![\"social](\"https:\/\/uploads.donorperfect.com\/images\/sites\/2\/social-media1.jpg\")
Why Should Your Nonprofit Care About Social Media?<\/span><\/h2>Nonprofits Source reveals the numbers behind the recent focus on social media in fundraising.<\/a> If you\u2019ve been taking a passive approach to filling your feeds with engaging content, consider these captivating engagement statistics.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>- 84% of Facebook users share the causes and issues that matter to them.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>
- 57% of people who watch a video by a nonprofit make a donation.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>
- 55% of people who interact with nonprofits on Twitter take action.\u00a0<\/span><\/li><\/ul>
Ready to commit to giving your social media feeds the attention they deserve? Follow these best practices to ensure your organization is set up for success when it comes to social.\u00a0
![\"woman](\"https:\/\/uploads.donorperfect.com\/images\/sites\/2\/woman-with-coffee.jpg\")
<\/span><\/p>12 Social Media Best Practices for Nonprofits<\/span><\/h2>Nonprofit Social Media Best Practice #1 <\/strong>
Start small and grow from there.\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>Before you set up accounts on everything from Facebook and Twitter to Snapchat and Instagram, dial it back and determine what you and your team are capable of managing on a consistent basis. If your team is particularly lean, consider starting with one channel.<\/span><\/p>To help you decide, you should know that nonprofits rank their most important social media channels as follows: 1. Facebook,\u00a0 2. Twitter, 3. YouTube. So when kicking off or revitalizing your nonprofit\u2019s social media efforts, beginning with just Facebook is a smart way to get in the groove of planning, posting, and testing before you expand to other channels.\u00a0
<\/span><\/p>![\"woman](\"https:\/\/uploads.donorperfect.com\/images\/sites\/2\/woman-on-phone1-1.jpg\")
<\/h2>Nonprofit Social Media Best Practice #2\u00a0
<\/strong>Leverage your social media profiles to reflect your organization\u2019s brand.\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>The key to creating a successful nonprofit social media page is to give it the love it deserves. In seconds, a visitor to your social media page should be able to determine what your organization does and why they should follow you. Take care in the following tasks as you set up your page:<\/span><\/p>- Fill out your profile fields completely. At the very minimum, your About section should include your mission, a link to your website, and a link to your donation page.\u00a0<\/li>
- Upload a high-resolution picture of your logo as your profile picture.<\/span><\/li>
- Create a compelling cover photo. Consider updating it to promote your current campaign or upcoming event.\u00a0<\/span><\/li><\/ul>
Nonprofit Social Media Best Practice #3
<\/strong>Develop your nonprofit\u2019s social media personality.\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>Your organization is setting up social media pages with a very specific goal in mind: to gain, retain, and engage your donors. In order to build an online community, your social media personality needs to reflect the real-life community of people who champion your mission.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>The way you word your messaging and present your posts should give donors a glimpse into what it\u2019s like to be a part of your mission: as a donor, a staff member, even a recipient of your services. For example, if you\u2019re an animal rescue, you can leverage your furry friends to both delight and pull at the heartstrings of your followers by taking on a friendly and warm voice and tone. If your organization specializes in cancer research, you\u2019ll want to channel hope and empathy and ensure the information is presented in layperson terms so donors can understand exactly what their dollars are funding.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>Nonprofit Social Media Best Practice #4
<\/strong>Post consistently to gain and retain followers.\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>Your social media profiles provide you the unique opportunity to interact with your donors on the daily, so don\u2019t miss out on the opportunity to continuously show them who your organization is, what you stand for, and why being a part of the community that supports you is so rewarding.\u00a0
<\/span><\/p>Follow these tips to help you stay on top of posting:<\/p>
- Designate a specific person (or people) to maintain your social media channels.<\/span><\/li>
- Draft an editorial calendar with planned posts for each channel. Plan posts a month out so your team has time to develop assets to bring your ideas to life.<\/span><\/li>
- In the nonprofit world, your days are unpredictable, so missing an optimal posting time can happen quite easily. Use a free social media post scheduler to upload and schedule your social media posts so you\u2019ll never miss a beat.\u00a0<\/span><\/li><\/ul>
![\"post](\"https:\/\/uploads.donorperfect.com\/images\/sites\/2\/post-it-notes1.jpg\")
Nonprofit Social Media Best Practice #5
