Unlike for-profit businesses that usually have one main target market, maybe two, nonprofits have at least 5 distinct ones. These 5 target market personas need to be clearly identified and embraced. Ideally, you need to get to know them — intimately. You also need to find them in the social media networks to be able to build relationships with them.
Here’s a rundown of the 5 Target Market Personas for Nonprofits:
- Donors and Sponsors – these are your main fundraisers. They love your cause and show it by their generosity.
- Volunteers – they are the heartbeat of your organization. They are passionate for the cause and show it by giving their time.
- Advocates – these people believe in your cause and show it by being ambassadors on social media and raising awareness. They’ll share your content with their friends without thinking twice.
- Clients / Members – the people you serve. If you’re a charitable organization, they are the people you help. If you’re an association, they are your members. Clearly, without clients, you have no reason to exist.
- Board Members – these are the brains of your NPO. They help make major decisions. These are volunteers who have the experience of running their own companies or have C-level or managerial backgrounds. Most importantly, they contribute their knowledge and expertise.
Now, some of these can overlap. Board members can be donors and sponsors. Everyone can be an advocate and everyone can help share on social media.
How to use Social Media to find these People:
- LinkedIn (B2B): Here you’ll find your nonprofit’s executives, donors, sponsors, board members, and association members. Join and contribute to groups. Post regularly to your personal updates and to the organization’s LinkedIn company profile. Write an “article” (300-500 words) a couple of times a month to gain exposure.
- Facebook & Pinterest (B2C): Reach volunteers, advocates and clients
- X (formerly Twitter): Excellent for getting exposure, building awareness, driving traffic to your website, and search engine optimization (SEO).
- YouTube & Instagram: These media channels are the best way to showcase your organization, what you do, how you help, etc. Great for events and building awareness.
Tell Lots of Stories
First and foremost, telling stories is the most powerful tool any nonprofilt organization has. User-generated content (UGC) is gold. Encourage volunteers and clients to share stories and events on their social accounts and tag your organization. Watch this Instagram webinar to understand how it works.
A story that tugs at the heartstrings should get a lot of reach. It has what’s called “sharability”. People love the story and want to share it with their friends. Your reach increases by however followers each user has. Much more than that, they entice people to give, volunteer, and/or become an advocate.
These stories can be blogs, videos, or image galleries. Not everything has to be professionally done — just of good quality.
Stay in Control
You must have total control of all your social media accounts. In other words, make sure you have all the account information and passwords. Sometimes it happens that well-meaning volunteers will start accounts for their favorite nonprofits. Most importantly, you lose control of what’s posted, as well as opportunities.
Likewise, it’s important that you educate your current volunteers and staff to reach out and support your organization on social media.
You can easily learn how to structure your nonprofit and reach your targets with my 1:1 Customized training and coaching.
Start by downloading our free Define Your Target Market Workbook. You’ll need to do one for each of your targets.
Or you can schedule a free 15-minute Zoom consult and brainstorming session!
Get it on Amazon Kindle!
