Communicate!

Helping you win loyal friends through your communications

What If Facebook Died Tomorrow?

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RIP FAcebookWe have all seen Facebook change the rules on us, repeatedly. We have watched as our nonprofits’ ability to reach our own followers has declined.

Now, we have read the stories about Facebook selling us out to right-wing billionaires who pay data geeks to try to manipulate our minds, our votes, and our elections.

What are we in the nonprofit sector doing to protect ourselves?

I am not talking about the #deleteFacebook movement, which I don’t think has a chance. I am not even talking about the one-day Facebook boycott on May 18. What I’m asking is simple.

Suppose Facebook disappeared overnight. What would your nonprofit use to communicate with your supporters instead? Share on X

Are You Using What You Own?

We all know that we don’t own Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg does. (And with it, he also owns Instagram, WhatsApp, and more than 60 other companies.) That’s why Facebook can change, and we have nothing to say about it.

If Facebook not only changed but actually disappeared, would we lose all contact with our Facebook followers? That’s a scary thought. It’s a reason to put more effort into the communications channels nonprofits own, themselves.

What your nonprofit owns is your website, your email list and your mailing list. You need to make sure that people are following you there. Share on X

Make Your Nonprofit Website a Must-See

When was the last time you took a look at your nonprofit website? And when was the last time you asked someone who didn’t know your organization well to look at it and tell you what they think?

If the last time was long enough ago, your website looks like a brochure that’s been moved to the web. Ugh. Your followers may go there once, but there’s nothing there to make them go back again and again. And you want them to return.

Jennifer Gmerek of Salsa Labs gives us 7 Tips for Creating an Awesome Nonprofit Website:

  1. Make your mission apparent.
  2. Use content to attract supporters.
  3. Make your site donor-friendly.
  4. Make volunteer recruitment easy.
  5. Incorporate visual storytelling.
  6. Make your website mobile-responsive.
  7. Tie your site to social media.

And I will add tip #8: Adding a blog to your website will keep it fresh. There will always be something new for your followers. Even if they don’t open the website itself, they can subscribe to the blog and get your new posts in their email inbox, thus staying in touch.

Move Facebook Fans to Your Email List

Whether you meet supporters in person or they start following you on social media, your nonprofit should get their permission to add their addresses to your email list–as soon as possible.

From your perspective, having an email address means you can send messages to your supporters directly, without Facebook’s algorithm deciding who sees what. Using the email address regularly means it will stay up to date. And studies show that email is getting to be an effective tool for fundraising.

From your supporter’s perspective, though, they need to have good reasons to share their email with you (and trust that you’ll use it wisely). You’d be wise to come up with something they really want that you can share with them by email. Also:

  • Give them a sense of how often they should expect to hear from you.
  • Segment your email list to send them what interests them most. (If you’re a hospital, for example, send people who have had family members in hospice messages about hospice, not about pediatrics.)
  • Use a mail program like MailChimp or Constant Contact to make it easy for them to unsubscribe if they really want to. Never annoy a donor!

Going Postal

Does it sound like a crazy idea to use a system that delivers your message to each person’s door 95% of the time?

Sending letters in the U.S. mail can have a big personal impact. Your supporters find it easy to delete email, but chances are they will open an envelope from you and give your letter a least a first glance. So, you have the opportunity to win their attention. And if you do, your direct mail is a highly effective method of fundraising–even if they ultimately go to your website to give online.

To keep your mailing list current, you will want to have a good database (or CRM). If you’re still using a spreadsheet, you’re doing it the hard way. Excel just won’t let you stay personal with the people you’re mailing, or emailing either. You’re apt to call them by the wrong name, or treat them like an ATM instead of a friend.

You want your supporters to think more fondly of your nonprofit than they do of Facebook, don’t you? Then take another look at your website, your email, and your mailing list, and be sure you are treating them right.

 

Nonprofits, Remember: On Social Media, Small is Beautiful

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starting small

Start with what you can handle

If your nonprofit organization is large enough, you may have staff specifically assigned to social media.  (If it is new enough, you may have started online before you opened an office!)

But many nonprofits are small, few are rich, and only a tiny number have social media in their DNA.  You may be one of the many saying to yourself, “I know I need to do something with social media, but how do I start?”

