We can help you with your nonprofit’s Instagram campaign. Our team of experts can manage some, most or all of your social media campaign. We have services to suit you. Contact Lara Spence Web Design.
We loved this recent post inspiration from Wild Apricot, a very fantastic membership platform we use (it’s different from WordPress, and has features specifically for membership sites/groups who have memberships, events, blogs, member-only areas and such. Here’s our fave bits of their post and ideas:
The Top 7 Instagram Best Practices for Nonprofits
1. Make a Business Profile
Here are a few of the advantages to choosing a Business profile over a Personal one:
- You can add “Nonprofit” to your bio
- You can have access to more advanced analytics, like number of impressions and reach
- You can add a phone number, email and location, so it’s easy to get in contact with you
- You can create Instagram ads
- You can make a Donate button to add to stories (more on this later)
It’s simple to switch — just click on the gear icon in your bio and then Tap on the Switch to Business Profile option.
2. Connect Instagram and Facebook
Once you’ve switched to a Business profile, you’ll be able to link your Instagram and Facebook pages.
This
is yet another advantage of a Business profile, because it means you
can then run ads on both platforms simultaneously and see how they
perform.
You can also see who follows you on one platform and not the other, and ask them to add you on both.
This way, if you’re sharing different content on each platform, they’ll stay updated no matter where you share.
3. Include a Link in Your Bio
Sometimes the caption of a photo just isn’t quite enough to tell the story you want.
And
since you can’t click links in Instagram posts, the space in your bio
to put a link is crucial to add more details and to get more engagement
on the stories you’re sharing.
By directing your followers to check out the link in your bio, they’ll be able to further engage with your content (and more will do so than if they had to copy and paste a link from your caption into their browser).
4. See What Other Content Your Followers Like
To check it out, just go to your notifications, and swipe to the left.
This can help you see what accounts might also engage with you, or see if there are other types of content you should be testing out.
5. Tag, Tag, Tag
Did you run an event with another organization?
Do you have a sponsor you’d like to thank?
Or maybe a volunteer of the week?
Tagging them in photos on Instagram will ensure they see your post, and can help you build connections (who doesn’t love a shout-out?). Plus, the more engagement you get, the more likely your post is to show up in users’ Feeds, meaning the more likely you are to get your work in front of more people.
6. Make Use of the Donate Sticker
If
you’re sharing an appeal on your Instagram, you might as well make it
as easy as possible for your supporters to donate without even leaving
the platform.
That’s where adding a Donate Sticker to your Instagram Stories comes in.
Verified nonprofits are able to create stickers, which their supporters will be able to add to their Stories in order to raise donations for them. If you’re interested in setting this up and want a full guide, click here.
7. Use Other Apps to Edit Photos
Many creators find that using only the Instagram native editing options just don’t quite cut it.
Other photo editing apps offer much more flexibility — and different filters. Here are some good ones to try: VSCO, Lightroom , Snapseed
Eduard Klein of Spain has a great post on Best Tools for Instagram, and he confirms that VSCO and Lightroom are good choices.
Who to Target to Get the Most Likes
Once you have the basics set up, it’s time to decide: who are you hoping to target with your Instagram?
You can only start creating content that will resonate with your audience once you know exactly who you’re hoping to engage.
This is crucial because if your audience doesn’t find your content relevant, they won’t take action. For example, a lower-income audience might not be as likely to donate to your charity or nonprofit, so to combat this you could create content to tell them that even the smallest contribution counts—or that sharing their time is equally as important.
The same goes for interests. Let’s say a large chunk of your audience is very interested in sports. In that case, they’re more likely to react to your content if it includes sports-related imagery.
Also consider:
- Ages
- Demographics
- Occupations
- Interests and hobbies
How to Make the Most of Hashtags
Instagram, like Twitter, is a very hashtag-heavy platform, with many of its users searching for keywords and hashtags to find good content (or even following hashtags that they’re particularly interested in).
If you use the right amount of the right hashtags in the right places, you can end up driving a lot of traffic to your account.
In this section, I’ll show you exactly how to do each of these things.
Where to Find Relevant Hashtags For Your Account:
Many nonprofits end up including hashtags like #impact, #donations, or #nonprofit. Unfortunately, these hashtags are so generic, they end up having little to no impact.
The way I’ve seen nonprofits find success with hashtags is to first learn what hashtags their target audience is already using.
For example, a writing association might include the hashtag #amwriting, which is widely used and searched for by aspiring writers.
To find your target audience on Instagram, simply type in some relevant search items into Instagram’s search and see what pops up. You’ll quickly discover common trends in hashtag usage, which can help you decide which ones to use for your account.
