face-face and social media fundraising: one and the same

The new world of fundraising looks like this: content marketing, SEO, digital advancement managers, twitter campaigns, and crowdfunding. Yes, things have changed, but the fundamentals are still the same. It's all about building relationships and engaging your stakeholders.

The same old rules of face-face fundraising still hold true. What are they again?

1. Have a strong Case for Support. Your fundraising efforts will only be as strong as the case for what you want your donors to support. This has to come first. Your organization and the project has to be strong, and your online messaging has to be equally as strong in conveying that. Content  is king. If you don't have something important and valuable to post on your web and social media pages, don't say anything. Your aim, just as in "real life" is to have great conversations that will engage stakeholders and build the foundation for a strong relationship.

2. Get out there. A good fundraiser is one that is constantly meeting with people, making connections, and engaging in conversation with donors and prospects. A good fundraising organization is one that does the same thing online. Digital marketing is not the same as traditional marketing. It's about having two-way conversations and engaging people, not simply throwing information or calls-to-action at them. Organizations should find where their target audiences are on social media and be chatting with them and giving them shareable content often and regularly.

3. Listen. Just like with in-person meetings, 90% of the talking should come from your audience. Organizations need to listen for what their online stakeholders are passionate about, what drives them, and what does not. They will be your greatest source of information.

4. Engage influencers. Our greatest assets on the street are our influencers. Donors who are engaged with our organization will influence friends and peers to join the cause. Engaged online followers of an organization can be an army of influencers with an audience bigger than we've dared to dream of. Engage them, empower them to talk about you, and make it easy for them to share information. Set up groups and have share buttons and links on all of your sites that are easy for an influencer to spread around.

Yes, the non-profit world may look a bit different these days, but we all know what we are doing because they are the same things we've been doing for years: building engaged relationships and trust. Happy tweeting!