How to Promote Online Fundraising Through Social Media Channels?

Going door to door, asking for donations for your charitable organizations, is so last century. If you're still stuck in the old-school ways, you're in for a loss — a loss of opportunities to attract potential donors. 

You need to know that social media has changed fundraising dynamics. So, you can use this powerful tool to reach a wider audience of potential donors, which can help you raise more funds for your cause. 

However, we know that with so many platforms and strategies to choose from, it can be challenging to figure out where to start. 

But don't worry, because in this blog, we'll walk you through online fundraising and social media, sharing tips and tricks for promoting your cause effectively and making a real impact. 

In case you're looking for easy ways to make your social media campaign a success, signup with BetterWorld. Our powerful platform makes it easy to collect donations for your campaigns, and through our channel, you can connect with donors from around the world and maximize your impact.

What is the Role of Social Media in Fundraising?

It goes without saying that social media is a great tool that helps nonprofits raise funds and increase visibility. With it, you can reach a mass audience, engage with potential donors and build relationships with your supporters. 

There are also several other reasons you should have a social media presence.

• Having an online presence means sharing valuable content with your audience and supporters and increasing awareness about your organization and the causes you support. By looking at your work, people will be convinced to help you and send referrals your way.
• Being a nonprofit means you have a limited budget, so social media can be a cost-effective tool to reach a wide audience and help you create targeted campaigns. 
• Social media can help you build relationships with potential donors by posting good content regularly and keeping them updated on how their money is helping make a difference. 

Social media plays a significant role in fundraising for nonprofits and charitable organizations. If you are part of a charitable organization, you must make it part of your marketing strategy. 

Tips to Promote Fundraisers on Social Media

Identify Your Target Audience

The first step to nailing social media strategy for fundraising is identifying your target audience. Your target audience is the people you need to attract because those are most likely to support your organization’s mission and donate. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to identify your target audience to develop a marketing strategy that works best in attracting them. 

Once you’ve who that group of people are, you can develop effective marketing strategies, communication plans, and fundraising campaigns for your organization.

You must also dig deep into your target audience's demographics, behavior, motivations, and preferences. This will guide you in tailoring your messaging, programs, and events based on their needs and interests. 

Moreover, this process also helps you select the right social media platform for creating content that resonates with your target audience. This will likely lead to more engagement and interest in the cause you’re supporting.

Update Your Social Media Profiles With the Latest Info

The next thing you need to do is regularly update your social media channels with fresh content. Updated social media profiles increase your chances of credibility and make your organization more approachable. No one likes to engage with dead accounts or even donate to them. 

Active social media pages convey that this organization is actively working on campaigns and must be helped with funds. You can even increase awareness of the latest causes that your organization is working on, and there's no better way to go about it than by posting about them on social media.

You can also build genuine relationships with donors and your target audience by posting personal stories, images, and videos related to the fundraiser on social media pages. This way, the potential donors can feel a more personal connection with the cause. And this connection can motivate them to donate to the fundraiser.

You have to acknowledge that social media is a mighty tool. By regularly updating your social media pages with fundraising-related content, you can reach a wider audience beyond the immediate network of the fundraiser, and it will help you in the longer run.

Choose the Right Social Media Platforms

You can have a perfect marketing strategy for your campaigns, but if you’re posting your content on the wrong platform, then there’s a slim chance of you reaching your target audience. Thus, choosing the right social media platform is key to reaching potential donors and supporters.

You need to understand the target audience's interests and demographics to choose the most fitting social media platform for your campaign. 

For instance, Instagram is more popular with younger audiences, while Facebook has a broader demographic reach. While developing a marketing strategy, you need to understand the importance of creating visually appealing content and using hashtags to increase reach on the most fitting platform for your target audience.

Selecting the right social media platform is crucial when promoting a fundraiser on social media because different platforms have varying audiences and features that can affect your fundraiser's success. 

The right platform can help you reach a broader audience, increase engagement, and ultimately raise more funds. 

Being on the right platform will help you tailor your content and messaging, ensuring that your fundraiser's objectives are met effectively.

Start Creating Engaging Content

It can’t be said enough times that social media is a powerful tool that can increase the visibility of your organization and your fundraisers. By creating meaningful content, you can reach a broader audience and attract more attention to your cause, which is all you need.

Moreover, the tool provides you with an affordable way to promote your fundraisers. By creating valuable and engaging content, you can harness the power of social media to reach a larger audience without spending a lot of money on advertising. This is incredible since you will be on a limited budget.

Social media lets you connect and engage with donors and supporters more easily and efficiently. By posting impactful content, you can foster community and encourage people to become more involved with your cause.

The biggest perk of social media is that you get to track and measure the impact of your fundraisers more easily. By creating engaging content and tracking engagement metrics, you can evaluate the success of your fundraisers and make adjustments to improve future campaigns.

Add Donation Links to Posts

Posting alone on socials is not enough if you’re not giving your target audience a CTA (call to action) and leading them to your donation page, which is the end goal of it all. Therefore, you must always add donation links to your posts to drive more donations. 

There are also other reasons you need to add donation links to your posts while promoting your fundraiser on social media. 

• The donation links make it easy for your supporters to easily click through and make a donation without having to search for your website or navigate through a complicated donation process.
• By providing a donation link in your social media posts, you reduce the friction involved in the donation process, which can lead to more donations.
• It compels people to share your fundraiser with their networks. This can lead to increased exposure and more donations.
• It allows your supporters to see exactly where their money is going and how it will be used. This can help to build trust and encourage more donations.

