Influencer Marketing for Nonprofits: Advice from Neal Schaffer
Beth Hammock follows up on her appearance on Neal Schaffer's podcast "Your Digital Marketing Coach" with a conversation focused on influencer marketing and nonprofit social media strategy.
A great nonprofit social media strategy will buoy your organization to new heights in 2024. Nonprofit social media showcases the voices of your supporters and the people you serve. Social is a vital tool for influencer marketing, one of the most effective marketing trends this decade.
Large organizations like Shriners Hospitals for Children illustrate how to touch hearts with influencer marketing. Take Kaleb-Wolf Torres, the patient featured in TV commercials and on social media, who tells his story with charisma and fearless optimism. The University of Missouri School of Journalism, my alma mater, is doing a great job with students as influencers.
Sharing the voices of influencers in your nonprofit social media, no matter the size of your organization, will strengthen your brand and engage prospects. My favorite digital marketing coach, Neal Schaffer, generously agreed to help us better use social media on my vlog "Nonprofit Marketing Bootcamp: All Digital, All Doable."
Neal Schaffer interview with Beth Hammock
Influencer marketing is about establishing relationships, turning fans into influencers and leveraging that influence to share your message in a more credible and authentic way,” Neal Schaffer says.
Here is a guide to finding the content you want in my 30-minute interview with Neal:
The time in the interview is listed first
3:40 Why to adopt influencer marketing
5:30 How to identify who will be your best influencers
7:45 Choosing student influencers
9:47 Engaging influencers to connect with prospects
12:00 Humanizing your organization on social media
15:30 Letting employees represent your brand
Nonprofit Social Media Strategy: Be Influential Online
One of my biggest takeaways from our conversation is having a large following on social media is critical to the success of your nonprofit.
If you were to reach out to someone and you have 100 followers versus 1,000 followers it’s just social proof, right?” Neal says. “Psychologically, that nonprofit with 100 followers may be serving way more people than a nonprofit with 1,000 followers but if someone has never heard of your nonprofit they are going to judge you by that number, it’s just human psychology.”
Neal stresses the importance of employing a savvy nonprofit social media strategy.
“That’s why I think it’s really important that you don’t say ‘we’ll just let an intern run our social media. You think about it a little more strategically because it really is your public face.”
He continues by saying younger generations check organizations’ social media profiles before websites.
“This is not 10 years ago when we were all trying to figure this out. It’s clear the impact social media has today.”
Engaging Employees in Your Nonprofit Social Media Strategy
Your staff and volunteers ARE your brand, Neal says. Thus, they are great contributors to your influencer marketing efforts.
“Equip them with what they need to be big fans of your nonprofit, then give them a voice to share,” Neal says.”Create a mechanism for them to share.”
One mechanism is to set up a Google Voice number for staff and volunteers to call to share their experiences. Your marketing team can transcribe the message, pull a quote, and put it on a graphic with the person’s photo. Marketing staff will be creating content on behalf of your team, which is great because people don’t have time to do that.
Read more about Neal Schaffer social media strategy in his book “The Age of Influence: The Power of Influencers to Elevate Your Brand,” available on Amazon and on his website, NealSchaffer.com.