Answers
Feb 19, 2019 - 08:58 PM
Hi Sheri,
Working on a detailed response for you. You’re looking for examples of those that use social well to find new donors or to actually get donations right?
-Jon
Feb 26, 2019 - 10:08 PM
So i can totally answer this with hundreds and hundreds of slides and experiments.
But if i were to simplify it down to one organization i know that is doing it very well, especially when it comes to raising MONEY online... it has to be Hillsdale College. (https://www.hillsdale.edu/)
They are CONSTANTLY testing in Facebook, and many of their experiments are available here at this link with full screenshot examples:
To sum it up though, what makes them, and other nonprofits, great at social is their ability to use it to raise money in ways most other nonprofits dont even think of.
First... they focus on EMAIL ACQUISITION, not donor acquisition. Meaning... they dont just advertise DONATE NOW! Because that rarely gets organizations money unless they have a very intimate following online:
In this experiment (available on that site), they pitted a "Donate now" ad and donation landing page versus a free online course, email signup page, and then what is called an INSTANT donation page for those that just signed up.
And the results?
Not only did the free offer approach get MUCH more clicks, it actually got donations... from people that have no known prior relationship or knowledge of the organization.
Hillsdale is so good at it... they have i think 10+ different free courses or variations of free offers... and each of them not only help them build their list (so they can then email them later or follow them later with ads, posts) but some do really well in inspiring people to give right away BEFORE even going into the free online course or eBook.
It's crazy. I have an entire free online course for nonprofits on how to do that and set that up.
now SECOND... what else do i love that Hillsdale does? They use social media to SUPPORT their direct mail and other campaigns... to raise EVEN MORE MONEY.
Check it out... here's the experiment link: https://www.nextafter.com/research/2017/10/how-targeted-digital-advertising-aff
ected-direct-mail-revenue/
Basically, they uploaded a portion of their direct mail list online to Facebook and Facebook was able to match those up with users.
So those users were shown BRAND ads and free offer ads... no donation asks... just something to keep Hillsdale top of mind... but here's the thing... it was shown two weeks before the mail piece hit, and then two weeks after.
The results? Those that were shown the facebook / social ads donated SIGNIFICANTLY MORE... to the tune of a statistically significant increase in donation revenue by 150%.
And another example of something they are doing well is using social media to remarket to their email lists:
check it out: https://www.nextafter.com/research/2017/08/how-email-engagement-influence-socia
l-media-response-rates/
In this case study, they used a technology to create custom audiences in facebook of those that either opened or specifically clicked on a specific email related to a launch.
What they found is that they were able to get people to donate directly in social media that would had otherwise not donated at all if they didn't use it.
Those that clicked, in fact, were 274% more likely to donate after being followed in social then those that opened.
If they never did that... that's money that would have been left on the table.
And there is so much more. If you are curious about that free course, let me know. Tons of experiments on how to do facebook ads, create offers, optimize offer landing pages, etc.
-Jon
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