Now Share This: Improving Your Event’s Social Media

For a while now, social media’s no longer seen as simply a fad of teens and college students. Anyone with an internet connection uses social media in one way or another–and that isn’t likely to change any time soon.

Your event website serves as an online landing point for your event and therefore, should also host a hub for your social media activities. But social media doesn’t come with a side of magic beans, so throwing a few links here or there to your event website isn’t necessarily going to have everyone running over to join in on the upcoming event. Your social media sites should show connections to your online event or campaign and it should be easy for your supporters to connect, show, tell and share.

Here are a few things your organization can do to maximize your event’s social media presence:

• Sharing Fairly
  Your organization has a million other things going on besides your event or campaign, so the marketing team has decided that each item should get their fair share. While this sounds like a good plan initially, don’t allow your event’s news to get buried in your feed. As your event gets closer we should start seeing a variety of posts specifically aligned with your upcoming event or online fundraising campaign.  Still feel like your social media event content is still battling the other things on your organization’s plate? Then, perhaps it is time to develop a social media site for your event on its own.
• Avoid Monotony
  Take note of that word “variety” used above. We shouldn’t see the same post each day on our Facebook timeline or Twitter feed. Show your audience not only the date and how they can register, but feature other participant’s current fundraising success, share images from last year’s event to create, feature supporting sponsors, and give a sneak peak to incentives. Show everyone how much fun you’re going to have and why they don’t want to miss out.
• Keep It Visual
  It is important to have a visual focus when it comes to marketing your event, especially on Facebook. If you have an image, link or video attached to your post it gives a graphical presence and we’ll pay more attention rather than if you post a sentence here and there.
• Stop Shouting
  Your social media site isn’t the balcony you stand from while shouting your message. And if you find yourself up there, then get off your balcony. Don’t be afraid to step down into the crowd, shake some hands, and have some conversations. Respond to comments and allow the conversation to unfold. By replying to posts on blogs, Facebook and Twitter, followers will know you are listening and will potentially see your organization as a trusted member of their social media community.
• Share and Share Alike
  Your event fundraising website should already have opportunities to share actions like donating or registering for the event. This easy sharing allows for some great viral marketing opportunities to help your organization spread the word. Top fundraising participants tend to use a variety of methods to spread the word about their fundraising efforts, so be sure your organization becomes a part of that. On your organization’s social media sites also ask your audience to share your message on their pages and feeds. And if you have the opportunity, retweet and share participant posts that are talking about your event or perhaps their training or fundraising efforts. For your Twitter conversations, consider creating an easy to remember hashtag, request participants to use this tag to help you track conversations about your event.

By enhancing your message on your social media channels, you’ll be able to not only sell your event to your supporters (and hopefully their friends), but also tell your event’s story.

Related Posts
Provide your fundraisers best practices for fundraising on Facebook by reading Nancy Palo’s post on The Real ROI on Fundraising with Social Media.

Robyn Mendez provides some insight on Social Fundraising: Expanding Beyond the Fundraising Event.

Read about guiding participants to raise money for your organization in Kathryn Hall’s Raising Money Using Social Media: Five Ways to Support Peer-to-Peer Fundraisers.

Read the white paper on Making Event Participants More Successful with Social Media Tools

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jennifer Peters

As a Blackbaud consultant, Jennifer Peters combines her knowledge and nonprofit experience to help customers maximize their fundraising potential with Blackbaud Sphere’s Friends Asking Friends. Jennifer loves seeing her client’s peer-to-peer fundraising websites move from thought to fruition. Her day to day activities allow her to work with a variety of organizations to build their online fundraising site while guiding them with best practices along the way.

Prior to joining Blackbaud, Jennifer served the nonprofit sector through various development and communication roles with non-profit organizations such as Project Medishare for Haiti, Drug Prevention Resources, Inc., Alley’s House and The Mended Hearts, Inc. Her background consists of event planning, peer-to-peer fundraising and eMarketing.

When she’s not working, Jennifer can be found either walking her three dogs, hiking/kayaking/biking around White Rock Lake or traveling to satisfy her wanderluster soul.