Facebook Ads: A Case Study of Promoted Posts vs Carousels

Facebook Ads: A Case Study of Promoted Posts vs Carousels

In a previous position, I was in charge of the social media channels for a non-profit. We received significant feedback from our audiences offline that Facebook was a major way they heard about us. One person mentioned seeing our posts all of the time. Another loved our Meatless Monday recipes. Another person found out about an event through Facebook. Everyone seemed to comment on a facet of our Facebook posts that they loved.

And while I appreciated that feedback, my Facebook data on the website told a slightly different story.

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How to Build an E-News Editorial Calendar

How to Build an E-News Editorial Calendar

Most non-profits and small businesses know they need to send out regular e-newsletters, but for many it can be a daunting and overwhelming task. If you’re not running an e-news program already, it might seem like a huge new responsibility. If you already have an e-newsletter, it might seem like a drag on your week or month.

I understand the limitations non-profits and small businesses have, like finite staff and resources, but e-newsletters are the #1 way to reach out to your fans, even above social media. To clarify: storefronts and websites are the #1 and #2 ways to be found, but e-newsletters are the #1 way to reach out to your core audience, and social media is the #2 way to reach out to your core audience, given that social messages can easily be buried in the News Feed of time. If someone gives you their e-mail address, they’re inviting a conversation and indicating some level of commitment to your cause.

So how do you reach out to these folks without diverting too much time from your other work? And how do you prevent it from becoming a drudge?

The answer is: utilize an editorial calendar.

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Determining the purpose of your non-profit e-newsletter

Determining the purpose of your non-profit e-newsletter

Many non-profits have e-newsletters, but they’re often thought of as something that just “must” be done. Maybe you inherited the e-newsletter from a predecessor or your marketing team has decided to “keep in touch” with donors and supporters. But there are many purposes a non-profit e-newsletter can have and it’s important to identify the primary and secondary purposes so you can evaluate the success of your e-newsletter program.

So let’s take a look at three possible purposes for an e-newsletter and ways to improve given those purposes.

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Growing your non-profit e-news subscriber list

Growing your non-profit e-news subscriber list

Along the spectrum of engagement, an e-news subscriber has taken the first very real step toward supporting your organization. But do you actively give all of your fans and supporters the opportunity to subscribe? Consider all of these points of entries and your e-news subscriber list could grow 218%, like the one I managed for three years at a statewide non-profit.

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Case Study: A/B Testing a Non-Profit Give Page

Case Study: A/B Testing a Non-Profit Give Page

It’s really important to test all aspects of your website, especially if you work for a non-profit with a donation page. Because what if I told you that one change could provide 72% more revenue? Or another change could double the conversion rate of your Give page compared to other options?

These types of experiments and possibilities made me very curious at a non-profit I worked for. This is a case study of A/B testing I did on our Give page there.

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13 Tips for Better Fundraising Appeals

13 Tips for Better Fundraising Appeals

I receive a lot of fundraising letters, so this time of year my inbox and mailbox are stuffed. As I sort through the appeals, a few things bewilder me as a marketer, a few make me laugh and a few frustrate me.

I would like to offer some suggestions to anyone trying to improve their fundraising efforts. This advice is not scientific (actually, some of it is), but it is based on someone keenly aware of what persuades and dissuades me from donating. Use it for what it’s worth.

13 Tips for Better Fundraising Appeals

  1. If it’s been so long since you reached out to me that I don’t remember what your organization does, sending an appeal letter probably won’t induce me to donate.
  2. Edit your letter. Please.
  3. Keep it to one page. Better yet, keep it to a half page.
  4. Always use my name on the e-mail, salutation, envelope, etc. You’ll get a higher engagement rate.
  5. Sending multiple sheets of paper, a return envelope, sticker, card, photo and more paraphernalia just irks me as it all falls out of the envelope.
  6. Segment your mailing. If I’ve given exclusively online in the past, give me a donation link, not a return envelope.
  7. If you have a video, don’t spell out the URL in an e-appeal. YouTube links are not pretty. My friend Will Boyd works at Emma, a web-based communications service that takes a unique approach to email marketing. He suggests taking a screenshot of the video and linking to it. He doesn’t recommend embedding the video, since servers might think you’re spam. (Maybe prettier, but still spam.)
  8. Here’s the usual script: Paragraph #1 is often a preface about what this letter is. Paragraph #2 is often a recap of the year or an awkward history (“when we were founded 26 years ago…”). Then paragraph #3 delivers the real punch about the work. In a few letters, I even found the true leading sentence buried as the second or third sentence in the third paragraph. Find that sentence and delete everything before it.
  9. Twitter distills the message down to the true nouns and verbs. Try writing your appeal in 140 characters or less. Just try it. Then see how that affects your appeal letter.
  10. Write shorter sentences.
  11. Utilize the end of the appeal and write something as a postscript, but don’t write a paragraph.
  12. Consider sending an appeal attached to another holiday besides Christmas. I’ll notice it more. For example, consider Valentine’s Day, Halloween, New Year’s, Thanksgiving or even the start of summer.
  13. And, finally, find other ways to engage me during the year: engage with my comments on your Facebook page, thank me for re-tweeting your message or invite me to an event in my area. Personal connections lead to higher levels of engagement.

I understand the importance of money to every non-profit, as well as the astounding fact that the majority of annual budgets are raised in just the last three months of the calendar year, so I wish you well in your end of year fundraising appeals.

 

Photo credit: Phil Roeder