Promoting Your Fundraiser Online: Strategies and Insights
You don’t have to be Kim Kardashian with a glam squad, professional videographers, and lighting crew to be an effective internet marketer. Promoting your fundraiser online, whether it’s for your school, band program, or church group, is easy with these tips to boost your online presence.
Content Is King
Content is king, regardless of quality. Even crappy content gets attention by simply being available. so don’t worry about perfection. Often those imperfections help people connect with the videos and photos you create. When promoting your fundraiser online, write about and post images of your child’s fundraiser on social media. Decide early how often you want to post. Daily is best, but for some 3-5 times per week will suffice. Don’t worry about over-posting. In many cases, it will take several posts before a person sees their first one.
Also, consider what time of day your friends are online. If you post just before they get online, your post will be added to the top of their feed and bumped downward as time passes. Finally, focus on posting with consistency. That way, what your biggest supporters don’t see today, they will get another opportunity to see tomorrow.
Show, Not Tell
Story-showing works better than talking at people, but like the first tip, if you only have time for a quick check-in reminder video, do that versus nothing. Daphne East Elementary School does a great job each year when their principal Mark Doherty uses his smartphone to post videos about the fundraiser. At the end of each day, before the students go home, Mr. Doherty stands near the old worn-out car rider benches the school hopes to replace with the funds from the chocolate sales or the playground equipment or whatever else they need money for. This reminds parents waiting to pick up their children why they are holding the fundraiser as he sends out a message that promotes the fundraiser. Creating and posting takes him only a few minutes to do. It’s super easy and highly effective and has helped the school sell over $30,000 in chocolate bars each year.
Cute Kids Increase Views When Promoting Your Fundraiser Online
Cute kids in photos holding up products or brochures are good reminders for promoting your fundraiser online. Even more fun, however, is a video of them talking about the fundraiser. Petal Upper Elementary picked students each day to be the stars of these videos. Each video reminded schoolmates that if they reached their school goal, the top sellers would get to spray the principal with a can of silly string. They ended the video with the children spraying a large photo of the principal’s face. How many people do you think shared those action-packed videos of their babies receiving special attention as they were reminding viewers about their fundraiser? Sales skyrocketed.
Don’t Forget Traditional Images
While videos have their place, static images shine when it comes to straightforward reminders about money and order due dates. They’re equally effective for conveying delivery and order pick-up information. Your fundraising consultant can equip you with a visually appealing reminder template with eye-catching graphics. You can also post an image of your child in fundraising action. Don’t forget to mention in your content what your child is selling, why they are selling it, what they get for making top seller status, and how supporters can lend a helping hand.
Make the Most of Share, Like, Follow, and Comment
Like count isn’t just a vanity metric. Rather, it’s also a way for social media algorithms to determine the value of a post. The more shares, likes, and comments your post gets, the more value the algorithm sees in the post and the more opportunity you get to increase exposure. As mentioned earlier, over time, your post is bumped down in the feed. However, shares, likes, and comments have the ability to keep your post featured longer or bump those older posts back upward and in front of more people. You can start promoting your fundraiser online by taking all three actions (share, like, and comment) on your own post. Then ask your friends and family to do the same. Want to make sure Aunt Betty, your child’s biggest supporter, gets notified? Tag her in the post. While you are at it, don’t forget to tag King Fundraising in your social media posts. We will gladly help promote your sale to a broader audience of people who love the products you are selling.
Show Your Appreciation
There’s no better strategy for promoting your fundraiser online than expressing gratitude to those who actively support your cause. Thank local businesses with a mention on social media when they sponsor your fundraiser with a donation during your sale. Each mention reaches more people who may want to buy from you, especially with brands like World’s Finest Chocolate and Classic Cookie. Plus, the company you tag will appreciate the extra promotion they get from the exposure and are more likely to share your post, especially since it also highlights their business.
Try Traditional Exposure for Promoting Your Fundraiser Online
Contact local news outlets like newspapers, radio stations, and television broadcasters about your upcoming fundraiser. Traditional media is always looking for community events to feature. And while they may not give you front page status (although small-town newspapers often will), they could put a spin on your fundraiser that makes it newsworthy enough to get in front of thousands, maybe even millions, of people. This is especially the case if you have to raise money for larger projects like buildings, big-ticket items, or a major trip to a national or international competition to let your community know how they can help. Newspapers and morning news programs love a great cause with a feel-good story.
Learn from the Pros
Have you ever watched those Disney Travel vlogs and thought that’s a lot of work? While that level of editing can be time-consuming, the actual footage for multiple videos can be done in much less time with batch content creation. Instead of producing content on the fly for every post, consider batching your content creation, tackling it all in one day before the sale begins. You can then schedule the posts in advance, ensuring they continue promoting your fundraiser online automatically throughout the sale. An additional benefit to this is that you are less likely to forget to post because other demands of your life call for your attention.
Promoting Your Fundraiser Online Not Your Thing?
It’s okay. We get it. Technology and social media aren’t for everyone making promoting your fundraiser online difficult for some. However, with over 4.9 billion active internet users worldwide, you are missing out on a great opportunity for fundraising sales. Plus, there are a lot of people readily available to help you. Start by recruiting a young person who will find the project fun and creative. You can offer some free products as an incentive. Additionally, if your school has a media or technology club, this would be a great opportunity for them to practice their craft with a real project that they will benefit from.
Promoting Your Fundraiser Online Still Not Your Thing?
Go old-school. Post yard signs in your car rider lines and posters throughout the building. You can purchase traditional posters at your local print shop or office supply store. On the other hand, you can have your students create them as part of a class or school project or competition with the prize being professional printing of the best poster. If you let the students vote on their favorite, you will increase exposure and excitement. Time-tested promotional materials do still work.
Conclusion
Marketing doesn’t have to be intimidating or overwhelming. In fact, it can be quite manageable and highly effective. Simple strategies done consistently make promoting your fundraiser online impactful.
If you need more help, contact a King Fundraising specialist. We have tools you can use to simplify the marketing process.
