A study by SurveyMonkey made headlines last week when it revealed that social media users are far more generous than we might think. The survey, which polled around 1,000 adult users who identified their social media habits as ‘regular,’ yielded some very useful insights for nonprofits, including which social networks are the most effective for implementing fundraising ideas. In particular, LinkedIn users were found to be the most charitable, having given, on average, more than $100 and more than ten hours to various causes in the past year. What’s interesting, though, is that less than 1% of these same users find LinkedIn to be useful for finding out about charitable causes and events. When it comes to brainstorming fundraising ideas for your nonprofit, don’t underestimate the power of social media; further, don’t neglect to research which networks will work the best for your campaign. Though these tasks can seem daunting, they’re important, and Salesforce understands that. Here are a few handy ways to harness social media with Salesforce and to really propel your online fundraising.
The Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Salesforce has assembled a truly comprehensive system with their Marketing Cloud. With the right setup,
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the cloud has the ability to automate your social media posts, reach out to specific and exact audiences, market your product on Twitter, and much more. It is a well known fact that nonprofits are some of the busiest organizations in the world. The design of the Marketing Cloud helps you see everything – including analytics and engagements – in one place, exactly when you need to, so that you’re not wasting time trying to find the facts and figures. To take full advantage of the Marketing Cloud, you’ll also want to investigate plugins, such as Buddy Media and Social Studio. These apps can help you use Facebook and Twitter to make your fundraising ideas go viral.
Don’t Neglect LinkedIn. Though we’ve already established that the general public does not find LinkedIn helpful for finding out about charity events or campaigns, those on LinkedIn are often a great audience to target. Because the median age of LinkedIn users is 35 or older, their household income tends to be larger and steadier than that of other social network users, and their willingness to give is, as proven, greater. So how can you effectively target LinkedIn users in a way that feels organic and informative? Take advantage of LinkedIn Pulse. This personalized news medium is tailored to you and you can choose to follow ‘Influencers’ and well-known brands. The key to becoming an influencer is content, and it doesn’t always have to be a time-suck to generate. Using sites like Visual.ly to create infographics about the importance of your cause or linking to your YouTube page are great ways to show LinkedIn users your original content and to draw in potential supporters. So, while LinkedIn might have less users than Facebook, it is important to know when and how to use it.
Journey Builder. Social networks like Twitter have created an environment in which people expect to be acknowledged. Twitter has humanized the celebrity, forced brands to be readily available, and mobilized viral content in all new ways. Again, nonprofits are the world’s busiest organizations and staff are often overextended. How do you justify spending hours and hours on social media when you could be making a physical, tangible difference? That’s where tools like the Marketing Cloud’s Journey Builder come into play. Journey Builder is always monitoring your engagements, that way you can provide your constituents with a true 1:1 experience. This powerful tool will let you know when a person engages with your organization – whether they have a question about volunteering or are trying to learn more about your cause – and will help you respond to them via the right channel and with the right information.
Social media can feel daunting, that’s for sure. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, it is now a necessity for any type of brand to have some type of social presence. Fortunately, Salesforce and other developers have come up with multiple ways to ease the demands of social media and have created technology that can revolutionize your organization and its fundraising ideas. Leveraging these tools is important to marketing success, and marketing success is important to overall success. So, don’t be overwhelmed by all of the social channels there are; instead, look at each of them as a way to spread awareness and to draw in more supporters. After all, look at the success of the Ice Bucket Challenge, which went viral over the summer and has drawn millions in donations to the ALS Foundation. Let Salesforce and other helpful tools (Buffer, Visual.ly, Wistia, and more) help you leverage your fundraising ideas in an effective and efficient way.
