing them. So get your friends, family, supporters and corporate partners to share your posts on their pages to help spread the good work you do far and wide. 

If you would like us to look at your social media feeds, we can audit your channels and content for free. Simply email info@291media.co.uk