Top Tips for Twitter Fundraising on Giving Tuesday
Giving Tuesday is a little over six weeks away, and while that sounds like plenty of time, it will sneak up on you if you're not careful! We're dedicating the next few Slices to digital fundraising, so you can be sure you're ready for November 29.
Without further ado, let's kick things off with Twitter.
Why Use Twitter for Fundraising?
Despite the recent turbulence, Twitter is still a powerful platform with over 238 million monthly active users. And it’s less about how many people use Twitter and more about WHO uses Twitter: power players, leaders, influencers, and journalists.
That’s why it’s worth trying Twitter to build relationships with potential donors, and to connect with influential accounts so they might amplify your posts for more reach and visibility. It’s one more avenue where you can nurture donor relationships for the long-term, AND it’s a place where you can connect with influencers talking about your cause, potentially inspiring them to support your work.
Do This Now:
Organize Your Fundraising Campaign and Messaging: What will be your Giving Tuesday hook this year? Are you trying to meet a certain fundraising goal that day, promote a matching gift, or celebrate a milestone in your organization’s work? Set a clear goal that your supporters can help you meet, and lay out your key messaging and work plan now.
And, when you’re planning your content, don’t forget that Tweets with visuals get WAY more engagement than Tweets that are just text. Come up with a branding scheme for your campaign and create graphics to go with your fundraising posts that are eye-catching and sized appropriately for Twitter on both mobile and desktop.
Make Sure Your Fundraising Tool of Choice Plays Well With Twitter: No matter what kind of donation page you’re promoting, test out how that page appears on Twitter when you share a link to it. Does the preview image look right? Does anything need to be updated? When you type the website URL of your donation page into a Twitter post, you’ll see the preview pop up; take the time to make sure that preview looks the best it possibly can, or be prepared to create and upload a graphic with every donation post instead. And remember to check if your fundraising software has a Twitter integration.
Do This Over the Next Few Weeks:
Start celebrating #GiveEveryTuesday: Giving Tuesday is not only in November; you can participate in weekly Giving Tuesdays throughout the year, and it’s not too late if you haven’t started. Find the toolkit here, and use the weekly prompts to inspire your community to give in all sorts of ways. Just remember to tie the prompts back to what YOU do as an organization; don’t just copy and paste what you find in that toolkit.
Engage With Those Influencers: Relationship-building is critical on Twitter, so make sure you're connecting with potential donors and engaging with their Tweets regularly by liking, resharing, and replying. You can create a private Twitter list to keep up with your top targets, and check it daily to find opportunities to interact.
Check What’s Happening Locally: There might be local Giving Tuesday events going on near you; use this map to see if there is anything you can join or help sponsor, either online or in-person (or both).
And Don’t Forget:
Put Out Clear Calls to Action and Donation Links: Once your community is ready to donate, don't make it hard for them to do so! Share a clear call-to-action in your Tweets and make sure your donation link can be found everywhere: your profile page, on your website’s homepage, and posted on your staff’s and board’s profiles too. If you want to track where your donations are coming from on Twitter, use bit.ly or Google's campaign URL builder to create custom links.
Stay Timely: People jump on Twitter to keep up to date about the latest news, events, and trends. Be sure to make your Tweets relevant and sensitive to the current landscape, and use your social listening skills to check in on what your followers and your community are talking about lately. You don’t want to seem out of the loop, and you don’t want your Tweets to feel so pre-scheduled and automated that there’s no reason for anyone to engage with your account.
People Give to People, Not Organizations: So, in addition to sharing out your fundraising, respond to any engagement that comes in; don’t be afraid to start conversations, retweet other accounts who are talking about your work, and celebrate people who decide to donate.
And one last thing… some have wondered if Giving Tuesday is still worth participating in, or whether it’s a little passé. We say that it’s up to you to observe what your audience thinks; if your audience isn’t really into it or thinks it’s too old school, you probably should design a fundraising campaign without a Giving Tuesday focus. But if your community is supporting other orgs for Giving Tuesday, or if they’ve done so in the past, it’s worth a try!