Social Media Marketing for Fundraising Events

Using Social Media Marketing and Phoneraiser

Maybe you’re planning your next Phoneraiser and are looking for more exposure for that event. Or maybe you’re in the middle of a current Phoneraiser and just feel like you could get a few more cell phones/PDAs and inkjet cartridges if you just got the word out about your event to more people. Regardless of whether you are planning for the future or need help with a fundraiser you’re currently running, social media marketing can be a great tool for you and your cause and can increase the effectiveness of your fundraiser.

Not Just for Chatting with Aunt Sue

There’s a common misconception that social media outlets are only for personal use. There’s no doubt that’s probably the most common use for some social sites. However, more and more people are realizing the value of using these mediums to increase the number of people who will have the opportunity to get the information they want to share. For you, what you want is to let people know about your next or current Phoneraiser fundraiser.

You want to let people know what you’re raising the funds for and why it’s so important to you (and to them) that they help you do that. There are several different social media sites you can use to reach people, and for each you should use a slightly different version of your message – one that’s suited to the site you’re using and the people who will be reading your message.

How Many Sites are There Anyway?

There are hundreds of social media sites that you can go to let people know about your event. Should you try to leverage a large number of them to stir interest in your fundraiser? The answer to that is probably no. While there may be a large number of social media sites you can visit, concentrating on the ones with the most traffic is the most effective and efficient way to notify others of your news and create interest. Keep in mind that most social media marketing works best when you have an established network on a site. It would simply take too much time to try to build networks on all the social media sites on the web, and sites with low traffic would probably not help your cause very much, anyway.

Concentrate on the busiest sites and use them to let people know what’s going on with your fundraiser, how close you are to your goal, and how much more you need from them to reach that goal. Tweet total updates and donation locations on Twitter several times a day. Post the same information to your wall or fan page in Facebook. Join a relevant group on LinkedIn and setup news and send updates to your network there. Use YouTube to post short movies of past fundraisers or the organization or program you’re fundraising for. Include your fundraiser information in the description of your post.

The ways you can use social media marketing is as boundless as your own time and creativity. Take the time to get to know the top sites if you haven’t already, and see how much more interest you can generate by reaching more people. Reduce the need to go door to door collecting donations or picking up unused cell phones/PDAs and inkjet cartridges. Let the World Wide Web do some of that work for you.