By Andrew Cassel
Working for a nonprofit organization means you have to do a lot of things with very little time. There’s so much to do and so little money to pay a staff to do it that sometimes important things like social media are put off too long. Who cares about posting a photo on Instagram when there’s an important event looming on the horizon.
I care. And so should you. Social media is essential so community members understand the work that you are doing. Which, in turn, inspires them to help you. Social media also provides a way for you to thank the community and invigorate the cycle of giving and thanking.
Here are some things you can do to help you make the most out of the limited time you have to work on social media. Thirty minutes a day is a good start. Here’s how you can spend those 30 minutes.
00:00 – 00:05 | Listen
Search on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter for your nonprofit. Think of some search terms that may help you find what people are saying about you. It may not be the actual name of your nonprofit. It may be the title of a recent event or even the type of work you do.
This is “social listening“. You can get a great idea of what people are feeling and sharing about the work you do this way. If no one is talking about you on social media then you know you’ve got some work to do. Brainstorm a hashtag for your next event and encourage people to share on Instagram using the tag. Be sure to engage with posts that mention you. Every ‘like’ goes a long way.
00:05-00:10 | Engage
Check your Facebook notifications. Event responses, reactions to posts, Facebook reviews. Make sure you know what people are posting about you and to you. Set up an automatic Facebook Messenger response. Be sure no one has posted anything negative to your page. Respond to any negative comments people have posted on content you’ve shared.
Resist spending these five minutes posting new content. This is time to engage with your audiences across social media platforms. Joining in the conversation is essential. Answering questions that have been posted is an important part of strengthening the community’s connection with your nonprofit.
00:10-00:20 | Measure
Check your metrics across all platforms. Even if it’s just Facebook. Visit your Facebook Insights page and see how your posts are doing. At least check reach, impressions. It’s a great idea to start a spreadsheet where you can record metrics and track them over time.
The important thing is to make sure your metrics align with some simple goals: get 10 more likes to your page. Get 10 people to ‘love’ a Facebook post. Those basic goals will give your future content a nice shape. Once you have a better understanding of what your audience wants you will be able to grow that audience.
If the Insights page is super confusing to you then take some time to educate yourself on reading those insights. (Contact me here at Haunted Desk. We can book a time to come help you better understand metrics.)
00:20-00:30 | Schedule
Schedule content. Use whatever content scheduler you have. Facebook has the Creator Studio which allows you to schedule posts for both Facebook and Instagram. Take these last ten minutes to get a couple things scheduled.
If you don’t have any content ready to share go find some! Old photos, old articles about your nonprofit. A selfie sitting at your desk. Almost any content is better than none. The best way to gather content to schedule in these ten minutes is to bookmark and email yourself relevant content during the rest of your day. Keep it in one place so you have it easily available to schedule during this time.
These are a very busy 30 minutes. But if you do this each day for a month or two you will have a much improved social media presence and you will have a much better understanding of how your social media is working for you. And your community will have more appreciation for the work that you are doing to improve the lives of the people around you.
Andrew has spent over six years sharing on social media for various nonprofit organizations in Fairbanks, Alaska.