#GivingTuesday has arrived – these 5 steps can help your day blossom

After months of planning for thousands of nonprofits the day has arrived – today is #GivingTuesday following the back-to-back events of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Today is the 3rd annual Giving Tuesday – an event that grows each year and has done a tremendous job of building awareness for so many organizations and generating millions of dollars in donations.

Previously on the Miratel Blog we provided top tips about preparing for the big day and also offered background information about the 2014 Giving Tuesday event back in September. As a reminder, there are numerous online resources to help get your website and social media campaigns be ready for the big day. On the official Giving Tuesday site you can find many examples and helpful ideas in addition to toolkits, personalized banners and logos that can be used to help things look the part.

We hope that the day is a huge success for your organization and remember that sharing is at the heart of #GivingTuesday. Millions of people across North America will be actively seeking the hashtag #GivingTuesday across different social media channels and it’s a wonderful opportunity to spread awareness of your organization on a day like no other. Even though it’s a little last minute there’s still time to take part today and the steps below can help make your nonprofit shine this December 2nd.

Dedicate time for Engagement: Add a special blog update and posts specifically about #GivingTuesday on your social media channels. Explain more about your goals, your accomplishments so far this year and how people can get involved both today and in the future.

Graphics and Visuals: It’s been shown that people are far more likely to notice and engage with graphics and visuals than just stand alone text. If you’ve created custom graphics or wish to use some from the Giving Tuesday website be sure to incorporate them on your social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest along with your own websites. Your profile photos/cover photos are a great place to get started.

Drop Everything for Giving Tuesday: Depending on the size of your organization this might not be completely practical but try to dedicate a team (or an individual) that can be very active on the day. Plan and schedule a number of updates throughout the day – add photos and data – and share information at regular intervals during the day. It’s not a typical day and therefore sharing up to 3 or 4 updates on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram is totally acceptable and update even more frequently than that on Twitter. If you perhaps have time to create a short video of a ‘call to action’ to support or volunteer for your nonprofit and get it uploaded to YouTube and other channels then by all means give it a try.

Share Thanks: Today is a great day for nonprofits to move closer to their goals but it’s also a fantastic day to show appreciation for those who help to make it possible. There are a million good reasons to take the time to thank and celebrate the efforts of all of the individuals that donate, volunteer, and spread the word for you throughout the day with quick messages of appreciation. With social media it’s easy to forget that someone sharing content can have a bigger impact than you’d ever imagine.

Shareable Content: Make sure that your board, staff and key clients/volunteers are aware of your efforts today and which social media channels are active – create content that is easy to share, informative and event specific. The more key people that are involved who are actively sharing content on the day the wider your audience will become.

Above all else share your passion and warmth and make sure that your audience know that #GivingTuesday is a wonderful chance to get involved and make a difference.

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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including PCI compliant inbound telephone fundraising, outbound telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery fundraising services, donation processing and receipting and direct mail fundraising services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all our business decisions and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.