Tips to Grow Your Community for the Busy Non-Profit Professional

Is your non-profit struggling to increase its audience and reach? Is your website welcoming and converting leads? By revisiting your marketing strategy and reviewing the effectiveness of your website, it is possible to grow your non profit community.

Website and Online Strategy

Websites are rapidly becoming more sophisticated by the minute. Presenting an easy-to-use website that is focused on creating action with a focus on usability will allow users to read and interact with your content easily. Using beta-testing to detect any navigation features that are challenging for end-users and studying user behavior will enable you to keep users on your site longer.

Some tips are to make sure that your website is mobile-friendly, has a clear and concise call-to-action and has engaging and interesting content. Staying ahead of technology is key. As users shift the way they access the web, the strategies to catch the interest of, engage and, in turn, grow your non profit community must keep up. Think about screen sizes, device interaction limitations, pixel ratios and accessibility standards. Regularly re-assess and improve your website, or else it will look like a 90s era equivalent in a few years.

Online Etiquette

Online etiquette is a must when dealing and communicating with customers virtually. The rhetoric an organization uses is an extension of your organization’s reputation. Pay close attention to your interactions with your community:

How is your grammar?
Do you speak intelligently?
Are you polite over the phone?
Are you responsive to phone calls and emails?

I know you may be thinking: “My interactions with my customers are good enough.” Although that is quite possible, would you rather see what improvements you can make to delight your audience?

Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the most preferable contact methods to grow your non profit community. Although people dislike it when others try to sell them something. The customers need to feel like they have made a decision on their own. This means that it is important to establish a relationship before you begin to offer your programs, invite community members to events or even ask for contributions.

Constant Contact, MailChimp and similar services offer a user-friendly format for sending mass emails, by simply uploading a spreadsheet with contact information; allowing one to freely schedule a date and time that is appropriate for their organization.

Social Media

Depending on your organization, social media can be a powerful resource to connect with people who share your passion and your purpose; reaching additional community members translates to more people talking. Proudly display your cause and provide an engaging virtual atmosphere through sharing posts – humorous, motivational, tips, ads – that are related to your non-profit.

Twitter and Instagram predominately employ hashtags for posts, which allows users to search for a post that resonates with their interests. Incorporating hashtags in posts also garners you the ability to be added in Twitter groups; every time you tweet a hashtag associated with a particular group, your tweet will be displayed on that group’s newsfeed.

Nearly every social media website has a visibility feature and paid advertising option, which expands a post’s radius to show up on users’ newsfeed. In order to grow your non profit community, take into consideration demographic details and preferences in order to locate and reach the appropriate audience.

SEO

Search engine optimization [SEO] is the process of affecting the visibility of your website in a search engine’s organic [unpaid] results. Systematically typing certain keywords and/or phrases multiple times grants you more visibility on search engines. This can be employed through blog pages, hashtags, and followers sharing your content onto other websites. There is an alternative option if you need a foundation to help you cement your online presence.

SEM

Have you ever noticed paid ads on search engines? Search engine marketing [SEM] allows users to gain online traffic by purchasing ads on search engines. Over a billion people use Google, so the chances of a potential customer clicking on your ad is more likely. The difficult part is motivating the consumer to click and buy… which is where we come in!

Online Fundraising Strategy

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