Top tips on social media and digital engagement: making the most of Giving Tuesday
On 21 September 2023, we hosted a webinar with award winning Marketing and Digital Communications Consultant, Tereza Litsa. Here are some of our highlights from what she shared:
1. Choose your objectives
Giving Tuesday, and any social media campaign, needs to know what its purpose is. Are you going for growth in followers, engagement, fundraising, or collaboration? Make sure you are clear about your objectives so that you can create clear and simple social media messages. Don’t overcomplicate it, and don’t confuse people with too many asks!
2. Organise your campaign
Once you know what you’re wanting to do, think about the plan that will best deliver your objective. Plan ahead where you can, writing content and scheduling posts. Think about who your audience is, and the channels you already use – where should you concentrate your engagement? Prepare a timeline of activity, think about why Giving Tuesday messages might be different from your ‘business as usual’ – it’s a great day to experiment, to be innovative, to use a different tone of voice. If you have the time, perhaps you could even do A/B testing on posts and messages so you can reflect on success and engagement.
3. Choose your channels!
Audience, frequency of posts, and the right content for the right channel are important things to get right. Instagram works best for stories, or for live content, while Facebook might be better for videos, or LinkedIn will work better for text content and more corporate engagement. Be aware of potential risks – for example, what if Twitter/X was to introduce charging for users two weeks before Giving Tuesday? It’s worth having a crisis comms plan, or thinking through ‘what would we do if’ something happens, particularly if you have scheduled posts in advance and a prominent news story unexpectedly drops!
4. Before, during, after
With your planning, scheduling, and key objectives in mind you will have worked out the ‘before’. But when you know what you have planned, it’s worth thinking about telling your supporters and audiences! Rather than dropping ‘Giving Tuesday’ messages on the day for the first time, how about you let supporters know that you are getting ready for Giving Tuesday? Warm them up, let them know, especially if you are going to be making a special ask. And on the day, keep the momentum up! Evern if you only post a couple of times a week, on a day like Giving Tuesday the normal rules don’t apply – you can post multiple times, use emojis, give updates of progress. And after the campaign, review how your posts perform – what worked, and what didn’t? Did you achieve some of your objectives? What did you learn that can inform future social media posts and campaigns you do?
Whatever you do for Giving Tuesday, the more that charities come together to celebrate generosity the more all charities benefit as you’ll be creating wider engagement and awareness across the board. We’re excited to see what you do!
