Last week, Facebook hosted their Friday For Good (FFG) Non-Government Organisation (NGO) Summit across Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning. With the summit, Facebook aims to support charities across the EMEA region, and Friday for Good is a new monthly incubator program that runs across EMEA, designed to support local NGOs/charities to allow them to get the most from the Facebook platform in a practical way.
The annual summit was therefore an opportunity for Facebook to get industry leaders and various charity and agency people together to give best practice support to NGOs ahead of the holiday fundraising season. The event was also an opportunity for NGOs to share insights and experiences from 2020, which for many has been a more challenging year, and Facebook had invited speakers from varies charities to discuss their challenges and actionable recommendations on how to ensure nonprofits can pivot to our new and more virtual world.
All Response Media viewpoint
There was a lot of info shared over the three days, but we wanted to summarise the most relevant sessions and actions:
A new climate for charities post COVID
Half of people are less likely to spend time in physical stores in H2 2020 and more people are re-thinking their shopping habits – which create great opportunities for online fundraising:
- Facebook studies show that more people are willing tosupport new causes during the Christmas period, so your target audiences can therefore be much broader.
- Be authentic, as 47% of users said they’ve switched charity/cause because they felt a charity went against their personal values.
- Review normal proposition and how/if it can be repurposed for the holiday season– and if there is specific work within your charity that might resonate with people and encourage them to support during the holiday season.
Facebook best practice for giving season
As a lot of charities tend to have events in the lead up to Christmas, a key recommendation is to look at how you can turn traditional physical events into online events:
- Marketing is key and to start early, so your followers and potential target audience know a specific event is happening– this can be done via Facebook where you can create and promote groups with lead gen campaigns.
- Opportunity to schedule recurring events on Facebook and sell tickets directly on your Facebook page.
- Utilise Facebook Messenger to connect with potential donorsand a key recommendation is to be responsive and authentic to gain trust; as everything now is online, this is the only way to connect with your followers and target audience.
- Partner with local community leaders and/or influencers (specifically for a fundraising event) – and get relevant influencers to promote your cause (ARM canconnect).
- Incentivise giving, encourage sharing (like, comment, and show appreciation of donations)
- Utilise Facebook Live with Donate.
Creative best practices with Vidmob
Vidmob is a leading creative analytics platform, who create pro-bono creatives for NGOs (ARM can connect) – and some of their main recommendations for creative:
- Utilise multiple creative assets and video tend to perform well by telling a story– and make sure to present your call to action (CTA) at the start of the video.
- Define who you/the ad is helping and then reinforce the end with a final CTA.
- Stir emotions by using impactful visuals(show, don’t tell) – and use before and after shots.
- Avoid videos being overly cluttered with content and make them easy on the eye.
- Create a visual hierarchy and use it to highlight the most important information.
- Be clear and concise – potentially write down the objective and ensure the video focuses on that objective(Don’t try and cram anything else in)!
- Know your audience and understand what they like/respond to (from previous tests).
- Ensure your charity has a clear and defined purpose – and be unique/stand out from competitors.
- Contact the ARM client team for more info on the pro-bono creative support from Vidmob.
- Thecharity must be aligned with the UN’s sustainable development goals.
The above is a summary but we are happy to expand on each area – and please don’t hesitate to reach out to your ARM client team for more information.
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