How to Promote an Event Using Social Media

May 2009

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr seem to be currently the most used social media networks by charities and non-profits. The power of these social media sites is that a small number of individuals can make a big difference because of the sheer volume of potential givers that are out there and the tools that are readily available and free to use.

The power of personal recommendation

About 60% of people make donations based on personal recommendation, so it makes sense to exploit existing personal networks such as Facebook and Twitter. It does not take a lot of resources either, for example creating a charity profile on Facebook only takes a couple of hours to the most.

If you're using the social media tools for fundraising, the benefits can go beyond that. You can also recruit new supporters for your cause which can add to your database by a huge number.

It's not just about the money!

Some people make financial donations while others may just simply join the cause. Those are people that your charity can now contact to inform them about upcoming events and how your organisation has impacted the lives of its beneficiaries.

Email marketing can be very cost effective and a great email marketing application that we use and recommend is Campaign Monitor. It's intuitive to use and very affordable. You only pay for what you send and you're not tied to any subscriptions.

A brillant example of how to promote an event

Fundraising is important but another important element is just getting people involved. Take St Ann's Hospice's successful social media strategy. They started with a flahmob to promote the launch of their annual big event the Manchester Midnight Walk.

People were recruited via Twitter and invited to join a Facebook group promoting Manchester's biggest Flashmob. After the event, a couple of videos were added to St Ann's Hospice YouTube channel and then they added some pictures on their Flickr account.

Great results!

• For an event that does not take place until June, St Ann's Hospice received 1,340 registrations (froma totla target of 3,000) after only 6 weeks;
• The Twitter feed increased by a staggering 742 followers in a very short space of time;
• 166 people signed up for the flashmob - 38% of them were recruited via Facebook and Twitter, 42% were from the local student union;
• The stunt also generated a fair amount of PR especially among young people.