Embedded Files
As a result of a global pandemic that's required social distancing, we have seen a huge shift towards remote work and digital communication. As we continue to work through COVID-19 conditions, here are a few things to take into consideration.
Budget Cuts
During the pandemic, social media marketing can:
A) Help to reduce costs, B) Efficiently disseminate information at no cost, and C)Keep nonprofits visible and relevant using organic user-generated content.
Many nonprofits have faced layoffs.
Keep engagement a priority through budget cuts. Your marketing or outreach staff are some of the most essential personnel.
Crisis Management
Using social media and digital communication tools during the pandemic helps nonprofits mitigate the risk of spreading COVID-9 without a drastic decline in engagement with its supporters.
Additionally, in the event of a crisis, the nature of social media makes it ideal for communicating quickly and effectively, getting your message out directly to the people you're trying to reach. Examples of COVID-related crises include:
Clusters forming in homeless shelters
Major donors backing out of funding
Hackers getting into the donor database
Social Listening
Given the circumstances of the pandemic, the pace of information sharing has accelerated; so, it is crucial for nonprofit leaders to listen carefully to their audience and pay attention to what people are talking about.
Being in touch with what your target audience is interested in helps your nonprofit be more agile and adaptable to the frequent changes in engagement and content trends due to the pandemic.
Fundraising
Many nonprofits are seeing a decline in donations, as a result of COVID-19 (2). However, online fundraisers are on the incline (2). Consider the following tips to online fundraising (3):
Video donation solicitation from organizational executives or local celebrities (home-made videos are best!)
Personalized phone calls to large donors
Make participation easy - encourage your audience to donate time to sharing or personalizing your content (e.g. selfie challenges, etc.)
Use a crowdfunding tools (e.g. gofundme.com, donorperfect.com, etc.)
Expertise
The conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic have forced inexperienced nonprofits into digital communication. If you are struggling to find experts to support your online engagement efforts, consider the following:
Sign up for social media marketing newsletters (e.g. American Marketing Association, Public Relations Society of America, etc.)
Closely monitor the ROI (return on investment) of your online engagement strategies. This will justify your efforts, and offer insight on what you are getting out of your strategy implementation.
Establish an internship for social media strategy and management (with supervision). Consider connecting to your local universities or colleges.
Internet Abuse
During the pandemic of COVID-19, cybercrime has increased tremendously (1). Keep cyber security in mind as you engage with digital tools. As you develop a social media strategy, include safety and privacy procedures.
Be proactive. Some actions can include:
Install firewall software
Encrypt your internal communication
Use multi-step authentication
Password protect share drives
WAYS TO ENCOURAGE USER-GENERATED CONTENT
Understand what types of content your supporters are already sharing and on which platforms; place focus there
Provide supporters with a unifying, accessible message that creates a sense of community (i.e. a key hashtag)
Incentivize through games, giveaways and partnerships
Host virtual events and live-streaming
Interact with supporters’ posts to reinforce gratitude (i.e. reposting, sharing to your story, shoutouts, etc.)
BEST PRACTICES - Case Examples
Knoxville Habitat - Rather than only sending out mailed newsletters, the team shared bits of the letter via social media posts, texts, and email blasts. This boosted the total number of donations, even beyond their expectations! (2)
Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Phoenix Fund - A Washington performing-arts group has been communicating with donors with Simon Godwin’s (artist director) weekly home videos. He’s updating donors on something they care about. “The group views the involuntary downtime as a chance to build deeper personalized relationships with donors, which can be hard to develop when leaders have to focus their time on event and performance logistics.” (3)
This example suggests viewing donors in concentric circles and the following process to fundraising:
1) Approach board members and major donors.
2) Approach annual-fund donors and subscribers.
3) Approach single-ticket buyers, foundations, and corporate donors.
REFERENCES
Sheng, E. (2020). Cybercrime ramps up amid coronavirus chaos, costing companies billions. Retrieved 16 November 2020, from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/29/cybercrime-ramps-up-amid-coronavirus-chaos-costing-companies-billions.html
CCS Survey Shows Improved Fundraising Trends and Evolved Donor Engagement Tactics | CCS Fundraising. (2020). Retrieved 16 November 2020, from https://ccsfundraising.com/ccs-survey-coronavirus-impact-nonprofits-improved-fundraising-trends-evolved-donor-engagement-tactics/
5 Fundraising Strategies During the COVID-19 Pandemic. (2020). Retrieved 16 November 2020, from https://www.donorperfect.com/nonprofit-technology-blog/nonprofit-news/covid-19-resources/5-fundraising-strategies-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/
Report abuse