Social Media for Stewardship

Everyone is talking about social media these days. Many common questions come my way: How can I get my social media program off the ground? How can I integrate social media marketing efforts with other channels? How can I use social media to raise money? How can I engage my constituents through social media? However, one of the questions I don’t get as often is: How can I use social media for stewardship?

Following up on one of Julia’s points in her blog yesterday, I’d like to focus in on how you can use social media to show “how their contributions have helped,” as she put it. Social media has still not quite yet proven itself to be the best fundraiser. However, I don’t think anyone can deny what it is good at; and, that is sharing information. When developing your social media strategies and plan, think first about playing to its strenghts.

The holidays are a fantastic time to thank all of your supporters. Let’s say that you send out an email ask this holiday or for end of year. Once all dollars are in and calculated for that particular ask and after the holidays are over and we are heading into January, think about how you can let your donors know how much they really helped. You may be planning an email to go out as a follow up and thank you message. But, think, too about using your social media channels to share your results and thank your donors. This can be as simple as a Facebook post or tweet that says, “Thank you to all of our supporters. We were able to raise $x this holiday that will help us do x.” Or, “Thanks to you, we were able to feed x number of people this Thanksgiving”.

Now, let’s get even more creative. Did your organization do some sort of gift, food drive or animal adoption this holiday? Do you have photos? (Hint: If your event has yet to happen, remember to take photos or appoint a volunteer with the job!) How about posting an album on Flickr, or even turning your still photos into a video slideshow. There are plenty of tools out there – that are free – which help do just this. Check out VideoSpin, for example. If you are putting a video together, and sending out a print piece in the near future, how about putting a QR code on that piece that your constituents can scan and be taken to that “thank you” video? There are many ways you can thank your supporters. I’ll leave you with a few of my favorite examples from some amazing organizations:

• AEON Homes Thanksgiving video
• Mobile Loaves & Fishes I Am Here Thank You video
• Homeless Prenatal Program 20 Years in Action – thank you video.

Enjoy and have a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

– Taylor

P.S. Scan this QR code for a special thank you message from Convio.