Using social media

The role each social channel plays in crowdfunding

Each social channel offers a different experience. This means you should use each channel in different ways. If you publish the same content on every social channel, there is no incentive for people to follow you on more than one channel.  

Here’s how each social channel can serve your users:

• Facebook: to engage, converse, share, and spark direct action.
• Instagram: to inspire, show, curate, create FOMO, update, tell stories on the daily.
• YouTube: to showcase your content.
• Pinterest: the place to plan.
• LinkedIn: to connect, share and show thought leadership.
• TikTok: to entertain.

Each social channel has its challenges.

Facebook 

• Young people are not as engaged.
• Most business results are achieved with paid advertising.
• Facebook News Feed Algorithm limits reach and changes frequently.

Instagram

• Not everyone has a public profile
• No clickable URLs in post captions
• Can get ‘lost in the feed’

PRO TIP: Use more than one social channel. Choosing social media channels to market your art isn’t just about what you like. When you’re thinking about which social media channels to use, ask yourself which channels your audience use. Wherever your audience is, you should be.

How often should you post?

Depending on the scale of your campaign, you’ll either be posting on social media a few times a week and at key milestones, or you’ll be pushing out content multiple times a day.
When you’re executing a large campaign, on a typical day you might post:

• An update on campaign happenings (events, talks, promos etc.) or a project update or a supporter message, or a live video.
• A call to action to give.
• A thank you to givers that day.

Keep the energy up with lots of posts, but don’t spam people. Only share when you have something worth saying.

When planning your content remember the 80/20 rule. 80% of your content should entertain and inspire. Only 20% should sell. This is tough when you’re asking for money every day, and you probably won’t be able to stick to this golden ratio, but use it as an aide-memoire to make your content as fun as you can.

When you run a crowdfunding campaign, you need to come up with fresh ways to ask for money for 40 days. Check out the article on planning your campaign content for inspiration and plan your content in advance using a social media calendar.

Boosting your posts

Social algorithms limit your reach, meaning that not all your social followers see all your posts. Social media is now an advertising platform that allows you to target promotions with enormous precision. But there are still things you can do to increase your organic reach without paying.

• If you have a personal Facebook or Instagram account, consider switching these to business accounts in order to access publishing tools and reporting insights. Here’s a guide to tackling this on Instagram.
• Check your security settings and make sure your posts can be shared publicly. If you’re privacy is important to you, you can revert to your old settings after the campaign, but crowdfunding isn’t a time to be a shrinking violet.
• Always reply to questions and comments on your posts.
• Ask more questions when you reply to comments. These encourage conversations in your comment thread and social media algorithms reward conversation by making your posts visible to more people.
• Post your most important content when most people are online. If you have a business account on Facebook, you can find this information under ‘Insights’.
• When you mention people, arts organisations or businesses in your posts, tag them so that they know you’ve mentioned them. You’re more likely to get shares this way.
• Do some research. Are there relevant Facebook Groups that you should assert yourself into as a thought leader?
• When you post, use the conversation sandwich. Before and after you post, browse some of the important accounts you’ve identified, liking, commenting on and sharing their content. This increases the likelihood that they’ll share your content in return.

You could consider having a small budget for boosting key social posts. You don’t have to spend a fortune. A little money can help ensure that all your followers see your content and that their friends and followers see it too.

What if you don’t have a social community of your own?

If you don’t have a social media presence, this is going to be harder for you. Not impossible, but harder. 
We recommend teaming up with people or organisations who do have a strong social following and asking them to set up your crowdfunding campaign as a Facebook event. Then you can post updates to that event.

You’re also going to need to encourage people and organisations who do have a social following to spread the word.

How to encourage your crowd to spread the word on social

Before and during your crowdfunding campaign, become more active on social media. Identify the artists, arts organisations, community groups and local businesses you want to help spread the word. Follow them on social and make time every day to like, comment on and share their content. If you’re an avid fan, they’re more likely to help you out when you need a boost.

Find out who is responsible for managing social media at each organisation and create a database of their email addresses and phone numbers.

Create a package of social media assets for these organisations to share.
Include:

• Draft copy for social posts (make it clear that they are welcome to edit).
• Images of your work or project to share.
• Social tiles with crowdfunding campaign calls to action.
• Links to existing social posts to share.

Hit these organisations up three times during your campaign.

• About a month before the campaign launches tell them about your project, its benefits and impact and say it would be amazing if they could help spread the word.
• When your campaign launches, email them a package of assets to share.
• At the beginning of the last week of the campaign, email them new assets with urgent messaging to share