Tips for Recruiting Supporters to Your Facebook Cause

Facebook is all the rage. And as more people join, so too are nonprofit organizations. Facebook Causes is a Facebook application designed to be an organizing platform for charities looking to establish a presence and spread awareness of their causes.

In the webinar "Growing Your Cause: How to Recruit More Members From Inside and Outside Facebook" presented by Facebook Causes in August, Sarah Koch shared best practices, tips and success stories.

Facebook and other social networks are places where people can establish authentic identities, spend time and share information about themselves with others. Koch, Causes' nonprofit coordinator, said they offer a new paradigm where organizations can use supporters to spread the word about their causes, putting power and reward in their hands. Causes is the world's largest online platform for activism, with 280,000 user-created causes, 75 million users and a feed distribution to 200 million monthly active users.

The first step to harnessing the power of Causes is building a community there. Invite your network and tell them why the cause is important; encourage board members and active supporters to get involved; and highlight the Causes page in your newsletter and on your Web site.

Koch advised bringing people who already have an affiliation with your organization to your network because they'll spread the word.

Your welcome note is the first thing people who come to your Causes page will see. Koch recommended testing to decide whether you should use the name of your organization as your Causes page title or something that goes to the heart of your mission, or a combination of both. Think about key words. How many people will search for the name or your organization when looking for your Causes page versus those that will search on a mission-related word?

The way your Causes page looks is essential in building community. Make it eye-catching, understandable and approachable (i.e., when someone comes to your page, they understand what you're about). Photos help bring home what your organization stands for in a way that your logo can't. The Alex's Lemonade Stand Causes page is a great example.