3 Tips for Nonprofits & NGOs Mapping Out Their Social Media Strategy
Are you a nonprofit that’s either considering social media for the first time or revisiting your social media strategy—all while trying to keep your marketing spend to only what’s necessary?
You’re not alone—most nonprofits struggle with funding, and social media all too often gets the proverbial axe because it’s deemed “good to have, but not essential.”
However, if you’re going to get the word out about your organization both to potential funding sources and those who might benefit from the services you offer, social media should be considered an essential part of your communications strategy.
Indeed, along with your email distribution list, it’s very likely the best way to expand your digital footprint and attract attention.
With all that in mind, here are 3 tactics to establish or optimize your social media presence without overspending:
#1 Focus only on the platform(s) your audience uses.
The number of social media platforms and different social strategies they require can be overwhelming, particularly if you know you’ll be running all accounts yourself. After all, that’s why entire agencies specializing in social media exist. Luckily, your audience is definitely not going to be as easily reachable on all of them. You likely don’t need your nonprofit organization to hop on the Be Real trend, for example.
So where do YOU need to be? LinkedIn, most likely. Not only is this platform an excellent place to network professionally, it’s also where most potential funders and other practitioners also have social media accounts. Plus, some organizations who were quite active on Twitter up until quite recently are now focusing more of their resources on LinkedIn following recent controversy.
Additionally, should you ever want to run an ad campaign to drive donations, sponsorship, or program sign-ups, LinkedIn’s audience targeting capabilities are exceptional, allowing you to focus not just on location or interest, but also on things like job title or company. While the cost of an ad campaign can be a bit pricey on this platform (you won’t pay under $100), the results are usually worth it.
Facebook and Instagram can also be helpful, depending on your goals. Ad campaigns through Meta, while not as precisely targeted, are extremely affordable. You can get real results for as little as $4. If your audience tends to skew older, or you know Facebook Groups could be helpful to you, create a Facebook account. If a good chunk of your audience is solidly Millennial, you might consider Instagram as well, though its constant algorithm fluctuations have caused a lot of headaches over the last year.
The point is, you don’t have to be everywhere. But you do have to be where your audience can easily find you.
#2 Consider allocating a budget for paid social media—even if it's modest.
In order to maximize your reach on social media platforms, it’s best to no longer just rely on an organic strategy where you throw up a post, add on a few hashtags, and have a bunch of people find you through their explore page or hashtag searches. This can still happen, and hashtags DO work, but they work best when you also earmark part of your social media budget to boost posts and run small ad campaigns, particularly on Meta (Facebook and Instagram).
As mentioned in the previous section, you can boost posts and run ad campaigns on Meta for a relatively small amount of money. You can create these ads using your pre-existing organic posts, and target by location, age, gender, and areas of interest. You can focus on specific objectives, such as increasing reach (i.e., maximizing the number of people who see your ad in their feeds) or driving traffic to a specific splash page. On Facebook, you can even go back and invite new people who liked or engaged with your ad to like or follow your page, which is a great way to nurture follower growth.
Remember: Meta’s #1 source of revenue is from advertising. If you are going to use the platform to reach a target audience, it’s best to plan accordingly.
#3 Focus on post quality over quantity
Though your account will likely get a bit of a boost from any algorithm the more often you post (up to a point), what’s really important to your social media strategy is consistently posting quality content that’s relevant to your audience.
If you only have the bandwidth and budget to post once a week, that’s fine, but make that post count. Take the time to make or curate an impactful visual to go with the post to catch people’s eye (Canva is your friend). Make your caption copy “hero-focused” and center your reader. Always ask yourself, “How is this post adding value to our audience’s lives?” and spotlight that. Include one clear call-to-action that your reader can follow after reading the post, whether it’s clicking on a link to register for a workshop or donate, or leaving a comment.
If you consistently create quality content, your audience is more likely to stay engaged with your organization and mission.
Taking these 3 tips will have you well on your way to a solid social media strategy for your nonprofit—one that’s just right for your budget and time. For more tips like these, follow us on Instagram @FatMoonCreative or LinkedIn!