Did you know that the average person has at least five social media accounts and spends around two hours a day networking on them? That’s a lot of selfies and hash tags! But for your nonprofit organization this can be a great opportunity to keep it social by connecting with donors and people who are affected by your cause. Your organization might already have a Facebook strategy, a plan for Twitter and a LinkedIn account but what about Instagram? The question is, will a social network focused on visual elements benefit your organization? The answer is yes (if done correctly).
39% of nonprofits have an active presence on Instagram. 31% of nonprofit donors cite social media as the tool that inspires them the most often to give. These statistics are growing and the reasons for your organization to join this social media movement are simple:
- Social media is a great way to connect with many people on a personal level at the same time. There are more than 538,000 users on Instagram, which means more potential donors to reach.
- A picture says a thousand words. Social media is moving more towards visual content because people don’t just want to hear about your mission they want to see what your org is actually doing. A donor is more likely to engage if they can actually see how their donations will be used.
- Adapting to the way people communicate is especially important because it means that you’re staying up-to-date. If you stay connected on different social networks then you can increase your online presence.
If your organization doesn’t already have and Instagram or if you’re just getting started, here are a few tips to help:
- Hash tags- you should search for some key hash tags that your nonprofit uses for other social networks and use them with every post; this is how you can effectively build a following.
- Filters – Instagram is known for their many ways to edit pictures but don’t get too filter happy #nofilter is often times the best filter. You want to show your nonprofit’s mission in an appropriate and transparent way. People want to see things for what they really are as opposed to an edited version of the truth.
- Quality and consistency- when it comes to posting pictures you should be posting regularly so people don’t forget that they are following you. It might be hard to post compelling images of your mission everyday so another solution is to post images of all aspects of the work you do as well. Whatever you decide to post be sure that the pictures are of quality and remain consistent with your nonprofit’s goal.
- Captions- this is the one thing about Instagram that is not visual but still plays a huge role in connecting with people. Your org should make call-to action captions as much as possible. For example you could have a Walk event coming up and in the caption say, “follow the link to register” and “like or comment if you will be attending.” This is an easy way to get people engaged with your mission; and don’t forget to respond to comments so they know you are listening.
Now that you know how important Instagram is in the social media world, it’s time to integrate it into your social media strategy. Networking is one of the best ways to stay involved with your audience and to gain new donors as well. So what are you waiting for, go ahead and post that picture with #nofilter and join the movement!