Making the Most of Your Fundraising Campaign Through Social Media

HOW TO SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN

Setting up the campaign is easy enough, but how do you get people to participate?

By Sarah Knight

SOCIAL MEDIA

If people don’t know your campaign exists, how are they supposed to give? Using social media is a largely effective way to spread the word. Set up a social media page with a post outlining how you intend to raise money (donations of any amount on your site of choice), why you need to raise money (Is your organization’s playground equipment broken and in need of repair, or simply nonexistent?), and the goal amount.

Inspire the people with pictures and videos of the site “before” and the potential “after,” listing equipment you’re aspiring to have. Include pictures of the people involved, perhaps of local children giving testimonials.

Basically, the post does need written information, but if it doesn’t catch the reader’s eye, they’re not going to stop to read the post. You should have an initial post at the start of the project, “pinning” it to the top of your page if you have the option. This will make it so that every person who visits your page will be greeted with the same post at the top of your profile.

UPDATE REGULARLY – You should post regular updates on how the campaign is going. However, posting too frequently can cause people to become annoyed and unfollow the campaign. One method is to post whenever you reach a particular milestone number, such as once per every 1,000 dollars, or whatever number is applicable to your campaign. You could also post chronologically, in accordance to the set end date of your campaign; post at the 30, 50, and 70-day mark, once a month, or even bi-weekly if you think that would work for your campaign.

USE VARIETY – As mentioned earlier, if the post doesn’t catch their eye, they won’t stop to read it. Use variety: on one post, only use the written word, on the next use pictures, and on the following post only use a video, et cetera.

GET THE WORD OUT – Spoken word is just as important to your campaign as posts are. Consider spreading the message through your community by hanging flyers, asking local companies for a donation (perhaps in exchange for their company/donor’s name on the playground site), and putting your campaign in the newspaper. It could be worth it to approach your local news station or newspaper to see if they would put out your campaign story and inspire their viewers/readers to participate.