how to engage volunteers through social media

How to Engage Donors and Volunteers Through Social Media

Although social media has been with us for a while now, some non-profits are not integrating it with their outreach strategy. Some of the reasons offered for the non-inclusion of social media spans lack of knowledge about social media, insufficient time and limited resources. While these are valid reasons, the benefits that non-profits stand to gain from using social media to engage donors and volunteers far outweighs its' non-inclusion.

For instance, according to Statista, "Facebook had more than 1.94 billion global monthly active users, including over close to 1.74 billion mobile monthly active users."  Judging by this fact, incorporating social media networking sites such as facebook, twitter and google+ will increase the ability of your organization to reach a wider audience. Social Media has revolutionized the way organizations gain exposure. As a result, the days of requiring a hefty budget in order to reach a wider audience is over and belongs to the past.

To actively engage with donors and volunteers through social media, content should be prioritized. Donors and volunteers alike appreciate relevant and persuasive content. They are more likely to engage with a non-profit that provides relevant content than a non-profit that doesn't. Despite this express desire of volunteers and donors, some non-profits focus predominantly on design and relegate content to the background. What happens is that they end up stagnating and not reaching their engagement goals.

One of the best strategies for providing persuasive content is through story telling. Use the art of storytelling to portray activities that your non-profit organization engages in. It is easier to convince people through story telling than through facts since our brains are open to reading about and listening to stories. Also, stories about individual clients tend to elicit high response rates from donors and volunteers alike. Such stories have the propensity to connect them (donors and volunteers) to your cause and to propel them into action compared to stories about large groups of people.

A visual means of telling stories is through the use of online videos. Keeping online vidoes short and engaging will lead to the attainment of goals. Some softwares that can be used for online videos include power-point and imovie maker. These programs are easily accessible and are quick to use. Consequently, they save you time and money making them budget friendly options.

Now that we are aware of the programs that can be used in the creation of videos, what kind of content can be generated with power-point and i-movie maker ? A starting point can be with events that your organization is already implementing. For example, if your organization is hosting a workshop or a fundraiser, you can record it and share it with a larger audience. Also, you can create videos of your volunteers in action and share them. The possibilities are endless!

In order to save time on your social media engagements, apps  such as Tube Mogul and AWeber may be opted for. They provide a single point for uploading videos to multiple social media sites. 

Using social media to engage with donors and volunteers is a worthwhile venture that can yield maximum returns if done right. Storytelling and the use of apps will result in the creation of persuasive content and time saving benefits.

Written By Sherita N Brace
Sherita N Brace is an International Development Professional and a Blogger. She serves as a Consultant to non-profits and provides grant writing services, program planning services and communications services.

Reference:
. Facebook : Statistics & Facts. Retrieved October 11th from 
https://www.statista.com/topics/751/facebook/
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