Friend or Foe?

Sherri: Welcome to Cahoots Commentary, where we share our comments about what to do and, most importantly, what not to do in your nonprofit communications. Thanks for joining us. Our question and topic for this commentary: Is social media a good fundraising tool? Friend or foe? 

For clarity’s sake, we are defining social media as a website, blog, or application that allows users to create communities online and share content as a form of social networking. Also, by definition, social media is a social tool and trying to transition it into being a fundraising tool is often, we found for clients, a big leap. 

So, is social media your friend or foe for fundraising? 

Katie: One thing that can be a bit of a challenge is, as a baseline, the way that social media platforms work, they want to bring people in so they can sell more advertising. And so they want to keep everybody on their platform in the same place, and they don’t always make it super easy for people to send people off site somewhere else. So finding ways to get call to action buttons and links in there can be a bit of a challenge. 

And on top of that, it doesn’t help that there are so many bots on these platforms that then make it harder for real people to get their message out right. 

Sherri: And if it’s going to be fundraising, there has to be an opportunity for you to be able to do an appeal, have a call to action, and then have the people that you’re appealing to be able to fulfill that call to action. And that, generally speaking, almost without exception, needs to be accomplished on somebody’s website. 

And so if you aren’t able to have them go directly from that social post to your website easily and have it, you know, fulfill their desire to be able to give you a donation, therein lies the rub. That’s one of the biggest obstacles, is getting that conductivity to be able to make that transactions happen. 

Dee: We also have seen in some of the stats and percentages that like 63% or more or less people actually do not feel like a lot of the links are legitimate on social media. So you already have people hesitating to respond to that link to give or have any type of transaction occur. 

Sherri: And if they’re suspect even of the nonprofit’s or ministries, maybe churches that they’re, they’re looking at and they’ve got that they’re suspect right out of the gate. You’re starting out about 3 steps behind of where you would if you were using something like broadcast e-mail or a direct mail tool. 

But it does play a part in good integrated communications though. And I think we all agree on that. That it is our friend, if you will, in the sense that if you look at all of the different channels where you can be sending out your message. And let’s just suggest appeal because we’re talking about fundraising, you’re appealing for donations or, you know, in-kind donations, but probably financial contributions, that social media does play a part in being able to, if you will, be part of the reach and frequency chain. 

So you send out a direct Mailer, you replicate it through broadcast e-mail, it’s on your website as a blog, you’ve got the fulfillment tool on your website. Social media can be a platform where you’re able to replicate that appeal. It just does not have a lot of ease in transaction capabilities in the sense of helping those people who are donors to be able to make that connection. 

But most importantly, it’s a social platform and people are just not predisposed to make donations through social media. And that’s a fact, there’s no other way to look at it. It does help increase your brand awareness, but that does not necessarily mean it helps you at all with donations. And turning people who only follow you on social into donors isn’t just a leap, it’s almost impossible.

Dee: I think what we talked about the other day too, about how social media is almost like our “new day” newspaper, where a lot of the information on our organizations are finding their outlet in social. And so a lot of the information that they share, which is things that happen, maybe, are topical or seasonal or time related or some type of something that’s happening or background or education, is really the key types of stories and copy that should be found on social. 

Sherri: Well, it used to be done through traditional public relations tools, sending out a news release to some type of medium, hoping and praying that they’re going to print it and be able to publicize you. So social media does do that. And again, it helps with brand awareness. 

But when it comes to fundraising, that’s, that’s a whole different animal, you know. Dee, when you were talking about the mistrust that we’ve seen, it’s got elevated mistrust. What we’ve seen also is social media is used for misinformation. And I think that, Dee, it complements why there’s people who are so suspect of it and whether or not it’s got any kind of integrity. 

And when you’re a nonprofit or a ministry or a church, you really want to make sure that when you’re communicating with people, especially if you’re asking them to come alongside you financially, that doesn’t play well. I mean, you’re walking into doubt right out of the gate. 

And so I think that’s the other aspect, even though it’s a great public relations tool for getting information out, if it is 63% of the people don’t trust it. I think that’s probably the other reason why we’ve seen such poor results when it comes to any kind of using it as a donation or a fundraising tool. 

Dee: I think it’s great for building awareness and knowledge about your organization, but it obviously is not a direct contact like so many of our other channels, which are better for fundraising. But I think it still has a very big place in being one of the integrated tools and awareness, influence and just education well. 

