Social Media Gifts for Fundraising: 3 Methods to Boost Your Strategy with Promotional Gifts.

Social media is the taking over as the place for fundraisers looking to generate interest, conversation and increase engagement with their cause. It is the ideal platform for communicating with supporters, potential and existing. Twitter, Facebook and Google+ are among many of the online tools now at your disposal. However, social media is yet to make other forms of traditional marketing obsolete and focusing your efforts on an interconnected strategy is imperative to success. The promotional gifts industry is well recognized in the fundraising sector but there are new ways it can be utilized with modern marketing tools.

In a study by the BPMA they found that promotional gifts can increase visibility more than most other forms of promotion.

84% of respondents agreed that a branded promotional gift increased brand awareness with 66% saying they could remember the brand printed to a product from a previous year”

“87% of recipients stated they have kept a promotional gift for longer than a year”

So, how can this enhance your fundraising strategy? Here are 3 unique benefits that promotional gifts can offer a social media campaign:

1: Engage Your Campaign Managers

Social media can help you personalize your charity or cause. It gives it a face and humanizes the people behind the project. People are intrinsically found to react more favorably if they feel they have developed a more personal relationship.  Platforms like Facebook and Twitter give you the opportunity to do this by interacting on a social level.

• Develop additional Twitter and Google+ accounts for your campaign managers and encourage them to interact on your Facebook page. It is a way for supporters to engage directly with the people behind the cause, ask questions and get valuable conversations started about what you stand for. Raise awareness of this service by printing the social media handles to business cards, email signatures and letterheads.
• Use online search facilities like Twilerts and Google Alerts to find out who is talking about your charity. Find out who is engaging and get in contact with them. If they are talking about you; the odds are they might want to donate or get involved.

2: Hashtag Promotion

Hashtags are used to track topics and trends on social media platforms. They were commercialized by Twitter, but are also found on Google+ and Instagram. By clicking on words or phrases proceeded by the # sign you can find what other users are talking about. They are great for finding out who is directly engaging with your campaign.

• Choose imaginative hashtags to generate discussion about your campaign. Puns and alliteration work particularly well; ensure they are a phrase that is easy to remember and people will keep using it.
• Hashtags are great for generating engagement with fundraising events. Use them in the lead-up to inform people about what is happening on the day, and during the event to announce trending concerns and discussions.
• Include the hashtag on your promotional giveaways. These can be printed to items for mail-outs, saleable gifts and uniforms; a visual prompt for people to join the debate.  

3: QR Codes

QR codes are a square barcode which direct users to a website, social media page or blog. They can be printed to an abundance of materials. A user has to scan a QR code with a modern smart phone using one of the many apps available.

• These useful codes can be printed alongside your fundraising details to promotional gifts for your campaign. They can be printed to plastic, paper and more with popular items including pens, t-shirts and mugs.
• Encourage recipients to donate online, by directing them to websites like Just Giving. This increases the length of your campaign as people will be able to use the QR code long after any event you host.

Bio

Steel City Marketing is a promotional gifts company situated in the heart of Sheffield. They provide inventive marketing packages to small and large clients across the UK. With over ten years in the business, they are confident in their ability to infuse your marketing campaign with fresh ideas and drive forward your intended aims to success. They can be found tweeting such advice @SteelCityM.