Nonprofits Market to Millennials, Part 2
In part 1 we discussed the profound impact millennials can have on your nonprofit. Knowing how to cater your nonprofit’s programs and projects to appeal to millennials was in part one, but knowing how to show them what you’re doing in the first place is perhaps an even greater feat. Read on for the second step on how to market to millennials.
2. Know where millennials spend their time online and how to best engage with them.
In the Pew Research’s Internet Project, it was revealed that 80 percent of millennials use social sharing sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, and Instagram. Likewise about 75 percent use their phones to access the internet in the first place.
These are just a couple stats to keep in mind when reaching out to them. Here are some of our ideas:
- Promote social sharing! When millennials see other peers supporting a cause, they are much more likely to take notice.
- Increase the likelihood of social shares by creating an easy share link on your site’s page. Similarly, if you tell them to “share this” or retweet, they might feel that they can take action in the cause.
- Perhaps run your campaign as a contest as did the Ice Bucket Challenge last August, 2014.
- Take advantage of the social in social media and host a social event. People tend to come on Facebook for the update on the latest events for which they’ve signed up or that their friends have. You can even talk to local companies to see if they want to collaborate – Surly Brewery allows nonprofits to host free events in their event room. The more unique and enjoyable the event, the more likely it will receive social shares.
- Use images: Millennials thrive on photos- especially with the ever-increasing popularity of photo-driven social platforms like Instagram and Pinterest. With the addition of a photo, they may feel more intrigued to click on one of your messages.
- According to a study done by eMarketer, photos accounted for 75% of content posted by Facebook pages worldwide.
- In the same study, there was a 87% interaction rate from followers with no other post type receiving more than a 4% interaction rate.
- Donating should seem manageable. Make it feel doable in both its amount and its method of payment. It should not seem like it can only be done in huge amounts and only through sending a check in the mail.
- With options like mobilecause and Facebook’s new “donate now” option, it’s easy to segment donations into smaller amounts and reach millennials where they already are online.
- Be specific with where the donations go. Promoting that a $20 donation is used for ________, shows millennials that even a little of their effort can go a long way.
- The nonprofit, Feed My Starving Children, says $0.22 feeds a child each day and goes on to break down more statistics to emphasize the small input and large results.
- Follow the lead of other successful nonprofits and take advantage of email campaigns. This form of marketing has worked well for ArcStone, and other marketers can vouch for its success: loginradius.
- Nonprofit, charity:water, gathers a following by encouraging people to set up their own campaign. One of their main pieces of advice is to email relatives and friends to gather support and report the cause.
- Make sure emails are mobile responsive / easily legible on a phone, knowing that nearly half of all emails are opened on mobile devices.
In the final post we will discuss how to emphasize the aspects of your nonprofit’s mission in a way that most resonates with a millennial.
Want more information now? Here’s a post done on Attracting Millennial Donors or you can contact ArcStone to strategize on more ways to market effectively.
