How do we get our nonprofit’s supporters to retweet content?

Posted February 4, 2010

Make sharing fun and easy

One of the central benefits of social media is the ability to share content with just one or two mouse clicks. Your supporters are already sharing interesting content on Facebook. They’re retweeting it. They’re favoriting videos on YouTube as well.

All with one mouse click.

But you know all too well, that even though sharing has gotten easier, actually getting people to share can feel like pulling teeth. And when when you see other non-profits getting thousands of views on YouTube with what seems like no effort, you feel like stabbing yourself in the eye.

So how do you get people to share your content?

Five Tips On Sharing

1. Accept That Social Media Is Not Email

Having an email list of 80,000 people is a far cry from having an active, thriving community of adoring fans. The same goes for the 5,000 fans you have on Facebook, especially if they fanned your Page only for a chance at winning a free iPod (yawn). It’s all about vitality. So stop thinking so much about accumulating numbers. Instead, start thinking about nurturing the 1% who are already raving fans.

2. Understand The Powershift

If you’re thinking on some level (even subconsciously) that your job is to get people to do something, stop it. You can’t make people do anything today. Facebook, blogs and Twitter has tipped the power balance in favor of anyone with a blog who has something smart to say. The days of Mad Men are gone. Bloggers and Twitter junkies are now the new powerful media moguls. Twitter pummeled The New York Times last year. Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch have been castrated replaced by Perez Hilton.

3. Respect The Blogger

The powerful new media folks I mentioned above? Yeah, their really smart too. Respect that fact – or get your ass handed back to you. In other words, don’t hire an amateur do a mass copy-and-past blogger outreach campaign.

4. Think About How You Share

Think about the last time you shared a video on YouTube. How did you share it? Did you email it, tweet it or post it on Facebook? More importantly, why did you share it? Was it funny? Did it make you think of a specific person?

old new approach How do we get our nonprofits supporters to retweet content?

5. Give Them The Tools

Chances are you already have a growing number of supporters that talk you up at parties and on Facebook. What’s that? You don’t have a Facebook Page? Ok, fix that. In fact, optimize all your social media for sharing. And make your fundraising easy to share too.

What makes you share?

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  • Thanks John. You really left a cliff hanger there. =)

    I agree. What's that they say, "never assume...?"
  • Or you'll make an ass out of you and me... ;-)
  • John,

    Thank you for sharing these posts.

    My favorite thing here is when you say: "So stop thinking so much about accumulating numbers. Instead, start thinking about nurturing the 1% who are already raving fans."

    All too often we're stuck in the "what we haven't got mode." Focusing on the people you already have helps you more because they start bring others like them to you. Much more powerful than having a huge list of uninterested, meaningless, empty numbers.

    Thanks again, John.

    Dave
  • Dave. Thanks! Facebook and Twitter make that 1% really loud in ways
    that email never could.
  • Very true. I would say email is still important though. It's a good way to give those people something special.
  • I'd agree. What's important is
  • What?! "What's important is"...What?! =)
  • What's important is to understand the reasonspeople share.
    Board members are going down the wrong path if they simply assume to
    know what content thier supporters want to share.
  • Excellent points, John and I think there's a common thread found in each which is respect and appreciate your audience. The net has become a huge place with lots of great content being created and shared. We have to understand that people taking the time to share it within their network is the biggest compliment we can get; that we are creating something of value which can create a ripple of benefit for others.
  • Amen. "Target markets" and EDs assuming that they "know their donors
    demographics" are vestige. Whether someone shares or not is an
    extremely complex process. That's why social media is creating an "Age
    Of Wisdom" where those with the deeper people skills thrive.

    But what do I know. I'm just a guy with a blog. :-D
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