We talk a lot about having separate marketing platforms for your clients and donors. This allows you to share targeted, specific information with your two very different audiences without confusing one or losing the other.

In this guide, we will share about five tactics you can use for your donor social media platforms to increase awareness about your center and generate engagement and excitement about the good work your center does.

This has been an unforgettable year in so many ways. And, many of you are looking ahead and making budgeting plans for your center the next few months, wondering how to reach donors effectively in the midst of a pandemic. You are likely making decisions about fall events and trying to determine what your year end will look like. Will donors give generously? Will they be cautious? How have they been impacted by COVID-19? A good first step is to make sure you are connecting with them. Both personally through developing relationships, but also through your marketing efforts. It’s important to keep telling your story, making yourself present in their space.

Cast your vision.

It is easy to assume the people who follow your donor Facebook or Instagram accounts know a lot about your center. Maybe they liked your page because they know your mission is pro life – but they are not totally familiar with the scope of the services you offer. Remember, they need to regularly hear about the important work you do and how their partnership with you is changing lives.

They are also busy and likely distracted. When they scroll through social media – which 69% of them do on a daily basis – make sure what you share is engaging and communicates the vision and heart behind what you do. Share about the impact your work has on your clients, including encouraging stories of clients who chose life and found hope. Remember to make sure you change the name (and make sure your followers know you’ve changed the name) and identifying details about the client before you share.

Invite people into the story.

People want to know how they can be part of what you’re doing. What can they do to partner with you with their time and their finances? Always share about a variety of needs so people know there are many ways to be involved.

Remember, Millennials and Gen X are the next generations who will take up the mantle of pro-life work, so they need to be invited into the local mission of your pregnancy center. Both generations want to know about volunteer opportunities and how to give material donations. Gen X is also ready to start donating financially, and they like to be asked, so ask away!

Post consistently.

To be seen on social media, you need to post several times every week. To determine the best time to post, look at your Facebook insights that show when your followers are online the most and then plan to post around those times. You can schedule posts to go up at different times based on that information. You may see more success in being consistent if you pick a couple of planning times a month to schedule out several posts at a time.

In addition to posting consistently, you should also like people’s comments when they leave them on your posts and write responses back when it seems applicable. It could be a simple thank you or you could leave a longer response – conversing with the one who posted. This will help provide engagement on your posts which Facebook sees as a positive thing and in return they will show your post to more people.

Finally, invite people who like your posts to like your page. Often, people will see a post in their newsfeed because someone else shared or commented on it, but they may not have liked your page. You can click on the names of people who have liked your post and see if they have liked your page or not. If they haven’t, you’ll have the option to invite them to like it. By doing this, you’ll be expanding your message to people who may not know as much about your center but who already agree with your message.

When any of your posts do really well, meaning they have high levels of engagement in terms of likes, comments, and/or shares, you can consider boosting those posts. This means spending some money to put this post in front of more people. By boosting posts that have good engagement, you’ll put your message in front of more people who may be interested in your mission and coming alongside to support the work that you do.

Share with your clients in mind.

More and more, we’re seeing pro-abortion individuals and groups “attack” pregnancy centers online. While you can be more transparent on your donor social media pages, remember those who aren’t friendly to the cause may be watching and looking for an opportunity to attack.

We recommend keeping your posts more women-centric than baby-centric for this reason. Save some of your bigger announcements about lives saved or number of babies saved in a year for your email or print newsletters. Your donor Facebook page is a great place to let people know about the needs you have at your center and educate them on the challenges your clients face. This will present a more holistic story to your community, which will help fend off the narrative that you “only care about the baby.” Be careful too in how you write about clients. In addition to the name change as we mentioned earlier, make sure your writing doesn’t appear to give away confidential and identifying information. You would never want someone to come across your post and wonder if you would publicly tell their story online if they came to your center for help.

Make sure your page is “optimized.”

Finally, make sure you’ve filled out all the boxes of information on your page. This will make it easier for donors to find the information they need and make you appear more professional. Look out for these areas and make sure they are up-to-date:

Update your cover photo
Your profile picture should be your logo; make sure it is cropped appropriately and not cut off
Make sure your website, hours, and address are all up-to-date
Fill in the about sections
Pin important posts or announcements to the top of your page

Those housekeeping items will help freshen your page if it’s been awhile and also make it easy for people to get in touch with you.

We hope these tips are helpful as you think about how you communicate with your donors on social media! Remember, your donors are already online a lot throughout the day, so it’s smart to be strategic about how you connect with them in that space.

As always, if you need help managing or strategizing for your social media communications, we’re here to help. Our staff would love to put together a strategy that’s right for you and your target demographic, so please reach out today!