Nicholas Soraghan, the co-founder of Content For A Cause, offers his top tips for time poor not for profits looking to refresh their social media.
We know how time poor and resource strapped the not-for-profit sector is on a day-to-day basis. So, we’ve got a few recommendations for refreshing your social media sites in under half an hour!
Consistency in branding
It is so important for any business online to be consistent and easy to find. Take, for example, page handles for all of your sites. Handles are the specific tag that all of your social media sites have as their search index, and either are signposted with an @ symbol, or pop up as the final word or words in your URL: facebook.com/….. [after the forward-slash].
Handles should be short, clear, and easy to remember.
Someone will be happy to type in “@ProBonoAust”, but who could remember or bother typing @charity_14_australia_newzealand?
Once you’re set on the words you want to use, make sure it is available on all the platforms you are active on, so that they are consistent across the board, and have the most chance of popping up in search engines together.
Blurbs and bios are also something that should be consistent. Most social media sites have a character or word limit, so make sure it is punchy and concise, and gets to the essence of what you’re all about. A basic one would start with “[Organisation name] helps/aims/hopes to…”
Cover photos/icons
It is super important to have engaging graphics or pictures at the top of your pages. For most organisations, that means a clear logo as the profile picture. If this picture turns up blurry when uploaded, try to resize the image to a higher resolution.
With cover photos, these are up to your wild imagination as to how you want to promote your organisation. It could be a collage of photos showing the different programs in place, it could be a artistic showcase of your logo, style and main colours of the organisation, it could be a stock-style photo of your executive team or CEO to personalise the organisation. It can be an array of things.
The most important things to keep in mind are that the image is the correct size and doesn’t crop any part of it out, the image is high-resolution and so not pixelated, and that the picture is engaging (so steer clear of fully black and white).
Clear links and engaging content
One of the most important aspects to your social media is ensuring new followers have a reason to like your page, be invested in your organisation, and are compelled to explore further.
People are on the lookout for a link to your website and want to see that the pages are well-established and laden with juicy content. Trust us, we know that is hard to do. However, someone won’t like a page if they are unsure if anything worthwhile will come from it.
It is just like a first date: you give it a go, but need to have reasons to come back and see more for another time, then hopefully another, and another, until you become invested and satisfied in what you are experiencing and gaining from this relationship.
Sounds strange, we know. But, what do we look for in a relationship? Positivity, engagement, authenticity, connection, and meaningful interaction. And that’s what online users are looking for in their social media feeds. Make it easy and clear for them, and you’ll grow your reach and follower base in no time.
So in summary…
If these quick tips are followed, when someone clicks on your page, they:
- are immediately engaged with the branding and want to explore more;
- can see clear links to your other sites as well as a website; and
- are confident with the organisation’s authenticity, legitimacy and community.
About the author: Nicholas Soraghan is the co-founder of Content For A Cause: a social media and content marketing company exclusively for the non-profit sector. They aim to be the go-to place for charities to grow their online community.