Social media and technology as a whole have become a big part of consumers’ everyday lives, and it has also become an even bigger part of operating a successful business and the building of a brand. From social networking to blogging and photo sharing, social media can have a huge impact on the target audience, but also help non-profits achieve their objectives and overall mission. Many success stories can be found about non-profits and using social media, but I will be sharing two that I have personally worked with.
Two non-profits that I have personally worked with and have seen how using social media has helped to achieve their objectives and share their stories are the Greater Lowell Community Foundation and Partners in Development, INC. I was a Social Media Intern for the Greater Lowell Community Foundation, and during my time there I increased their overall Facebook presence and helped to increase interactions on the page as a whole. When I first started the non-profit was not using the page regularly, and that is one of the first things I needed to change. They needed to use the page to share their story and create a community to engage with. At the end of my internship, the page had an increase in likes by 10% and now had a more regular schedule for posting on the page and was an overall success.
Another success story is the non-profit Partners in Development, INC., which I had started volunteering for this year. They have a much larger community following on their Facebook page, and post a regular basis. Their posts always have some type of engagement and interactions from the community including likes, shares, and comments. They engage with the community by sharing actual the stories and photos of people in need of help in countries like Haiti and Guatemala. This not only shares the story of those people, but it helps Partners in Development to engage with their audience and encourage them to donate, help spread the word to others, and get more involved in the overall cause.
There are many reasons that non-profits should use social media to help them accomplish their objectives. Here are a few that non-profits should know:
- Cheap and Fast: It helps non-profits get information about their cause and mission out to their target audience quickly with little to no cost at all.
- Engagement: Social media makes it easier to find and engage with influencers, who can then help spread the word of the non-profit to others.
- Create a Community: Non-profits work hard to build their community of support and influencers to help spread their cause. With social media, your community is easily built, and it is easy to communicate to the group as a whole.
- Tell Your Story: Each post on social media can help to tell the story of your non-profit, from each blog post, Facebook post, and infographic.
The four reasons outlined are just some of the many reasons that non-profits should use social media to help them accomplish their objectives. Social media is an easy to use marketing tool that all non-profits should have in their arsenal. It will help them to spread their causes and share their stories with the communities they are involved in. More importantly social media has become an integral part of the marketing world, and non-profits who do not begin or continue to use it will simply fall behind.
Category: Advanced Tactics, Integrating with Traditional Marketing, ROI, SEO