The Perfect Amount of Hashtags to Use
This a highly debated subject. Studies show it’s best to keep your hashtags between 5 and 10 per post.
The Best Place to Include Your Hashtags
Using hashtags in your caption often clutters your description and call to action and can actually put people off.
The better option is to put your hashtags in a comment, like Water for People does, a non-profit aiming to bring clean water all over the globe. Here’s an example of how this looks.
The Best Way to Find Hashtag Success
From what I’ve seen, the nonprofits that continuously experiment with hashtags learn how to generate the most success from Instagram.
One great way to experiment with hashtags is to keep a few different (but similar) hashtags on rotation to see how using them affects your results.
Likewise, try different numbers of hashtags per post; you might reach more people and get more engagement if you use fewer or more than 8 hashtags.
If you’d like to experiment with more than just hashtags on your Instagram account, check out this list of 10 of the best Instagram tools to help you analyze your results and reach more people to greater success.
Eduard Klein also recommends these best tools for finding Instagram hashtags>>
How to Schedule Your Posts
You don’t need to write and create each and every post months in advance, but putting together a content plan or social media calendar for your Instagram strategy helps in many ways. Including having time to create a well thought-out post. Consider these when creating your calendar:
- How often will you post? There’s a ton of content being shared on Instagram every minute, so if you want your content to reach your audience, you’ll need to post new updates frequently — preferably several times daily.
- What times will you post? Research shows that the best posting times for nonprofits are during weekdays in the afternoon. However, the best way to find what works for your nonprofit is to experiment. Post updates at different times to see how they affect your results, especially if you have a global audience.
- What important dates are coming up? Are you running any campaigns in the next few months, or do you have an important event organized? Make a note of these in your calendar to make sure you create the right content when it’s needed.
What to Post to Maximize Succes
IGers love quotes
“IGers” are what people who use Instagram are commonly referred to — and one thing they absolutely love are quotes.
Whether it’s something inspirational, something motivational, or simply something to put a smile on people’s faces, quotes get a lot of engagement.
Even better is when you can relate that particular quote to your cause. TWLOHA, a nonprofit helping depressive and suicidal people, often uses quotes to inspire their audience. Here’s an example that got over 5,000 likes.
If your nonprofit hasn’t tried creating quotes for instagram yet, an app that makes it easy to do so is called ImageQuote.
Don’t be all about business, all the time
Sometimes, to get people’s attention and get them involved, it helps to post some fun content – just to help you reach more of your target audience and hopefully keep them around for longer, so that they get involved in your nonprofit.
Behind the scenes pics and videos
Another way to attract people’s attention and get them to engage is to post more candid behind the scenes shots.
This can be anything from the prep you’re doing for a campaign, or your volunteers hard at work – whatever interesting is happening in the backstage, share it with your audience.
How to Get Your Fans and Followers More Involved
User generated content (UGC) can be an extremely effective form of spreading awareness of your nonprofit.
And best of all? You’re getting your most loyal fans involved as well.
The way it works is simple; first, create a branded hashtag for your campaign (try to keep it short, self-explanatory, and make sure it includes your nonprofits’ name), then ask your followers to take pictures using your branded hashtags and following your instructions on what images you want.
You can then feature the best pictures and videos on your account; and not only are you getting some awesome free content, but you’re also making a difference in spreading the word.
What’s the Deal With Instagram Stories?
Instagram Stories are a great way to share content instantly.
Since they’re shared at the top of users’ feeds when they first open the app, they’re a great way to get more engagement — and since they disappear after 24 hours, you’re free to experiment with different content a lot more freely than you are with posts in your Feed.
Plus, as I mentioned before, verified nonprofits can add a Donate button — what’s not to love?
Instagram Stories can include GIFs, polls, and many other stickers — as well as hashtags, tags, and locations like standard feed posts.
The Secret to Success on Instagram
While you can gain a lot of success from the strategies I covered in this post, and from following best practices like:
- Post new content consistently to keep your audience engaged
- Use hashtags strategically to reach a wider audience and gain more engagement on your posts
- Diversify your content to keep followers interested and engaged
- Post Stories as often as you can so that followers stay in the loop
View the full original article, including many more images, examples and content on the Wild Apricot Website.
Wild Apricot provides easy membership management software to nonprofit’s just like yours. Membership managment, event registration, online payments, an email system, website builder and mobile solutions all made seamless so you can focus on other aspects of your business. Wild Apricot is both powerful and affordable, with monthly pricing plans and a free ad-supported version.
We have used and highly recommend Wild Apricot!
We Can Help You With Your Nonprofit’s Instagram Campaign!
Contact Lara Spence Web Design in Vancouver, BC
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