Why should NGOs use social media?
Through social media, we can
connect to our audience (be it, partners or donors). Social media creates a
relationship between the donors and the NGO, unlike the website which acts as a
notice board or journal. Social media helps in creating connections between the
donor and getting feedback along with contributions for the causes too in terms
of money and volunteers.
As social media has become
an integral part of the daily lives of all human beings, NGOs should not miss
the chance to use them too for the causes and to raise funds.
Important reasons for NGOs to be
on Facebook
Social media
has occupied the majority of our lives today and especially after the pandemic,
people’s life has become virtual and almost all activities happen online
including connecting with family and friends to transacting for any purchase
from basics to luxuries. Hence, it makes for any business to be online and
mainly on Facebook and NGOs/Nonprofits are no exception as our donors are the public who are accessing the internet/social media all the time from the time
they get up to the time they go to sleep.
Exposure/Visibility
Facebook has
billions of users and for an NGO it gives visibility and exposure to the
people online, to know more about the organization and the projects that are
undertaken. Apart from the website, Facebook page acts as a mini-website and
it is easy to get exposure and visibility on this platform. Facebook provides a
medium to share the message and work to the network of followers/donors easily.
Connect
with your audience
Through Facebook it is easier to connect with people directly and
create a personal relationship. Facebook helps us to showcase our projects and
information to reach the audience on real-time. Unlike website, where we have to
push the audience to visit us to know more, here the message is pushed to their
timelines and regular timely updates are seen.
Facebook Giving
– direct fundraising on Facebook
Facebook Giving is a new option, which is introduced in India for
NGOs / Nonprofits recently in 2020. NGOs can do direct fundraising on Facebook;
ask donations on the posts and updates directly and donors can donate on FB
without being diverted to any other page.
Facebook
Tools
Facebook provides great tools like Messaging, Polls and Feedback which
is useful in getting feedback from potential donors and followers. It
creates an engagement with the audience and helps us to understand and reach
the donors in a timely and efficient manner.
Sharing
of Projects/Events
Facebook has wonderful features which help NGOs to share their
work, blogs, articles, stories with a set of audience and also create events (fundraisers
or special events) that can be planned online and invite people via Facebook.
Connect
with other NGOs
We can easily connect with other similar interest organizations as
realistically it cannot happen in real-time because of geographical constraints.
We can share resources and experiences that we face on the field and take
expert suggestions or consultations from the organizations when required.
Networking
Networking is a very important aspect of fundraising. On Facebook,
we can connect with the people who are inclined towards charity to volunteer or
to become donors. And not only that it helps to reach out to the HNIs and
create brand ambassadors for the NGO, by tagging some partner organizations we
will reach out to a larger audience too and connect with them.
Sharing
Pictures and Videos
Facebook is an amazing platform to showcase our stories from
projects in form of pictures and videos. Unlike our website, we can create
albums and create series for each project; visual media attracts users compared
to the boring text. When donors see the impactful pictures/videos, they are
more likely to supper the projects as the images create an emotional connection
with donors.
Sharing
links on Projects
Sharing various links of projects, blogs, articles, stories, etc from
our website will create traffic to the website and helps in search engine optimization
of website and in turn social media optimization too.
Advertising
on Facebook
Through Facebook ads, at a very low cost, you can reach out to new
donors and get donations at a very low cost per acquisition. It has the
benefits of reaching out to a specific set of audience with the amount that you
want to invest to procure donors at a time when it is required for you.
Time investment on social media pages – especially Facebook page
is essential and it has its own benefits for any NGO. It is important to post
regular updates of projects and events, keep the audience updated on the
happenings, and be transparent and honest in what you post online.
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