Big Heart social media

Everyone is on social media these days and charities should be where their supporters, and prospective supporters, are. But how can you make your charity campaign stand out from all the other good causes and bad selfies that crowd our timelines? Here are four top tips Big Heart loves.

 

Create interesting content

Posts need to be relevant and insightful to attract new followers and keep supporters engaged. Making your content a balanced mix of images, video, audio and written copy will keep your audience interested and your feed fresh. Original content is very much appreciated by a jaded public who keep seeing the same six memes.

At Big Heart we love a good hashtag. On Twitter and Instagram they are an essential way of cutting through the noise. Using a hashtag can tap into a global conversation already taking place on the subject about which your organisation is most passionate. A campaign hashtag is like a tagline for your charity, an identifier and explainer. Use it in all your posts and your supporters will pick up on it and start doing the same, spreading the word for you.

Be part of the conversation

Get involved. Social media is, by its very nature, social. Stop thinking in terms of broadcasting your message and more of starting, or even joining, a conversation. Listening and responding promptly is the best way to find out about who your supporters are and what they care about.

It is also a great way to learn from competitors and co-opt successful ideas. Take time to research good quality content and what makes posts effective.

It can take the time to build enough dialogue to get meaningful feedback. But a Q&A session can set the tone, spark conversations, increase interaction, improve transparency, and really promote supporter investment in a campaign or project.

Say thank you

Let big-hearted supporters know how they made a difference by sharing stories of the people your charity has helped. This kind of public accountability improves trust as well as educating others on all the work your organisation is involved in. And saying thank you is always polite! It is great to show some gratitude and share the love. It encourages other potential donors to follow in their footsteps.

Use analytics

Monitoring your campaign will allow you to understand what works and what doesn’t. There are many third party apps and tools available that can give you meaningful stats about your output, often free.

However some social media channels also provide inbuilt measuring devices. Twitter provides a 28-day overview of how every tweet has performed on retweets, mentions, favorites, and clicks.

Facebook Insights breaks down the type of people that engage with your page and what content they prefer and when. It also shows what kind of reach your posts are getting.

Google Analytics offers free tools to report on where your website traffic is coming from. It is always good to know when your goal is to drive potential supporters to your site which platform is performing best.

It can be difficult and time-consuming to run an effective social media campaign if you don’t fully understand the idiosynchracies of each platform. Big Heart can give you the tools and training to help your charity fall in love with the power of social media. Contact us at hello@yellowjigsaw.co.uk