Fundraising on Social Media: 8 Common Mistakes
Written by Justin, a blogger from Leicester, UK. When not teaching his little students and rooting for Leicester FC, he loves to share his thoughts and opinions about education, and writing for essay writing service UK.
Social networks have come a long way from simple entertainment channels to incredibly useful business tools. Almost every organization relies on social networking these days, including charity and fundraising teams.
It is estimated that 55% of people who engage with nonprofits on social media end up taking some sort of action. Another study shows that $128 is the average online donation amount. The numbers look promising, they could go much higher if charity organizations eliminated a few social media marketing errors.
We identified eight common mistakes in social network fundraising, so let’s see how to avoid them!
1. Not Creating Attractive and Appealing Content
You have probably heard the proverb “content is king” because it dominates the digital universe. The first rule of social fundraising is to publish lots of high-quality content that truly inspires the audience to engage.
Your social media posts should be emotional, so don’t hesitate to use storytelling as the primary content creation technique. The idea is to evoke feelings and convince people that your fundraising goal is indeed important and purposeful.
2. Publishing before Proofreading
If you publish a post with one or more grammar and spelling mistakes, rest assured the audience won’t take it seriously. It will not only prevent them from taking action but it might also serve as a valid excuse to stop following your social media accounts in the future.
That is why it is critical to check and proofread each post before going live with it. You can always do it manually, but there are many online tools to use for this purpose, like Grammarly for example.
3. Not Including Images and Videos to Your Posts
Visual content is extremely important in modern fundraising because photos are worth a thousand words, while videos are probably worth thousands of photos. Therefore, not including images or videos to your posts would make the content less attractive and highly inefficient.
Our suggestion is to use beautiful visual elements to enhance the story and make it more appealing. It is a surefire way to grab the attention of your audience and grow your donor base in the long run.
4. Not Saying How the Money Will Be Spent
Number four on our list is one of the most devastating online fundraising mistakes. Namely, a huge portion of potential supporters refrains from donating money because they are not sure how it will be spent.
Jake Gardner, a digital marketer, explains that charity organizations must be fully transparent on social media: “Instead of describing the general idea of your project, you need to point out a practical goal and preferably show people or communities that will benefit from users’ donations.”
5. Not Adding a CTA
The point of charity-focused social media marketing is to drive engagement, so you definitely do not want to publish posts without a call to action (CTA). A CTA is simply an element that tells people how to engage with your content. For instance, it can be something like:
- Donate now
- Sign up to volunteer
- Learn how you can help
- Inspire change
- Be the difference
- Support a child
- Save a pup
- Plant a tree
6. Not Making Use of Social Media Marketing Tools
Social media marketing demands around the clock activity, which is difficult for smaller non-profit teams. In such circumstances, not using automation tools would be foolish. Such platforms can help you with audience analysis, content planning, social media engagement, reporting, and many more. Some of the popular free social media marketing tools include:
- GivingWay is a platform on which you can to set up fundraising pages free of charge.
- Hootsuite will help you out with a broad scope of social media marketing features.
- Buffer is a user-friendly social planning platform.
7. Not creating a sense of urgency
The scarcity principle is well-known and very popular among marketers because it encourages customers to take action immediately. You don’t want to allow social media fans to think about the CTA too much, so you better create a sense of urgency.
The easiest way is to just add the word “now” to the post. Another option is to mention a deadline. For example, you can say that the project begins tomorrow and add that donations will only be collected until midnight. That way, many users will learn that it is important to act instantly.
8. Not thanking your donors
Once the donation is completed, you have to thank each donor individually by sending a personalized message to express gratitude and appreciation. It will not only make people proud but also help you to build stronger connections with donors and turn them into loyal long-term contributors.
The Bottom Line
Social media marketing can be a powerful way to raise funds, but it demands a strategy and lots of content creation activities. Numerous charity organizations use Facebook and other platforms for fundraising, but they make a lot of mistakes in the process.
If you want to avoid making these types of blunders, follow our tips to improve your social network fundraising!
Head to our blog for more stories, tips, and volunteering inspiration! You can also check out our GivingWay – Volunteers, Donors & NGOs connect Facebook group to connect with other volunteers and nonprofits! 😁
The views expressed in this guest post are solely those of its author and do not necessarily reflect the views of GivingWay. The material and information contained on the GivingWay blog is for general information purposes only. GivingWay will not be liable for any false, inaccurate, inappropriate or incomplete information presented in the GivingWay blog.