Harness the power of this popular social media platform to boost your charity fundraising efforts with our 5 top tips.
Twitter says that to drive interest and conversations around fundraising efforts, non-profit and charity organisations are increasingly turning to the platform. But you don’t have to be a charity to use Twitter. Here’s how it can help individual fundraisers.
1. Get your message out
You’ve got 140 characters to use – but it is amazing how powerful they can be in getting to potential sponsors and donors. And it’s not just people you know – Twitter can be a way of getting to people all over the world who may want to support your cause. Because you’ve got to be brief it will also help you harness and sharpen your message.
Centre your Twitter fundraising on a hashtag – to give a sense of a shared cause. It will also attract like-minded users. Build the number of people interested in your cause and what you’re doing first, before you directly ask for cash support. And be specific about what you’re doing, why you’re doing it and what you are hoping to achieve.
Aim for quality rather than quantity when it comes to your tweets.
2. Harness the trends
Twitter is also a great way of finding out what people are thinking and what’s engaging them. Use the search function to find people who are tweeting about similar causes or events and always keep an eye on the trending articles section. It might help spark a fundraising idea, or give you a chance to get involved in that debate – adding your ideas and letting people know of your efforts.
3. Take the advice
Twitter can also give you access to some great advice from other fundraisers. Follow them, listen to them and see how what they are doing can be of benefit to you. Twitter can be great for sparking ideas, seeing what other people are thinking and doing and engaging them in conversations to find out more.
Make it fun, as well as a sense of a shared cause, and everyone will get something out of it.
4. Get connected
The more people you know and interact with, the more money you are likely to raise – and that’s not just the case with social media. Building relationships on Twitter will help you tell your story and engage people in what you’re doing.
And you can also use it promote traffic to your website or Facebook page where they can learn even more. Also, there are now ways to make instant and secure donations simply by sending a tweet!
5. Spread the net
Use tools like TwitterFeed to get your tweets out to as wide an audience as possible. And if any of them like it, they may even retweet it – spreading the word even further. Make sure you retweet blogs you read about to those that are following you. The more people you have engaged in this, the better.
Even see if you can get a celeb to join in – send them your tweets and see if they respond. You never know and it all adds to the ‘talk-ability’ you are trying to spark. Recognise the efforts of the people who have helped you. And keep everyone up to date on your progress.
Feeling inspired? Why not view our list of Partner Charities and pick a great cause to support.
Picture credit: Ratchapoln / Shutterstock.com