I’ve been there.  A few years ago, I was the only communications person at a community-based nonprofit organization.  (I was also the development person, and the outcomes person…but that’s another story!)

I knew that my agency couldn’t possibly do Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Youtube, and the next new thing that came along–let alone do them well.

Here’s what I think will work for you: start small.

  1. Start with your website.  It’s not social media as such, but everything you do leads back to it.  When someone arrives on your website, will they find something that’s valuable to them?  Is your site attractive and easy to navigate?  And a really simple thing that too many of us overlook: do all your links work?  If you can do only one thing online right now, it should be to improve your website.
  2. Know your audience. You don’t have time to send out messages at random hoping some of them will touch your readers’ hearts. Click on the link for a humorous guide to audience research.
  3. Think about your objectives. Let’s imagine you succeed beyond your wildest dreams in getting the audience you address actually to pay attention.  What do you want them to do as a result?  Try to narrow it down to one primary objective for each specific audience.  I know how hard that is.  Do it anyway.
  4. Now, pick one medium.  Ideally, it should be the one your supporters use. If they’re on Facebook, choose Facebook.  If it’s Youtube, choose Youtube.  Practically speaking, you will probably pick a medium that your organization uses already.  However you pick, do pick one, and only one–and then concentrate single-mindedly on learning how to use that medium better.

Give yourselves at least six months to become really good at connecting with your supporters on just one of the social media you use.  That’s do-able, isn’t it?  Try starting small, and watch your influence grow.

TY Thursday: Post-Donation Thank-You–on Your Website!

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post-donation TY pageCongratulations! You’ve cultivated your donor, and she has just gone online and made a generous gift. Now, post-donation, you want to thank her as personally as possible, as soon as possible.

But how?

Your First Chance to Show the Love

Just because a donor has made a gift to your organization, it doesn’t mean you have won their heart. Not forever. Maybe not even for today.

You’ve heard of “buyer’s remorse”? That feeling  you get when you’ve finally plunked down your credit card or signed on the dotted line and agreed to a purchase…and then you say, “Wait a minute, did I just make a big mistake?”

Donors to nonprofits go through that too. They give on impulse, and then they wonder, “Did I really do the right thing? Is that nonprofit really what I want to be supporting with my hard-earned money?”

The moment they give, you want to send them a message that says, “Yes! You did the right thing.”

Your Website Can Be Your Thank-You

All online fundraising tools will let you send a receipt to your donor automatically, to let them know their donation actually went through. But that’s the equivalent of the cashier handing you a receipt after a purchase. It’s minimal and impersonal. Your nonprofit can do better than that!

Some tools will let you customize the receipt. If yours allows you, definitely say “Thank you, Dennis, for giving $100 to Social Justice Organization. You’re already helping to save the world in this way!”

Some tools, like PayPal, won’t.

But–PayPal will let you return the donor to your website after he or she makes a donation. So, why not set up a post-donation thank-you page that shares all the love with the donor, right there on your website?

11 Things You Can Do on Your Post-Donation Thank-You Page

The thank-you page on your website can give your donors more than just a verbal “thank-you.” Here are 11 things you can do there to give the donor the feeling, “I made the right choice when I gave to this organization.” (The first nine are from Joanne Fritz  and the last two from Tina Jepson of Causevox.)

  1. Invite donors to follow you on social media. 
  2. Invite donors to watch a video.
  3. Invite donors to volunteer.
  4. Gather info with a little survey.  Ask just two or three questions on the thank you page, such as how they found out about your charity, why they donated, and how they want you to communicate with them.
  5. Connect your donor with resources.
  6. Gather feedback.  Explain to your donor that you always want to improve your service and ask her to help by leaving feedback about the donation process itself.
  7. Provide testimonials from the people you serve.  There’s no better way to reassure the donor that his decision to give was a good one than by listing a couple of testimonials from the people you help.
  8. Invite donors to something special.
  9. Remind your donor of an additional way to give (as charity: water does in the thank-you page pictured above).
  10. Add an email newsletter subscription option.
  11. Highlight impact.  By closing the loop on the donation, you ensure that your donor knows that your organization is making a difference because of their investment in your cause.

It doesn’t take any more technical knowledge to set up a post-donation thank-you page than to add any other page to your website. So, why not give it a try? See if your donors appreciate it!

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