Social media is a way to engage audiences through ongoing conversation. It allows for viral marketing through sharing content. Major platforms include Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. While fundraising results may not be immediately measurable, social media can be used as a tool to connect with potential donors by building long-term relationships and listening to audiences. Demographics show the largest user bases are ages 35-54 on Facebook and those earning over $60,000 on LinkedIn and Twitter. Short-term plans will have minimal impact, so focus on consistent engagement over time.

1. Social Media
Major Gifts and Annual Giving
Tu-Anh Pham
Web Author

2. What is it?
• A conversation
• Way to engage with your audience
• Ongoing
• Viral marketing
– “Word of mouse”
– Copying and pasting
• Transparent

3. Conversation Prism – Brian Solis

4. Facebook
• If Facebook was a country, it would be the
8th most populated in the world, just
ahead of Japan. – Mark Zuckerberg
• 5 billion: Amount of minutes spent on
Facebook in a day
• 1 billion: Amount of content shared a week
on Facebook

7. Facebook Pages

8. Twitter
• 3 million: Avg number of tweets sent/day
• Followers, Replies, Retweets
• Constant conversation
• Promote traffic to website
• See what your audience is really thinking
• To the point

9. search.twitter.com

10. Social Media is About …
Listening

11. Get Involved and Let Go
• Don’t just talk about yourself. Ask
questions, engage people and link to
interesting sites, articles, etc.
• You cannot control the message
• You have to be honest and authentic

12. “Controlling the message is
not the answer. Learning to
use the new tools responsibly
within your organization is.”
- Charlotte Regional Partnership

13. Fundraising
• Use of social media is not the point
• Building relationships is
• Social media is a tool to connect you with
potential donors, sponsors, etc.

14. Fish Where the Fish Are
• Determine where your audience is
• Once you have your audience’s
attention, approach prospective
donors in “traditional” ways
(private meetings, grant
proposals, etc.) – and then secure
major gifts

15. Facebook Demographics
• Facebook’s largest user group is aged 35-
54 (it once was 18-24)
• Facebook 55+ users grew from 950,000 to
5,900,000 in only 6 months
(iStrategyLabs, January, 2010)

16. LinkedIn Demographics
• 37% of users are between 35-49
• 31% of users are older than 50
• 27% of users are between 18-34
• 38% of users make more than $100k
• 31% of users make between $60-100k
(Quantcast.com, 2010)

17. Twitter Demographics
• 45% of users are between 18-34
• 24% of users are between 35-49
• 30% of users have an income of over
$100k
• 28% of users makes between $60-100k
(Quantcast.com, 2010)

18. Long Term
• Short-term plans will result in minimum
donations and results
• Don’t expect immediate, easily measurable
results. It takes time to build trust and
make connections.

19. “No time…”
• Do not have to spend all day on it
• Have third-party tools open to follow the
conversation
• TweetDeck, HootSuite, etc.

21. Go Play and Explore