Non-Profit Social Media Inspiration to Boost Engagement!

We’re not going to sugar-coat it...building social media for your non-profit is tricky. As HubSpot identified previously, the main priorities of social media marketers at non-profits are to fundraise, recruit volunteers, share news and generate brand awareness.

Taking into consideration the common issues non-profit organisations face, such as lack of staff, funds and resources, we are going to give you a sprinkle of inspiration, showing exactly how social media can be the very solution to help you achieve all the above.

And it all begins with an effective inbound strategy...

When it comes to any social media planning, an inbound angle is key to encourage engagement and develop long-lasting loyal followers, which then leads to growth - but this is even more crucial for non-profits. All your main priorities are driven by emotion and support. Creating an experience for your target audience to really connect and engage in your content, providing true value and insight is going to encourage them to keep coming back, repost and engage! Consistently providing that key content to encourage your audience to seamlessly spin around that inbound flywheel model with ease, right from attraction, through to engagement and delight, is exactly how you’re going to increase engagement across your chosen social channels.

So, before we get ahead of ourselves and delve right into posting as much new content as possible without any planning – let's first establish some clear goals such as your chosen social platforms and target audience.

These two things go very neatly hand in hand and once you have established your target audience, you can then identify their preferred social media platform/s in order to reach them more effectively.

So, let’s have a look at a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing...

Become a curator of content

Make sure to follow a library of relevant pages on your social media within your field that share content in a variety of different unique ways. This content can then be repurposed as a repost or as inspiration for your own content, offering value and insight to your followers. This really helps your social media profile to become seen as a go-to for useful, relevant and engaging content, that can be accessed all in one place as opposed to your audience having to source this kind of content from 10 separate pages and adding more and more value to your organisation in the process.

Share your stats

This is an easy one for you to put together and is often super effective in encouraging engaging conversations and further support. Statistics also create an element of transparency and are a great way for you to show your following the impact of their contributions and support. In addition to this, they also provide informative stats on the cause you are supporting and how you’re hoping to make a difference. As a non-profit, this level of transparency on social media can go a long way as you’re asking followers to support your cause and contribute financially, however, if they don’t have a clear understanding of what they are supporting and where/how exactly their money is being used, they may not donate as easily. Stand out from competitors and show first -hand, exactly how the money from each donation is spent towards supporting your cause. Don’t shy away from sharing your internal goals too - show your followers what your organisation are working towards. You can be creative and have fun designing your own personalised graphics on free software such as Canva, by applying your own brand touches to flow with the overall aesthetic of your feed.

Giveaway and contests

Due to the common issue with most non-profits of a lack of funds, contests and giveaways may be a little difficult, but they don’t always have to be expensive! You could ask your followers to send in some of their own big fundraising ideas for your organisation and the winner gets an internship with your charity or a voucher for a well-known restaurant. You’ll be surprised at how many retail and food stores would be happy to offer you a special discount code or freebie as a prize to support your charity – trust us when we say, it is always worth picking up the phone and asking! Supporting a non-profit is very appealing and a huge positive for large businesses that tend to have many corporate policies and guidelines inclusive of supporting non-profits and charities. Make sure you include competition or giveaway requirements such as following and sharing your content to really boost your profile and reach.

Lives

Live content is always extremely effective for engagement and when it comes to non-profit, you will be absolutely spoilt for live streams. These can include live streams from fundraising events and behind the scenes, in-house team days, or even a live Q&A about your organisation. The more real-life people you have on your feed the more relatable your content will be for your audience. Hosting a regularly scheduled live once a month is a great way to start and eventually, after a little consistency, you’ll see your audience grow.

Polls

This one is incredibly simple yet effective and there are many ways that you can post your own poll. Let’s start with Instagram. Your stories are a great place to post several polls and questions, instantly providing an insight into what your audience would like to see. You can ask what fundraisers they would be more likely to take part in and what their favourite story has been so far that you have shared. However, asking questions in a poll doesn't always have to be linked to your main cause as an organisation. You can go a little off-topic and ask questions linking to trending topics such as on Pancake Day asking your followers if they are a sweet or savoury pancake person and then maybe going on ask favourite toppings and eventually finishing on a question more linked to your cause. Perhaps ‘Would you take part in a pancake eating or flipping fundraiser’?

If your platform of choice is Facebook, Linked In or Twitter you can still use the story features on Facebook or simply create a branded graphic with the question written in a bold fun font, asking your followers to comment below with their answers...encouraging that engagement again!

Ask an expert

A lot of people who are following your page will be interested in your charity due to personal reasons. They may have lost a close relative or friend who suffered from the cause you are supporting or maybe even be suffering themselves. Therefore, ‘Asking an Expert’ posts are absolute content gold. These posts address the main priorities of a non-profit social post, providing value from a trusted voice, encouraging discussion topics and offering support to help build a community. You can invite your industry experts to appear as a post on your feed or to go live after advertising in advance to your following! You could also tie this in with your polls and get your followers to send in any questions they would like answered.

Join in popular post trends

Remember the comical social media feud between Colin and Cuthbert the caterpillar cakes at Aldi and M&S a few months ago? Many, many organisations jumped on the bandwagon and joined in on the debate, some, also added their own little subtle promo into the mix. This smart way of marketing is a great way to steer an already highly engaged audience towards your organisation. There are millions of trending topics and hashtags every day across social media, so always ensure to keep an eye on an ideal opportunity to link your own original content and messaging to an already trending topic!

Provide a platform For new Voices

These posts for non-profit organisations are a great way to really encourage engagement. Using your social media platforms to tell the stories of those you are helping shows the individuals whose lives are affected by your support and provides them with a platform to share their messages and raise awareness. This also further supports the transparency you are creating throughout your content. Audiences are more likely to engage with content that they can either relate too, or that sparks an emotion in them and makes them want to help. Although these are effective, the stories you share could also be from your internal team/staff - may be speaking about their favourite thing about working for the charity or their favourite fundraiser to date. People respond to people, not just factual posts, therefore the more faces you can include on your page, the more people will be reminded of the impact their support is having on real lives.

We’ve left you with plenty of inspiration here and it’s understandable you may be left feeling a little overwhelmed with the overbearing thought of...’ where do I begin?’

Begin with setting clear, measurable goals with your platforms and target audience and then, once this is complete download our free Content Planner via the link below, to really map out an effective schedule.