For context, let’s first discuss numbers. There are at least 4.2 billion Internet users today, and around 3.4 billion of them are active social media users. On average, a user has five social media accounts; and the average daily time spent on social media is 116 minutes a day.
The numbers are staggering, to say the least. The reason why we pointed out those stats first is that we want to send a clear message that social media is both influential and powerful.
Nonprofit Causes and the Millennials
Now, let’s discuss stats about the millennials, the most likely target audience of nonprofit organisations in Australia. According to the Millennial Impact Project, people born between 1980 and 2000 are supporting causes they believe in. The top five causes millennials care about are: civil rights/racial discrimination, employment and healthcare reform, climate change, immigration, and education.
Now that we have a better grasp of social media impact and millennials’ behaviour toward causes, let’s have a look of the importance of strong social media presence of nonprofit organisations in Australia.
Why Your Nonprofit Needs Social Media
If your nonprofit aims to get more support from the millennial generation, social media presence should be in your list of top priorities. After all, most millennials get their news from social platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
Beefing up your social media reach and influence isn’t a piece of cake, it requires a collaborative effort between the core members of the nonprofit and the marketers or specialists. However, to give you an idea, here are the dos and don’ts for a better social media presence for your nonprofit:
Do have a website but let your social profile do the work.
Of course, it is important for any Australian nonprofit to have a high-quality website but don’t pour all your efforts into it. Millennials spend more of their time in browsing their socials than in reading website articles. Let your website house all the information about your group’s cause, and allow your social media to be the voice of your organisation. Post all your announcements, press releases, marketing materials, content on your socials to get more traction.
Don’t be content with your group’s real-life victories.
Your nonprofit may be creating a big impact to the society but if only a few people know about your cause, you are losing half of the battle. It is important to inform the people that your group exists, that it is there to make the community a better place, and that your target audience can help in your cause. Publishing relevant and quality content in your socials will help your group be known by the people on the Internet, which could help your cause in many ways possible.
Do focus on one social account at a time.
It’s tempting to go all out in different social accounts—but don’t take that route otherwise you’ll find yourself biting off more than you can chew. You can start in solely promoting and managing your Facebook account since people in that site is more diverse in terms of age and location. The important thing to remember is to grow a community first before jumping into other social media accounts. And when you get the hang of it, you can begin with Twitter or Instagram.
Don’t do things manually.
In case you didn’t know, you can schedule social posts. You don’t have to share content manually, just use a tool that will publish your posts for you. Some of the most popular social scheduling tools include Hootsuite, Buffer, TweetDeck, and Sprout Social. Using any of these platforms will help you save time.
Do consider email marketing.
Social media can help you get your message across but it shouldn’t be alone in spreading your group’s cause. A good combination for marketing nonprofit groups is social media marketing + email marketing. Ask your followers to subscribe to your email blasts and newsletter so they will be in the loop for all the things relevant to your cause. Email marketing could also help your nonprofit its relationship with its followers.
In summary, nonprofit organisations in Australia must strongly consider improving their social media presence to reach more audience and to better spread their messages. Doing so could be a handful of work but the rewards are unquestionably gratifying.
If your nonprofit’s goal for this year is to step up its social media marketing game, contact us, our specialists are ready to give you a walkthrough on how we can make things happen.