Whenever I read the words “we should be on Snapchat!” it always makes me wince. Such a question always tells me the not for profit thinks the newest fad or trendy tool will promote their cause, make them look cool or lead a new generation of donors to their website. The question always underscores the need for a strong digital strategy which will focus first on the needs of the organization, and not the trendiest tools.
Every not-for-profit (NFP) organization needs a clear plan of how to integrate those digital tools into their organization’s culture, structure, budget, staffing and current software. New software can be exciting to use, it needs to be integrated with tools that already exist within your organization. If a digital strategy is not created, it could lead to wasted resources, wasted time and frustrated staff.
Here are steps to ensuring a strong digital strategy
1. Be prepared for more, not less work
By their very nature, digital tools demand a different way of work. Take email marketing for instance. The pros for its adoption is the ease of communicating with members and stakeholders, increase in frequency of messages, all at a much lower cost than print. And yet, as easy as it is to use, it demands new ways of thinking. Copywriting needs to be considered so the messages you send are concise. Your headlines need to be short and snappy so members are intrigued enough to click. You have to consider if you are sending at the right time. And then, you need to format your messages to work via mobile or desktop. All of a sudden, what seemed so much easier than print leads to more work, more technology and new modes of thinking about work.
2. Choose tools that work with what you already have
Even free tools come with a cost. Take Snapchat for instance. Yes, it’s free, but NFPs have to take into consideration how it works with other tools they might have such as Facebook or Twitter. It’s a more visual medium, so you need someone to prepare graphics. Then there’s training. Will this be added to current staff’s responsibilities or will new staff be hired? And if added to responsibilities, what must give way for the new tool to be effective?
Effective strategy means knowing the capabilities of each tool. For instance, ads on Facebook will draw awareness, but do not often lead users to take action, because people on Facebook are not in buying mode.
3. Manage your expectations
Digital tools are just that, tools. Knowing how to use them effectively takes time, and intense trial and effort. Even though they are new and exciting, it will still take a person 7-10 times to respond to a message, just the same as it did for traditional tools. And as users get accustomed to digital media, NFPs will have to work harder at finding means to continually keep fresh and prevent their members burnout or media fatigue. Your strategy needs to include the concept of “less is more” so your communications are just as effective without needing to overwhelm your readers.
4. You can now track what you send, but what next?
It’s often said, “you can’t track what you don’t measure”. Add to that, “you can’t improve what you measure, but then ignore.” There’s no point to measuring if your organization does not have an improvement plan in place. More often than not, it takes time, and frequent testing to improve the response to your messages. Conversion and optimization tactics, which rely on constant testing, should be added to your strategy so that improvements become a constant feature when you use digital tools.
5. Follow through with education
If a NFP’s senior staff or senior volunteers do not buy in to the new strategy, it can be very difficult for staff or volunteers to implement it effectively. They may be persuaded by an increase in users, influence or exposure. However increases don’t get rid of the fact that people don’t want to change. “The constant barrage of information available online and conveyed by the media regarding new developments in technology and the ever-increasing variety of new software and devices available today has heightened confusion about what tools one should use.”1 And with that confusion can come resistance. Education and training that focuses on the benefits are needed to ensure that senior leadership are aware of how digital tools can help the organization achieve its goals.
Having a digital strategy is essential for NFP growth. “More than 60% of nonprofits that have a formal and written engagement strategy also experienced a year-over-year growth in fundraising. In contrast, only one-quarter of those who have no plans to develop an engagement strategy plan experienced increases.”2
With digital strategy in place, any NFP can go ahead and join Snapchat – just plan for it first!
References:
1. Carolyn Appleton: Technology Adoption in the Workplace: A View from the Trenches
2. Tom Lehman: Technology as a Strategic Asset