For charities, non-profit Facebook marketing strategies can be a life saver in getting more recognition, more supporters and more donations. It’s a huge platform, with over one billion users from all over the world. Developing a Facebook marketing strategy for non-profits takes both time and a lot of effort.

However, when Facebook marketing for non-profits it’s important to remember that while you’re promoting your non profit page on Facebook, so are thousands of other people. Most charities won’t reach fame or success with their first post. Most won’t even after their thousandth that because realise the importance of having a Facebook strategy for non-profits. It’s all about putting in the time, hard work and dedication that will get people on board and following your cause.

This being said, there are some things that you can do in order to make Facebook work for you, and give you a successful platform for your supporters.

Work Behind The Scenes
When running a charity Facebook page, it’s too easy to come across as so professional that people forget that you’re actually human. Although this might seem like a good Facebook marketing strategy for non-profits, you need to let your charity’s personality shine through by showing what goes on behind the scenes if in order for people to engage and interact with your cause. Never forget that we like to interact with humans not pages.

Offering some behind the scenes pictures or videos of your staff, the impact your cause is having etc will show people that you are human and can help build a more personal relationship with your supporters.

Give Them a History Lessons
We’re not talking about teaching your supporters about WWII, but more your own charity’s story. Talk to your audience about why you decided to start this non-profit, and what led you to that decision. Tell them about where you’re based, where you started and how much you’ve grown.

Again, this will help to build a more personal relationship with supporters, as they will see that you’re not just a faceless Facebook page.

Use Surveys Where You Can
When using Facebook marketing for non-profits remember it has this great feature which allows pages to run surveys for their followers. This means that you can use them to find out what content your audience are enjoying. You can run surveys on past content they’ve enjoyed, to find out what to do more of in the future.

You can also do surveys to find out where people are from – in order to narrow down your content. Use surveys to find out the demographics of your followers so that you can create content which is more tailored to them.

Show Them What You’re Doing
As a charity leader, you will probably be doing different things all the time. This can be things such as attending events, having a fundraiser or even just a day in the office. Share these pictures with supporters and other stakeholders as and they will start to better understand the goals of the non-profit and have been shown to be essential to developing successful marketing strategies for non-profit organisations.

Don’t forget that these pictures will also show your human side, forging that ever-important personal connection.

Show your results
Don’t forget to show your followers where their money is going. People like to know what is happening with the money they donate, and Facebook is the perfect platform to do so. Many animal charities show off pictures of animals they’ve helped, thanking their followers for donations.

This allows people to see what they’re money is doing, and will make them more likely to donate again in future.

Facebook Marketing Strategies for Non-Profits requires patience
Creating a digital strategy for non-profits is by no means easy. However by now you will have probably noticed a trend in these pieces of advice – forging a personal connection is key. You can do this by sharing pictures of behind the scenes at your organisation, or by revealing more about the charity.

But you can also do this by asking your followers for their stories. Whether your charity is for people affected by a certain illness, or people who foster children – there are always common stories that people can share. Giving people a safe place to discuss that will foster a feeling of community and make them more likely to keep coming back.

Invite them events
Whether the event you’re holding is the biggest one of the year, or a small community meet-up, inviting people to come along will make them feel included. Creating an event on Facebook is super easy to do and will give people more of an incentive to join.

When the event is private, people will join in order to see more information. Then they are more likely to go along, because they feel included in something and a part of that important community you are working on creating.