Nonprofits and charities need to optimize their digital marketing to succeed in 2023
Marketing strategy should always be front of mind for nonprofits and charities. What better time than the beginning of a new year to reevaluate your existing social media, SEO and content marketing approaches? A large paid media budget can definitely help, but there are also inexpensive yet highly effective digital marketing best practices an organization can implement to reach new and existing donors. Here are three ways nonprofits and charities can improve their marketing game in 2023:
Content marketing is king
For an effective marketing strategy, you need the right content to back up your efforts. Social media, SEO and any other tactic will fall flat if it isn’t regularly supported with new and innovative content.
If you haven’t already, consider creating an editorial calendar to ensure your content creation is in line with times, seasons, holidays and benchmarks like GivingTuesday. You might consider using our 2023 Social Media Holiday Calendar to get started.
Personalization is becoming more and more important to donors and supporters. A recent study by Statista found that 90% of U.S. consumers find marketing personalization very or somewhat appealing. This means that your content and website experience matter to your target audience.
The language and types of content you focus on should line up with your donor and supporter personas. Personalized emails, targeted ads and direct mail are all highly effective ways to raise awareness and engagement.
Employee retention strategies are a huge focus in 2023. By considering your internal communication strategy, you can feed two birds with one scone: engage and unify your team while also bolstering your content marketing efforts. Through internal newsletters and dedicated Slack channels you can highlight recent content and encourage your team members to share on their own social media profiles. This is a free and organic way to increase engagement. You’ll also generate future ideas as team members begin to interact more with your content.
Time to get smart on social media
Social media is one of your most exciting and perhaps wildly frustrating marketing tools as a nonprofit marketer. It feels like algorithms change every other week (sometimes they actually do) and you’re left scrambling once again to find out what kind of posts will reach your target audience. But good news, there are some sure-fire ways to succeed on social media regardless of what new platforms, algorithms or trends are introduced. The key to a successful social media presence is authenticity, timing and ‘people posts’.
Be you, be genuine
It’s 2023, people can see through your messaging if it isn’t genuine or natural sounding. This is especially true for Millennials and Generation Z. 78% of Generation Z social media users report using social media to learn about new brands and 64% expect a more personalized experience on social media based on previous interactions according to Sprout Social. 28% of Millennials said they use social media to research or find products to buy although 33% of them still head to search engines to find new products according to a GWI report.
Play around with your social media advertising in 2023. Because of changing algorithms, posts by organizations and businesses will more often be relegated when pitted against updates from personal connections. Organizations need to likely spend more and become more creative in their paid posts. Here’s a good rule of thumb, “don’t interrupt, interact.” Or in other words, don’t create an ad create a TikTok. No matter the social network, make the ad fit in and be useful to your audience.
2023 Social Media Holiday Calendar
Following a social media calendar is one of the easiest ways to streamline your social media content. We pulled together this handy 2023 Social Media Holiday Calendar so you can stay relevant and topical as you plan out your content marketing. Never miss another #nationalpuppyday or #starwarsday!
Make things people-focused
Some of the best performing social media posts are about people (and puppies and kittens). Given the isolated nature of the past two years, it’s safe to say we all love seeing faces and names instead of stock imagery and product photos. In 2023, find more ways to highlight the people who make up your internal team and your passionate donor/supporter base – whenever possible. Candid photos and testimonials will work best. Though you may want to avoid using professional headshots or other polished images. People want to see the real people. You, your dog, you on a hike, you doing your work. An iPhone is perfectly acceptable to get this done.
You may also want to consider utilizing an influencer or ambassador program. This is a highly effective people-focused way of getting your message through to your target audience.
SEO matters
It’s no secret that SEO matters in 2023. But are you really doing as much as you can to optimize your website content so that it reaches more donors and supporters? Like social media algorithms, SEO crawlers are always changing and you won’t want your content to get left behind. There are a myriad of things you can do now:
The key to effective SEO is making smart changes but also practicing patience. SEO wins take time. Unfortunately there’s no way to speed things up, or even really to tell how often Google crawls your site (they don’t disclose this info). Make your changes now and know that measurable success will come with time.
There are so many ways to improve your marketing game in 2023. These three strategies are just a few key opportunities you’ll want to take advantage of.
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Request a demo today and one of our team will be in touch with additional information about how Engaging Networks can help you raise more money and win more campaigns.
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