photo credit: Denis Dervisevic via photopin cc
Email can be a very effective tool for engaging your community.
It’s been proven time and time again that email is NOT dead and that it has the most ROI (return on investment) for nonprofit fundraising and marketing efforts.
When combined with social media, the ROI of email marketing skyrockets.
Any time your organization communicates with stakeholders and the community should be seen and embraced as an opportunity to get them hooked in to your social media networks.
Here are 5 simple ways to use email to get more Facebook fans:
1) Use email signatures. Ensure that the Facebook URL (example: www.facebook.com/yournonprofit) is hyperlinked at the bottom of every email signature associated with your organization.
That includes all staff, associate staff, volunteers and Board members (if they agree to it). I don’t suggest using the little blue Facebook logo picture, because most email clients (like Gmail) strip images out and people may not see the link.
A simple, bright blue hyperlink works best, preferably with a clever call to action: “Find out how you can save lives and help abuse victims by Liking our Facebook page!”
2) Ask your email subscribers. Make sure to create a call to action in your “welcome to our email newsletter” auto-responder.
If you use an email system like Constant Contact, Aweber or MailChimp, you can customize this Welcome email.
I suggest using language such as: “Thanks so much for becoming a part of our email newsletter group! We send emails out twice per month on topics related to our organization and how you can help save the environment. In the meantime, if you want to get started saving the planet with us, Like us on Facebook for tips and tricks to be more green!” Make sure to hyperlink the Facebook page!
3) Ask your online donors. Use the “thank you for your donation” email in the same way as the “welcome” email.
When people make an online donation, you can set up the thank you email that they receive to ask them to join you on Facebook.
They like you enough to donate to your cause, so it’s low hanging Facebook fruit.
4) Use your out-of-office settings. Set up all vacation auto-responders with a Like us on Facebook call to action and link.
Sample language – “I’m on vacation, but our organization is still saving lives every day. To stay in touch and keep on top of all the great work we are doing, make sure to Like us on Facebook!”
5) Put it all together by using custom Facebook landing tabs. Use ShortStack or another online program to create special landing tabs on Facebook for each of the emails listed above, to make the experience even more personalized.
The landing tab should refer to the place from which the person arrived. F
or example, if they clicked on the Facebook link from the “welcome” email, the landing tab would read something like: “Thanks so much for joining our email list – we are so thrilled to have you here on Facebook too! Please Like us (arrow pointing above) to get up-to-the-minute updates on the impact you are having on the children/animals/women/people that we serve.”
Examples of customized landing tabs are here and here and here.
Debra Askanase of Community Organizer 2.0 created a wiki to share best practices in nonprofit Facebook tabs, citing a May 2010 BrandGlue study that found visitors to Pages with a landing tab converted to fans at a rate of 47%, while those without a custom landing tab converted at a rate of 23%.
What do you think? Do you use email to acquire more Facebook fans? Any tips for us? Please leave your thoughts in the Comments section. Thanks for reading!