Frustrated with all the changes coming to the Facebook News Feed?
It may be time to consider getting on Instagram!
Instagram (despite being owned by Facebook) continues to grow in popularity, and is an increasingly effective way to share more of your impact and your work with an engaged audience.
Recent Instagram statistics that nonprofits should consider:
- Instagram has over 600 million active monthly users;
- Instagram is called “the happiest place on the Internet” with the highest engagement of all social media platforms;
- Instagram users are “like-happy” – they heart (like) 4.2 billion posts daily;
- 75% of Instagram users take action, such as visiting a website, after looking at an Instagram advertising post.
In addition to high engagement metrics, Instagram demographics skew younger.
If you are like many nonprofits, you want to reach a younger generation of supporters.
Instagram may be the place for you.
Look at these demographics:
Join me live for Instagram 101 for Beginners and/or Instagram 201 Advanced Strategies to learn how your nonprofit can best use Instagram to raise awareness and funds for your nonprofit!
So how can nonprofits best use Instagram to promote their fundraising message?
Here are 5 ways.
1. Update the link in your bio.
The only place for clickable links on Instagram is in your bio (unless you run Instagram ad campaigns).
Nonprofits should be more strategic with the link that they include in their bio.
Why send interested parties to the main page of your website, without a specific call to action?
It’s much more effective to send Instagram users to a video, newsletter sign up page, or fundraising campaign landing page.
Examples:
In my series of live webinars for nonprofits on how to use Instagram, I review some tactical examples of nonprofits getting more clicks to their websites from Instagram.
You can also download a free copy of my Ultimate Guide to Instagram for Small Nonprofits for even more tips and actionable ways to use Instagram to raise money and awareness for your cause.
2. Use text-to-give tools.
People predominantly access Instagram on their mobile devices.
Think about it – if you are going to share information about a fundraising campaign, wouldn’t it be easier for a potential donor to simply open up their text messages, send a quick text, then get back to Instagram?
Text-to-give tools are vastly underutilized by nonprofits, despite the ease of use for the donor.
Text-to-give tools:
- Mobilecause.com
- Mobilegiving.org
- Sumotext.com
- Givebycell.com
- Text.gives
Resource for those just starting out: Mobile Fundraising – The Basics
3. Share your fundraising progress.
When running an online fundraising campaign, it is important to keep supporters apprised of your progress towards your goal.
Creating a simple graphic using free graphic design tools like Canva or Crello can be an effective way to engage supporters on Instagram and promote your fundraising campaigns.
Check out these nonprofit examples, shared on Instagram:
4. Highlight fundraising events.
If your nonprofit hosts fundraising events, be sure to post photos of the event on Instagram!
Tag others that are in the photo (with their permission of course), and be sure to tag the location of the event for added exposure.
Research relevant hashtags to include with your photo caption, in order to be seen by more Instagram users. For example, if your annual fundraising gala is being held in Boston, MA, be sure to tag photos with #boston and #BostonMA.
5. Showcase your products.
If you sell t-shirts, buttons, calendars, or any other physical product, you can showcase it on Instagram and include a link to the product in your bio.
These are just some quick tips to getting started on Instagram.
You can also download a free copy of my Ultimate Guide to Instagram for Small Nonprofits for even more tips and actionable ways to use Instagram to raise money and awareness for your cause.
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