Charities throughout the world help those in need at all times. Even when you aren’t seeing television commercials or global news on trending disasters and topics, non-profit organizations are always doing what they can to prepare, inform and help millions of people throughout the world on any given day.
And while there might not seem to be as much attention on global charities and donation-based programs as in the past, this is simply due to less television advertisements taking place, and more people using the internet and mobile devices to get their news and content.
This ultimately has led charitable organizations to do the same with their content creation and outreach efforts. In order to reach people throughout the world, non-profit organizations of all types are no looking to the internet and social media to get the job done.
However, the good news is, this has been working out extremely well for some of the top charities and organizations that have put in the time and effort to take advantage of the opportunity at hand!
Today, we are going to highlight some of the most important reasons for charitable organizations and non-profit foundations of all types to have a website, blog and a strong social media presence.
The Importance of Combining a Website, Blog and Social Media
To truly understand the importance of having a website, blog and social media presence online, you need to understand the many different ways people are using the internet today. When users are looking for information, they are searching in Google. When they are sharing information, it’s likely from a blog, and likely being shared through social media.
With all of these moving elements in place, this is why it’s so important for charitable organizations to make sure they have everything in place, to reach all audience types.
A perfect example of this can be seen with WE Charity, as they not only have a website for their main organization, cause and company info — they also have a blog to keep contributors and site visitors updated with the latest news and events. And in addition to their own sites, the organization also has a great following across all of the major social networking platforms.
And while many organizations might think Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest are some of the most attractive social platforms for charitable organizations, it’s also important to focus your efforts on LinkedIn as well. This is something WE Charity has also focused their efforts on in the very beginning, as a result of this, they now have more than 3 million followers across all of their social media platforms and accounts.
With such a perfect example of a winning content creation and promotional strategy in place, you can visit their site to learn more about WeCharity and what they’ve done to grow their online brand and following over time.
And for more charities and non-profit organizations, it’s likely already a given that they have a website or blog already up. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean they are getting the attention and promotion they need. In order for this to get done, a solid social media strategy needs to be in place… which we will now be covering next.
How Charities can Create a Winning Social Media Strategy
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram… and many more! With so many different social media platforms out there, how are you supposed to know which are best for your charitable organization, and which are truly worth the time and effort?
For the most part, you are going to want to stick with the most popular ones out there (ie: FB, Twitter, IG, LinkedIn, Pinterest).
When you look at all of these top social platforms together, you now potentially have reach to more than half of the world’s total population.
In order to take advantage of what social media has to offer, we recommend focusing on the following:
- Securing a social profile account on each of the recommended platforms above
- Brand each of these profiles to match the look and feel of your organization
- Create custom content and images for each social platform (to match image sizes)
- Using #hashtags and trending topics to gain more attention
- Cross-linking content across social media platforms and your site content
- Send users from your main website and blog to your social accounts
The important thing to remember when trying to win with social media, is that it’s all about user engagement and value provided — not just trying to push as much information out there as possible, in hopes to get new donations and volunteers.
A great example of a charitable organization that has been doing very well with the social media efforts, is Charity Water. With clean drinking water being one of the most challenging problems in the world today, it’s also something everyone can relate with — as we all drink water on a daily basis. Take a moment to look at their social profile to see the different types of content they are creating to engage with new audiences, while spreading awareness in the process.
And as we all know, social media is also great for getting attention and having content go viral. This is something PETA has always done very well with.
However, they’ve also mastered the art of coming out with content that people find value in and share with others as well. You can see a great example of this through the screenshot below, that highlights the many different vegan protein sources out there, besides having to eat meat.
As you can see from the examples above, no matter what your charitable organization is about, there are plenty of ways to create content and provide value. All of these methods are going to help in getting your branding and mission out there for other people to see and share with others.
Growing Your Charitable Organization through the Internet
No matter if you are growing a new website, business, blog or even a charitable organization, the methods and strategies that you need to put in place to find success on the internet are always going to be the same. It’s all about user engagement, making sure your content is valuable and doing more than other competitors in your niche market.
To see a few more examples of top charities using the internet and social media to grow their reach, be sure to view this top list, and another one here.
Each of the charitable organizations listed in the sources above, and in this article, are using the internet and social media to grow their brands and organizations at rapid pace, while also bringing more attention to their causes and helping those in need.
If you are currently in the same boat and not using content creation and social media to your advantage, be sure to implement these winning methods today.