Sherri: And I think the other thing that oftentimes is absolutely underrated or overlooked is the time and money it takes to do social media well. It is highly time-intensive in the sense of tracking it and watching it because it has to be done almost daily if you’re really involved in it. Because it doesn’t just generate good information for your organization, it can also result in people giving you feedback that you do not want to have shared with other people within your network. 

People who you who follow you and believe in you and are, you know, feel that you’re important, they can see the negative information too. So managing that from a stewardship standpoint, even if it’s a volunteer and we hear this all the time, “Well, it’s OK, it’s a volunteer. So it doesn’t cost anything.” Well, it’s their time. So making sure that you’ve got the time allocated to manage it well, it’s just time intensive. 

And that’s just from a stewardship standpoint. You have to really evaluate that. You know, a broadcast e-mail doesn’t take that kind of supervision. And so social media is just a whole different animal when it comes to that. 

And again, fundraising, you know, your people have to feel that they can trust you or if they see someone say something very negative about your organization, or perhaps the cause that you support as an organization, you’re kind of working back and forth and just hoping and praying that you aren’t getting negative information sent out to the people that really care about you. 

Dee: Yeah, if your message is a topic that’s very controversial, I would try to steer away from those and stick with just the good stories and stuff that support your mission rather than just basically opening a can of worms. 

Sherri: Which is why some of the other good integrated tools like e-mail, e-mail way outperforms just about anything when it comes to fundraising and messaging and ease of use and ease of donation and making sure that what’s going out is exactly what you want it to say. It can be designed so it can be well-branded.  

And you know, again, depending on which social media channel that you’re using, really making sure that your brand is reinforced too. It’s a bit tricky if you don’t have a brand designer or graphic designer on staff or somebody who really knows how to do that well too. 

Dee: I do think it’s a good tool also as far as integration with our other channels and other mailers and stuff. But I do think it is also a great platform for the copywriter to have a good amount area or space to tell a story. Like in so much of our printed materials or direct contact materials, there is limited space. So we can’t elaborate on some of those issues with our organization that are things that are going to motivate and engage and help people become invested in that organization. 

Katie: That’s why we just going back to what we were saying before about integrated marketing, That’s why that including social media in your integrated mix is so much more efficient because you don’t have to keep thinking up brand new posts to do all the time and kind of digging for content just to have it. If you already have it mixed in with the, if you will, broader communications you’re doing.  

Again, you’re not making up a new message, you’re solidifying the one you have. You can use the art you already have. It makes it much easier and makes the messaging,like they were saying, more consistent. 

Sherri: With frequency, so that same message is getting out. But again, hoping and praying that you’re going to be getting good donations that you can actually track. 

And I think that’s another thing that needs to be noted is the best way to know. We’ve had a number of clients who are passionate about social media. And we never want to put a damper on that. But generally speaking, it’s because they personally love to engage with social media. 

And so because of it, they become, if you will, almost obsessed with making sure this social media is part of their business or their nonprofit or ministry or churches communication channels because they’re so passionate about it. 

And you know, we say there’s a really easy way to demonstrate what we’re talking about in the sense of “does it work well? Is it a good fundraising tool?” is to track. And that means posting it and then just seeing how many actual donations are received from that post. 

If you do use some of the few tools that you’ve got to be able to link people back to your website where they can donate, because your website and your analytics, you’re going to be able to see the referring sources. And by referring sources, it says, where did this person come from who went to your donation page? You can actually track that. 

And well, I’ll tell you, that’s probably the hardest thing we have to do is share with clients who are so passionate about social is have them track it. Because when it comes right down to the numbers, it’s disappointing and it’s disheartening for those who are really passionate about it and really feel it’s a great social tool.  

Often times, again, the reason they’re really passionate about it is they’re watching a competitor or someone else in the marketplace. Well, they’re posting and they sent one out for Valentine’s Day and, and they see what someone else is doing, not understanding that those people need to be tracking it too, to be able to do that. That kind of copycat thing unfortunately really exists when we’ve got clients who are passionate about social, but it all kind of comes out in the wash when you track it. 

Katie: And the posting for like every holiday and stuff is always interesting because we see a lot of clients do that because they want it to be consistent and a little more personal. But sometimes I feel if you’re not careful with your content, you can almost cause people, what I would call, “tonal whiplash”. 

So say you just posted something about the kids you’re feeding somewhere who are going through a drought. And then a few days later you post something about National Taco Day. 

Doesn’t really work well together. It doesn’t jive, and people can kind of get the wrong sense or the wrong feeling. So that’s not to say that you can’t do these kinds of celebratory posts and things, but really make sure you know what they’re sitting next to because they can set a very weird tone if you’re mixing that kind of stuff. 

