| |
“My organization’s website is static and boring, frankly. Our Facebook page is updated all the time and very popular.” This familiar sentiment was shared by the Executive Director of a local nonprofit.
His organization, a local humane society, has 1,214 friends on Facebook. That’s 3.3% of the population of the rural county it serves! And, equivalent to a national organization having just over ten million Facebook friends!
She went on to explain some other contrasts between the site and the FB page.
- One reason Facebook is updated more often… it’s easier to update Facebook.
- There are many more people on Facebook at any one time than there are on her website.
- Of course, there are more potential supporters on Facebook!
- It’s easier for supporters to share thoughts with us on Facebook because of the ease of leaving comments and tagging us in photos. (Facebook users are already “trained” in using your Facebook page; however, your website navigation may be unfamiliar.)
- Facebook allows users to read your messages and send their own wherever they are, via their smart phone (50% of FaceBook traffic comes from mobile devices!)
How do you turn these observations into actionable recommendations for your nonprofit?
- Build and maintain your organization’s Facebook page.
- Add photos, use the Facebook involvement widgets like surveys, and encourage friends to tag you in their posts (friends bring friends).
- Create a “welcome” tab for your Facebook page that new visitors come to first. It can entice them to “friend” your page and encourage their involvement.
- Add Facebook’s widgets to your website, which will update with your Facebook activity and encourage web visitors to join your Facebook crowd.
- Consider adding donation tools to your Facebook page. PayPal has some tools, and third-party widgets like Razoo and FundRazr allow you to use the PayPal interface to set up fundraising pages that your Facebook fans can promote on their walls!
- Consider Facebook ads, which let you target to a great degree, and which only cost money when people click on them (and come to your Facebook page).
The humane society takes a photo of every family as they leave with the animal they’ve adopted, and posts it to Facebook immediately.
Can you think of similar ways to use Facebook to demonstrate the effectiveness of your organization? If so, let us know!
|