<\/strong>Stock up on free social media tools to help you create, schedule, and track posts.\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>Lucky for you, there are a plethora of free social media tools to help you and your team manage your channels more effectively and efficiently. Best of all, many of these tools are made for those who are a little less than tech-savvy, so you don\u2019t need to be an expert to give them a try.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>Stock photos:<\/strong> Unsplash<\/a>, Pexels<\/a><\/span><\/p>Photo and video editor:<\/strong> VSCO<\/a><\/span><\/p>Graphic maker:<\/strong> Canva<\/a>, Stencil<\/a>, Venngage<\/a><\/span><\/p>Videomaker:<\/strong> Typito<\/a><\/span><\/p>Post scheduler:<\/strong> HootSuite<\/a>, Buffer<\/a><\/span><\/p>Mention monitor:<\/strong> Google Alerts<\/a><\/span><\/p>Engagement tracker:<\/strong> SumAll<\/a>, Google Analytics<\/a>
<\/span><\/p>Nonprofit Social Media Best Practice #6
<\/strong>Actively connect with your donors on social media.<\/span><\/h3>Don\u2019t wait for donors to find you. Make the first move! After all, as you gain more followers on social media, more people will be compelled to give to your campaigns, share your organization\u2019s posts on their own feeds, and like and comment on your posts as they would when interacting with a friend or a topic they feel strongly about.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>DonorPerfect\u2019s Social Media Finder<\/strong> tool enables you to search for donors\u2019 Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn profiles right from DonorPerfect. Once you find them, you can instantly store these valuable links right in their donor record.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>Nonprofit Social Media Best Practice #7
<\/strong>Create eye-catching assets that pop on supporters\u2019 feeds.\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>From funny gifs and adorable grandkid photos to irresistible deals and hot-button articles, your followers are inundated with information the second they sign on to their social media accounts. Your goal is to continuously find new and creative ways to capture their attention mid-scroll, which all starts with the visuals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>Fortunately, you don\u2019t need to be a professional photographer or design pro to whip awesome social media assets that stand out. By leaning on your smartphone camera and the free tools listed above, you can create beautiful imagery and videos in a snap. To ensure you\u2019re always stocked with content, create folders for imagery and assets that fall under the categories that will resonate with your followers. For example, consider keeping folders for:<\/span><\/p>- Mission-minded photos:<\/strong> Make the most of opportunities like time in the field, follow-ups with people who benefit from your services, and community-based events to record moments that will matter to your donors through photos and videos.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>
- Constituent testimonials:<\/strong> Let your followers hear straight from the people you\u2019re helping as well as the people who give to you about just how critical your mission is. Include photos with your quotes or short videos.<\/span><\/li>
- Upcoming campaigns\/opportunities:<\/strong> Gather all of the assets you\u2019ll need to promote upcoming events, online fundraisers, and volunteer days. Be sure to stock up on photos and testimonials that will motivate followers to take the desired action.<\/span><\/li>
- Inspirational quotes:\u00a0<\/strong>
<\/span>Who doesn\u2019t love a good inspirational quote? Compile a doc with your favorites from activists and authors to celebrities and visionaries. Align relevant ones with the appropriate holidays and pretty them up with a post designer mentioned above.\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>\n![\"Yappy](\"https:\/\/uploads.donorperfect.com\/images\/sites\/2\/yappy-hour-benefit.jpg\")
\n
Nonprofit Social Media Best Practice #8
<\/strong>Power your posts with online donation, crowdfunding, volunteer, and event registration forms<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>Valuable engagement goes well beyond the comment field when you\u2019re a nonprofit organization. That\u2019s why you\u2019ll want the ability to pair your posts with specific ways to connect like donating to your organization, registering for fundraising or volunteer events, and setting up individual crowdfunding pages.<\/a><\/span><\/p>Thousands of organizations rely on DonorPerfect Online Forms<\/a> to turn their social media posts into relationship builders and revenue generators alike. Social-savvy features include:<\/span><\/p>Multipurpose capabilities<\/strong><\/p>DonorPerfect Online Forms can be used for much more than donations. From events to monthly giving<\/a>, see all form types available.<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>Customizable templates\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>Just like your social media profiles, you can easily style DonorPerfect Online Forms to reflect your organization\u2019s brand.<\/span><\/p>Unlimited campaign forms<\/strong><\/p>With an unlimited amount of forms<\/a> available, it\u2019s always best to create dedicated campaign forms<\/a> that hone in on the purpose of your campaign and the outcomes each donation level can amount to.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>Bonus: Automatic data entry<\/strong><\/p>
