8 Social Media and Online Basics for Nonprofit Fundraising – Introduction to a Summer Series

Summer is finally here and many organizations are hard at work planning for the fall and final quarter’s marketing and nonprofit fundraising plans. While summer can generally be the slower period of the year, it’s an excellent time to take stock of current initiatives and plan for future efforts. Although social and digital media has become more prevalent to business marketing plans, there are still some nonprofits that are hesitant to jump in. There are also some that may have acted too hastily and not worked out a plan first. Over the summer I will be writing a Social Media Series with the most up to date tips and information to help strengthen new or existing social and digital media marketing plans for nonprofits.

Donors have many options nowadays in which to communicate with and support a nonprofit and as each channel continues to grow and new platforms emerge it’s important for nonprofits to keep abreast of the ever changing world of social and digital media marketing. Today I will highlight the key areas that our Social Media Summer Series will cover over the next few weeks and provide you with some introductory links to previous articles containing tips on each platform.

1. Facebook. Having almost reached 850 million monthly active users according to infographicLabs.com, Facebook continues to dominate the social media arena and is an essential platform that every nonprofit should have a presence on. To cover the basics, read my posts Maximizing Nonprofit Fundraising Efforts Through Facebook and 10 Tips for Maximizing Nonprofit Fundraising Efforts Through Facebook.
2. Twitter. With approximately 175 million tweets per day, Twitter is a unique news platform that provides many benefits and it continues to grow with almost 1 million accounts added every day. Many are intimidated by the concept of short, 140-character messaging and overwhelmed on how to effectively interact with donors and supporters. However, Twitter offers opportunities to positively complement existing marketing plans. I wrote  5 Tips to Integrate Twitter into Nonprofit Fundraising and Outreach Campaigns to help get started.
3. LinkedIn. As two new members join the 150 million members every second, this platform geared towards business professionals is an excellent channel to expand reach, connect with those that have similar interests and serves as an excellent tool for professional and career development. I wrote about 5 LinkedIn Tips for Nonprofit Fundraising Professionals which should be helpful.
4. YouTube & Video Marketing. The third most visited website in the world, YouTube receives about 2 billion views every day, handling approximately 10% of all internet traffic. Second to Google, YouTube has the largest search engine, which becomes a valuable tool for nonprofits to be found. Videos are an excellent way to tell a story while delivering your causes message effectively, making the quality production, editing and distribution of your videos critical to the success of the campaign. I previously wrote about this in 8 Types of Online Videos to Help Increase Supporter Engagement and Nonprofit Fundraising and 6 Steps to Producing Successful On-Screen Nonprofit Videos.
5. Pinterest. The online Pinboard has grown in popularity almost overnight. It’s visual content, simplicity and shareability has attracted the 10.4 million registered users (as of February), which produces 12 million monthly unique visitors. The strong female user demographic which is most coveted by marketers and very important to nonprofits, makes a presence on Pinterest an obvious choice which can easily complement initiatives on some of the other larger platforms. I provided 5 Tips to Effectively Use Pinterest for Nonprofit Fundraising and Engagement.
6. Email Marketing/Newsletters. The back bone of an effective marketing plan includes well timed, content rich and interactive communication that leads the donor or supporter to a call-to-action. Ultimately, it needs to strengthen the organization’s mission while advancing the overall cause. A good preliminary start is reviewing my 4 Tips for Building a Strong Nonprofit Fundraising Email Program and 4 Email Marketing Tips for Nonprofit Fundraising Learned from Digital Benchmark Study Part 1 and Part 2.
7. Website & Blogging. Having an effective website and accompanying blog is critical to the image your organization projects to your supporters. It can also determine the results of your fundraising campaigns, especially if your current site is not mobilized or optimized for your donors to take action. Layout, design and content can also affect SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and how donors ultimately find you. I will be sharing best practice tips (here are some previous tips I shared) along with must have’s and do’s that will help your site(s) strengthen your overall fundraising goals.
8. Other Platforms. Instagram, Google+, StumbleUpon, Delicious, Tumblr, Digg and Reddit are all valuable platforms that have its place and purpose within the social media landscape. Whether or not they fit into a nonprofits overall social media and marketing plans, depends on the end result or goal that needs to be reached. In this Summer Series, I will review the benefits and drawbacks of using these lesser known tools and how to effectively integrate them.

I look forward to providing you with some insightful information in this Social Media Summer Series and hope that you find the information beneficial to your nonprofit fundraising efforts.
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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all contact centre services and mail house operations and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.