Is Social Influence Important?

Once upon a time fundraising was all about knocking on doors, making hundreds of lamingtons or selling raffle tickets. These days with the rise in popularity of social media comes a new way to raise money; through online social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs or LinkedIn. Not only are these methods free to use, the potential audience reach can mean a very successful campaign for a non-profit organisation.

Facebook

Aside from creating a page for your campaign and starting a fundraiser via a Facebook page, one of the most well-known social fundraising tools is called Facebook Causes.

Twitter

Also has a special platform called Twitplay. Twitplay works especially well because of the viral nature of Twitter – donations are created based on re-tweets which means more visibility and in turn, more donations.

Blog

Create a blog post, or series of blog posts on your fundraising campaign, your organisation, personal testimonials or stories using photos, videos and guest bloggers. This will create a more personal side to your non-profit organisation instead of just being seen as a large organisation.

You can also add a PayPal button at the end of the post (or posts) which will encourage and motivate people to donate.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn gets far less attention than other social networking sites but if used cleverly, it can really generate big business for non-profits by building on connections. LinkedIn also has search tools which will enable you to locate and find excellent prospects. You can target your search geographically, by industry or by keywords.

If you want to know more about LinkedIn and the first steps you should take, there is an excellent blog post entitled Getting to know LinkedIn written by Gayle Roberts.

So, back to the question – is social influence important? Without a doubt, yes. It is an essential way to raise money and awareness of a campaign in modern times and without it your non-profit organisation is not only missing out on potential sources for raising funds, but also awareness for your cause.