As a non-profit professional, you know how important it is to have continual contact with your constituents. But you’re struggling to know what to say. How do you create quality nonprofit content to connect with your audience and keep them engaged?
Quality nonprofit content can often be broken into three categories:
- Education
- Entertainment
- Empowerment
Here’s How:
Education
One of the most fundamental responsibilities of a non-profit is to raise awareness. Oftentimes there is a greater gap than you might think between what you think your audience knows about your mission and what they actually understand. As non-profit professionals, we are often experts on the issue our mission addresses and expect everyone else to carry the same level of knowledge. However, this is usually not the case!
Consider how you would explain your mission to a five-year-old.
In other words, think about how can you make your mission as easy to understand as possible. If an audience member doesn’t quickly grasp what you are trying to tell them, they are likely to mentally check-out.
When teaching about your mission:
- Use easily digestible language. Don’t use industry jargon or include too much text. Sending an e-mail with six paragraphs of content is a great way to get your audience to click the big X in the corner!
- Stick to the basics with relevant stats and interesting facts. This is especially effective on social media. Quick, sharable stats and facts are a great way to educate the masses!
- Use storytelling! Stories show and don’t just tell. Stories help paint a mental picture about what you are teaching.
- Use photos and videos to demonstrate your points.
It is harder to get your audience to respond if they don’t understand what you do. The more your audience can learn from you, the more they are likely to connect with the mission and open their hearts and minds.
Entertainment
Society constantly craves entertainment. Social Media, in particular, is a great place to consistently entertain your audience through captivating photos, videos, quotes, and quizzes.
Consider what you enjoy seeing on social media. What draws you to those particular posts? Most people scrolling through their feed are looking to laugh, connect, and be inspired.
Entertainment and emotion go hand in hand. Consider how you can get your audience to really feel something.
When it comes to your organization, think about what feel good moments and stories you can share. How can you inspire your audience and lift their spirits? How can you show the lighter side of your organization? What fun activities or events do you host?
Additionally, what intense or heartfelt moments can you share? The more you can evoke emotion in your audience, the more likely you are to get them to connect to you on a personal level and continue to think you have quality nonprofit content.
Empowerment
Once you’ve educated your audience and made them feel something, think about how you can empower your audience. How can your organization equip your audience to make a positive impact in their own life or the lives of those around them?
How can you connect your audience with additional tools and resources?
How can you incentivize your audience to spread the word about your organization on your behalf?
How can you offer community connections through Board and Committee opportunities?
How can your audience become more engaged with you?
- Are you hosting an event? Invite them!
- Do you need volunteers or donations? Ask them!
Remember, you need to GIVE before you GET. But once you have provided information, entertainment, and resources, you have done a lot of the leg-work in building a relationship with your audience. You have given them something of value and invited them to return the favor through various opportunities.
The goal is to build trust with your audience so that they are excited whenever they see an e-mail or see a post from you because they know it will be something that can benefit them in an intellectual or emotional way. That, my non-profit friends, is how to use your e-mail and social media to build relationships!
This blog post by Madison Gonzalez was published on Bloomerang. Read the original here.
