Social Assets (Facebook Fan Page, Twitter, YouTube Channel, etc.) are marketing channels that help you get your organization’s message and content out to your audience.
Facebook and Twitter alone won’t get you contributions!
Facebook and Twitter are awesome web 2.0 supplements to your fundraising strategy to:
- Raise awareness
- Connect with your constituents
- Drive traffic to your organization’s website (the site with the big “donate” button)
- Get feedback
- Announce events
- Share “Thank You” & “Congratulations” messaging publicly
- Promote action for your organization’s cause or other causes that your organization supports
These assets mean that your organization no longer has just a website, instead your organization has a distributed web presence (each asset is like its own mini-site).
Social assets also do a number of things for your organization:
- Increase traffic to your organization’s website
- Assist with search engine optimization (how Google finds your website)
- Enable two-way discussions with members and prospects
- Provide a way for you & your users to upload photos, video, etc.
Together each one of those points drives traffic to your website, where you should have a clear, well-designed, and trustworthy donation pathway.
Social Marketing Assets
Twitter:
Twitter is a single-page representation of your organization’s brand on the “real-time” web.
If you open a Twitter account, you’ll want to make sure that you have the time, team, and bandwidth to maintain it, and become a part of the discussion.
Tips on Twitter Page development:
- Make a great Twitter background & avatar like @teachingjobsportal
- Craft a great 140 character bio
- Link back to your organization’s website
- Use an external Twitter management tool
- Leverage #hashtags
Read more: Learn to Twitter, A Primer by @kuhn & @tenaciouscb
Facebook Fan Page:
A Facebook Fan Page is a single-page listing in Facebook that can be used to promote your website.
Tips on Fan Page development:
- Set up your page, and invite your Facebook friends to become fans
- Connect your blog to your Facebook Page (via. “notes” function)
- Post your videos and photos to your Facebook Fan Page
- List your events on your Facebook Fan Page
- Connect your Twitter to your Facebook Fan Page
- Put a Facebook icon on your website that links to your Facebook Fan Page
Read more: Set Up a Fabulous Fan Page in 10 minutes, A Primer by Chrissie Brodigan (Coming soon!)
YouTube:
Set up a YouTube channel for 2 reasons:
- Post your organization’s videos (if they’re awesome)
- Favorite other organizations’ videos (if they’re awesome)
Note: I will post more information shortly on the following topics:
- Donation Pathway, Creating Amazing User Experiences
- CRM 101, Choosing Constituency Relationship Management software
- DMS 101, Choosing Donor Management Software
- Email Marketing 101, Sending emails to your members
- Mobile 101, How Mobile Works for Outreach & Fundraising, Haiti’s story