8 Strategic ideas for GivingTuesday posts on social media

Start planning your GivingTuesday posts, and aim to make your social media campaign go viral so you can reach as many new potential supporters as possible.

Last year, a record number of people donated to causes and nonprofit organisations on GivingTuesday, the Tuesday that follows Thanksgiving. GivingTuesday Data Commons estimates that 35 million adults in the U.S. participated in GivingTuesday 2021 — a 6% increase over the previous year — by giving time, money, items, and more. That’s a lot of generosity!

We’re only a few short months away from GivingTuesday 2022, and it’s a great opportunity to get a big boost in traffic — if you’re prepared. Will this be the year that you take full advantage of social media engagement to grow your following?

To run a successful GivingTuesday campaign, it’s critical to start planning and preparing at least a month in advance. A donation page and a supporter journey with automated emails will serve as the foundation of your digital marketing plan, but to really make the most of this giving day, you’ll need a comprehensive and clear social media strategy.

In this article, we’ll break down the fundamentals and go over several different kinds of GivingTuesday posts you’ll need for this big year-end fundraising campaign. If you’re trying to figure out how your organisation can get in on the year’s biggest global day of generosity, you’re definitely in the right place!

Strategise Your GivingTuesday Posts

The ultimate goals of your social media strategy for GivingTuesday are to catch the attention of your community, make them aware of your campaign, and get them excited to take action. You’ll want to understand the reasons that people give so your campaign can appeal to those reasons directly.

According to the GivingTuesday organisation, the top three reasons people give their money or time are to make a difference, because they have a personal connection to a cause, and because they’re giving “with their heart rather than their heads.” For instance, someone might give to a mutual aid fund after a tragedy because they feel for the people affected.

Your GivingTuesday social media posts should stem from a larger strategy. Start with these three tactics:

1. Optimise Your Content

This is about speaking to different segments of your audience, working in the right messages at each point in their supporter journey, and scheduling enough GivingTuesday posts throughout the day to reach your fundraising goals.

• Leave room in your strategy for posting and interacting in real time.
• Make sure there’s a link to your donation page front and centre; pin posts with a direct call to action to the top of your profile.
• Vary the calls to action in your posts throughout the day: Ask for donations and also remind people to share your posts, follow you, tag their friends, and interact in other ways.
• Schedule posts for every hour of the day during hours that your audience is awake to keep your feed moving while you engage with your audience and like and comment on their posts in real time.

2. Optimise for the Platform

While it’s a good idea to repurpose content, you’ll miss a lot of opportunities if you use the exact same posts on multiple social media platforms — instead, aim to tweak your posts a little for each platform. Besides different specifications for image and video sizes, file types, character count, and link sharing, each platform also has a unique algorithm that rewards different kinds of content.

• Use hashtag #GivingTuesday across all platforms and research what other relevant hashtags are being used on each platform.
• Take the time to find and use the correct handles when tagging partners, volunteers, and other profiles in your posts and comments.
• Draw more attention to your profile by planning to go live on GivingTuesday.
• Keep branding consistent across social media channels by using standard fonts, colours, and logos.

3. Promote With Paid Ads

Paid ads are the secret weapon in your social media toolkit that can multiply your success. As long as you set them up carefully to target your nonprofit’s specific audience, you’re guaranteed to get your campaign in front of existing followers, new donors that are likely to become big fans, or both.

• Target your ad to your specific audience.
• Spend more on your ad during peak hours.
• Include hashtag #GivingTuesday in the ad copy.
• Use the call to action “Donate now.”

Post Something Worth Sharing

Content that goes viral is entertaining on its own, which means that audiences are more likely to engage and share with their friends. Before the big day, build a stockpile of videos, images, infographics, memes, and other assets that could create a strong reaction.

• Make the best use of statistics, testimonials, photos, and other assets that showcase the impact that your organisation has.
• Tell a story in your caption and include a link to your donation form in every post. On Instagram, add the link to your bio.
• Assess each piece of content by asking yourself, “Would people still share it even if it wasn’t supporting a good cause?”

GivingTuesday Post Examples

Here it is, what you’ve been waiting for — examples of GivingTuesday posts! Customise your posts to speak to different segments of your audience at different times of the day on GivingTuesday. How will your appeal use different wording to speak to new donors, as opposed to members or past supporters?

Here are eight different kinds of posts you should make for GivingTuesday:

1. Countdown to Your Campaign

Promoting your GivingTuesday campaign ahead of time is just as important as your GivingTuesday posts on the actual day. Tell your followers to save the date, share the concept of your campaign, and highlight anything your community should look out for, like social media takeovers, giveaways or anything time-sensitive. Build up the excitement and increase your posting frequency as you get closer to GivingTuesday.

Start collecting email addresses during the countdown by linking to a landing page in social media posts and your Instagram bio. On the day of the campaign, update the link to go to your donation page.

Example Post

Do your Thanksgiving week plans include #givingback? On #GivingTuesday, we’ll be collecting donations for @LGBTQFamilyMutualAid — and we’ve got a great team of sponsors lined up to match your donations during peak hours! Keep an eye out for more announcements and info about how to participate. #GivingTuesdayLGBTQ #LinkInBio

2. Illustrate Your Impact

Tell your audience what’s going to happen with the money you raise on GivingTuesday. Include quotes and videos from people your organisation has helped in the past.

Example Post

Every dollar we raise on #GivingTuesday will go to our mutual aid fund supporting LGBTQ families fighting for adoption and custody rights in court. Legal fees for just one case begin at $3,000. Can your family support another by committing to raise $3,000 together? Click the link to find out how to get involved. #GivingTuesdayMutualAid

3. Sweeten the Deal

Let your community know about any incentives or donation matching opportunities in GivingTuesday posts. You’ll create a bit of urgency to encourage people to make their donations early and bring in a few extra dollars during peak hours.

Example Post

Has your family accepted the challenge to raise $3,000 for an LGBTQ family in need on #GivingTuesday? @SchmidtHoldingsLLC has generously agreed to match donations to our mutual fund that come in from noon to 1:00 p.m. Set a reminder now so you can #DoubleYourDonation!

4. Make the Ask

Once you’ve grabbed your audience’s attention, you need to get them to follow through and take action. Include at least a few posts throughout the day with a direct ask for donations.

Example Post

36 teams have accepted the challenge to raise $3,000 today, which will cover the basic legal fees for an LGBTQ family fighting for adoption or custody rights. How many of them will succeed? Get to know them and choose a team to support before 11:59 p.m.

5. Share Your Progress

Post at key times throughout the day or when you hit major milestones. Consider including a fundraising thermometer for visual impact.

Example Post

Our family fundraising teams are doing incredible work today! They raised $8,025 in just the last hour, and @SchmidtHoldingsLLC has generously agreed to double that amount for a total of $16,500! That brings us to $48,500, close to 50% of the way to our total goal amount of $108,000! There are just 12 hours left to give, so do us a favour and help us reach more people by sharing this post.

Thank you for your support, and happy #GivingTuesday!

6. Shout Out to Star Donors

Tagging outstanding donors makes them feel appreciated and shows your community that other people are giving to your campaign. Create image and caption templates for these GivingTuesday posts so you can plug in pictures and details on the day of.

Example Post

We’re steadily working our way to the big goal of $108,000 for LGBTQ families, and we just got a major boost from @GeorgeWilson! He donated $1,000 to Team Nelson through their donation page. Thank you, George! #GoTeamNelson

7. Partner With Influencers

Social media partnerships are a great way to grow your donor base and to spread the word about matched giving opportunities and other incentives. Ask a local celebrity or a sponsor to do a social media takeover for an hour or two on GivingTuesday. Or you can ask sponsors to share your campaign and give them posts to copy and paste so you know they’re sending the right message to their social networks.

Example Post

Surprise! It’s @JeanSchmidt, CEO and founder of @SchmidtHoldingsLLC. We’re matching donations to @LGBTQFamilyMutualAid for the next hour, so I’m doing a social media takeover. Watch this quick video about how this organisation helped my wife and me adopt our son Leo, and let’s have some fun!

8. Spread the Love

One of the last steps of the donor’s user journey should be to spread the word to friends and family. Pro tip: Give your donors or fundraisers templates they can copy and paste for simple sharing.

Example Post

I just helped my friends the Nelsons get a little closer to their #GivingTuesday goal! They are raising $3,000 to help an LGBTQ family with legal fees — all before 11:59 p.m. Click the link and join me in supporting them. #GoTeamNelson!

Build Your GivingTuesday Home Base on Raisely

If you get the word out ahead of time and create a detailed promotion plan, your GivingTuesday will go by faster than you can say “philanthropy”! It’s worth your time to do as much preparation in advance as possible.

When you create your donation page on Raisely, you get access to some special gadgets for your social media toolkit. Use our social sharing feature to configure exactly what your link and text will look like when someone decides to tweet or share it. Our Facebook login integration makes it simple for supporters to sign up in just a few clicks, and you can track ad conversion on Facebook with Facebook pixel.

Each of your GivingTuesday posts should lead your followers to a clear next step. Raisely helps you create one unified experience, from social media to your donation form, email templates, and more. Create your free Raisely account now to start exploring!