Weekly Report

The Latest Ideas, Tips and Techniques

Welcome again ,

To the Fundraiser Buzz! Weekly Report - Dedicated to providing you with quality fundraising ideas, informative tips and techniques, the latest additions to Rewarding Fundraising Ideas, and much more!

Everything is getting a little hectic as the Out On A Limb charity expedition approaches - http://www.facebook.com/OutOnALimbSeries - and so apologies for the day late Fundraiser Buzz! What also didn't help with the timely publishing of the eZine was one of the most incredible conferences I have ever attended that took place yesterday Tuesday the 22nd May.

The IgniteSA African Renaissance "Youth" Conference in Durban absolutely blew me away. The content, the speakers, the whole event was brilliant. If those are what all South African's young leaders are like and the rest can actually follow, then South Africa definitely has a bright future!!!

Anyways let's get back to today's eZine and some advice on Growing a following through a Facebook Page.

Remember though that you may have to wait sometime for the next edition as I'm unsure of how capable I will be of publishing the Fundraiser Buzz! during the OOAL expedition through Africa.

Issue #010 - 23 May 2012

Build a Following Through Facebook:

Facebook is one of the best platforms for growing your followers and supporters. Facebook is the most used Social Network on the planet and provides an amazing platform to engage potential supporters on.

The key to Facebook is to build conversations and to be constantly engaging with your followers. You won't build a following on Facebook - Your 'fans' and the conversations you have with them, will build your following.

There are two options for getting your cause onto Facebook. Either through a 'Group' or through a 'Page'. For individual once-off fundraising causes I would recommend a group... But for an organization that wants to build an on-going relationship I'd recommend a 'Page' - In fact it's the only option you should consider!

Setting up a page is the simple part. The less simple part is actually growing your audience...

Start by inviting all your friends on Facebook to the page and get your other board members (who you may wish to make "Page Admins") to do the same. Then invite people through your other communication mediums like in your Newsletter, etc.

The next step once you have a small fan base is to continually engage and converse with your followers... and if you provide engaging material, you fans will comment, like and share it! The more they do that, the more followers you will gain! It's essentially word of mouth marketing.

You can also use Facebook Ads to promote your page and John Haydon has a great video tutorial that shows you how to setup a Facebook Ad for your page.

The most engaging content you can post will firstly be emotionally impactful stories of your organization and the great things it is doing... But the best material to share on Facebook is images (with those stories)!

Stats show that images are the most responded to material on Facebook and if you publish interesting and "story telling" images you will be well on your way to growing a strong following on Facebook.

His book, Facebook Marketing For Dummies, is also a resource I'd recommend you get if you are serious about using Facebook for your Cause!

So get your Facebook page up a running. Engage and connect with your Facebook audience... and grow that following!

Learning Resources:

Pinups are one of the most lucrative fundraising methods, but like all fundraising ideas it can be quite a complex strategy to get right...

This two part webinar by Joe Waters on "Six Figure Cause Marketing - The Power of Pinups" is going to be an incredible webinar to attend and is intended to show you exactly how to use Pinups to raise large amounts of funds!!!

I recommend your fundraiser pro or at least one of your board members registers and attends this NonProfit Training webinar!!!

Other then the above webinar there's one other I'd like to recommend for those organizations interested in fundraising with auctions... and that's Sherry Truhlar's "The Marketing Savvy Behind Outrageously Profitable Silent Nonprofit Auctions".

And that's it for this week...

I really hope you have enjoyed reading the Fundraiser Buzz! weekly report, and I look forward to producing the next addition.

So do you have any...

Comments? Ideas? Feedback? I'd love to hear from you. Reply to this e-zine and let me know what you think. Thanks!

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See you next week!

Rob Hampson

www.rewarding-fundraising-ideas.com