26 Sep How to increase social media engagement for your nonprofit

Social media platforms are an essential tool for nonprofits today. But if you’re not using them effectively, your organization could miss out on opportunities to grow your audience and engage with supporters. Here are some tips for boosting engagement on social media:

Build communities on your social media platforms.

To build a community, you need to encourage people to join. This can be done through posts, images and videos that promote your cause and attract new followers. It would help if you also asked for feedback from community members by posting polls or asking questions about their interests or concerns.

Take advantage of the features of each platform.

• Use the features of each platform.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube have different features you can use to engage with your audience. For example:

• On Twitter, people can follow hashtags and topics of conversation; it’s a great place for nonprofits to talk about issues in the news or related to their mission. If you have a hashtag that you want to use often on your social media accounts (like #recovery), include it in every tweet from those accounts so people can follow along with other tweets that may be relevant to them. You might also try using live video as another way to reach out through this platform and Facebook Live.
• On Instagram, you can use hashtags if they fit within the context of what they’re posting about! One way is by creating an image gallery showing off some of your best photos from events where visitors could tag themselves and link back up online; when users see those pictures come up again in subsequent posts, they’ll recognize those images were taken during events held by organizations like yours.”

Create your own hashtag.

Creating a hashtag for your organization is an easy way to promote your cause, get people talking about it, and increase your brand’s visibility. Before you can create a hashtag that will help spread the word about your nonprofit, there are some things to consider:

• Make sure it is relevant to your nonprofit. If the hashtag has nothing to do with what you’re trying to promote or share over social media, it’s possible that not many will use.
• Make sure people can remember it easily when they see it in their feed or on Twitter and Instagram search results. Short hashtags work best because they’re easier for people scrolling through their feeds at high speeds!

Finally, check whether anyone else has already claimed ownership over this same term on Twitter by looking up “hashtags” on either platform; if another account is already using yours, then you might have trouble getting traction with this new way of communicating with followers!

Post quality content regularly.

Posting quality content consistently is the most important thing you can do to increase engagement on social media.

• Post at least once daily, but don’t post too much or too little. If your nonprofit has been inactive for a while, start posting once or twice a week until your following grows and becomes more engaged. Once you’ve established that new followers are keeping track of your organization’s posts, consider increasing the frequency to once or twice per day (but not more than three).
• Don’t post too early in the morning or late at night. Posting during peak hours will help boost your reach among users who are checking their feeds at those times—and make sure not to neglect any geographic regions by posting only during U.S./European working hours; many people outside these areas will never see them!

Post interesting comments and questions on others’ posts.

To increase your social media engagement, you must create interesting comments and questions on others’ posts.

Some of the best ways to do this are:

• Make sure you’re engaging with the right people. Look at their profiles and ensure they care about your actions. If they don’t, your comment will probably fall flat or even be ignored altogether.
• Use a variety of different platforms to post your content. This makes it easier for people who want to follow you on one platform but not another (like Facebook or Instagram) because they’ll still see something new every time they check in with your nonprofit’s account(s).
• Engage with other people’s posts! Don’t just reply once and leave it at that; keep commenting over time so that the conversation continues even after initial contact has been made (and again—make sure these are relevant folks first).
• Ask questions! Help spark discussion by asking something open-ended like “What do you think…?” instead of providing only facts without context or opinion. You can also encourage users who interact positively about what matters most when responding in kind. This will help keep them engaged longer than if only facts were presented without any personal touch.”

Post videos, photos and GIFs as well as text.

Photos and GIFs are more engaging than text. According to research from the Sprout Social blog, videos are even more engaging than photos. But GIFs are even more engaging than videos.

The takeaway is that you should use various media to engage your audience on social media platforms—and we encourage you not just to post text updates!

Make sure others can easily share your posts, whether short and easy to retweet or longer, but with a “share” button.

When you post content, be sure that others can easily share it. This means ensuring your post is short enough for someone to retweet or repost on their page. It also means including a call-to-action (CTA) that shows how people can share the post with their network and encourages engagement.

For example, if you’re posting about a new event for your nonprofit and want people to RSVP, include an easy-to-see button asking them to do so. A good CTA might read “RSVP Here” with an image of text in big, bold letters.

Use social media to answer questions or help in times of disaster.

You can also use social media to help people in times of disaster. For example, suppose there’s a natural disaster or an emergency. In that case, you can use your Facebook page to share information about shelters and other available resources for those affected by the event. This is also an excellent time for you to ask for donations or volunteers if your nonprofit needs any support from the community.

Social media is an essential tool for nonprofits today!

Social media is now a part of the daily lives of many people. It’s estimated that over half of all Americans use social media. The vast majority (77%) of those users visit one or more social networks each month, and 67% check in at least once per day. Social media has become an essential tool for nonprofits today!

Social media is an essential tool for nonprofits, whether you’re using it to connect with donors or share information about your cause. The key is knowing how to use each platform and keeping up-to-date with the newest features and trends coming out every year. Social media can be used in many different ways, from being a place where people come together around common interests or goals, sharing stories and experiences that inspire others or even providing support during times of crisis. There’s no limit to what your organization can do when it comes down.

We’d love to know how your nonprofit utilizes social media!

About Jennifer Vickery: Jennifer is the President and CEO of National Strategies Public Relations, a PR firm that focuses on nonprofits and organizations with corporate social responsibility initiatives. Her background is in national public relations campaigns, where she oversees every aspect of PR strategy utilizing her 16+ years of senior-level experience. She’s worked for hundreds of national clientele through every facet of PR. Jennifer has extensive experience, including writing a regular column for a newspaper, producing a health television segment, serving as a radio personality for advocacy issues, producing a weekly radio show, to owning and running a successful public relations firm. Jennifer states media relations, community outreach and goodwill, in addition to strategic planning, as her favorite aspects of PR.

Jennifer is truly inspired and lives every day knowing she is making an impact on the lives of people in the community by providing expert information and the best-of-the-best in businesses, community involvement and goodwill.