Create a Posting Schedule

Creating a posting schedule is important while promoting a fundraiser on social media for the following reasons:

• First things first, a posting schedule ensures that content is shared regularly, which is essential for maintaining an engaged audience. Consistent posting also helps to build trust and credibility with followers. Your audience even looks forward to your content to engage with it. This can help get the right eyes on your donation links when you ask.
• Creating a schedule means understanding when to post to reach the target audience. By creating a schedule, you can ensure that you are posting at the optimal times for when your followers are most active.
• Having a social media calendar means you get to keep things organized and ensure you don't miss any key posting times or forget to share important information.
• A schedule also compels you to plan ahead and save time by scheduling content and streamlining your social media efforts. This way, you can dedicate time to more important activities.

Do Live Events — Engage With Users

There’s been a sharp rise in Livestream fundraising because this allows you to connect with your audience in real time and encourage donations on the spot. Livestreams allow your organization to share your mission, stories, and the impact of funds with your supporters, which can create a more personal connection and inspire people to donate. 

The live events can create a sense of urgency, as viewers may feel more inclined to give when they see others donating in real time. Such is the power of live-streaming. Moreover, sharing live updates and behind-the-scenes content on social media can keep attendees engaged and informed and give them a look at what goes into making a fundraiser successful. 

Live updates on social media can improve your visibility as they often garner more traction. This can work in your favor by driving more donations. 

Collaborate With Influencers

Influencer marketing is a marketing strategy involving partnering with individuals with a large social media following to promote your organization’s cause or fundraiser. 

Collaborating with influencers is important while promoting a fundraiser on social media because it helps you use their channels to reach a wider audience and increase the chances of success. 

Here are some of the pros of influencer marketing:

• Influencers can provide a unique perspective on your fundraising cause, which can increase engagement and credibility among the audience. Your organization, in return, can offer influencers something of value in exchange for their help, such as exposure, networking, or exclusive content.
• Influencers can help you to build trust and establish relationships with potential donors. You should choose influencers who align with your values and mission and work with them to create authentic content that resonates with your audience.

We can learn the power of influencers with the example of Emma Watson, who’s not only a brilliant actor but also an avid philanthropist.  In 2018, she initiated the Time's Up Campaign and raised $984k for the UK Justice and Equality Fund. 

She went ahead and donated $1.7 million from her own money to start the campaign. Along with 190 other actors, such as Claire Foy, Kate Winslet, and Emma Thompson, Watson signed an open letter of intent to encourage others to join and support the cause. 

All the funds raised went to frontline women's organizations in diverse communities across the UK to provide advice, support, and advocacy to people who have experienced sexual harassment.

Use Paid Ads

Using paid ads can be important while promoting a fundraiser on social media for the following reasons:

• Through paid ads, you can make your organization visible in front of your target audience, leading to more donations and awareness around your fundraising cause.
• They help you with targeted advertising, which means that the fundraiser can be promoted to specific groups more likely to be interested in the cause. This can result in higher engagement and better conversion rates.
• This is given that paid ads require an investment, but they can be more cost-effective than other forms of advertising. This is because you can reach a specific audience and even track and measure for effectiveness.
• With paid ads, you can have a competitive advantage over similar causes or fundraisers relying solely on organic reach.
• They help in making more people aware of the fundraiser, which can ultimately result in more donations and higher fundraising goals being achieved.

Thank Your Donors

Donors are at the heart of a fundraising organization, and you can’t thank them enough for their endless support. This not only makes you feel good about the whole process, but it also makes them feel appreciated. When people are validated for their efforts, they are bound to become repeat donors.

Here are some additional reasons for thanking your donors:

• A personalized thank-you message or gift can help you build a relationship between your organization and the donor.
• Gratitude not only motivates donors to continue supporting the organization but potentially increases their donations, too.
• Thanking donors publicly on social media can attract new supporters and stakeholders to your nonprofit.
• A thank-you message can demonstrate the impact of the donor's contribution and encourage them to remain committed to your organization's cause.

Enlist Your Supporters

Enlisting your supporters for a fundraising campaign means actively encouraging them to get involved and support your cause. This can include asking them to share information about your campaign on their social media profiles, reaching out to their networks for support, and making donations themselves.

Here’s how it proves beneficial for your cause and organization:

• When your supporters share your fundraiser, it lends credibility to your cause. People are more likely to trust recommendations from friends and family than from organizations they don't know.
• This creates a sense of community around your cause. When people see others supporting your fundraiser, it can also inspire them to get involved.
• It encourages others to engage with your cause. They may ask questions or leave comments, leading to more exposure for your fundraiser.
• Finally, enlisting your supporters can help to increase donations to your cause. By leveraging the power of social media and the networks of your supporters, you can reach more people and encourage them to support your fundraiser.

Final Thoughts

Social media has revolutionized the way we approach fundraising. It provides you with a unique opportunity to connect with people on a global scale, share your story, and inspire others to get involved in your cause. 

By using social media effectively, you can build a community of supporters, amplify your reach, and raise more money for your cause than ever before.

If you want to effectively reach your target audience and maximize donations, then you can use our tools to set up donation pages and raise more funds with fewer efforts.

Request the BetterWorld demo today!