Reach Out to Different People via Social Media

Your network can broadly be divided into four categories: solids, 1st, 2nd and 3rd networks. Reaching out to your network is key for crowdfunding. Solids are people closest to you such as immediate family members or close friends. 1st network includes people you are in regular contact with. 2nd network comprises people with who you are not constantly in touch with but know each other. 3rd network has people with who you have mutual connections or references with. 

Leverage The Power of Influencers On Social Media

Tag relevant celebrities or influencers in your posts, or reach out to any if you know them personally and encourage them to post on their social media. Celebrities or influencers can help you gain more popularity and audience attention. They have a higher reach and individuals are more likely to donate if they see their favourite celebrity or influencer donating. 

Using WhatsApp to Connect With Like-Minded People

Create a WhatsApp group of well-wishers who are interested in the cause and who can help by both donating and spreading the word. Forming a WhatsApp group of those interested in the cause can help in spreading the word. In this group, you can send regular follow-ups, appeals and informative messages. Make sure to add those who are genuinely interested in the cause. 

Give a Personal Touch to the Messages

Customise personal messages; use your contact’s name or use a personal reference in your communication with them. Customising messages adds a personal touch and your audience or donors might feel a connection with the cause. It also is a sign of effective communication and helps in garnering more interest.

Schedule Your Posts on Different Platforms

Create a rough timeline for your posts and the platforms you will be engaging on. A timeline is always helpful to ensure timely posts at regular intervals and tracking their progress. It helps the campaign stay on track and not lose sight of the goal.

Engage More on Crucial Days

The first and last 3 days of the campaign are the most important- be cognizant of that and communicate effectively during those days. The support is highest during the first and last 3 days of the campaign. Make sure to capitalise on this time and aggressively promote the campaign.

Keep an eye out for crucial days to engage more with your audience!

Know Your Audience

Understand your audience and post accordingly from different categories of content; informative, persuasive, narrative and more. Your audience comes from various backgrounds; it is important to understand that and curate your content accordingly. The content has been divided into sub-categories- informative, persuasive and emotional. Informative focuses on providing additional information for the cause and the community, persuasive is geared towards pushing individuals to donate and narrative is to create an emotional appeal to encourage contributions. Utilize relevant content from these categories to post on your social media.

Communication With Your Donors

Update and follow-up posts are equally important to show your audience how much has been raised already and to acknowledge your donors’ support. Post regular updates about the campaign so the donors are aware of the progress. You can also thank your donors and acknowledge their support in the campaign’s advancement. This will keep them in the loop and also encourage them to share it within their networks.

Get in Touch With Potential Donors

Call individuals who might be interested and ask them to contribute to the cause. Calling individuals from your network will help garner interest leading to donations. Direct calls help in easy communication and potential donors can also ask questions regarding the campaign.

Don’t Overdo the Social Media Game

Posting too much or too often might also lead to people losing attention in the campaign; instead, you can use social media for more than just money like sharing relevant information for the campaign and adding the crowdfunding link below. Excess content can also create fatigue, leading your audience to lose interest in the campaign. Instead, you can use social media to post about different kinds of information for the campaign and add a donation link at the end.

Connect with Your Audience on Festivals

Capitalise on festivals and occasions when people feel like they are particularly in the giving spirit – for e.g, for someone’s birthday, you can ask them to donate a small amount for the cause. The time when people are in the giving spirit is the ideal time to gain support. During occasions like birthdays or anniversaries, you can ask those close to you or within your family to donate a small amount for the cause.

Use a Combination of Posts

In your posts use different visuals like collaterals, infographics, audiovisual content — this will help in generating interest and providing more context. Social media fatigue is real and a majority of the audience does not like seeing text-only posts. Mix your content by using different kinds of visuals such as infographics or collaterals or using audiovisual content for the campaign. 

Understand What Works Best on Different Platforms

Understand how different social media platforms function and post relevant content on each one; for instance, using personalised messages on WhatsApp or relevant hashtags on Twitter. Each social media platform has its unique customer engagement dynamic and it is essential to recognize the different metrics. For WhatsApp messages, you can lead with personalised messages for individuals or groups. Twitter uses hashtags extensively so the focus could be on that.

Make Hashtags Your Superpower

Use hashtags extensively and try to make them as creative as possible. Hashtags play a vital role in digital outreach but the trick is to make them as creative as possible. Regular hashtags will not gain as much visibility as hashtags that are creative and stand out. They should be relevant to the cause and clearly communicate the many facets of it.

Use your creativity to come up with new hashtags as well.

Spread The Vision Of The Campaign

Share information both about the cause and the organisation behind the cause that you are fundraising for. While sharing information about the campaign it may also be useful to share information about the organisation that has initiated the campaign. This is helpful in providing context and learning about other work that the organization has done in the past. 

Video Message for Emotional Connection

Create your own 30-second donation appeal video; your audience is more likely to engage when they see your face in the post. On your personal social media platforms, it may also be worthwhile to create a short donation appeal video. Your followers are more likely to be drawn if they see your face on the post and would consider donating. Furthermore, it suggests that you are personally invested in the cause and not just copy pasting on social media for donations. 

Connect With Your Audience In-Person

Hold offline awareness events at your workplace/college and try to source donations from these events wherein people can simply donate by scanning a QR code. Conducting offline events are of great value to crowdfunding campaigns. Those who attend awareness events can also address their questions regarding the campaign and interact with other attendees of the event encouraging more donations.

Rewards and Bonuses Help Build a Positive Image

Create a reward-tier system if you have the time, so people can get mini rewards, like a thank you note, for contributing to your campaign. Rewards encourage people and create a feel-good emotion. This is an extremely important emotion to capitalise on as individuals can feel good about themselves while working on the campaign and gain rewards.