The MAGIC Formula for Social Media as Part of Your Digital Strategy

This guest post is by Rebecca Teaff, Chief Creative Officer and Founder, Redstart Creative and presenter of Creating a Digital Strategy to Reach Your Audience, part of the MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS learning area at #MANOAC18.

Digital Marketing is key to the success

for
many organizations in today’s communications landscape. The integration of your website, email, and social media can create a strong digital presence that makes a lasting impression on potential supporters. I am excited to speak about this topic at Maryland Nonprofits’ conference, #MANOAC18, on October 4, 2018 (shameless plug,

come
see me)! To encourage you, here is a snippet of my presentation with some quick tips on how to effectively use social media at your nonprofit …

Many nonprofits are still searching for the magic formula to make the most of their time and efforts in the social world. Don’t ignore the basics! Begin by determining your goals, target audiences, and realistic post strategy

given
your staff capacity. After you’ve done all this, then jump to thinking up great, engaging content.

It’s one thing to know when to post, but if your content and visuals are not well thought-out or appealing you will receive less engagement. Creating well-crafted content is critical to making a good impression on viewers, and

to

enticing
them back to your page again and again.

• Build a list of categories relevant to your nonprofit that you can use to facilitate the creation of content. Content Categories (or Pillars) should be broad enough to include a variety of post types, but specific for your social media goals and objectives, e.g. Behind the Scenes with Staff, Industry Related News, Events, etc.
• Use the pillars to curate lists of post ideas related to your nonprofit’s goals.
• Brainstorm themes for each month of the year to help focus your content and posts.

Let’s practice! Create a schedule of monthly themes (no pressure, this can be a brainstorm) on a sheet of paper, or download our worksheet. In each block, list monthly topics, days, and/or events that are relevant/significant to your organization. Refer back to this when drafting content – simple!