Turning engagement into donations on social media

Growing a social media audience is an important part of any social media manager’s job at a nonprofit. With tools like Facebook Insights and Twitter Analytics, it’s easier than ever to see the tangible results of your hard work.

But getting to the next step of having your followers do more than like your page isn’t as straightforward.

You have a formula for getting people to donate at events, click links in your fundraising emails and even write checks through direct mail campaigns. Now, do you have a strategy for getting people to pull out a credit card when a social media post inspires them to take action?

Here’s a little secret: much of the process is actually the same.

Part 1: Just like in your traditional fundraising methods, demonstrating the impact your organization has is the number one driver for getting people to give.

Part 2: Also, like traditional fundraising, you have to actually ask people to give and provide them with an easy way to do it.

When people choose to interact with you on social media, it means they’ve taken the first step in supporting your nonprofit. Getting them to take the next step requires a bit of time and strategy, but it’s well worth the effort. Even though the strategy is similar to other fundraising methods, social media can open the doors to thousands of potential donors.

Here’s how to get started:

1. Post a variety of great content
Content is king. It’s true for all organizations–from large companies to small nonprofits. You will need to invest time in creating great content, but the relationships you build will be well worth it.

The types of content you post span anywhere from donor or volunteer spotlights, infographics or stats about your cause, and even fun content like videos or questions. Determine a ratio of how you want your content to look each week so you can strike a balance that works with your audience.

Remember: your goal is to delight your audience over and over again. More relevant content leads to higher engagement, which increases the likelihood that people will donate. The reason for this is that each time you’re posting content your fans enjoy, people will interact with the post, which will then help Facebook’s algorithm deliver your post to more news feeds. If you can entertain your fans enough to keep engaging with your page or posts, you will earn more donations!

2. Ask for donations
Many nonprofits underestimate the generosity of their donors and even fear a negative response from fans for asking for donations on social media. It turns out that 55 percent of people who engage with a nonprofit on social media are willing to take further action for that cause but in order for anyone to take further action, they have to be asked.

Add in a simple call to action asking fans to support you in your social media posts. If you’re telling your story and demonstrating the impact your organization has, people will respond by supporting you!

3. Tell your story and do it well
Stories are how people connect to your mission and cause. Your stories should show the impact your organization can have on your work when you’re given the funds to do it. The more you can demonstrate your accomplishments with sincerity and transparency, the more your audience will grow into an engaged, generous following.

Not only will these stories help build a relationship with your organization but donors give more to nonprofits who can regularly demonstrate their impact.

4. Make it easy to capture them
The next step is to give people the simplest option that fits into their life — arguably the most important step in getting people to give. Sure, you can create great content that builds a loyal following and you can even ask them for donations, but if you can’t provide people with an easy way to give that captures their information, your hard work could be in vain.

Most donation forms experience an abandonment rate of 50 to 70% and beyond that adding additional steps will cut anyone who doesn’t abandon the form in half by the time you reach the second page. Therefore, you should choose a method of collecting donations that’s fast, easy and requires as few steps as possible!

Making giving easy for donors is essential to getting them to convert. Give them less steps and make them feel they’ve made an impact for the better. That’s why using a tool like #donate is so effective — you can capture donors right on social and the rest of their friends and fans of your page can see their generosity.

Once you master each of these steps, you’ll have no problem converting likes and shares into actual donations. Just keep up the hard work and you’ll turn your social media into a new donor acquisition machine!