Before launching a fundraising campaign, it’s essential to reflect on your communication strategy in order to achieve the objectives you’ve set. Among the most effective means of communication, social networks must be a priority, given the potential for items communicated on these networks to go viral. If you succeed in creating a snowball effect, this will facilitate your fundraising process… but this still needs to be triggered. Here are our tips for using social networks skilfully as part of your fundraising campaign.
Summary
- Pay special attention to your fundraising page
- Specify the aims of the fundraiser
- Set your campaign in motion
- Create a permanent link with your audience
1. Pay special attention to your fundraising page
A significant amount of your fundraiser’s success will depend on the page presenting your project. That’s why you should first take special care with the implementation of your fundraiser. For example, storytelling is a technique that proves its worth on a daily basis in advertising, events and fundraising! So, choose the words you use carefully.
First of all, start by attracting the attention of potential donors with a catchy name, an appealing graphic and a short presentation of the project. Publicising a video is also essential.
Next, integrate your fundraising module into your website, or create a Weezevent mini-site in just a few clicks.
Then, create an e-mail database with your network and prospects’ contacts. Use a CRM or an event marketing tool to send invitations by e-mail and get a chance to increase your fundraising.
2. Specify the aims of the fundraiser
To involve potential donors further, consider presenting your team and detailing your project in the most transparent way possible. The donor should understand how their contribution will be used and who will benefit from it.
To encourage donations, use participatory funding mechanisms and define the following aspects.
An achievable and reasonable fundraising goal
This must be justifiable to your donors, and estimated based on the number of people you think you can reach. Remember: a goal that is too high could seem unachievable, thereby discouraging potential donors.
A specific fundraising period
Fundraisers generally last between 30 and 90 days. This is just enough time to contact your entire network, while communicating at regular intervals in order to create a positive dynamic.
Well-chosen partners
Partners aren’t mandatory, but they allow you to convince more donors! The important thing here is to be coherent and creative: partnerships can be of a transactional nature, but your partners can also exchange services with you.
Bonus: mention the possibility of tax deductions depending on the proposed donations.
3. Set your campaign in motion
To maximise your chances of convincing potential donors, communication on your social networks concerning your fundraiser should take place in several phases:
Step 1: Launching the fundraiser
Start by contacting your close friends and family only by phone or instant message. Focus on direct contact and personalising the message to encourage donations. People will be more touched and will feel that they have contributed to a wider goal.
Redirect them to your fundraiser and your publications on social networks in order to increase the number of interactions on these networks, which in turn will increase the visibility of your content, resulting in a virtuous cycle.
Step 2: The ‘10% of the objective’ threshold
Widen your circle of contacts. Involve the least active members of your charity, those who subscribe to your newsletter, attendees of your previous events, your acquaintances, and so on. Send them an email, and once again send them the link to your fundraiser as well as links to your publications on social networks.
Step 3: The 50% mark
Try to go further and target the general public! To do this, encourage everyone to share your campaign on social networks, including partners and the local, regional, national and even specialised press. The more your publications are shared, the more likely they are to become viral.
4. Create a permanent link with your audience
To achieve your objectives, you will need to stay the course throughout your campaign. Here are some examples of messages to send in order to motivate your target audience and thus succeed in meeting your challenge:
- “Thank you for your support, we are touched…”: Thank your donors after their donation, in the most personalised way possible.
- “Take part in the adventure”: Encourage your donors to share your fundraiser, and remind them of the relevance of the project, its context, and the need to support it.
- “We’re nearing our goal”: Give news concerning your fundraising indicators (e.g. fundraising thresholds reached, countdown)
- “We’re continuing our efforts”: If possible, highlight the project’s progress, which will make it even more tangible (e.g. meetings, receipt of material)
With these tips, some common sense and a collective effort, you will be ready to prepare your communication for your fundraiser. Discover all the advantages of our fundraising and online payment solution by clicking on the button below:
