For not-for-profit (NFP) organisations that don’t already use social media, it may seem like engaging with it would take up too much time. However social media is a valuable and low-cost branding and marketing opportunity that your organisation cannot afford to miss. Here are a few guidelines that will help your organisation use time effectively and improve its overall social media strategy.

Frequency

Social media posts should occur approximately one to three times per day, with at least two hours in between each post, unless there is an urgent news item that will help deliver marketing objectives and attract attention to your organisation.

Tone

The tone of content that you post on social media platforms will depend on your organisation, the nature of each post and the forum in which your organisation is posting, but consistency in tone is very important for developing your NFP’s social media presence. Stakeholders respond well to messages that are informative, frequent, reactive and positive regarding your organisation’s cause.

Schedule content

The time demands of social media are a legitimate concern. To mitigate the risk of spending too much time in comparison to return on engagement, your organisation can schedule posts using a free or paid online scheduler. Scheduling posts saves a lot of time as it only takes approximately ten minutes to schedule posts for one week as opposed to five minutes per day.

Keep in mind that time expenditure will always be higher when establishing a new profile but over time your organisation will be able to maintain a social media account with little input.

Engage with others

Listen to what others are saying about key developments in the area your organisation is involved in – monitor key words and phrases and actively participate in online conversations to attract greater attention to your NFP. This can be done by replying or re-posting something interesting that a key influencer has posted.

Time targets

Daily

Expect to spend approximately five to ten minutes per day responding to any messages, tags or mentions on social media, and tracking real-time feedback on your organisation. It’s important to be aware of any positive or negative mentions, especially if they require an immediate response.

Weekly

Expect to spend approximately 10–15 minutes per week scheduling posts for the week. Note down any upcoming events or major news items that your organisation could be actively involved in online.

Monthly

Expect to spend approximately 30–60 minutes each month monitoring the effectiveness of your organisation’s social media platforms. Check the statistics for traffic driven to your organisation’s website from social media; check increases in followers and fans; and measure your organisation’s social media influence against its objectives.