Consider this: According to Sprout Social, the average user spends approximately 35 minutes a day on Facebook, checking in about eight times a day. That means that users are (roughly) spending only about four minutes at a time looking at content on Facebook.
That doesn’t leave organizations much time to talk about everything they’d like to discuss with their audience. When you look at the data through the lens of nonprofits and sustainable companies who, arguably, have more complex missions and stories to share, it’s startling.
Prior to joining Teak, I worked in finance where abbreviations and jargon make up the vast majority of digital conversations. My experience demonstrated to me that paramount to any social media strategy, and the most difficult component to master, is education. But education is hard to achieve in just a few sentences or characters – just like your Facebook relationship status, two phrases “single” or “in a relationship” sometimes just aren’t enough. Education is complicated.
So, how do you share the important work and efforts of your organization effectively in the volatile world of social media? While there’s no one size fits all approach, the following three strategies are a good place to start:
1) Give Them the Facts
A mistake organizations often make on social media is sharing everything about their company in a single post. Not only is this strategy ineffective, but it can’t be achieved properly. Rather than try to share your company’s entire story, entice users to want to learn more by demonstrating the impact and magnitude of your organization through facts, figures, anecdotes, testimonials, etc. Consider what the key messages you want to convey about your organization are and then identify how you can craft a story around them through the above-mentioned materials.
This can also be achieved through smart (aka succinct and catchy) copy writing, but also with info-graphics, photos, and/or videos.
2) Give Them Some Homework
If you’ve managed to grab a user’s attention, you can’t just let them go! Make it easy for users to learn more by always including a call-to-action with every post. Some examples include providing them a link to your website, a video, or a news article about your organization. Best of all, when you do so you can then effectively measure whether your strategy is working by the number of clicks to your website, views of your video, and so forth.
3) Make it Relatable
By nature, many nonprofits are serving communities and missions that aren’t relevant to the everyday lives of a majority of the general public. On the other hand, companies often sell products that aren’t an obvious necessity to most consumers. Education is key to solving these challenges. Use context and bring in various demographics (children, women, the elderly, minorities) to build a connection between your organization and your target audience. This can mean sharing an example of the issue locally within various demographics, or it could be as simple as a change in the way you communicate.
In finance, we would talk about the difficult topic of creating a will and estate plan by showing a picture of a family enjoying a beach house with the call to action: “Ensure your loved ones enjoy your summer home for years to come.” For nonprofits, putting your mission in the context of children and families often strikes a chord. For socially conscious brands, including striking images of the people, animals, places, etc. you serve can go a long way.
4) Show that it’s a Topic Worthy of Their Time
Sometimes, the issue at hand is complex, misunderstood, controversial, or unpleasant. This can prove to make education even more difficult because, simply put, people don’t want to think about it. A favorite strategy of ours at Teak is to use third-party validation and credibility to prove that that the topic is worthy of a few extra minutes of time and attention.
There are several ways you can build credibility around your work. You can include testimonials from clients, partners, or customers, share industry articles that are either written directly about your organization or discus the topic at hand or by, again, sharing the facts. By showing that other people care, your audience will be called to reflect on the topic too.
Ultimately, the goal of a social media strategy is to move users to say “Tell me more.” By beginning your prospect’s education on social media, whether your prospect is a donor, volunteer, or customer, you can set your team up for productive and meaningful consumer interactions both online and in-person.
