11 Marketing Communications Activities for Fundraisers, Part 2

[Editor's note: This is part 2 of a two-part series on the webinar, Ten Marketing Communications Activities You Must Do. View part 1 here.]

In a recent webinar, Ten Marketing Communications Activities You Must Do, nonprofit brand consultant Michele Levy provided 11 marketing communications best practices that fundraisers should utilize in their communications strategies.

Last week, we shared the first five activities. Here are the final six tips Levy shared.

6. Layer a social-media plan on top
"You want to plan social media for three reasons," Levy said.

• You don't want people within your organization to be tripping over each other. For instance, you don't want two people posting the same thing at the same time, and you don't want staffers to post things that aren't appropriate. "Make sure that everyone in your organization responsible for social media is working together," she said.
• You don't want to miss an opportunity, and social media is a channel that provides incredible opportunity to reach supporters instantaneously. "For both the Web and social-media planning, strive for 75 percent planning, 25 percent opportunistic," Levy said.
• You don't want things to get stale.

Ask yourself where the opportunities are to use social media to drive your audiences to events on your calendar, your website to learn more, etc.

7. Be easy to find
"If people can't find you easily, they're going to go find something else," Levy said.

Online, you really should focus on search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM). Levy suggested looking at who's paying for links on the top right-hand side in Google, and pay attention to who also shows up when you Google your own organization. Where will you land on Google, and what will you pay to increase/control your presence?

"Search engine marketing is not that expensive or complicated to make sure you land where you want to land," she said. "Set a budget, and track that. It can be very reasonable and very helpful."