In the first half of this blog topic on 29th January we looked at social media strategy, Facebook, LinkedIn and visual content. In this part we will focus on measurement and metrics, Twitter, Pinterest and automation.
1. Measure your Progress
A crucial part of any campaign or organizational activity is measurement and analysis. Your nonprofit will benefit from monthly reporting on your online activities. These metrics should be connected to your organizations goals and KPIs. In the ever-changing world of social media, metrics change frequently, fortunately there are many free tools available to organizations for tracking daily and campaign activities.
2. Optimize your Tweets for Retweets
Getting your message across in 140 characters or less can be tricky, but not impossible. However, the most effective length of a Tweet for the purpose of Retweeting is even lower, at between just 100 and 115 characters. When Tweeting a user, if you want the Tweet to be shared publicly, use a period for the first character, or better still, place the username further into the Tweet. This ensures the Tweet will be seen by your entire network.
3. Use Pinterest to Leverage SEO
Pinterest is not only a fun, interactive social media channel, it’s also a search engine of sorts, and a goldmine of backlinks to websites, which can really help boost your search engine ranking. It’s also full of social sharing opportunities and is the perfect platform for sharing visual content. Nonprofits can also showcase specific campaigns and causes by creating location-based Boards that include maps, showing as many or few campaigns as desired. As with the LinkedIn Showcase Pages, these Boards can be targeted to segments of your audience.
4. Focus on the Positive
As well as broadcasting about events, campaign activities and fundraisers, content should be upbeat and positive. Nonprofits shouldn’t shy away from using humor in some posts and communications. Social media at its core, is meant to be fun, after all. Positive thinking should also be applied behind the screen – it can be easy to become discouraged once the first flush of excitement of using social media or the initial impact of a campaign dies down. Focusing on the positive outcomes while addressing the negatives, and revisiting the core beliefs of your organization will help you avoid discouragement or burnout.
5. Automate your Social Posts
As fun as it can be, sourcing and writing high quality content can be time-consuming. A simple way to save some time is to use a platform or application that can help you schedule content in quickly and efficiently. There are many free or low-cost options on the market, but it’s also important to remember social media works in real-time so someone should be on hand to field queries during work hours. Another option is to delegate the task to a co-worker or volunteer.
Social media is a constant, flowing structure that needs constant attention, but it is worth making the effort and putting plans in place to ensure you get the best use of your time, for the most reward
