How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media to Reach Donors
Nonprofit fundraising is an art form. It’s a partnership, it’s relationship building, and it requires consistent and thoughtful donor communication. It takes a lot of effort to keep your existing donor base engaged, much less to gain new donors.
The good news is that two key social platforms just made your job easier. Facebook and YouTube have new social media fundraising tools to help you reach potential donors, better engage existing donors and further your organization’s mission awareness.
YouTube has over a billion users. That is one-third of all people on the internet. Recently, YouTube announced a new nonprofit fundraising tool – donation cards. Donation cards make it easier to raise money for your cause by allowing your viewers to donate directly from your YouTube video. Cards are interactive elements added to videos that viewers can see on desktop and mobile devices. And with Google covering the processing fees, your organization will receive 100% of the money donated. Win!
To learn more about how your nonprofit can participate in the YouTube for Nonprofit program, review the program guidelines. And check out the simple steps needed to complete donation cards for your nonprofit.
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YouTube has created a toolkit to help your organization get started. If you have a YouTube channel and videos to share your mission message, it’s time to add donation cards to allow people to immediately donate to your organization.
Speaking of video, Facebook recently added live stream video for U.S. users. This has opened a world of possibilities for nonprofits. Nonprofit events can be enhanced by live streaming video – imagine capturing a team at a walk and having them share their story about why they are fundraising. Individuals impacted by your organization can share their stories or offer a heartfelt message. You can capture a special presentation, stream people receiving awards and giving their acceptance speeches, or allow people to follow a public conversation and ask their own questions. There are endless possibilities on how nonprofits can benefit from this Facebook update.
Turn a Facebook page “like” into a possible donor. If the bandwidth is there, Facebook’s live streaming video just opened up a great way to increase communications with potential new donors. Your organization now has the capacity to live stream important “mission moments” that might otherwise go unshared. Live video can take engagement to a whole new level and give nonprofits the ability to share the on-the-ground work that is being done. Check out the Facebook verification process needed to get your page ready for live video streaming.
Chances are, your YouTube and Facebook audiences are loyal supporters that you have cultivated over the course of several years. These are people that are already invested in your organization and want to continue to feel connected. Instead of chasing the latest social media technology or trend, add ways for your existing audience to feel connected. Use Facebook to show immediate, grassroots efforts or allow people to engage in a Q&A session with your organization. With YouTube, ask your followers for a donation with just the click of a button. If someone is stopping to learn more about your message, or feels a connection to your story, they want to help you, so let them.
