Does your nonprofit organisation have a Facebook page and a website? If yes, congratulations! That’s the first baby step towards building a strong online presence for your organisation. And why does that matter? Today, digital technology does not only present an opportunity but also a threat- if you do not exist on the internet, you do not exist at all. For nonprofit entities, individuals and organisations who may come in contact with you may also try to know you better from your website and social media profiles. It is therefore important that your website and social media profiles reflect the active identity that your organisation has on the ground. As such, your website and social media pages should be appealing and should have regular updates about your activities and testimonials of beneficiaries. Then, your website and social media handles are also a great way to keep your stakeholders (donors, beneficiaries, etc.) updated with your activities, achievements and expenditure accounts and this goes a long way in building transparency and trust for your organisation. This blog will guide you through the process of building an online presence that reflects your on-ground active identity.
Before we jump into platforms and tools, do understand that your organisation needs a set of time-bound, measurable and achievable objectives for its online life. For nonprofits, it’s a bit different and easier as you do look forward to increasing viewership and engagement but you are still not a commercial entity and need not pursue your audience as one. Your goals should be to provide an online window into your activities and expenditure accounts in order to build a relationship with your stakeholders that is based on transparency, trust and mutual understanding. Frame your short-term objectives like the ones below or go for other styles but remember to keep them time-bound, measurable and achievable.
- Increase engagement on Facebook by 25% by the end of the month.
- Acquire 10,000 petitioners on change.org in support of a cause that your organisation is campaigning for in the next two months.
- Gain 100 subscribers to the weekly newsletter on the website by August 31, 2020.
Next, your online presence needs to be optimised. Redo your social media profiles and your website. Grassroots NGOs are usually tight on human resources and that is why you should avoid being on too many platforms. At the bare minimum, you need a Facebook page and a website. If you do have the required human resource or if you choose to outsource this task, you may as well want to get on Twitter to release informational threads based on your studies or engage your audience with informational graphic on Instagram. LinkedIn comes in handy in engaging prospect employees and change.org lets you gather numeric support for your campaigns. You need profiles on no more than two donation portals and need not update them as regularly unless running a campaign to raise funds. Setting up your profiles is quite easy- just fill out the about and contact sections and make sure that the descriptions are free of spelling, punctuations and grammatical errors (or just use Grammarly). Only use your organisation’s logo for the display pictures and be professional in your online conduct. For your website, you may want to get a professional developer to set it running, or else, you may use free tools like WordPress and Wix to build your website on your own. If you do get professional help for your website, remember to get the ownership and control of your website transferred to you. Alright! Your nonprofit entity is now ready to make an online breakthrough. Do the following:
- Keep your audience up to date with your activities and achievements. Publish numbers (campaign’s reach, bare facts, etc.) and stories of change. Release statements to highlight and publicise your organisation’s stand on certain issues.
- Get creative with media. Use Adobe Lightroom (or your phone’s default photo app) to enhance pictures before posting it on Facebook and Instagram. Use graphic applications such as Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop to highlight facts and figures and post these infographics on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn (never bombard your Twitter profile with images). You may also hire filmmakers once in a while to make cinematic video clips to promote your campaigns on Youtube and other social media platforms.
- Promote transparency. Transparency helps build a strong relationship with your stakeholders. It also makes donors feel at ease when they have a clear picture of where and how their money will be spent. Use a pie chart to showcase division of expenditure into fundraising campaigns, programme expenses and administration. Publish these annually on your Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter profiles and stick the chart down the homepage or somewhere accessible on your website.
- It takes time. Maintaining an online footprint is a time-consuming task and so you’re better off making someone (or yourself) in charge of updating the website and social media handles. This person needs to be creative and handy with tools like Lightroom, Premiere Pro and Hootsuite and would be required to spend a minimum of two hours daily to keep the organisation alive on the internet. You may as well outsource this task to some agency that specialises in digital marketing and graphics.
Woah! That is a lot there for you to work on. Let us help you build a roadmap to a strong online presence for your organisation for free, enquire today.