- 84% of Facebook users share the causes and issues that matter to them.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>
- 57% of people who watch a video by a nonprofit make a donation.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>
- 55% of people who interact with nonprofits on Twitter take action.\u00a0<\/span><\/li><\/ul>
Ready to commit to giving your social media feeds the attention they deserve? Follow these best practices to ensure your organization is set up for success when it comes to social.\u00a0
<\/span><\/p>12 Social Media Best Practices for Nonprofits<\/span><\/h2>
Nonprofit Social Media Best Practice #1 <\/strong>
Start small and grow from there.\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>Before you set up accounts on everything from Facebook and Twitter to Snapchat and Instagram, dial it back and determine what you and your team are capable of managing on a consistent basis. If your team is particularly lean, consider starting with one channel.<\/span><\/p>
To help you decide, you should know that nonprofits rank their most important social media channels as follows: 1. Facebook,\u00a0 2. Twitter, 3. YouTube. So when kicking off or revitalizing your nonprofit\u2019s social media efforts, beginning with just Facebook is a smart way to get in the groove of planning, posting, and testing before you expand to other channels.\u00a0
<\/span><\/p><\/h2>Nonprofit Social Media Best Practice #2\u00a0
<\/strong>Leverage your social media profiles to reflect your organization\u2019s brand.\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>The key to creating a successful nonprofit social media page is to give it the love it deserves. In seconds, a visitor to your social media page should be able to determine what your organization does and why they should follow you. Take care in the following tasks as you set up your page:<\/span><\/p>
- Fill out your profile fields completely. At the very minimum, your About section should include your mission, a link to your website, and a link to your donation page.\u00a0<\/li>
- Upload a high-resolution picture of your logo as your profile picture.<\/span><\/li>
- Create a compelling cover photo. Consider updating it to promote your current campaign or upcoming event.\u00a0<\/span><\/li><\/ul>
Nonprofit Social Media Best Practice #3
<\/strong>Develop your nonprofit\u2019s social media personality.\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>Your organization is setting up social media pages with a very specific goal in mind: to gain, retain, and engage your donors. In order to build an online community, your social media personality needs to reflect the real-life community of people who champion your mission.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>
The way you word your messaging and present your posts should give donors a glimpse into what it\u2019s like to be a part of your mission: as a donor, a staff member, even a recipient of your services. For example, if you\u2019re an animal rescue, you can leverage your furry friends to both delight and pull at the heartstrings of your followers by taking on a friendly and warm voice and tone. If your organization specializes in cancer research, you\u2019ll want to channel hope and empathy and ensure the information is presented in layperson terms so donors can understand exactly what their dollars are funding.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>
Nonprofit Social Media Best Practice #4
<\/strong>Post consistently to gain and retain followers.\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>Your social media profiles provide you the unique opportunity to interact with your donors on the daily, so don\u2019t miss out on the opportunity to continuously show them who your organization is, what you stand for, and why being a part of the community that supports you is so rewarding.\u00a0
<\/span><\/p>Follow these tips to help you stay on top of posting:<\/p>
- Designate a specific person (or people) to maintain your social media channels.<\/span><\/li>
- Draft an editorial calendar with planned posts for each channel. Plan posts a month out so your team has time to develop assets to bring your ideas to life.<\/span><\/li>
- In the nonprofit world, your days are unpredictable, so missing an optimal posting time can happen quite easily. Use a free social media post scheduler to upload and schedule your social media posts so you\u2019ll never miss a beat.\u00a0<\/span><\/li><\/ul>
Nonprofit Social Media Best Practice #5
<\/strong>Stock up on free social media tools to help you create, schedule, and track posts.\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>Lucky for you, there are a plethora of free social media tools to help you and your team manage your channels more effectively and efficiently. Best of all, many of these tools are made for those who are a little less than tech-savvy, so you don\u2019t need to be an expert to give them a try.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>
Stock photos:<\/strong> Unsplash<\/a>, Pexels<\/a><\/span><\/p>
Photo and video editor:<\/strong> VSCO<\/a><\/span><\/p>
Graphic maker:<\/strong> Canva<\/a>, Stencil<\/a>, Venngage<\/a><\/span><\/p>
Videomaker:<\/strong> Typito<\/a><\/span><\/p>
Post scheduler:<\/strong> HootSuite<\/a>, Buffer<\/a><\/span><\/p>
Mention monitor:<\/strong> Google Alerts<\/a><\/span><\/p>
