You may find that you have set up your social media within your organisations or institutions, but have not managed to raise the funds you expected. Social media can serve as a prospecting tool and keeps your organisation’s image alive. However, it does not necessarily bring in the money. Beneficiaries and stakeholders need to be engaged by you, and relationships built and maintained.
As an organisation, you need to guide social media in order to allow it to assist you to attract the support you need.
Ruendree Govinder notes the following:
Online fundraising follows the same rules as offline fundraising. You need:
- a compelling reason for people to support you;
- communication and marketing of that reason to as many people as possible;
- an easy and accessible way for people to give you money;
- to build relationships with your donors (e.g. say thank you, follow up with them about how the money was used to benefit your cause, contact them about further fundraising drives.)
Useful links for using social media strategically:
John Hayden states that you need to use the ladder of engagement and you’ll learn that you need to take someone’s hand on Facebook or twitter and walk them down a specific path where eventually they can pull out their credit card.
Strategic ways to raise money for your organisations and institutions through the assistance of social media: Fundraising using social media
