When it comes to user involvement, Instagram outshines all other social networks. Forester recently researched the interaction of users on social networks with nonprofit brand messages and found out that in the case of Instagram, the engagement rate is 4.21% much higher than its competitors.

Instagram is not just a social network but also a tool with which you can design the image of your organization. More than 86% of the largest companies use Instagram to promote their products.

“I would very much like for nonprofits to remember that the main thing in social media is visual content. People can perceive visual information 60,000 times faster than text, so it is important for your message on social networks to contain a suitable, eye-catching image.” Brian Honigman, Digital Marketing Executive, Marc Ecko Enterprises.

We analyzed the most successful ways to promote a nonprofit on Instagram and in today’s article, we would like to highlight some important tips that will help you to effectively promote your projects, ideas and your organization as a whole on this social network.

Bio information. Start by filling out the profile information.

  • Upload a photo/logo of your organization
  • Add information about the activities of your organization and the goals that you pursue
  • Try to formulate ideas concisely and clearly
  • Put a link to the organization website

Profile activity

Pay attention to privacy settings since your publications should be available to all users.

Decide how often you will make publications. For example, ‘Charity: water’ makes posts once a day, and Robin Hood Foundation between two-three times a week, posting a few photos at once. The most favorable time for posts is 8.00 – 11.00 morning traffic jams on the way to work; 13.00 – 15.00 lunch break; 20.00 – 00.00 idleness after work/studies. Timing is what nonprofit marketing is all about.

Set up an automatic integration of photos from Instagram to Facebook and other social networks, so more users will learn about your organization.

Posts containing at least one hashtag show a 12.6% increase in user engagement according to Simply Measured. Do not use many hashtags, though, as the optimal number is 2-3. They can indicate, for example, the name of your nonprofit, some event and much more.

Develop unique messaging for your social media accounts; the vocabulary and visuals should be presented in unified style. This will increase the visibility of your profile.

Post reports on activities and promotions of your organization. Try to visualize the values and mission of the organization and express them through social media for nonprofits. This can be done by presenting facts and statistics on the problematic topics that the company is dealing with in the form of some extensive post or even a paper. If necessary, you can get you can get help with writing paper here.

Do not use banned hashtags

Instagram actively censors and blocks a huge list of hashtags. The list of banned hashtags is dynamic, so new ‘questionable’ terms are constantly added to it. This is attributed to inappropriate images that began to appear there, to which corresponding hashtags were attached. Thus, the Instagram team is working hard on introducing some new regulations.

The easiest way to detect a banned hashtag is to check whether it is displayed in the ‘Recommended’ and ‘Recent’ sections. If the hashtag is temporarily suspended or banned, Instagram displays only a few top messages and will delete all the recent messages.

Use less popular hashtags to market your nonprofit more efficiently

When it comes to the use of Instagram for nonprofits, it can be very tempting to list the most popular hashtags, such as #goodcause, #love, etc., to the description of your posts. These hashtags are used by millions of users, which means that these will not greatly influence the promotion of your account long-term. You need targeted hashtags that will stimulate more attention and help you sparkle some interest in your nonprofit.

INK361 is a free tool that you can use to find less popular but more promising hashtags that will give you long-term growth in the popularity of your Instagram account.

Run some giveaways

Running a giveaway is an excellent way to get new followers, increase nonprofit organization awareness, and connect with like-minded people. However, before you start coming up with an idea for a giveaway, make sure that you set a goal and stick to it.

As with every advertising campaign, the success of a giveaway is dependent on how thoroughly you plan things out. In order for a giveaway to go smoothly, you need to consider such factors as finding the right cause for the contest, hashtags, gifts (prizes) and much more. Thorough preparation is required to make sure that people view your organization as reputable and trustworthy.

One Response to “5 Ways Nonprofits Can Market on Instagram”

  1. Justin March

    Great article, inspiring relevant usernames are also important. But sometimes its difficult for a business to get an Instagram name that matches their startup. You can add phrases like Get… Try… etc. to get a close match username that pops.

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