Giving Tuesday planning, or better known as #GivingTuesday, starts as early as August or September. The goal is to create a campaign that rallies new and old volunteers, donors, and your community. If you’re headed into #GivingTuesday alone, stop right there and backtrack – this is one of the most important times to bring your community together to work towards and share your mission.
After the chaos of Black Friday, Small-Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday is the complete opposite of a consumerist motive. On this day, people are encouraged to give to causes and missions they believe in and are called to.
One of the best ways to spread the word, mobilize your audience, and get visible is by using social media.
So take a seat, friend, we’re about to hash out our 9 tips for a successful (and measurable) Giving Tuesday social media campaign.
Take a look at your yearly fundraising or impact goal
It’s easy to jump straight into your #GivingTuesday campaign with a “new” goal you want to hit or look at other social enterprises or nonprofits to see what you should aim for. But a common mistake we see is not looking at #GivingTuesday as a part of your whole fundraising or impact goal for the year.
Before setting a goal for your campaign, take a look back at your year’s fundraising or impact goal and work backward.
You can follow this simple breakdown:
- What is your overall fundraising or impact goal?
- Where is your nonprofit, currently?
- How much more do you need to reach this goal?
- If you DID have extra funds, what will it be allocated towards?
Start preparing your social media early
It’s never TOO early to start preparing for your #GivingTuesday campaign on social media! As we mentioned before, starting in September or October to sprinkle in your #GivingTuesday campaign throughout your social media channels can help your audience associate the holiday to your brand.
Some quick ways to prepare your social media for #GivingTuesday is…
- Update your branding and images
- Change your messaging to include #GivingTuesday
- Create buzz and excitement with the content you share
- Share your goal for that day and how others can help!
Download official #GivingTuesday logos and images to use within your own social media platform – our recommendation, create a branded graphic!
Create a Giving Tuesday social media toolkit
#GivingTuesday is the moment to call on your past donors, fundraisers, volunteers, community, and more to help spread the word about your mission! The easiest way to do that?
Create a social media Giving Tuesday toolkit. Something you can send to your community, donors, and supporters, to make it easy for them to share your message and mission!
What do you need to include in your social media toolkit?
- Branded graphics (in various formats)
- “Swipe Copy” – short blurbs to help make sharing easy!
- Links to important landing pages and information
- The official timeline of your campaign (when people should share, what days are most important, etc)
- The link to your donation page (of course!)
Looking for additional ideas? Check out #GivingTuesday’s toolkit for their community!
Design your own campaign
The #GivingTuesday campaign is only the start! You can design your own campaign on social media for Giving Tuesday – all you have to do is think of how to make it branded!
This is a great way for nonprofits to not only raise awareness about their mission and reach their fundraising/impact goals, this is also a great day to share your brand message and mission to gain higher visibility. You can use the momentum of #GivingTuesday to increase your brand awareness and find new community members!
If you opt to create your own social media campaign for #GivingTuesday, don’t forget these items:
- Create your own hashtag to use IN ADDITION to the Giving Tuesday hashtag – increasing views and visibility!
- Get your community to post their own photos and reshare them
- ENGAGE WITH YOUR COMMUNITY.
The biggest takeaway if you want to design your own campaign, alongside Giving Tuesday is that you need to prepare your team to be online and ready. Giving Tuesday campaigns are most successful when there is engagement at all levels.
Because this is a one-day event, it will require extra power to stay on top of engagement with tags, reshares, comments, and likes!
Use the power of video
The power of video combined with social media can make a big impact.
According to Social Media Today, social videos generate 1200% MORE shares than text and video combined! That is a lot of sharing and a lot of power.
How can you use video for your social media Giving Tuesday campaign? Start with these platforms and get creative:
- FB & IG Lives
- IG Stories
- IGTV
- LinkedIn Video
- YouTube
Things you can share on video for your Giving Tuesday social media campaign:
- Behind the scenes of your fundraising campaign
- Team member highlights
- Shouting out your sponsors, donors, and volunteers
Get creative and remember, ANYTHING can be turned into content!
Schedule out important posts and milestones
While you’re planning and prepping for your social media campaign on Giving Tuesday, don’t forget the best way to keep an efficient marketing strategy is to schedule and automate as much as possible.
On Giving Tuesday, it can get intense as you watch donations roll in, and your community share your message and drive your mission. Your impact will visibly start moving because you can see your community come together for a greater good!
Make a list of important posts and milestones you DON’T want to forget to share while they’re happening live! We’ve created a shortlist of top posts to include in your marketing strategy, that you can plan ahead:
- When you’ve hit a milestone
- How many donors have given to the cause
- Regular check-ins with your community
Invite your community to participate
Giving Tuesday is NOT about doing it alone. It’s about bringing your community together, the people who believe in your mission, message, and your cause, to rally together and reach a common goal…
So, what does that mean? It’s time to invite your community to participate! Reach out to past donors, companies who’ve supported you (or are supporting you), and volunteers.
Reach out to your audience and your social media platforms, asking them to share about your #GivingTuesday campaign and your goals!
PRO TIP: If you’re asking your community to participate, make sure you’ve got your #GivingTuesday social media toolkit prepped to send out!
Get active on all accounts
On Giving Tuesday, more than ever, engagement will play an important role to make sure your community is active and catching updates as they roll out live.
Whichever accounts you use, make it a priority to be active on all of them. If your social media campaign only involves using Facebook and Twitter, make sure to stay engaged and active throughout the day. If you’re focusing on Instagram and Facebook… stay focused and active on those two accounts.
Why is this important?
Giving Tuesday is a day where you can bring your community together, and their network, to learn about your impact, your message, and your mission. This is when you can connect with new audience members and really get social!
A quick list of ways to remain active on the accounts you’ll be using for your Giving Tuesday social media campaign:
- Reply back to comments as soon as possible
- Reshare or repost any tagged posts or photos
- Have a leading role on the day, someone who will be watching and responding to all accounts
Plan for the bigger picture
Yes, Giving Tuesday is only one day, but in your planning, it doesn’t have to stop there. As you prepare and plan for this day, don’t forget to think bigger picture!
After your Giving Tuesday campaign, there will be new donors, followers, community members, and volunteers who are interested in continuing their relationship with your nonprofit. Have a plan for them to become more acquainted with your mission, your purpose, and the impact you’re making.
This is also a great time to highlight the newest members of your community and invite them to join the conversation.
Some quick ideas to welcome your new members and share important information about your nonprofit:
- Send out a welcome packet – either digital or physical
- Welcome them into your community platform and thank them for joining
- Share an update with them about the work you’ve been doing over the past year
PRO TIP: Don’t let the momentum from this day die down! Keep the energy going and follow up with your new and existing network!
Final thoughts
Social media for Giving Tuesday campaigns are a powerful tool to take advantage of and spread the word about your mission and impact!
To recap, here are 9 social media tips for your #GivingTuesday campaign!
- Take a look at your yearly fundraising or impact goal
- Start preparing your social media early
- Create a #GivingTuesday social media toolkit
- Design your own campaign
- Use the power of video
- Schedule out important posts or milestones
- Invite your community to participate
- Get active on all accounts
- Plan for the bigger picture
What questions do you have about using social media for Giving Tuesday? Have a campaign planned? What are you doing?
*Want to work with a content marketing agency to help with your social media for Giving Tuesday? Schedule a call with us to talk about what we can do, together!
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