Sherri: Well, it’s also off mission and off brand. It’s not where they are if it isn’t perfectly in line with your mission statement, what you do, what your mission is. It might be very gracious to want to wish somebody happy Valentine’s Day, but like you said, you know, Valentine’s Day and chocolates and all that kind of wonderful things, if you’re a ministry or organization that feeds starving children, it’s just off brand. 

Katie: And you have to consider, too, not just what’s on your own page, but what people might be seeing on their feeds. I know there’s been times in my life where I’ve been following a bunch of pages and I’ll see the same, like, Merry Christmas message. It’s like 10 of them in a row from different, different organizations. 

They’re trying to be personal, but then it becomes impersonal just because of how many people are doing the exact same thing and not including anything else with it. So by that I mean it just says “Merry Christmas from us at wherever” instead of including a story or something like that or an update that’s specific to the organization. 

Those get my attention because I want to know what they’re up to and what they’re doing. Including that additional content can really make the difference. 

Sherri: And those kind of posts are usually outcomes based, meaning you’re sharing with somebody the effectiveness of your organization or ministry. And that is always huge when it comes to fundraising. 

And that’s not suggesting that social can’t do that because it absolutely can. But again, getting them from reading that, seeing what the story is, being encouraged by why it worked, but getting them back to your website and making a donation is a whole different thing. 

And if they haven’t been a donor before, taking someone who is only engaging with your organization through social and turning them into a donor, transitioning them, is a really, really hard proposition. And the numbers over the decades just really don’t demonstrate the fact that it’s effective. It’s social. 

Dee: That’s another point, Kate, that I like that you make, was that really, we have to watch our integrity in what we post and how often we post. And we don’t want it to sound like you’re saying, you know, totally have cognitive dissonance between our missional statement. 

But make it effective. Make it something that is newsworthy, something that’s going to engage people and not so redundant that it’s just like, “Ok, today’s another day. I got to make another post.” It’s so nice to see organizations that really have integrity and how they post, how often, and also when they do get your information, when they do get your phone number, they get your e-mail, that they don’t become a stalker to where you start hearing from them every single day.

So I would like to just remind everybody to really consider what you’re putting out there and make it newsworthy because it’s a reflection on your brand, your brand of ministry, your brand of organization. 

Sherri: You know, I think the last thing too is there’s the misconception that it’s free because it’s free. People, you know, migrate to it because “it doesn’t cost us anything”. It does cost, it costs all the time. It can cost in your brand reputation if you’re posting kind of “namby pamby” and not really being intentional and strategic about how you’re doing that. 

It costs somebody’s time. Even if you’re using some of the great tools that are out there that help you post easily and you can predetermine when they’re going out and things like that, that still takes time to put together. Someone’s got to copy write it. Somebody’s got to layout the photos or crop them so they’re appropriate for any given post. 

And so you may have lots of friends, but if you look at the number of friends you have, how many of those people are also your donors? 

Dee: I think there’s another point too with that, like so many followers, say you have 1000 followers and you’re going to post a message. I think people automatically assume that those thousand followers are going to get the message. And that is not always the case, especially with the different backends with the algorithms and stuff, you can actually, your messages can actually be deterred. 

So you can’t automatically assume that every follower is going to be getting your message and that they’re even going to engage in it. 

Sherri: Well, and the people who are following you are really people who have, if you sat down and looked at them demographically, do they look like the rest of the people that support you financially? And, you know, oftentimes it’s because someone else referred it because of something that you did that was more social rather than missional.

Katie: And it’s always good if you have the ability or the time to keep track of those followers and see if you can’t weed out which ones are bots or that aren’t real people. It can be really difficult on certain platforms just with how some of these bots set themselves up to look like real people. But that can heavily skew your follower numbers and sometimes, in certain cases, even impression numbers. 

And so making sure, if you can, that you’re blocking or whatever way the platform allows you to remove certain followers, if it’s pretty clear that they’re a bot, that can help make sure that your analytics are more accurate. 

Sherri: And you can’t really, you really can’t segment or personalize your message on social. So that’s why a lot of the other channels that are more direct channels are better for segmentation or getting direct messages out to direct groups of people. Like, say, if they’re volunteers or they’re donors or they’re actual participants within your ministry, right? Things that they’ve done where you can know that they will love to get this message because they attend all of our events or they’re a major donor. You can’t do that with social media  

Katie: Unless you do advertising through social media. 

Sherri: Good point, advertising and social media is a whole different animal. 

