The Power of Social Media in PTA Fundraising
In this modern age, few tools are better for getting the word out about something important than the internet. Social media is particularly great at boosting people’s awareness, which makes it a fantastic fit for PTAs.
From providing people with details about upcoming charity events to sharing the outcome of any recent fundraisers, social media is a brilliant tool to use to keep your school and the wider community up to date with your PTA’s activities. It’s also ideal for spreading the word about other donation-boosting tools, including easyfundraising.
Haven’t ever thought about using social media for your PTA fundraising before? Never fear. We’ve put together five simple strategies that’ll help you get your social media pages shipshape.
Strategy 1: Developing a Consistent Social Media Presence
Keeping it Consistent
So, you’ve set up a social media page for your school – but what’s next? Without a doubt, the key to being successful on a social media platform is being consistent with your activity.
You can use your page to post regular updates on what your PTA is doing and to promote any upcoming events. Thanks to most social media platforms’ chat and comment functions, it’s also an efficient way to engage with people and answer any questions they might have about your fundraising efforts.
Haven’t got the time to post daily? Make use of your chosen platform’s planning features instead. There are also special apps (such as Hootsuite for Twitter) that allow you to pre-plan a bunch of potential posts and then schedule them to go live at a time of your choosing.
Platforms to Consider
As well as posting regular, engaging content, it’s also important to choose the right social media platform for your school. There are plenty of options out there and they all have their own unique benefits:
- Facebook – this is by far one of the most popular social media platforms and it allows you to share written posts, updates and photos, as well as create dedicated event pages.
- Instagram – if you want your social media presence to be more visual and appeal to a younger audience, photo and video-based Instagram is ideal.
- Twitter – Twitter lets you create short, snappy updates on your PTA’s activity, plus you can post pictures and videos.
- LinkedIn – for a more professional aesthetic or a page that focuses more on the causes you plan to support, LinkedIn is a great option.
Strategy 2: Utilising Hashtags and Social Media Trends
The Power of Hashtags
Once you’ve put together some posts – whether that’s an update on a crowdfunding campaign or an advert for an upcoming event – you’ll want to think about hashtags. Why are hashtags so important? Two major reasons: visibility and promotion.
Ultimately, using the right hashtags on your social media pages will allow you to boost the number of people who see your posts. This will, consequently, let you reach a much larger audience and ensure you get as many donations as possible for any fundraisers you organise.
Riding the Wave of Social Media Trends
Keeping up to date with the latest social media trends is a good way to stay in the moment and bolster your page’s visibility.
Depending on which platform you’re using, you’ll typically be able to see which hashtags or topics are currently trending on your home page or newsfeed. You can then work out if these trends are a suitable fit for your fundraising page and get creating some posts.
You might also want to get involved with an existing charity social media challenge or even start your own. Past ones that have been highly successful include the Ice Bucket Challenge which raised millions of pounds for ALS (motor neurone disease) charities.
Strategy 3: Sharing Impactful Stories and Updates
The Art of Storytelling
No matter what you’re using social media for, never underestimate the power of human connection. People love hearing stories, especially those that have an emotional angle that they can identify or empathise with.
Fundraising for a particular charity? Why not share some stories about who that charity has helped or the impact more donations could have? If you’re raising money for a specific project, share some details about how it would help improve the lives of your school’s students.
The bottom line: adding an extra element of storytelling to your posts could be what makes someone decide to interact with them instead of scrolling straight past.
Providing Regular Updates
As well as sharing stories about how fundraising can impact your school or community, it’s also important to provide your followers with regular updates. Make sure you follow up any event with a post that details what happened and how much you raised. It’s also a good idea to share what your donations were used for, so people can see why it’s worth getting involved with future fundraisers.
Strategy 4: Engaging with Supporters
Responding to Comments and Messages
Communicating with your followers and making them feel like they’re a part of your community is a crucial social media strategy. As well as getting people to like your posts, you should try to reply to any comments people write (even if it’s just a simple acknowledgement) and always check your direct messages.
People may want to know more about a certain event you’re hosting or even just praise your work. Answering them efficiently and in a friendly manner will help create a solid social media community that continuously engages with your content and, ultimately, contributes to your PTA fundraising.
Encouraging User-Generated Content
Another brilliant way to engage with your supporters is to encourage them to share their own content. You could prompt followers to post about their fundraising efforts or ask them to offer up suggestions for any future events. The social media poll function is perfect for this.
Why not also encourage any followers who have taken part in one of your PTA fundraisers to share photos and then tag you in them? This will instantly boost your visibility and hopefully gain you a few new followers who may also like to donate or get involved with future events.
Strategy 5: Promoting Easyfundraising on Social Media
Highlighting the Ease of Donating with easyfundraising
In addition to posting about fundraising events you’re hosting, why not use social media to promote easyfundraising? After all, using our site offers an easy way to increase your donations – and it really couldn’t be quicker to set up.
First things first, you’ll need to visit easyfundraising and create a page for your school. You can then put together a simple post that encourages your followers to:
- Hop over to the easyfundraising site and click on the ‘Find a Cause’ tab at the top of the page.
- Type in the school’s name. Once they’ve found it, they can sign up to support your cause.
- Next, all they need to do (when prompted) is download the easyfundraising plugin onto their web browser.
- The plugin will then automatically pop up every time they shop with one of our participating brands (and there are thousands of them!).
- If they successfully make a purchase, the store/brand will donate a portion of the proceeds straight into your school’s easyfundraising pot.
It’s a nice idea to make a short post on how easyfundraising works and why it’s 100% worth your followers joining. Alternatively, you could just post a link to our ‘How It Works’ page which is packed with easy-to-digest information.
Regularly Sharing easyfundraising Links
Now your followers are aware of easyfundraising, it’ll be vital to regularly share links to the site and prompts about how to use it for their online shopping. You could also provide a few examples of popular brands we partner with – we bet many of them are ones they shop with already.
Giving your posts a seasonal spin can also enhance engagement. Summer coming up? Suggest people sign up for easyfundraising before they book their family holiday. They’ll also love hearing about how we’ve partnered with several supermarkets. This means they can do their weekly food shop while raising money for a good cause.
To entice as many people as possible to sign up, remember to regularly post how much money your easyfundraising pot has raised. People are much more likely to participate if they see how much of a difference it can make.
Harnessing Social Media for PTA Fundraising
Reckon social media could be a fantastic tool for your school’s fundraising efforts? So do we! When used in the right way, it can really help spread awareness and ensure your PTA gets the most donations possible for any events you organise.
Using lots of hashtags, posting regular updates, sharing thought-provoking stories and actively engaging with your followers are just a handful of tried-and-tested strategies that could benefit your profile and boost your presence in the social media world. It’s also a wonderful tool for getting the word out about easyfundraising and how it can effortlessly help you raise more money for your PTA.
Craving a little inspiration for your next big school event? Check out our PTA fundraising guide that’s jam-packed with ideas – and don’t forget to promote whatever you choose to do on your social media pages!