As a graduating senior at a university with 30,000 students and over 250 on-campus organizations, I’ve seen several unsuccessful charity events. Excuses like “we picked a bad day,” or “no one wants to support a positive event” will be used. This is rarely the case. Most of the time, it’s ineffective marketing. It could be so easy! College organizations have the best marketing resource: SOCIAL MEDIA. Whether it’s to raise awareness or raise thousands of dollars for a certain charity, learning how to use this medium effectively can help your organization host a successful charity event.
With 96 percent of college students on Facebook and 84 percent on YouTube, you can definitely reach your audience through social media. The trick is using it strategically for your event. Here’s four ways how on-campus organizations can social media for their charity events.
1. Engage
The step to using social media is being social. Whether it’s promoting famous quotes or displaying pictures, you have engage with your audience. Make sure you’re consistent. Sending out thirty tweets on Monday doesn’t mean you can take a break until Thursday. Also, being creative helps encourage participation from your audience. Use Instagram to engage your followers: Give away a free ticket to the event if you reach 200 likes on a picture of the flyer.
2. Discussion
Time after time, I see many organizations’ promotion turn into spam. There’s nothing wrong with discussing certain issues with your followers. Asking questionsand taking polls not only create opportunity to connect with your audience, but it gathers data about how people view the event or cause. Your sponsored charity will love that information!
3. Promote The Cause
Remember this event is not about your organization; it’s about the charity. It’s about promoting, increasing awareness, and aid to the charity’s vision. Giving your audience facts, and telling them about the charity’s past success creates a positive buzz for your event. When people fell connected and have knowledge about a cause, they will be more willing to help.
4. Utilize Different Media Sites
On my campus, the first outlet most college organizations go to is Twitter. The goal is to connect to your specific audience. Studies show that women are five times as likely as men to use Pinterest. If your event is catered to female students, you might want to take find a way to promote the host charity through this outlet.
Waiting on the next blog.