Now, it’s no mystery that social media is king when it comes to grabbing the attention of consumers. The enchanting force of these media giants has billions of people under its spell and countless advertisers marketing their messages on these often saturated platforms.
With so many hands in the pot, we are always looking for that new competitive edge – that new way of reaching our current donors online and the ability to research additional information about their careers, their interests, and their employers.
Many non-profit organizations and universities have email addresses of their current donors and alumni, and most are engaging in email marketing, BUT – have you ever wondered how you can use your email database to research additional information about your alumni or donors and then engage directly with them on social platforms?
Imagine, taking out your tuning fork (if you have one) and fine-tuning that beautifully crafted message to target specific social media profiles by using email addresses from your database. Yes, this is possible! All through appending social media identifiers to your existing data.
So, what does this mean for you? Oh, the possibilities!
Below are some examples of how adding social media unique identifiers to your donor and alumni database can give you that new competitive edge:
Facebook: Identify social IDs and use them to create a custom audience that is shown your focused message.
Twitter: Once you have their unique Twitter handles, you can follow your alumni and donors on Twitter and benefit from higher engagement on your own posts. These users can follow your organization and retweet your messages.
LinkedIn: Knowing the LinkedIn profile URL, will allow you to verify the job titles and company information of your alumni or donors prior to making contact. Additionally, you’ll gain access to work history, skills, and volunteer activity.
Pinterest: Pin pictures of items that your organization needs and include instructions for how followers can donate to you.
Google+: With the unique Google+ profile names of your donors and alumni, you can derive valuable information such as who an alumni or donor has in his/her circles along with links to other social networks.
FLICKR: Post compelling, highly visual images captioned to tell a story about the mission of your organization and how the good work of your supporters is making a difference.
Adding social media identifiers and then engaging online is a great way to increase engagement with donors/alumni, and is another reason why keeping a clean and up-to-date email address database can be a huge benefit to your fundraising strategies. So, what are you waiting for? Go get social!
