Start Managing Fundraising Social Media like a Pro!

Let’s face it- managing social media is daunting. What do I post? When do I post? How often do I post? Who is going to post and when? 

Whether you have an established fundraising social media presence or are starting up your social media presence, here are some valuable tactics and tools you can use to promote your mission and fundraising event to get your story out to the public!

Determine your objective. Don’t get caught up with likes and comments. Even if your posts don’t receive thousands of likes or comments, a social media presence for nonprofits is still valuable. Why? Sharing accurate information about your fundraising event online establishes credibility and is also a great resource for people who are searching for the event online! In addition, social media posts are a great way to lead people to your organization’s website, where they can learn more about your mission, benefit events, and how to donate!

Buffer: Buffer is a free (yes, free!) social media content calendar and scheduler. This is an ideal option for scheduling your posts to go out in advance, so you can focus on other tasks instead of thinking, “Oh no, it’s 12pm, I’ve got to post to Facebook this very instant!” 

Once you sign up for the service, you can link your social media accounts and schedule your posts to go out on designated times and dates. You can even attach photos and links to your scheduled posts! Not only does this tool help with scheduling, but it helps to determine what you’ll share online ahead of time and check to make sure you’re sharing accurate information such as event location, start time, who the auctioneer will be, etc. 

Canva: Graphic Design has never been easier thanks to Canva. A free photo editor, visual editor, and all-around essential tool, Canva is your go-to free source for designing posters, graphics, and images. Canva also has a ton of easy-to-use templates so you can create designs and visuals quickly and efficiently.

Note: Canva does offer a premium plan with enhanced features such as resizing and stock image access, however, the free version is extremely versatile for creating designs.

Facebook Business Suite: 

Similar to Buffer and other schedulers, Facebook hosts it’s own free social media scheduler and manager.Facebook Business Suite boasts features that work seamlessly with Instagram and Facebook such as media pools, hashtag management, and a content calendar that allows you to schedule your posts in advance on Instagram and Facebook. With Business Suite, you can manage all your activities in one place, giving you time back to focus on other aspects of your business. One of Business Suite’s strengths is it’s integration with targeted and sponsored ad campaigns, so if you are interested in promoting your posts, Business Suite offers a great platform in which to manage all aspects of your social media in one dashboard. Another great feature is that you can schedule posts for all your connected accounts! For example, if you were managing social media for multiple organizations, this would be a great cost-free option! The caveat? Business Suite doesn’t offer LinkedIn, Twitter, or YouTube integration. So, you’ll need to manually post to those platforms or utilize another scheduler. 

Create an awesome informative post:

Google “best social media posts” and you’ll receive about a thousand suggestions. However, if you’re promoting your organization’s fundraising event, you’re going to want to keep things simple and informative for people discovering your posts. Try following The Five Ws – questions whose answers are considered basic in information-gathering. They include Who, What, When Where, and Why.

Here’s a great example from Purple Pansies:

They included the event details in the graphic below the post and kept the caption engaging to the content. They even included a link to the Givesmart registration, so guests can be taken immediately to the registration.

Always remember, social media is simply another tool to spread awareness. Don’t get caught up in likes, comments, and shares. The reality is that someone may discover your event by searching through social media rather than Google. 

For more great ideas on non-profit social media posts and strategy, check out Positive Equation’s blog