It’s been predicted that by the year 2025, 4.41 billion of us will be using social media. In a highly digital world, where social media has become the new norm, social media marketing has become an essential tool in allowing brands to communicate with their audiences.
These digital trends are impacting every aspect of our lives, both professional and personal, including how we engage with and support charities and other good causes, largely for the better. Yet research shows that the charitable sector is largely lagging when it comes to keeping up with social media trends, thus missing out on reaching a hugely engaged audience and potential donations.
Social media makes it easier for charities to raise vital funds because they can collaborate and directly communicate with a targeted audience about their fundraising appeals and also run integrated fundraising campaigns through a variety of different social media apps. Many social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram also offer donation buttons, making it easy for users to donate directly from the app. Despite this opportunity, many of the smaller charities have little or no social presence at all and are missing an opportunity to amplify their message and drive charitable giving.
Social media is an extremely useful (and free!) tool that can help to grow communities with likeminded people or facilitate direct collaboration with those who share charitable goals and want to donate or fundraise for example. With further influencer collaborations and campaigns, smaller charities can also drive brand awareness, reaching further audiences and thus helping raise the amount of donations.
Our work with international children’s cleft charity Smile Train has seen the charity’s UK following grow to over 15,000 in the time that we have been working with them, using a strategy that focuses on driving awareness of Smile Train’s work around the world, working closely with British ambassadors that were themselves born with a cleft, and engaging parenting influencers across the country to help drive exposure for the organisation in a territory where the charity was once relatively unknown.
If your charity is looking to revitalise its social media strategy, don’t hesitate to get in touch today to hear about our work in the Third Sector industry and how we might be able to help you.