Social Media for Non Profits is an exciting arena that many in the field are still in the early stages of exploring due to time and budget restraints. My colleague and I had the opportunity to present this to a large group of Non Profit marketers at the United Way of Houston, to help them better understand how to best utilize the platforms.
4. Pierpont & Nonprofits
For more than 30 years, we've worked with trade associations,
member-based organizations and nonprofits to shape and facilitate
dialogue with diverse stakeholders.
Over the years, our teams have…
• Managed trade association events
• Garnered positive traditional and social media attention
• Developed donor and volunteer-targeted campaigns
• Built awareness that led to increased membership
• Position executives as thought leaders in their fields
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Our social media capabilities include…
• Social media strategy, management, training and best practices
• Social media monitoring, reporting and intelligence gathering
• Targeted traffic generation (CPC, sponsored)
• Community management and social engagement (promotions,
campaigns, contests)
• Incorporation of social media into integrated marketing campaigns
Pierpont & Social Media
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Set Measurable Social Media Goals
• Start by defining how you want social media to help
your business.
• Establish objectives that will help set marks that can
be tracked and measured.
• Focus on making sure that each of your social media
posts support a strategic goal.
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Set Measurable Social Media Goals
Common strategic social media goals and objectives include…
• Build Brand Awareness: Get the public to know your name, with a
positive perception of your business.
• Gain New Customers: Drive traffic to your company social media page
or website.
• Strengthen Customer Service: Engage with potential customers by
answering questions, or help existing customers with your products or
services.
• Increase Engagement: Interact with your fans/followers by giving them
reasons to mention your brand and refer others to do business with
you.
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Choose the Right Social Media Networks
• It’s no lie: social media activity can be time-consuming.
Trying to manage all social networks will exhaust your
resources and detract from your most successful channels.
• Use your target customer and their online behaviors to
determine which networks will work best for your products
and services.
• Narrowing down the target for your business’s specific social
media strategy will give you more time to create the right
content for the right followers.
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Brand Your Social Media Profile Pages
• The perception of your company’s identity should be uniform
across all channels. You’re not only building a stronger brand,
but also creating awareness and loyalty.
• Make it easy for consumers to recognize your business by
maintaining consistency across the following areas:
• Company Description
• Logo & Tagline
• Tone & Voice
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Brand Your Social Media Profile Pages
Company Description
Use a clear, easy-to-digest description that is consistent across all your pages. Get to
the point in the fewest amount of words; your customers should immediately
grasp what it is that your business can do for them. Add your website in this
description if you have room.
Logo & Tagline
Always use the same logotype for your brand. This is a huge visual which will stick
with your audience. If you have a memorable tagline, maintain the same one
everywhere (and try to use it in conjunction with your logo). Each social network has
size specifications for cover images and profile photos.
Tone & Voice
What is the personality of your brand, and what kinds of words do you use to
communicate? Connect with your customers in an authentic way, and in the same
way across all social media.
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Content: Quality over Quantity
More is not always better! Just like on your website and blog, you’ll want to
generate quality social media content that is valuable to your customers.
A good social media content mix includes equal parts of the following types:
• Promotional
• Thought Leadership
• Engagement with Followers
Be sure that your social pages stay up-to-date with relevant and timely posts.
Create an editorial calendar to help organize and schedule your social media
strategy over the course of 1-3 months. Revisit it at the end of that time
period, and update the calendar to reflect content types which gained the
most engagement.
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Share Rich Content
Always include an image or video with your social media posts. Posts with a
well-designed piece of creative or an engaging photo are much more likely to
grab the attention of your followers.
Not all organizations have the in-house support to create beautiful graphics
or take professional photos. Luckily, there are online resources
like Shutterstock and Visual.ly that offer a plethora of stock images and
custom-made infographics.
Your social media posts should leave your followers wanting more, while
encouraging them to follow a call to action. So, include a link to more
information whenever possible.
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Be Engaging, Authentic & Conversational
Engagement is a two-way street. You want your supporters and brand
ambassadors to know that you’re just as invested in them as they are in you.
• On Twitter, follow your engaged followers and respond to their
mentions.
• On Facebook, like and share posts of followers who frequently like and
share your posts.
• On Instagram, respond to comments and @ tag friends on photos that
are relevant to them.
The key takeaway here is to treat social media as a way to interact with your
community.
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Monitor Social Media Analytics
Taking a look at your social media analytics on a weekly basis will give you the
data needed to support your goals & objectives.
There are a few ways to do this: through a dashboard like Hootsuite or Buffer,
with Google Analytics, or by using the native tool that each specific social
network may offer.
Free tools are available on most platforms, but you can also pay for more
comprehensive measurement tools like NUVI, Sprout, Hubspot, etc.
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Investigate Competitors
Examine how competitors manage their brand on social media channels and
observe which content generates interaction and engagement.
Key items to monitor on competitors’ social media channels are:
• Branding
• Popularity
• Frequency of Posts
• Engagement
• Types of Content
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Amplify with Paid Content
Grassroots campaigns can grow quickly and organically on social. Your
content could “go viral” overnight – although it’s not likely, so amplify your
posts with paid opportunities.
Sponsoring posts can go a long way, thanks to the robust targeting that the
social platforms offer.
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Be Patient and Consistent
It can take time to build a loyal following, by gaining trust and nurturing the
relationship.
While social media posting may be fleeting among the massive amounts of
content generated every minute, it pays to implement a strategy and target
the right consumers.
By following these best practices with consistency and patience, you’ll be on
your way to social media success!
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• Facebook: post at least once a day, between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.
• Twitter: tweet and retweet relevant content as often as possible, Mondays
through Thursdays between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
• LinkedIn: post 4 to 5 times per week, Mondays through Thursdays between
7 a.m. and 9 a.m.
• Google+: post at least once a day, between 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Instagram and Pinterest: post at least once a day
Recommended Frequency & Timing
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How to Use Social Media
• Lack of social media staffing and
support can be one of the biggest
challenges for nonprofits.
• With this being the case, it
becomes all the more important to
share to social media as efficiently
as possible, conserving your time
and resources.
• The three part nonprofit structure
should be incorporated into your
social media strategy:
• Appreciation: member-based
• Advocacy: humanitarian-focused
• Appeals: donation-backed
Source: Buffer
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Where Nonprofits are Engaging
According to a HubSpot, the top social
networks used by small-to-medium
nonprofits are…
• Facebook (98%)
• Twitter (~70%)
• LinkedIn (~55%)
• YouTube (~45%)
• Pinterest (~25%)
• Instagram (~15%)
• Google+ (~15%)
• Flickr (~10%)
• Tumblr (~5%)
• SlideShare (<5%)
Source: HubSpot
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15 Simple, Cost-Effective Social Tactics
1. Highlight a donor of the week or
month
2. Interact with relevant pages and
profiles
3. Tweet to pages with specific asks
4. Create behind-the-scenes content
5. Share a user generated content
6. Encourage peer-to-peer asks
7. Ask questions in your posts
8. Enlist a group of supporters to
engage with your content
9. Engage with influencers in your
area
10. Discover the connections of your
team
11. Appoint a social media person on
your board
12. Schedule routine drive-bys of your
social media accounts
13. Participate in Twitter Chats
14. Respond to everyone
15. Request nonprofit discounts for
your favorite tools
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For more information, please contact:
Dori Ludwig, Director of Marketing
Tel (713) 627-2223
dludwig@piercom.com
Amy Lach, Account Executive
Tel (713) 627-2223
alach@piercom.com
