The Importance of Social Media for Nonprofits

Posted on August 6, 2021

Since the day Facebook was launched, we have come a long way. Social Media seems to have become an integral part of our lives now. If you are not on social media your existence is questioned (quite literally). It is also why many brands have joined the bandwagon. For businesses, social media acts as a ground to display the company’s morals and vision being practiced.

With a huge audience, it’s time for Nonprofit organizations to also jump on the wagon. But it’s chaos out there.

If you run a nonprofit have you ever had questions like:

How to grow nonprofit social media?

Or how to use social media for nonprofit organizations?

Or how to run social media for a nonprofit?

Or even how to use social media for nonprofit fundraising or event?

In this case, this article is worth your time.

In this article, you will find an overview of why nonprofits should have a social media presence, and how they can use it to engage with their communities. So if you don’t know where to begin, BEGIN HERE!

Why Social media for Nonprofits?

Social media is an interactive tool, and the more people that interact with your nonprofit, the wider the reach. It is a peek into the work your organization does and displays it appealingly. The content that you put out can attract more volunteers and beneficiaries. Social media now also have an option to run your fundraiser online on their platform. Isn’t it cool and convenient? All you got to do is promote the campaign through posts, videos, stories, etc.

In addition, through social media, you can educate your audience on the issues that your nonprofit handles. For example, if you are a nonprofit that works for world hunger, you can educate your audience on how they can reduce their food waste or how food banks are helpful when it comes to food waste at events. Through interactive campaigns, you can educate people on food waste and how they can avoid it in their daily lives.

32% of people between the age of 12 to 34 use Facebook regularly, while 77% of people from 34 to 49 years use Facebook regularly. On the other hand, Instagram has 67% of regular users aged between 18 to 29. (source: https://csic.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/digital-persuasion.pdf) What these stats indicate is that you already have a huge audience listening to you. All you got to do is find the ones whose interests align with your organization and interact with them.

Now that we are clear on why your organization needs a social media presence, let us look further into the benefits of social media and how to grow nonprofit social media.

How to use social media for nonprofits?

You are not wrong when you think that it’s a jungle out there on social media. Content is increasing as years pass by. However, with proper strategy and execution, you will be able to answer the question – how to use social media for nonprofit organizations.

5 Type of content to run social media for a nonprofit

1. Success stories

What makes a nonprofit great is the impact they have, and what better way to show it than a success story. Whether it’s you helped an underprivileged child get a full-ride scholarship or saved a plot of land from the wrath of the corporate world, you need to tell it to the world. You can share it in the form of photos or videos but, the important thing is people see the work you are doing. It’s essential as it also acts as a scorecard for donors and your target audience. People looking for volunteering will have a look at your stories and decide to help your organization or not.

2. Share news and updates

Don’t keep it hush! Share the news with the world. Whether good or bad, frequently updating your audience about the projects going on in the organization shows trust and transparency. When one sees transparency, the person can build trust for the brand. This will keep them excited for your next fundraiser or campaign. Or who knows they might consider volunteering as well.

3. Educational information

Sharing educational information or tips in the field of your nonprofit brings awareness to the topics. Being an industry specialized in your niche domain establishes you as a leader and a reliable source when it comes to the niche your nonprofit operates within. If you are a nonprofit working with abused females, then you can share information about how to spot red flags early in the relationship.

4. Online events or Lives

All platforms are pushing for Live streams or online events. It’s time you catch up on the train as well! Host an online fundraiser or do a live stream with celebrities to spread awareness about the issue you work in. The possibilities are limitless.

5. Behind the scenes

All platforms are pushing for Live streams or online events. It’s time you catch up on the train as well! Host an online fundraiser or do a live stream with celebrities to spread awareness about the issue you work in. The possibilities are limitless.

Appreciate your employees/volunteers by bringing the spotlight on them on your page’s socials. Bring your audience on a journey on how things work in the organization. This is a nice way for future talent to see if they will fit within the team’s culture.

Let’s now take a look at how nonprofits are using social media to engage with their communities

Before you go ahead with creating content, we suggest you have a look at our top 3 tips.

1. The focused and consistent content strategy goes a long way:

Basically what the title says. To grow a nonprofit on social media, you need to have a content strategy. With that also comes being consistent and not flunking it as you go. You can read our blogs on the topic to understand further.

2. Target your content based on your audience:

Knowing what demographic audience you serve on each platform is imperative. Actively promoting fundraisers on Facebook will get you more success than promoting it on Instagram or Snapchat, since a majority of the audience is young who don’t have much to give monetarily.

3. Never forget Call to action:

CTAs are important! That’s the whole reason why you are expanding to social media marketing. Whether it is a call for volunteers or resources or donations, never forget to add a CTA at the end of your posts. People should know what they are looking to do once they reach your page.

The mainstay of nonprofits is fundraising events. Can social media play a role in fundraising? The answer is YES!

How to use social media for fundraising events?

Live streams on social media platforms are quite popular. This is one way to host a fundraising event using social media. Since social media is used by audiences across different demographics, live streams of your fundraiser can reach a wide audience.

Social media can be used for promoting online fundraising events. Since social media has a wide reach, social media campaigns are effective in spreading the word about fundraising events.

Social media platforms offer an opportunity to interact directly with your audience. This helps build trust and loyalty.

You can spread the word about your brand through social media and facilitate payment through social media channels as well.

Social media channels are the best way to spread the word about your brand and the fundraising events you host. This is because social media platforms offer an opportunity to share posts. So, if your audience shares the posts about your fundraising event, you can easily reach a wide audience.

Here’s how nonprofits are connecting to social media to drive change:

1. Room to read

Room to read social media gets the point across. They have effective CTAs while also highlighting the lives they have impacted.

2. World Wildlife Fund

One of the pioneers of using social media, especially Twitter and Facebook, WWF has campaigns on point and uses social media as the best way to spread awareness about endangered species and the work the nonprofit does.

Ultimately…

Social media is a tool that every nonprofit should use to grow and network to drive change. When the world shut down, it was social media that helped us stay connected! 55% of people who have engaged with causes via social media were inspired to do more and take action. This is what social media can do, and you should be part of the change.

Whether it is a social media manager or online fundraising or campaign manager, you should go to experienced and trustworthy professionals. iConnectX has a team of experienced experts who will help make online fundraising an easy task.