The Learning Center

Do you think social media won’t work for your business because it happens to be a nonprofit? Think again. Whether your business is for profit or nonprofit, social media has benefits for all business models. Businesses should all be utilizing such an accessible and important tool — so why is there a major misconception that social media isn’t beneficial for nonprofit organizations?  

The trouble lies in focusing on all of the differences between these two models, when in reality, nonprofit and for-profit business owners should be taking on a similar approach when it comes to social media marketing. Below are 5 reasons why social media marketing isn’t a waste of time for your nonprofit organization. 

1. It’s Growing at Three Times the Rate of Email

When people think nonprofit marketing, they mainly think about emails and websites, which makes sense — these things technically still rule the nonprofit world. But social media is on an upward trend. It’s been growing at a rate that’s three times greater than email marketing.

According to Social Media Benchmark Study’s 2015 report, email list size increased by 11% for nonprofits, while nonprofit Facebook and Twitter account followers increased by 42% and 37% respectively. When it comes to jumping on the social media bandwagon to promote a nonprofit organization, it’s hard to argue with the statistics above. 

2. You Can Choose the Platform

Do you hate Instagram? Then don’t use it. The great thing about adopting social media marketing is getting to decide where you’re going to market and how it will help to shape your organization. There is a variety of social networks to choose from, so be sure to pick only a few from which your organization will benefit. When you choose one or two platforms to focus on, the content for them will ultimately be better in quality than if you decided to be on all social networks, spreading yourself too thin. 

The key to using social media is choosing the platform(s) that will work best for you, as well as for your audience and business.

3. It Raises Awareness 

Social media used in an effective way can get people talking and spreading the word about your nonprofit organization. Does your nonprofit host a lot of events? If you have a social media account, you’ll be able to do a number of things to promote them, such as:

• Create event pages 
• Have a place to share photographs and other media
• Incorporate live streaming video
• And more… 

Your audience can share your events with others and give your organization exposure to a whole new group of people. From there, interest and following will hopefully be on the rise. 

4. You Can Collect Content from Your Audience

Nonprofit organizations often thrive off of storytelling, and many great social media accounts tell a brand’s story through the content they share. Not only is social media a great place to tell stories from an owner’s perspective, but it also allows for the curation of stories about your organization from your audience. 

Encourage your audience to share about how your nonprofit organization has impacted their lives by creating a campaign. Tell followers to tag your organization’s page when they share their stories and/or create a unique hashtag for them to use. Remember, storytelling can be done through written word, pictures, and video. There are many ways for people to share their positive experiences, and these can all greatly benefit your nonprofit organization. 

5. It Provides Easy Ways to Donate 

Nonprofits need donations, and social media accounts are another impactful way to remind an audience of that. With new technologies and the rise in popularity of social networks being used for nonprofit organizations, there are new ways to make giving donations a breeze from these accounts. From simple donation buttons to applications such as Charitweet and Snapdonate, new technologies can make giving easier and more convenient than ever before.  

It’s clear that social media can change the way your nonprofit organization exists in the world today. Although for-profit and nonprofits are different, they can both find success on social platforms, no matter what you were previously led to believe.