It’s right up there with the chicken and egg dilemma. The question, What is social media’s role in marketing and fundraising?, has been plaguing donor development departments since the first status update was posted. 

Can social media really get your nonprofit direct results? If your organization has been using social media in an effort to recruit new donors, you may answer in the negative. Most likely, you’ve not seen the donations pouring in from new supporters as a result of one Facebook post or Tweet. Sure, some people may discover your page, like it and give right away; but that’s rare.

How to Get Real Results Using Social Media

So what is the role of social media for your nonprofit? How does it work best to achieve the results you want and need: engaged and generous long-term donors?

Interestingly, research has shown that most people use social media for three reasons:

1. To stay connected to their family and friends
2. To be entertained (playing games or reposting political opinions)
3. To find self-affirmation

According the Georgetown University’s Center for Social Impact Communication, nonprofits should keep these reasons in mind and revamp their social media strategies like so if they want to see real results using social media:

• Begin with a good donor strategy. Make involvement for potential donors easy, offering multiple levels and platforms for engagement. Meet them where they are.

• Involve your donors first and support with social media. Most people who actually donate online or “like” an organization’s Facebook page were first involved with the organization in a face-to-face setting. Use social media as a support tool for connecting with donors and volunteers who already have been involved with your organization.

• Don’t dilute your social media presence and find your audience. Where does your audience spend most of its time on social media? It’s not necessary to post on six different platforms if the majority of your supporters only use Facebook and Twitter. Use the social media channels that will reach the largest portion of your donors and volunteers.

• Back up your hunches with data. Make sure you measure where your traffic originates. You’ll want to know the specific social media sites that send traffic to your donation page. Test your posts to see which ones are the most popular and which ones are highest converters. Google Analytics has helpful tracking tools, and each social media channel does, as well.

• Don’t stop evaluating and adjusting. As with everything in the marketing and donor development world, it’s imperative to always be assessing your communications efforts — especially on social media. Because social media is so fluid and ever changing, you need to stay on top of how your audience is interacting with it. It’s a continual process of re-assessment and re-evaluation.