Influencer marketing connects nonprofits with thought leaders, celebrities or those with large social media followings who may either accept payment to promote your cause or volunteer their services for free.
Focus your search for micro-influencers whose audiences overlap with your nonprofit’s demographic. This increases the chances that their followers will engage with your message and donate.
1. Reaching the Right Audience
Social media influencers can help expand the message of your nonprofit beyond those already aware of its existence. When done effectively, influencers can introduce it to new audiences with authentic and trustworthy content that introduces your nonprofit organization.
As more people join social media, the range of potential audience members increases exponentially. Your nonprofit should strategically partner with influencers whose audiences match up with your target demographic; large following influencers may command higher fees but moderate-sized or smaller follower counts may offer more affordable partnership agreements.
Start by searching for influencers that specialize in your area of focus or are known to support causes that align with your mission, such as volunteering or charitable work. Once you’ve identified potential influencers, conduct some research into what kind of content they produce and how their audience responds.
Once you’ve partnered with an influencer, they can be an invaluable asset in spreading word of your events or fundraising initiatives on social media. Livestream your events while posting photos/videos that extend their reach further; during an event they could even share a link to your Classy fundraiser and solicit donations from attendees!
Nonprofits and influencers can work together to produce content specifically dedicated to raising awareness for certain donation drives or campaigns, which may increase the chance that people take action on your appeals compared to more general marketing efforts such as email or social media ads.
Influencers who know your organization can also add additional context for why their audience should support your campaign, making the appeal feel less transactional and more like an authentic call to action; this can increase audience involvement in your cause and increase likelihood that donors make generous donations.
2. Boosting Donations
When working with influencers, nonprofits should set clear objectives. From driving traffic to donation pages or increasing signups for events to increasing donations and donations overall, setting clear measurable goals allows nonprofits to easily track progress and gauge return on investment. Influencers can provide invaluable assistance by offering advice on how best to meet their targets.
It’s essential that when selecting an influencer for an organization, their audience and values align with those of that influencer. For example, if your nonprofit helps animals, an animal rescue advocate would likely be an appropriate selection; similarly an advocate for women’s rights might support an equality campaign. When seeking influencers for your campaign, look for ones with engaged followers on social media who regularly post relevant topics – hashtag searching can also help locate suitable influencers whose audience fits your cause.
Once you’ve identified influentials who best align with your nonprofit, invite them to partner. Make sure the content they create for your campaign includes a call-to-action that links directly to your donation page or provides information about volunteer involvement opportunities.
Influencers can reach large audiences, making them the ideal conduit to share a call to action that resonates with their followers. Just keep in mind that according to Federal Trade Commission requirements, any influencer promoting your nonprofit must disclose any relationship they may have when posting about them – even if just sharing an influencer marketing post created by it!
Influencers can promote both direct actions and virtual events hosted by your nonprofit, like livestream videos that allow participants to meet staff members and volunteers or crowdfunding campaigns that raise funds for specific projects. Such events can then be shared on social media and encourage the influencer’s followers to attend or donate – as well as spread the word by inviting their own networks!
Nonprofits on tight budgets can find great success with influencer marketing if they choose the appropriate partners and carefully align campaigns with their desired objectives. Influencers can help drive awareness, attract volunteers and donors, as well as assist fundraising initiatives.
3. Boosting Engagement
Have you seen influencer marketing at work when bloggers endorse clothing brands, tag restaurants in food posts or use the #ad hashtag? Nonprofit organizations can utilize influencer marketing strategies like these to share campaigns and content related to their mission.
Nonprofits who partner with influential figures can have a dramatic effect on the audiences and communities they serve. Influencers can provide a personal touch that inspires supporters to donate, volunteer, or advocate for its cause.
Influencers who make an impressionable first impression are those who can build genuine rapport with their audience, developing trust quickly so that when requests come their way they’re more readily accepted by viewers. For instance, an influencer speaking about her experience as a mother supporting child sponsorship programs at your nonprofit will resonate more strongly with audiences and be more likely to donate money toward your cause.
To identify potential influencers, it’s a good idea to start within your own network by finding people who share an enthusiasm for your cause and could help spread awareness of it. Reach out to board members, volunteers and supporters and ask if any connections exist with individuals that would make a good influencer match.
Once you have your list of potential influencers, do some research into them and their content. Consider type of post produced, reach, engagement etc. If a match exists between their influencer and your goals then work together on developing an influencer campaign together.
As soon as you decide to partner with influencers, it’s essential that you create an influencer brief that provides them with all of the information needed for creating meaningful content that highlights your nonprofit. This should include campaign goals and background on your nonprofit/what it hopes to accomplish; what type of influencer content (blog post/video clip/Instagram photo etc) you would like them to produce and the terms of their partnership agreement.
Micro-influencers offer nonprofits on tight budgets an effective solution for outreach. These individuals typically have less than 100,000 followers but tend to be highly involved with their communities, as well as being willing to work for lower fees than larger influencers. You can identify micro-influencers by searching specific hashtags or looking at comments posted by them on posts.
4. Boosting Peer-to-Peer Fundraising
Influencer marketing can help nonprofits increase peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns and engagement. When influencers share their personal experience or link to your cause, it makes it easier for followers to decide to donate – particularly if an influencer serves as an exemplar whom their followers look up to – since their authenticity and trustworthiness will make an impressionable impression.
Influencers often serve as experts in their fields and possess an in-depth knowledge of your organization’s goals and mission, which allows them to create content with genuine resonance that engages audiences authentically and relatably while opening up more doors for your cause.
Influencers can use their network to promote events and fundraisers, offering their followers opportunities to volunteer or join fundraising activities. This can result in more donations from supporters – helping you meet your funding goal more quickly.
Locating appropriate influencers to partner with on your nonprofit campaign may seem a daunting task, but it is possible to streamline this process. First, outline your overarching goals and needs of the program before searching for suitable influencers – search social media channels for people who share an affinity for your cause and an engaged following; LinkedIn search can give an indication of potential audience size; additionally search LinkedIn to see who has mentioned your cause as they give more of an idea as to whether their followers might accept your message.
Once you’ve identified potential influencers, reach out directly and discuss their interest in contributing to your program. Depending on your goals and desired results, ask them to post about your organization and their followers or form a long-term partnership in creating and sharing impactful content together.
Chris Strub was recently part of The Salvation Army’s #FightForGoodTour, traveling throughout the U.S. to discover and describe their impactful work among those most in need. Using his platform as a social good ambassador and Classy fundraising page he managed to raise $25,000 for their cause!