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Building a thriving charity or social enterprise is impossible to do in isolation, it is absolutely essential to grow a community around your cause. But it’s not about numbers. The difference between successful and less successful charities is engagement of followers not the number of followers they have.
This gives the charity the resources, both financial and human hours, to have the impact it desires for the cause it supports. 100 people who are engaged, who genuinely care about what you do, and want to be part of the mission long term, is worth way more than a million social media followers.
Building a highly engaged community starts with knowing that the right individuals can come from anywhere. You’ll need to utilise a mix of channels to reach them, and that includes offline as well as online, because we’re all different in our preferences of where we engage.
Think… Email, WhatsApp, Texts, Letters, Phone, Website, Social Media, Article sites, Posters, Flyers, Billboards, TV, Radio, Talks, Face to Face, Exhibition Stands & Events, Newspapers, Magazines… basically, any channel you can communicate on is fair game. But plan your own approach based on your time and budget, where the relevant conversations are taking place, and follow GDPR rules!
That kind of coverage will ensure you reach the right people. But all you’re doing is trying to spark a reaction from your future supporters so you can engage them in conversation. I say future because they won’t instantly be engaged. One sighting of your message will very rarely capture their attention enough to get in touch. So keep posting consistently in the same places to stay in front of them.
It all starts with being real. It’s not about polish but about honesty, and honesty is raw and imperfect. That’s what people connect with. But it also requires you to be crystal clear on what you do and able to communicate it quickly and simply. That way you are making it not just easy to understand but easy for people to get on-board and join you. Confusion pushes people away.
So, once you have your vision and mission statement and it’s short and snappy, try it on people who don’t know what you do and get their feedback. Keep trying it until you find that people understand instantly what it is and why it makes a difference.
Then communicate your message wherever you can with genuine passion, kindness, openness, patience and real stories. Explain where the money goes, show the impact and who does what in the charity. People love to get to know your team and the volunteers, to see that humanity woven through all of your communications. When people see the heart behind the mission, they’re more likely to stick around. As the saying goes… “people buy people” and that is nowhere more true than in the voluntary sector.
When you share your wins, show the beneficiaries and tell their stories, but also be open about the hurdles and challenges and those still struggling in need. It’s about a balance of the ups and downs and the day to day. Educate, inspire, entertain, or inform – don’t just ask for donations all the time.
Marketing is just about great communication, right from the first interaction to the ongoing “customer service”. So, keep working at being a great communicator of interesting information. Find someone who can bring it to life with words, pictures and audio and who knows how to use marketing technology and the different channels. They can then create and organise the posting of your communications in the right places at the right time to spark conversations, then handle the feedback in the right way when those start.
One of the most powerful tools you can use is storytelling and if it helps you as you plan your communications, there is a recognised formula for stories in the voluntary sector to get your point across quickly and powerfully.
The formula goes…
So, for example, if we were at the RNLI, we could create a short video firstly setting the scene with the rough waves and a voiceover explaining that our dream is that no more lives be lost at sea. Then we show the heroes of our story braving the relentless ocean on a lifeboat battered by the waves as they rush to the aid of a person in distress in the water. Our voiceover highlights the brutality of the sea and the danger the lifeboat crew are in at its hands. Finally, we show them successfully hauling a person out of danger into the boat and we see the reality of what could have happened if they hadn’t been there.
This isn’t manipulating our viewer or putting a spin on reality to appear as something that it isn’t, this is just great storytelling of the true situation that they face and work with day in day out. They’re just taking the viewer on the same journey with nothing held back!
Facts and numbers are also important, but stories are what people remember. When you share a real story about someone whose life has been changed by your work, or even a simple moment of impact, you give people a reason to care. If you can tell those stories consistently across all your platforms, even better, that creates a strong identity people can recognise and connect with more and more deeply with every viewing.
Once they are starting to emotionally connect with your message, there will come a time when they are ready to take action and begin that relationship with you. So place a ‘call-to-action’ on every communication so it’s available when they’re ready. You don’t want them to have to go looking for it. What we mean by a ‘call-to-action’ is that you give people a clear direction on what to do next if they would like to take action and support you or get involved. Communicate with them what actions they can take as we mustn’t assume that they know. If they can donate, tell them they can do that and show them how. If they can volunteer, explain that and show how. Whatever you want them to do, let them know with clear instructions. Always provide your contact details and your website address. Social media links are great too but you know your audience and which ones are best to highlight. And don’t forget to capture their contact details at the earliest opportunity so you can stay in regular contact and keep building that relationship.
Now, let’s look at the next step though in building your community.
They’re starting to engage with you so you need to engage with them. That means responding to their comments on social media, answering their emails promptly, thanking people for donating or sharing your posts, and, of course, asking questions and being interested in them. Help them to be part of your journey and included in your community. Belonging is central to us all. You know what it feels like to really belong in your friendship group, your neighbourhood or in your workplace community. Everyone is seeking the same so help your supporters to feel like they belong, like they’re one of the team. You can do this by involving them in decisions, inviting them to events, gathering their views or showing them the difference they are personally making, and always send a thank you!
You know that hotel or restaurant you went to once where they really looked after you and made you feel so wanted and welcome? I bet you want to go back, yes? It’s the same here. People keep going back to where they feel wanted and valued and that’s where they stay. But there is no shortcut to this, you can’t fake it. You only achieve this by genuinely valuing your community and caring about them, nothing else works. If you don’t, it becomes apparent very quickly and people will walk away.
Finally, we need to think about community resilience, not just keeping it going but always strengthening.
The above sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it? Well, yes, it is a lot of work, but it is very manageable and very enjoyable with teamwork. Don’t let it fall onto one person’s shoulders, encourage the whole team of staff and volunteers to be aligned with the approach and embrace it, after all, everyone is part of the community. Doing that helps breed an inclusive culture where everyone has a role to play. Then you can confidently connect people with each other, facilitate those connections, setup networking and enable people to build relationships independently. Now your community is interconnected, not all relying on one point of contact. It becomes self-sustaining, people are advocating for you and doing fundraising projects themselves. You just need to lead them, encourage them, support them, recognise them and thank them… as well as keep building.
Building a community is not a one-time campaign, it’s a long term investment.
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