3 Social Media Marketing Lessons to Learn from Nonprofits
Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2025 8:08 am
Many for-profit companies are accustomed to working with large marketing budgets that fund their vast array of event marketing activities, both for distributed content and paid social media advertising.
But not everyone has that luxury, and I’m inspired by how nonprofits, often on limited budgets, use social media to drive successful campaigns. Not only do they share their story on a budget considerably smaller than a typical corporate budget, but they also do a great job engaging their audience. What can we learn from nonprofits about effectively using social media? Let’s take a look.
1. Create customizable content
Marketing professionals watched this year as the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge became a huge hit on social media. We saw that social media was a perfect vehicle for nonprofits to get their message out to millions of people at little to no cost. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was all over social media, short in duration, and personal, which was a recipe for success.
The Ice Bucket Challenge was unique in many ways, but one taiwan telegram data of the most important lessons I learned from it was to create customizable social campaigns. Tailoring the campaign to each participant allowed them to share their experiences and thoughts, and this led to virality by encouraging participants to challenge their friends. When you align people’s passions with a piece of content that is shareable and customizable, fans will share it.
2. Empower your fan base
The United Nations’ “World Humanitarian Day” social media campaign received over 1 million shares by harnessing the power of their fan base and community. They amplified their message by asking their fans to sign up to share a pre-populated post (giving permission to self-post), scheduled for a specific day and time.
The post was released to all of their fans at the same time, giving their hashtag much more lift and muscle than a regular post would. Furthermore, it demonstrated the power of their fan base. To achieve this, they used a tool called Thunderclap.
3. Expand your reach
Who would you be more likely to trust: a company raving about its product or a trusted friend? With the evolution of social referral platforms like Yelp!, we’ve grown even more dependent on recommendations from other people (even those we don’t know). For example, if I receive a letter asking for donations, I’ll probably read it, but I might not donate. But if I’m scrolling through Facebook and see that a friend is asking for help raising money for a cause or participating in an activity that benefits a nonprofit, I’m much more likely to donate. This free social validation is worth far more than the letter when it comes to reaching a new audience and triggering a donation.
But not everyone has that luxury, and I’m inspired by how nonprofits, often on limited budgets, use social media to drive successful campaigns. Not only do they share their story on a budget considerably smaller than a typical corporate budget, but they also do a great job engaging their audience. What can we learn from nonprofits about effectively using social media? Let’s take a look.
1. Create customizable content
Marketing professionals watched this year as the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge became a huge hit on social media. We saw that social media was a perfect vehicle for nonprofits to get their message out to millions of people at little to no cost. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was all over social media, short in duration, and personal, which was a recipe for success.
The Ice Bucket Challenge was unique in many ways, but one taiwan telegram data of the most important lessons I learned from it was to create customizable social campaigns. Tailoring the campaign to each participant allowed them to share their experiences and thoughts, and this led to virality by encouraging participants to challenge their friends. When you align people’s passions with a piece of content that is shareable and customizable, fans will share it.
2. Empower your fan base
The United Nations’ “World Humanitarian Day” social media campaign received over 1 million shares by harnessing the power of their fan base and community. They amplified their message by asking their fans to sign up to share a pre-populated post (giving permission to self-post), scheduled for a specific day and time.
The post was released to all of their fans at the same time, giving their hashtag much more lift and muscle than a regular post would. Furthermore, it demonstrated the power of their fan base. To achieve this, they used a tool called Thunderclap.
3. Expand your reach
Who would you be more likely to trust: a company raving about its product or a trusted friend? With the evolution of social referral platforms like Yelp!, we’ve grown even more dependent on recommendations from other people (even those we don’t know). For example, if I receive a letter asking for donations, I’ll probably read it, but I might not donate. But if I’m scrolling through Facebook and see that a friend is asking for help raising money for a cause or participating in an activity that benefits a nonprofit, I’m much more likely to donate. This free social validation is worth far more than the letter when it comes to reaching a new audience and triggering a donation.