Social media is changing the way that non-profits communicate with their supporters. But are charities making the most of this opportunity? Susan Luxford gives us a status update

The evolution of social media has shaken up the marketing world. This brings with it new challenges and opportunities for charities.

At this moment in time, we’ve moved from traditional, ‘one-to-many’ communications to ‘many-to-many’ communications, shaped by direct connectivity between individuals and organisations, exchange of knowledge and information, dialogue and relationships, and a shift in the balance of power to the individual user.

The 2012 Non-profit Social Network Benchmark report (‘the benchmark report’) found that 93 per cent of non-profits had some presence on the top commercial social media networks. This shows that, to varying degrees, we are engaging in this web-enabled ‘many-to-many’ approach. However, this begs the question: are charities using social media in the most effective way?

Making connections

One of social media’s most powerful strengths is its capacity to enable organisations to build online communities that connect directly with ‘real time’ supporters, or which deliver services to beneficiaries. The benchmark report found that charities have an average of 8,317 fans on Facebook, and 3,290 followers on Twitter.

According to research by digital media experts Sift, the majority of organisations are trying to apply the same method of marketing within social media as is used in the more familiar and traditional media categories, whereby they act simply as a ‘broadcaster’ of messages, responding only when required (the reactive approach). But applying a traditional marketing approach to digital marketing can have limited effects, as reflected in the relatively small revenue amounts charities collect digitally. Rather, says Sift, charities should be taking a more proactive, ‘conversational’ approach, whereby they use their digital marketing channels to solicit opinions and input, and build relationships.

It must be remembered that at the core of any non-profit customer market are the donor and the beneficiary. The two can now come together online as one community, which presents both a challenge and an opportunity for non-profits using social media. By ‘liking’ your Facebook page, for example, donors and beneficiaries are able to converse and see exchanges by and with each other. This can be of great benefit when fundraising, because the donors, who often do not have direct experience or involvement in your service delivery, see the direct benefit of their donations. The challenge, however, is to create and maintain mutually satisfying exchanges between your donors and your beneficiaries.

Return on investment

Research has shown that for every £1 spent by a charity in online fundraising, £10 is donated, and while the average offline donation in 2010 was £15, online that jumps to £30. The benchmark report found that the average cost to a charity of a Facebook like is $3.50 for acquisition of a new supporter, and that the average value of that Facebook like is around $215 over the 12 months following acquisition. The suggestion is that if charity marketing teams were to invest more in digital marketing, they could start to see a far greater return on investment.

Macmillan and others, in their 2005 research paper Relationship marketing in the not-for-profit sector, identified two-way communication, non-opportunistic behaviour and non-material benefits as vital in helping non-profits strengthen and secure relationships with their donors. This may take the form, for example, of greater involvement of supporters in activities, more transparency, or better demonstration of achievements – all activities that move away from the traditional broadcaster approach.

According to Nomensa’s 2012 research paper, Creating the Perfect Donation Experience, 47 per cent of donors give up before they have made the donation because the online experience is not intuitive and engaging enough. This highlights another threat of social media – that of high ‘community’ expectations. Such expectations can place great pressure upon non-profits when using social media to raise funds: people want to feel that they haven’t simply made a donation, but that they’ve joined a movement.

Moving with the times

For non-profits, keeping up with the increasingly diverse and constantly evolving social media tools, when time and resources are not necessarily available, is a challenge, and so these tools are often being under-utilised and ineffectively used.

Social media, by its nature, requires a uniquely tailored marketing engagement strategy. The challenge for all charities is capacity building within your organisation to adapt to this marketing shift.

Susan Luxford is digital communications manager at the Institute of Fundraising

This article first appeared in The Fundraiser magazine, Issue 31, July 2013