SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDE
SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDE The World Wide Web has certainly owned up to its name—it’s huge. The Internet and everything in it is constantly growing, and social media is no exception. With so much growth happening online, keeping up with the latest thing can feel like you’re always running to catch up. That’s why we’re taking a step back to look at the big picture and diving into social media for nonprofits. Instead of trying to learn every feature of every channel at once, you can learn the basics and decide where you should be spending your time. We’ve got handy tips and helpful tools to show you what each platform offers and how it can speak to your nonprofit’s needs.
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FACEBOOK The catch-all of every social media channel. You can share photos and videos, interact with your audience and expand your network of supporters. Facebook is used by 79% all of internet users in every range from age 18 and up. If you have to choose to focus on just one channel, Facebook is probably your best bet.
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Facebook is the most-used app,1 so make sure everything you’re putting out looks just as good on mobile as it does on your desktop.
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Boosting your posts can get lots of eyes on the things that you’re sharing. When you’re setting up a boosted post, make sure to fill in specific demographics that fit your nonprofit.
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Video on Facebook is making a quick rise, so be sure to utilize it when you can. With Facebook’s auto-play feature, the beginning of your video will play on silent as users scroll by.
Internet Trends 2017 - Code Coference: http://www.kpcb.com/internet-trends If This Then That tutorial: https://youtu.be/0JdJlDHaehE
Helpful Tools Facebook Scheduling: If it’s hard for you to find time in the day for social media, this can take a load off your shoulders. Carve out a chunk of time during your week to find content to share, then schedule it right on the platform. If other things come up later on, you won’t have to worry about posting.
If This Than That: IFTTT.com is able to connect your operations across a slew of platforms. You can create, share and react by syncing things through your Google Drive, social media, location and more. You can create your own “recipes” or search through an endless list of IFTTT’s own. If This Then That might be a lot to swallow at once, but never fear! There’s a YouTube tutorial 2 for everything.
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INSTAGRAM Sharing stories with photo and video. As with every social media platform, knowing your audience should be the first step. The vast majority of Instagram users are under 30 years old. If your nonprofit appeals to a younger audience, then Instagram is just the thing for you. If you’re focused on an older demographic, set your sights somewhere else.
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Instagram is a visual platform. It’s a great space to highlight your organization’s culture and to tell the stories of the people you’re impacting in a visual way.
It isn’t just for photos anymore. It has resources for sharing boomerang, timelapse, and live video. Experiment and get creative!
Helpful Tools Later: Unfortunately scheduling on Instagram is still a no-go, but Later can help alleviate the stress of always having to post in real time. You can crop your photo, edit your caption and set the time to post on the app. When the time comes, it’ll send you a notification to post. Then, voila! With a few touches you can send it off into your Instagram feed.
Instagram Stories: Instagram stories have taken the fast track to fame this year. Each video in your story will disappears after 24 hours, so you can quickly share fun moments without cluttering your account. You don’t need a ton of video production to get into this—a little creativity goes a long way. Take advantage of that by creating a storyline for people to follow as they watch.
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LINKEDIN The complete networking side of social media. The platform has grown in the past year, and it’s looking like it’ll continue to be on the up-and-up in the foreseeable future. Here, you can find potential board members and supporters of your cause, hire employees and draw in volunteers. Facebook is great for when you’re leading the pack, but LinkedIn is perfect for networking with your followers and using their abilities for your nonprofit.
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The LinkedIn for Nonprofits 1 website has so many resources for organizations. Take a look around and see how to get a leg up on this platform.
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Spruce up your company page. This is the place that people will come to when they’re looking to connect with your nonprofit on LinkedIn. Add some photos, links to your website and connect with your staff and current supporters.
Helpful Tools Groups: LinkedIn groups are just one of the many ways to network on this channel. You can ask for advice or share about your own interests. Groups can cover topics far and wide, from the general to the specific. Find some groups that relate to what you’re doing and add to the conversation.
LinkedIn Pulse: Pulse is a hub for professional news. Start out by exploring the feature; get a feel for how it works, read up on blogs and find some content to share on social media. After that, your nonprofit can explore how to publish on Pulse 2 and leverage it for your benefit.
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LinkedIn for Nonprofits: https://nonprofit.linkedin.com How to Publish on LinkedIn Pulse: A Beginner’s Guide
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TWITTER Great for ongoing and real-time conversations. Nonprofits should use it to interact with supporters and to boost brand awareness. Twitter may not be right for your nonprofit, though. Take a good look at your audience and your resources before getting into the thick of it. If you don’t have the time to commit to sending multiple tweets every week, then your efforts might be better off on a different social site.
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Tweet often! On most social media platforms, you should stick to posting no more than one or two times per day. On Twitter, not so much. Once you send a tweet out into the world, it’ll be old news before you know it. Give a little time for each tweet to shine. We recommend tweeting once every hour or so until you start to see trends. From there, take a look at your analytics and see what works for you.
Helpful Tools Twitter Analytics: Taking a look at your analytics can provide some insight into what is and isn’t working. This platform gives you a broad overview of your audience, useful stats and how your tweets are performing.
DIY Design Tools: Adding a photo or a graphic to your tweet gives it a push in the right direction. If you want to spruce up your photos with cool effects but you’re short on time, there are lots of image apps that can help you out. Studio Design and Canva are both great places to start.