Engagement tracker:<\/strong> SumAll<\/a>, Google Analytics<\/a>
<\/span><\/p>Nonprofit Social Media Best Practice #6
<\/strong>Actively connect with your donors on social media.<\/span><\/h3>Don\u2019t wait for donors to find you. Make the first move! After all, as you gain more followers on social media, more people will be compelled to give to your campaigns, share your organization\u2019s posts on their own feeds, and like and comment on your posts as they would when interacting with a friend or a topic they feel strongly about.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>
DonorPerfect\u2019s Social Media Finder<\/strong> tool enables you to search for donors\u2019 Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn profiles right from DonorPerfect. Once you find them, you can instantly store these valuable links right in their donor record.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>
Nonprofit Social Media Best Practice #7
<\/strong>Create eye-catching assets that pop on supporters\u2019 feeds.\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>From funny gifs and adorable grandkid photos to irresistible deals and hot-button articles, your followers are inundated with information the second they sign on to their social media accounts. Your goal is to continuously find new and creative ways to capture their attention mid-scroll, which all starts with the visuals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>
Fortunately, you don\u2019t need to be a professional photographer or design pro to whip awesome social media assets that stand out. By leaning on your smartphone camera and the free tools listed above, you can create beautiful imagery and videos in a snap. To ensure you\u2019re always stocked with content, create folders for imagery and assets that fall under the categories that will resonate with your followers. For example, consider keeping folders for:<\/span><\/p>
- Mission-minded photos:<\/strong> Make the most of opportunities like time in the field, follow-ups with people who benefit from your services, and community-based events to record moments that will matter to your donors through photos and videos.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>
- Constituent testimonials:<\/strong> Let your followers hear straight from the people you\u2019re helping as well as the people who give to you about just how critical your mission is. Include photos with your quotes or short videos.<\/span><\/li>
- Upcoming campaigns\/opportunities:<\/strong> Gather all of the assets you\u2019ll need to promote upcoming events, online fundraisers, and volunteer days. Be sure to stock up on photos and testimonials that will motivate followers to take the desired action.<\/span><\/li>
- Inspirational quotes:\u00a0<\/strong>
<\/span>Who doesn\u2019t love a good inspirational quote? Compile a doc with your favorites from activists and authors to celebrities and visionaries. Align relevant ones with the appropriate holidays and pretty them up with a post designer mentioned above.\u00a0<\/li><\/ul>\n
\n
Nonprofit Social Media Best Practice #8
<\/strong>Power your posts with online donation, crowdfunding, volunteer, and event registration forms<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>Valuable engagement goes well beyond the comment field when you\u2019re a nonprofit organization. That\u2019s why you\u2019ll want the ability to pair your posts with specific ways to connect like donating to your organization, registering for fundraising or volunteer events, and setting up individual crowdfunding pages.<\/a><\/span><\/p>
Thousands of organizations rely on DonorPerfect Online Forms<\/a> to turn their social media posts into relationship builders and revenue generators alike. Social-savvy features include:<\/span><\/p>
Multipurpose capabilities<\/strong><\/p>
DonorPerfect Online Forms can be used for much more than donations. From events to monthly giving<\/a>, see all form types available.<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>
Customizable templates\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>
Just like your social media profiles, you can easily style DonorPerfect Online Forms to reflect your organization\u2019s brand.<\/span><\/p>
Unlimited campaign forms<\/strong><\/p>
With an unlimited amount of forms<\/a> available, it\u2019s always best to create dedicated campaign forms<\/a> that hone in on the purpose of your campaign and the outcomes each donation level can amount to.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>
Bonus: Automatic data entry<\/strong><\/p>
- Constituent testimonials:<\/strong> Let your followers hear straight from the people you\u2019re helping as well as the people who give to you about just how critical your mission is. Include photos with your quotes or short videos.<\/span><\/li>
- Draft an editorial calendar with planned posts for each channel. Plan posts a month out so your team has time to develop assets to bring your ideas to life.<\/span><\/li>
- Create a compelling cover photo. Consider updating it to promote your current campaign or upcoming event.\u00a0<\/span><\/li><\/ul>
- 57% of people who watch a video by a nonprofit make a donation.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>
![\"two](\"https:\/\/uploads.donorperfect.com\/images\/sites\/2\/donation-box2.jpg\")
![\"girl](\"https:\/\/uploads.donorperfect.com\/images\/sites\/2\/girl-holding-dog1.jpg\")