Empowering Teams: Everybody Has the Tools to Grow their Cause

Developing an effective structure for social media communications just takes a little bit of planning. Working with fundraisers on their goals and helping them develop their voice is critical to attracting the right kind of people. The goal should always be to find and seek out as intimate and devoted an audience to a cause as possible. Attracting seat-fillers is a short-term solution and just leaves the group starting from scratch the next time around.

Want to get a group of supporters on the right track? First, ask them a few simple questions, like: What do you hope to accomplish? Who would enjoy this type of event? What kind of experience do you want people to walk away with? What kind of call-to-action are you giving them? Do you have a way to keep your event-goers in the loop and bring them on board after the event has ended? What kinds of communication tools do you already have at your disposal?

Listen intently to what the group’s needs and goals are. Then work through the logistics with them. The goal is to keep them in the driver’s seat and to let them know you’ll be right by their side just in case. Make sure the goals and plans you come up with together are feasible. Many think of social media as a static page to throw up just to have a presence on a different platform. A Facebook page is NOT a website. It needs to remain up-to-date and groups need to understand the consequences of deleting a post with a complaint, for example.

Before developing anything, have the group’s point person or event organizer look through some great examples of what social media presence has been able to accomplish. Give them some no-no examples to check out as well, so they know what to avoid. Again, encourage them to create as much as possible.

Ask the group to gather several things: a list of supporters, any photos or videos that relate to the cause or event and any letters or personal stories. After going over communications materials (photos, videos, letters, etc.) together, begin to plot out how to introduce them and when. Go backwards from the event. Try to start and end with powerful pieces like personal stories and videos that pull at the heart strings. Supplement introductory pieces with basic information about the event and how to get involved. Then develop questions, calls-to-action and other feedback-inducing tactics. Emphasize the importance of being as conversational as possible.

The list of supporters is the key to growing the event and pulling people in as fellow ambassadors. As the group to identify potential thought leaders in the group and close liaisons. Extend an invitation to them to jump on board as event advocates. Try to get an idea about the other players. Kivi Leroux Miller (@kivilm) recommends breaking the supporters into several general characters, like the retired grandmother, the soccer mom, the college student and the business man, for example. Figure out what each group is interested in hearing about and try to segment this information to them if possible. If the group of supporters is relatively small, start with more general communications and break it down as you find out about each group’s interests and goals. Ideally, each person will arrive at the event knowing exactly what it is they’re going to get out of it, whether it’s friends, satisfaction in giving back or a unique experience.

Send your group out into the world to create and interact and attract and learn and grow. Establish regular meetings, in which they can come to you with questions about the process, work out the kinks, remap a route if things aren’t working and re-assess goals. As your group moves forward, remind them to think about follow-up communications and encourage developing a plan to keep event-goers on the team after the event has ended. Whether it’s an occasional email blast or a Twitter account to follow, there should be at least one way to pass along important and interesting news updates, links and calls-to-action for your group.

At the end, assess assess assess. Work with the group through what works, what didn’t work and what needs tweaking. Even if the group is very pleased with their efforts, encourage them to look back. After all, if we don’t look back, how will we know how to move forward? Keep in contact with everyone you work with on a regular basis, providing tips and relevant, personalized information. Happy customers make great allies and only in continuing to help them feel empowered can your combined efforts come to fruition.