The exciting world of social media embraces all forms of electronic communication (such as Web sites) through which people create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, etc. Social media tools use web-based technologies on desktop and tablet computers and mobile technologies to create interactive platforms through which individuals, communities and organizations share, co-create, discuss and modify user-generated or pre-made content posted online. Social media changes the way individuals and organizations communicate. It is a perfect platform for Nonprofits to create content and interact with supporters and donors.
Let’s Get Going!
We have listed out before the essential digital tools which can be helpful to Nonprofits in our blog ‘Digital Tools That Nonprofits Should Use’ (http://42strategies.com/digital-tools-nonprofits-use/). There are several social media tools ranging from analytics to graphics to content creation to social media management which is extremely functional and manageable for Nonprofits to use.
With Canva for Nonprofits, nonprofits can bring their vision to life, and through beautifully crafted content inspire a community to action. Delightfully designed images are crucial for social media management. Many nonprofits might not always have access to a graphic designer. Canva is the easy online design tool where you can create professional looking cover photos, infographics, collage and memes which can be showcased in brochures, newsletters, websites and ad imagery.
Buffer is the best way to drive traffic, increase lead engagement and save time on social media. It is the simplest social media tool for nonprofits wherein you can schedule posts across the top social networks, collaborate with your team, and measure the performance of your content. Craft the perfect update for every social platform, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and Google + and use Buffer for scheduling and sharing posts throughout the day. It’s a super easy to use tool, and includes detailed analytics so you know what’s working where, why and when analyze the performance of your posts. You can track engagement and interactions on the posts you’ve shared, so you can see how your content is performing across all your social accounts.
This tool is designed to help Nonprofits with their Pinterest social marketing efforts. Being the official marketing partner for Pinterest, it helps with bulk uploads, calendar scheduling, and multi-board pin creating. It helps find the best time when you should be sending your pins to get the best response from your target audience. Nonprofits can analyze content trends on Pinterest and Instagram. They can track content which widely appreciated and deliver more on similar lines.
It is an effective social media marketer. Google Analytics has undergone a major overhaul to make measuring social media more meaningful. Nonprofits can get stronger results across their websites, apps and offline channels. Google Analytics Solutions offer analytics products for organizations of all sizes to better understand their customers and supporters. The conversion section of the social reporting area enables Nonprofits to know which social networks have led to most conversions.
It is a monitoring tool which creates alerts for mentions of your nonprofit’s name, your cause and even other nonprofits with the same cause or interventions on the web and social networks. One can improve Customer Support with Social Listening as Social media is awesome, but a bit overwhelming. Mention’s algorithms show only the information one needs, so you’ll see less, but more relevant, mentions. One can find people who associate with your nonprofit and you can also reach out to them directly.
One can use social media monitoring tools to build your community and use the related topics found in your alert’s analytics to see what else your audience is talking about in conversations. This helps you find content ideas, and tailor your social marketing efforts.
Social media experts state that it is one of the best content publishing tools. It is a supportive app for on-the-fly blog management. One can write, edit, update posts; add photos; and approve comments. WordPress helps to increase key messages in your content by making them sharable. When donors or supporters or prospective lead decide to tweet it, the message will automatically be filled into a Twitter post box for them including a link back to your content and Twitter account. Once you have activated the plugin simply sign in with Twitter and it keep track of all your links, organize your campaigns and give you analytics for each one. The tool offers a heat map which shows who likes your content and where.
If you are looking for value for money, a social media management tool that multitasks saving your team both time and money is what you require and the best overall value tool for social media is Agorapulse as it allows managers to manage a number of different functions. The tool does:
- Content Scheduling (including Instagram)
- Social Media Monitoring
- A Multi Account Content Calendar
- Customer Relationship Management
- Competitor Comparison Tool for Facebook and Twitter
- Customizable Reports on Your Biggest Social Media Accounts
Agorapulse allows you to easily manage multiple Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, G+, and LinkedIn accounts in one super-organized dashboard. You can schedule posts across multiple channels using your easy content calendar, create and manage contests and analyze brand mentions. It is a good Facebook Page Management Tool one shall never miss a post, comment, or message on your Facebook page. It is a multipurpose tool for both measuring social analytics and social media engagement.
Videos and photos are the best way to communicate. You want to showcase your journey of proactive intervention and challenges, express it through a video. Flipgram states that stories connect and empower us to experience the beauty of our uniqueness and the humanity that comes with seeing the world through someone else’s eyes. With 43% of content being posted in the form of videos, it is crucial that you get in on the video content marketing action. Flipagram enables to create 15-second video by grouping together pictures and images from your phone and one can crop, edit, and resize images and add in some great visual effects with music. It also has an added effect which lets you auto-time your videos for Instagram optimization.
Flickr photo management and sharing application tool has two main goals. Firstly to help people/ organizations make their photos available to the people who matter to them and secondly to enable new ways of organizing photos and video. It is a go-to source for photos for the blog and presentations. By using Flickr’s advanced search, one can browse photos which can subsequently be used as an attribution in blog posts
Instagram is a mobile, desktop, and Internet-based photo-sharing application and service that allows users to share pictures and videos either publicly or privately. Share your campaign photographs or community intervention pictures or fundraising moments. Create a step-by-step social campaign with appealing pictures that people can always find on your profile. Instagram lets registered users upload photos or videos to the service. Users can apply various digital filters to their images and add locations through geotags. They can add hashtags to their posts, linking the photos up to other content on Instagram featuring the same subject or overall topic. Users can connect their Instagram account to other social media profiles, enabling them to share photos to those profiles as well.
