Do you think that finding your “perfect donor” inside your database is like finding a needle in a haystack? I know, I’ve been there. What if I told you there’s a better way? And no, I’m not talking about conducting a data audit…
Instead of searching for the donor, let the donor find you by getting social!
Social Studio
Many of the nonprofits I’ve worked with relied heavily on the good old fashioned year end mail campaign to attract most of their donors. Once Salesforce had been implemented, they could send mass emails and better target their constituents than before, but most of them just stop there.
Today’s fast-paced world full of short attention spans coupled with an addiction to smart phones, puts a unique challenge on development staff to capture the attention of their audience, not just at the right time but in the right (technological) place. Social Studio, which is part of Salesforce Marketing Cloud, enables your organization to listen, engage and connect with your constituents on their turf – social networks and mobile platforms.
I’d like to provide you with an overview of a few of my favorite features of Social Studio. This is just one piece in the greater Salesforce Marketing Cloud platform that has solutions spanning email, mobile, web and advertising channels.
Get ready to learn how to take your constituents on a personalized journey that will have them engaging with your content and motivating them to advocate for your mission.
Planning for Launch
Your big gala is coming up. You need to get the word out on social media, but don’t know where to start? Social Studio empowers your nonprofit to manage all your social networks in one centralized location. It comes complete with a fancy calendar that you can use to schedule out future posts and visualize when and where you are posting!
Using Social Studio’s publisher, writing a new post for any social network is a breeze! You can even load photos from your organization’s shared storage location within Social Studio. Having your photos in one central location is not only a huge time saver but also enables everyone to use photos that are consistent with your organization’s branding and message.
Engage with Your Constituents Across Any Network
Now that your social media efforts are in full swing, people are liking and commenting on your posts all over the place! Ahhhh! Feeling overwhelmed yet?
Well don’t worry! Social Studio gives you the ability to monitor all of your social channels on one dynamic page. It’s always updating in real-time, making it easy for you to respond and facilitate conversations.
This “home base” type of page is a lifesaver for nonprofits because it saves time for the person who is monitoring the posts. It allows them to spend less time switching between browsers and social platforms and gives them more time to properly engage with their constituents and get back to the other parts of their job that they are managing.
Encourage Opt-Ins
The majority of nonprofits I’ve worked with have a monthly/quarterly/yearly mailing list consisting of everyone in the database that is sent a newsletter-style email message. The sad truth – not many people read this message because of the overwhelming amount of emails each person receives daily.
Instead of blindly sending an email to everyone, what if you knew which of your constituents actually care about what you’re sending them? You could send tailored messages to these groups, invite them to specific events or motivate them in other ways to become advocates for your mission.
Using the concept of Opt-Ins, you will begin to understand who your groups contain. Setting up a subscription-based list where people opt-in to receiving messages from you, will help you find tune your target audiences. When they opt-in, they’re telling you, “I’m interested in reading more material like this.” These are the motivated and influential people your organization needs to reach out to more.
So how do you generate a large subscription email list of these people? By posting timely, relevant and interesting social media content to the appropriate audience. What’s the best way to do that? With Social Studio, of course!
On your posts, just include a link saying something like “Interested in reading more about this topic?” and when the reader clicks the link, have it direct them to a landing page where they can sign up for your mailing list!
It’s Not Always that First Viewer
When someone shares your message on social media, that’s their way of saying: “I agree with this and I think it’s important.” Of course, likes and comments are important but the most influential factor that can predict the success of a marketing campaign is its reach. When people share your message, your reach goes up. It’s as simple as that.
So how do you get more shares? That’s the question of the day of course.
Social Studio’s social listening tools allow you, as a marketer, to understand what the trending and influential topics are – helping you make an informed decision about what you should post about. It’s not rocket science that posting about what people care about will get you more attention. Understanding what people actually care about IS rocket science, well, computer science, I guess. It’s a good thing Social Studio has taken care of this for us.
After reading this post, I hope you’ve picked up a few helpful nuggets of info – either about marketing concepts or about marketing technology. Contact us if you’d like to learn more about how Marketing Cloud can benefit your organization!
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