By Heather Mansfield, founder and editor-in-chief of Nonprofit Tech for Good

The average growth rate for social media ranges from 0.64% to 3% per month, depending upon the platform. In other words, the era of organic growth on social media is over.

To grow your following on social media, you need to make a concerted effort to let your supporters and donors know how to find your nonprofit on social media.

1) Feature social media icons on every page of your website.

Due to the restrictive algorithms imposed by Big Tech, most nonprofits have realized that organic reach on social media is nearly non-existent. In response, they have moved their social media icons from the header to the footer of their websites. Why make a concerted effort to send your website visitors to Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn when once they follow you on any of those sites, they are unlikely to see any of your posts anyway?

Where to place social media icons on your nonprofit’s website depends upon whether social media is a high priority at your nonprofit. If it is a high priority, then placing icons in the upper right of your header and in the footer is the best option. That said, with organic reach hovering between 1-4%, a budget for social media ads is necessary to reach your followers.

A rare and good example of a nonprofit featuring social media icons in the header and the footer of their website is mothers2mothers (m2m). As a best practice, the links to the m2m social media profiles open new browser windows to avoid sending their website visitors off their site completely.

Homepage of mothers2mothers featuring a mother, child, nurse, and father all smiling with "Healthy Women. Healthy Families. Healthy World."

Footer of mothers to mothers website - purple - featuring social media icons, email newsletter sign ups, and top-rated charity badges.

2) Include social media icons in your email newsletter.

Again, where to feature your social media icons in your newsletter depends upon your digital marketing priorities. Most nonprofits feature social media icons in the footer, but after a recent rebrand, Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) opted to prominently feature their call-to-follow on social media in the upper right of their email newsletter design.

Families Against Mandatory Minimums email newsletter featuring header banner with logos, faces, and social media icons.

3) Add social media icons on your “Thank you” landing pages.

“Thank you for subscribing” and “Thank you for your donation” landing pages are underutilized and neglected by most nonprofits. After a website visitor submits their newsletter subscription or a donation, they stare intently at their screens waiting to land on a confirmation/thank you landing page. It’s a rare moment when your nonprofit has their undivided attention, yet the vast majority of “Thank you” landing pages look like they have not been updated since the early 2000s.

Follow the lead of the World Wildlife Fund and design your “Thank you for your donation” landing pages to grow your social media following.

WWF landing page featuring social media icons and "More Ways to Get Involved' such as downloading their app and learning to recycle.

4) Add social media icons to your “Thank you” emails.

When someone subscribes to your newsletter or makes a donation, they should be automatically sent a follow-up “Thank you” email that includes a call-to-follow on social media. In this example of a “Thank you for subscribing” email, Water.org requests that new subscribers also follow them on social media.

Water.org "Thank you" email featuring social media icons and a call-to-follow for new email subscribers... images features a women's hand holding a water bucket.

5) Add a call-to-follow to your print campaigns.

Promoting URLs effectively in print materials can be a challenge because URLs are often too long and challenging to type into a browser. The Africa Wildlife Foundation cleverly uses its website domain name to promote its social media profiles by creating easy-to-type redirect URLs. For example, awf.org/facebook redirects to facebook.com/AfricanWildlifeFoundation. Another idea is to use QR codes in print campaigns.

Africa Wildlife Foundation print newsletter ad featuring "Connect with US" and redirects to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

6) Proactively engage as your nonprofit on social media.

Your nonprofit should spend a minimum of 30 minutes a week proactively engaging as your nonprofit on social media. On LinkedIn and Facebook, your nonprofit can follow and engage with pages by toggling between your personal account and your page admin account. On Instagram, X, and Threads, your nonprofit can follow and engage without the need to toggle between accounts.

As a best practice, your nonprofit should follow partners, funders, and sponsors and proactively engage their posts for stewardship reasons, and also the more you proactively engage, the more exposure your page receives, and consequently, the more likely your nonprofit is to be seen by potential new followers. Nonprofit Tech for Good regularly engages TechSoup on LinkedIn to show appreciation for their posts, but also to be seen by potential new followers.

Our Certificate in Social Media Marketing & Fundraising program covers the fundamentals of social media marketing and fundraising for your nonprofit. Participants will learn how to create a social media strategy, how to craft a content marketing plan, and current best practices for using social media for community engagement and fundraising.

The program requires the completion of three webinars and costs $100 USD. To earn the 2024 certificate, you can attend the webinars live or view the recordings – or a combination of both. Learn more & register!