Your nonprofit knows that putting together a fundraising event is no easy feat! Between setting up an event committee, booking a venue, and creating an engaging program agenda, a lot of work goes into crafting the perfect event. However, regardless of how much you plan for your events, their success largely depends on how well you’re able to market them to your supporters.

Your nonprofit has many marketing tools at its disposal, but one of the best ways to expand your reach and stir up excitement around your events is through social media. Your supporters are likely constantly scrolling through their feeds, so meeting them where they already are can lead to high attendance numbers and give your events and cause the exposure they need.

This post will review the following best practices to promote your fundraising events on social media and take your fundraising strategy to the next level:

• Generate a variety of social media content
• Integrate social media with your website
• Tap nonprofit influencers to help

Time and time again, it’s evident that nonprofits that tailor their marketing strategies to their audience are the most successful. As you carry out these tips, remember to keep your audience’s interests in mind so you can develop content that will engage and inspire donors to register, volunteer, and give!

Generate a variety of social media content

Just like the best nonprofit websites feature a variety of blog articles, landing pages, and visuals, your social media profiles should offer a variety of diverse content around your events to grab supporters’ attention. This helps to keep your social media looking fresh and visually appealing, allowing you to better facilitate audience engagement.

Share multimedia content related to your events to keep it top of mind, including:

• Photos: Consider sharing pictures of the beneficiaries your fundraising event will support. This will add legitimacy to your cause and show how donors’ gifts will translate into tangible change in the community. You might also share sneak peeks of your event, such as photos of volunteers setting up your venue or pictures of items up for bid if you’re hosting a live or silent auction.

• Videos: Video is another great way to get the word out about your event because it’s easily digestible and can tell an impactful story. For instance, you could create a testimonial video of your beneficiaries explaining how your nonprofit’s work has improved their lives. Or, you might film your nonprofit’s staff explaining your fundraising event’s purpose and why all of your supporters should participate. Make sure to keep your videos short and sweet so you can get to the point quickly and maintain your audience’s attention.

• Graphics: Rather than including percentages and numbers in the caption of your posts (which can easily get overlooked), bring these statistics to life by designing and sharing graphics, such as infographics. For example, you might create an infographic that shows the impact of your last virtual fundraising event to help illustrate how your events connect to your greater purpose.

As you share content, use hashtags to help expand your reach. For example, an animal welfare organization might use the popular hashtag #AdoptDontShop so people who are passionate about adoption but unfamiliar with the specific organization can learn more. Consider also creating a unique event hashtag with your nonprofit’s name and encouraging all of your supporters who repost or share event-related content to use the same hashtag and boost your visibility!
 

Integrate social media with your website

Along with social media, your nonprofit can leverage another key marketing asset to promote your fundraising event: your website! Individually, both of these tools can help boost your event’s reach, but by integrating the two, you can effectively create two-way traffic and keep audiences engaged around the clock.

To integrate social media with your website, use these best practices:

Here are several best practices for integrating social media with your website.

• Repurpose your website content: When you’re operating within tight fundraising deadlines, your team might not have a lot of time to generate new content for social media. Luckily, you don’t have to! Supplement your social media strategy by repurposing content from your website, such as posting memorable quotes from your blog posts along with impactful images of your beneficiaries or team, or sharing videos on your website from the last time you hosted a fundraising event. You can then provide a link to any relevant posts or pages on your website where supporters can learn more.

• Add social media sharing buttons to your key web pages: Your nonprofit will likely create several blog posts related to your fundraiser and an event landing page on your website to spark supporters’ interest. Make these pages easily shareable by adding social media sharing buttons with the help of your website builder. This way, site visitors can share your web content to popular platforms including Instagram, Facebook, and X to bring even more awareness to your event.

• Feature live social media feeds on your homepage: Take your homepage to the next level by spotlighting live social media feeds! Here, supporters will be able to see all of your latest content posted on your social media platforms, showing that your nonprofit is active on both social media and your website. Once new site visitors see your feeds, they’ll also be more likely to hit follow on your social media accounts and stay tapped in across multiple platforms. To feature your feeds, use an intuitive website builder with ready-to-go website templates where you can easily plug in and display your social media profiles.

By bringing supporters from your website to your social media profiles, you’ll increase your impressions, followers, and other key engagement metrics. And, by bringing supporters from your social media to your website, you’ll be able to drive important actions like registering for your event, signing up to volunteer, and donating! It’s a win-win scenario, so make sure to work with a website builder designed with nonprofits in mind to integrate these channels with ease.
 

Tap nonprofit influencers to help

Influencers have a large audience tuned into their every story and post, so why not leverage their platforms to bring enhanced visibility to your events? By encouraging nonprofit content creators to repost your content or share new posts related to your fundraiser, you’ll be able to win over new audiences to your cause and drive more event registrations (leading to more donations down the line!).

Leverage these best practices to create partnerships with nonprofit influencers:

• Recruit the right people: Look among your board, major donors, event committee, and loyal volunteers to find supporters with a large online following. Since these individuals are already passionate about your cause, it’ll be an easy ask to request that they generate content related to your upcoming fundraiser. You can also ask your well-connected supporters for references if you’re having trouble finding influencers among your existing support base.

• Clearly outline their role: Once you’ve identified influencers who are interested in backing your cause, clearly explain what type of support you’re seeking from them. For instance, you might request that they post three pieces of content a week related to your nonprofit five weeks in advance of the big event day. Or, you could ask that they simply repost your promotional content on their story. Think through what would be most feasible for the influencers and impactful for your nonprofit.

• Keep them engaged: Your nonprofit will benefit immensely from influencers’ support, so find ways to keep their motivation high. For example, you could ask influencers to compete against each other for the most likes or comments on their posts about your fundraiser to ignite friendly competition. Reward the winner with a special shout-out or prize, but be sure to recognize all the influencers who helped support your social media marketing efforts by writing thank-you notes or hosting an appreciation event.

You can also ask your influencers to peer-to-peer fundraise before your event with the help of tools built-in to platforms like Facebook and Instagram. This way, they’re not only educating their audiences about your cause, but they’re also turning this increased awareness into a powerful fundraising opportunity. This will allow you to generate a solid foundation for your fundraiser before the event even takes place!
 

The Gist

Social media is a dynamic and cost-effective tool to promote your nonprofit’s fundraising events and campaigns. As you roll out your social media strategy, be sure to create a consistent posting schedule and stick to it so you can effectively engage your audience and drum up excitement around your event. By generating quality and impactful content, you’ll be able to skyrocket your donor engagement and revenue in no time!

About the Author

Murad Bushnaq is the Founder and CEO of Morweb. Since its inception in 2014, Murad has acted as Creative Director and Chief Technologist to help nonprofits spread their vision online through engaging design, intuitive software and strategic communication.