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PINTEREST Gathering and organizing all the things you enjoy. If you use it strategically, Pinterest is a great place for sharing stories and marketing your products. Depending on how you use it, you can show off your organization on Pinterest in a lot of different ways. P.Ink 1 uses Pinterest as their website, creating a board for each “tab” you might find on a company site. The website charity: water 2 utilizes Pinterest to share a picture of the day, charity: water gear and fresh fundraising ideas.
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Organize your boards into themes. Create a purpose for each board that gives each user a takeaway.
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Use striking photos. Whoever is running your Pinterest account should have at least some artistic eye. The vast majority of the Pinterest platform is taken up by photos and videos. If your images fall behind on looks, they’ll fall behind in your followers’ feeds, too.
Helpful Tools Pinvolve: Pinvolve takes the work out of posting the same content in more than one place. This tool turns your Facebook posts into Pinterest pins and viceversa. They offer both free and paid accounts with different features.
Piktochard:
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Do your research. Find out how other nonprofits are leveraging Pinterest 3 for their cause. Search for inspiration of your own by exploring Pinterest and pinning items that both you and your followers will find interesting or helpful.
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Give a little to get a lot. Your pins should provide value in some way. Whether you’re sharing ideas, selling products, spreading inspiration or telling a story, your pins should be useful.
P.Ink: https://www.pinterest.com/personalink charity:water: https://www.pinterest.com/charitywater 3 Pinterest For Nonprofits & Socal Good: https://www.causevox.com/pinterest-for-nonprofits 1
Infographics are one of the best ways to tell a story visually. Piktochart makes that job easier than ever by offering templates and tools to make infographic creation simple.
ReciteThis: On Pinterest, everything needs to be visual. Everything. ReciteThis makes plain text engaging by turning it into a fun image. You simply type in a quote, choose a graphic style and your image is ready to share.
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YOUTUBE Made to share video in the most engaging way. Creating it takes a little extra blood, sweat and tears, but it’s worth it in the end. The YouTube Nonprofit Program 1 is a useful resource that tailors YouTube to your nonprofit’s needs. 501(c)(3) organizations can apply to become a part of the program and to start taking advantage of its features. You can get access to their outreach toolkit and donation cards to boost your videos to top-notch status.
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Don’t know where to start? Try anywhere! You can use videos to share your organization’s story, testimonials and presentations that people may have missed.
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Share, share and share again. YouTube is made for sharing, so promote your videos through your other social media networks. You can embed videos on blog posts, too.
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Consider bringing in a student intern, if you don’t have the time or tools to create video. Some students are looking for ways to beef up their portfolio, and this is the perfect opportunity to give them some handson experience. It’s a win-win!
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Use pre-installed programs. If you want to stick to the basics, iMovie and Windows movie maker are great tools for entry-level videographers. Both let you trim video clips, add music and include transitions. Each program is usually pre-installed on Mac or Windows devices.
Helpful Tools WeVideo: If you’re looking for a tool to make video editing simple, WeVideo is the place to look. You can add photos, video clips, text and animations all on one user-friendly platform. WeVideo has free and paid options so that you can edit all kinds of videos on your computer, iPhone or Android device.
Powtoon: Like WeVideo, Powtoon also offers free and paid subscriptions. Here, you can create fun animated videos and export them to Youtube, PowerPoint and more. Their site is incredibly easy to use, letting you create animated masterpieces in a flash.
LinkedIn for Nonprofits: https://nonprofit.linkedin.com How to Publish on LinkedIn Pulse: A Beginner’s Guide: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/linkedin-publishing-beginner-guide
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SNAPCHAT The catch-all of every social media channel. Snapchat has grown like crazy since its creation. Despite its growth, though, it still only caters primarily to millennials; 60 percent of Snapchat users are under 25 1 . With that in mind, Snapchat might not be right for your nonprofit—that’s okay. If Snapchat does make sense for your organization, then it’s time to get those creative juices flowing.
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Create an on-demand geofilters for events and occasions. When Snapchat users are within your specified region, they can use your Geofilter as an overlay on their photos. They start at five dollars and are priced based on the size of the area and how long you want them to run on the app.
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Become a follower instead and take a look at what other organizations are doing. You can get the inside scoop on their company culture and strategies that might work for you. Check out our top nonprofits to follow 2 on Snapchat.
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Have fun creating! You don’t have to stress over building an Oscar-nominated Snapchat story—it’ll disappear after 24 hours anyway. From the text and drawing tools to Bitmoji and fun filters, there are plenty of means to give your videos a quirky twist or an artistic edge.
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Don’t have the money for analytics tools? Track your own 3 . Keep an eye on your audience’s engagement by story completion rate, number of screenshots or unique views.
Helpful Tools Snapcodes: Snapchat creates these QR codes unique to each user. You can share your Snapcode across other social media channels or even put it on print materials. From there, it’s easy as pie! People just have to take a photo of the code with their Snapchat camera or take a screenshot on their phone to quickly connect with your organization.
Snaplytics: Snapchat doesn’t offer much on their end in terms of organized data. Based out of Copenhagen, Snaplytics lets you track metrics and insights all on one straightforward platform. Snaplytics’ services do come with a price tag, though. Give it a whirl with the free trial, then decide whether or not it’s something your nonprofit needs.
Top Snapchat Demographics That Matter to Social Media Marketers: https://blog.hootsuite.com/snapchat-demographics/ How to Use Snapchat, Even If It’s Wrong for Your Organization: http://nonprofithub.org/social-media/top-nonprofits-on-snapchat-to-follow/ 3 Snapchat Analytics: How to Measure Your Brand’s Efforts on the App: https://blog.hootsuite.com/snapchat-analytics/ 1
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