telling stories to build your community online
TRANSCRIPT
Telling stories to build your community online
Our vision: Ensure no great cause goes unfunded
Our strategy: Connect the world’s causes with people who care
22millUsers
$3.3bnRaised
$2.5MA day
What we’ll cover…
• Why is storytelling so effective?
• Stories you can tell
• What’s worked for us
• Ways to find great stories
• Turning your stories into great content
• Useful tools available
• How you can use paid to amplify your stories
Why is storytelling so effective?
Social media is
about real people
It allows you to show your charity’s impactIt’s a great
way to demonstrate
impact
It’s rewarding for your
supporters
Stories you can tell
Amazing fundraisers Amazing fundraisers
BENEFICARIES
Beneficiaries
Volunteers
SERVICE PROVIDERS
Service providers
Campaigners
What’s worked for us
We celebrate the amazing things
people do for the causes they care about
Someone inspiring
Doing an awesome challenge
With an amazing back story
Timely and relevant
Ways to find great stories
Ask your community
Send out an internal email
Check out local news - set up a Google alert
Your JustGiving reports
Finding great stories
Turning stories into great content
Post images
IMAGES
Facebook posts with photos get 53% more Like, 104% more comments and 84% more click-throughs*
Keep an eye on recommended sizes. Currently we post –
Facebook 940 x 788Twitter – 1024 x 512Instagram – 1000 x 1000
Add text to your images to give them context
THINK MOBILE
*Source: KISSmetrics blog
Image sources
User generated content – ask your community to send you photos
Key events – send a photographer. No budget? Take photos yourself
Stock websites: https://unsplash.com/http://www.morguefile.com/archivehttp://www.freeimages.com/http://www.shutterstock.com/
VIDEOUse video
VIDEOS
2014 was the year of video –There are 1 billion video views on Facebook every day
It doesn’t have to be directed by Spielberg – something you’ve filmed on your smart phone can make great content.
You can also use still imagery to put together great slide show style content
VIDEO
Tips for posting
Be concise
THINK MOBILE – you don’t want a ‘continue reading’ button in your posts
What’s the KEY thing about the story? Is it what they’re doing? Why they’re doing it? Focus on that.
Aim for 140 -160 characters - Posts have up to 60% more engagement if they are under 160 characters*
*Source: SocialStack
Connect with your supporters
Respond to comments and mentions
When you see someone supporting your charity, say thank you
Make your community feel loved
Include a link so people can donate, sign up etc
Add tracking so you can see what stories people are really responding to
Give people an opportunity to support
Can you tell a story in a tweet?
Useful tools available
Creating content - photos
Your smartphone
GIMP
Canva
Hubspot
PicMonkey
Creating content - videos
Your smartphone
iMovie
Adobe Voice
StopMotion
Audioboom
Using paid to amplify your stories
Plan your budget
Speak to the relevant people about up and coming campaigns
Plan which ones you want to put spend behind
And have a little more spare
Just in case you get an unexpected win
Is an organic post picking up momentum? Amplify it with a bit of spend
You never know, a small budget may make your charity the recipient of the next viral challenge
Decide what success looks like
What do you want to achieve by putting spend behind posts?
Pick the ad objective on Facebook and Twitter that fits
Know your target audience
Make a profile of who you want to target
Use this to create your audiences on Facebook and Twitter, this way you can get really targeted
Use ‘custom audiences’
Be creative… and test test test
You can test multiple images and copy variations on the same audience
Check these daily to turn off the ones that are not performing well
Keep a document of what’s worked and what hasn’t for future campaigns
You + JG = BFFs
We want to share your stories
We want to promote your amazing fundraisers and hard working service providers.
We’re looking for…
Inspiring people, doing awesome challenges, with great back stories
or
Someone who does outstanding work for your charity
So email us: [email protected]
Thank you!