Nonprofit time and resources, especially when it comes to digital communications (social media, email marketing, website design, analytics review) can be exceptionally sparse. When considering making improvements in these areas, it can seem as if there is an endless list of tasks and modifications to make. Where should you start? How do you prioritize?
You can’t change everything at once – no matter your good intentions. Which is why incremental improvements are one of the safest bets in improving your digital communications. Here is how we typically break this down:
Sustain
With an ever changing digital and online landscape, just keeping up with all that is new can be overwhelming. By focusing on what is needed to maintain your current reach, you will allow yourself to better understand the commitments and outcomes possible. Simple sustaining steps can be a dedication to posting to Facebook three times a week; sending out four fundraising emails a year; or reviewing your website once a quarter to examine if information and resources are up to date. These simple steps might not expand your reach, but will keep you fresh and engaged with your audience.
Breakthrough
With a firm base of practices and strategies, you can start to experiment with ideas that go beyond the simple best practices that you have used up to this point. In “Breaking Through”, you are looking for ideas and practices that will help set your nonprofit apart.
From segmenting messages to your audience, to syncing social media accounts with event platforms, to making data informed decisions thanks to utilizing analytics, you have the ability to take an extra step towards improving your brand and impact.
But breaking through does not mean you have to come up with these ideas on your own. One of the best things that you can do as an organization with limited means is to assess what other organizations are doing that you admire. By emulating their techniques, you can also help your own organization better communication with your constituents.
Game Change
Despite its corny title, game changing ideas and strategies are the final step in improving your digital communication plans. These ideas can tend to seem riskier at the outset, whether due to being a brand new technology or platform, the time and resources necessary to implement, or because of the potential struggle in approval from those less familiar with these ideas or technologies. But it can be difficult to grow or expand your audience by only playing it safe and maintaining the status quo. How are you planning on reaching more people?
The best way to think about your game changing strategies is this – in a perfect world, what would you want to be doing in the online space? Who do you want to reach? How do you want to communicate with them? It sounds like an idealistic and daunting task, but in doing so, you will have the opportunity to best reach those with whom you are trying to connect.
Another game changing idea? Following our Tumblr for up to date links throughout the week. Here were a few of our favorites:
- Social Media Today shares ten ways that you can use AB testing to increase email open rates
- A recent poll of 650 women who work at nonprofits revealed interesting data on gender-based hiring and donation solicitation. The Chronicle of Philanthropy provides the details and an infographic.
- NPQ conveys four lessons from digital marketing that can be applied to crowdfunding.
- SumAll compiled research on the best and worst times of day to share content on social media platforms.
- Razoo Foundation highlights four nonprofits that are maximizing their impact.