#GivingTuesday is a global day of giving after the sales and sparkle of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This year, #GivingTuesday takes place on November 29, 2016. This social media event is a fun and easy way to kick-off your end of year campaign and engage your donors. There’s no excuse for nonprofits skip this event. Last year, over 70,000 people participated and raised about $116,000,000 online.
To ensure you make the most of the day, all your marketing efforts (social media content, emails, newsletters, etc…) should all be coordinated around a standout theme. You want your theme to match your brand voice, style and guidelines, but this particular campaign should be unique enough to shine above your regular content and cut through the abundant amount of content that will be pushed out that day by other nonprofits. Creating that stellar theme can be a bit daunting, so here are some ideas to get you started.
1. Cause & Effect
You always want to show your donors how their support makes a difference and #GivingTuesday is an excellent way to visually illustrate impact. For example, you can start each hour with a photo that shows something missing without your help, the call to action in your copy should be the dollar amount/action needed to satisfy the goal, then end the hour with the missing object fulfilled.
SPCA of Wake County mock-up example:
Add color to this pic! Donate $5 this hour to give our shelter dogs toys to pounce on. [link] #GivingTuesday
You did it! We raised $100 in an hour and now Bella and her friends will have fun toys to chase. #GivingTuesday
Every hour can be a new black and white photo brought to life by your followers donations.
2. Humor
Humor doesn’t always have a place in the nonprofit world as their missions are usually very serious. However, if it is acceptable for your organization, #GivingTuesday may be the perfect opportunity for you to push the envelope a bit.
Pretty “ballsy” humor from the Alabama Spray/Neuter Program:
More subtle humor can work, too:
3. Milestone Moments
Keep momentum moving throughout the day by setting milestone goals and rewards. Set an hourly donation or volunteer sign-up goal and once that goal is reached, you can post a coupon code from a sponsor or a thank you video from a celebrity.
4. Challenges
Everyone loves a challenge, especially sharing challenges they accomplished. From walking challenges to photo contests, there are so many ways to ask your followers to step up on #GivingTuesday to help raise funds and/or awareness of your organization’s efforts.
A well thought out theme will keep your #GivingTuesday campaign consistent and memorable. Regardless of your theme, remember to constantly engage and thank your participants throughout the day.
Need help establishing your campaign goals and strategy? Shoot me a message at kristina at littleenginesocialmedia dot com
Kristina Kelly Creations 