Katie: The nice thing about advertising through social media, and what does actually make that effective, is the fact that you can segment. You can pick the geography that you want to target, pick the demographics, age, any of that. You’re able to pick upfront and have the system show it to people that meet that criteria.

And so that can be really effective because there are billions of people on these websites. And so chances of finding people who fit your criteria is really high. But it’s that really specific segmentation that makes it more effective. 

Sherri: And the other advantage of paid social is the fact that you’ve got the capacity to have a few more tools available to be able to make sure that the message that you’re delivering is exactly the one that you want to the interactive tools to be able to get them back to your website so that they can get to your donation tool. 

Katie: Yeah, interactivity is very important. Like we were saying, most of the time if you’re on just the basic social media platforms, your posts will have the ability to put a link, but there’s certain sites that won’t make it clickable because of the amount of spam that they experience. Unless you have a certain amount of followers, which most people don’t even get close to. 

So you can have a link, but when you do paid advertising or you upgrade to premium accounts, usually those restrictions go away. So sometimes they’ll give you buttons on your profiles or on your posts that people can click on immediately, easily access things without having to copy and paste URL. And on top of finding the right audience, it makes it easy for them to interact with it. 

Sherri: It becomes transactional. 

Dee: The analytics showed, around 48% or so, that people that are contacted by an advertisement post that they will respond to some type of a purchase or donation. So that far more than just a traditional post. 

Katie: That little label that says “Sponsored” or “Ad: actually pulls a lot of weight if you do it right. But again, you can’t just send out whatever. You want to make sure through your advertising that it’s still relevant and actually has a solid call to action. And then you need to still be very specific and intentional about what you’re putting out because it could still fall flat otherwise. 

Sherri: And when they go back to your website, that you’ve got a dedicated page whenever possible. So they go, “Oh yeah, this is what I am responding to”, especially if you’ve got the page. 

So it’s not free anymore. And so the fact you’ve got, with that paid opportunity, the immediate transaction where you can lead them back to hopefully a dedicated page on your website that gives them more information and makes it very easy for them to be able to give and to donate. 

But again, the transactions that are the most productive on social are products. It’s not a mission, it’s not a cause that they’re supporting. It’s a product that a very smart advertiser has placed right there on your social channel, knowing who the people are that are around you. And so paid advertising is very different than just a social post.

And for most of our clients, there’s just not budget for that. There’s not the ability, let alone the time, to really do good targeting through social media with paid advertising. There’s not the money to be able to pay for those ads. 

And so a free channel does not necessarily give you the opportunities that you’re going to get when you’re doing a paid placement. We’ve worked with many different types of organizations and, across the board, the analytics just do not support it. 

Dee: Yeah, they don’t support that people are linking and donating off a post. It doesn’t matter what type of organization. It just is across the board. 

Sherri: And we look at it, there’s only a handful of nonprofits and ministries that we’ve worked with who do have big budgets, who have big communication staff. The bottom line is, we care too much about clients. And obviously for those of you listening to this too, that your time is valuable. Your budgets, the little ones that you have, if you even have any, are really valuable. 

And so where you invest those and invest your time, we’re big proponents of where are you going to get the biggest return on your investment, whether it’s financial or it’s your time is, to us, where we’re going to recommend you go just because we know you’re too important and the nonprofits you work for and the ministries or churches that you work for, your time is really valuable. 

So not spending it on things that literally are not going to get you the kind of productivity that other channels can is really not something. 

So if we’d have to say “friend or foe”, we’d have to say probably it skews pretty hard to the “Foe” side. Just having a lot of friends does not necessarily get you the donations that you need to fund your organization or ministry well. 

Katie: But it becomes a friend when you integrate it and keep it together with other things and focus on your mission instead of just posting constantly with kind of whatever you can think of. Keep it on mission, tell your story, and that makes the difference. That’s when it becomes a very friendly platform to use. 

Sherri: And the frequency. They saw that same message through a direct mail or they just got an e-mail that replicates that story. And then they went back and they looked on the website and they read the blog that replicated the story and watched the video that goes along with it and then got it in a social post. 

It takes three good repetitions for somebody to even take action. So if it’s part of a good integrated communication strategy, it can be beneficial that way. 

Dee: And the social is communication, so we don’t want to discredit that, but it is not partnering. It doesn’t build relationship, and I think a lot of our more direct marketing tools build those types of relationships.

Sherri: Well, thanks for listening. And if you’d like to learn more about how to discover the reliable integrated development tools for great fundraising success, we have training courses for that. Check them out on our website at CahootsCommunications.com. Thanks for joining us today.