Social platforms offer charities and non-profits a direct line to donors. Used strategically, you can build both relationships and excitement before your next fundraising event.

Here are three examples of ways you can utilise social media to connect with donors before your event – and keep them on board after.

Listen and find out what your donors care about

Sometimes charities and causes are guilty of pumping out one-way communication. It’s all about sharing their message and less about hearing what other people have to say. Turn that on its head and you can enter into a meaningful dialogue with potential donors and enjoy far higher levels of engagement.

The YMCA of Greater New York discovered how willing people are to talk once you invite them to do so. It wanted to find out how the YMCA had made a difference to people’s lives and appealed for stories in exchange for a free T-shirt. The organisation was overwhelmed to receive more than 1,100 responses.

People shared stories recounting everything from childhood swimming lessons and long-ago summer camps to triathlon training and volunteering. To make the most of all the contributions, the YMCA created a digital timeline, with stories organised by decade and category. The project is on-going, with site visitors encouraged to add their own story to the collection.

As well as being preserved digitally, a real-life event was held where the stories were buried in a time capsule beneath a new YMCA branch. The YMCA promoted the campaign with the slogan ‘your story is our history’, positioning their stakeholders at the centre of their activity.

Anne Bergquist, the organisation’s Vice President for Communications, said the campaign was “a filter to get people engaged—or re-engaged—and become more deeply involved with us.”

Offering T-shirts in exchange for stories, meanwhile, enabled the YMCA to request contributors’ email and mailing addresses. The campaign included a follow-up email asking them to indicate which programs they would be interested in learning more about, and then a series of cultivation messages tailored to the participants’ interests, ultimately culminating in a fundraising appeal.

Key Takeaway: Actively listen to your supporters and understand how your cause affects them.

Related: How to run stand-out charity events

Tell the story of your cause

Social media provides charities with the opportunity to bring their story to life in a compelling and interactive way. Using pictures and video can get people to respond in a way that words alone cannot.

Ben Swan from Santa Fe Animal Shelter & Humane Society understands just how to capture people’s attention and make them sit up and listen. He spends an hour a day taking photos and sharing the stories of the shelter’s furry residents.

Most importantly, he says, don’t shy away from telling the truth, no matter how difficult it might be. Many of the animals that come through their doors have endured terrible suffering, but Swan shares photos from their arrival to better illustrate their journey to recovery.

One such example is Raphael (pictured), who was extremely emaciated when he arrived at the charity. Swan shared daily updates about Raphael’s progress, which grew a large following. Sadly, when Raphael reached a healthy weight and was ready for adoption, he was diagnosed with cancer. Although the story was heartbreaking, over the last few weeks of Raphael’s life there was an outpouring of love on their Facebook page, which galvanised the shelter’s supporters.

Following an individual animal and telling its story from beginning through to (hopefully) successful re-homing has proved a winning strategy for the shelter. Although just a small, local charity, it boasts a highly engaged social media following and typically gains hundreds of likes and shares for every post it makes.

Key Takeaway: Make your cause easier to identify with by telling the human (or animal) stories of those affected.

Related: 10 Steps to raise more money at your next fundraising event

Share what happened at the event

Social media is a hungry beast and holding an event provides great fodder. Be sure to make the most of the opportunity by live reporting on the day and sharing pictures and videos.

As well as reporting on the event yourself, encourage your attendees to get involved to help spread your message to their friends and family. Don’t forget to create and promote an event-specific hashtag to make it easy to curate tweets about your event and see what everyone’s saying.

One such event that has achieved enormous buy-in from its participants is Electric Run. The 5k nighttime fun run is a celebration of light and sound that originated in America and now also takes place in the UK.

According to Dan Hill, Founder & CEO of Electric Run, the entire event was built from the ground up with social media in mind.

“People are really hungry for events where they can participate in social and visual ways. This is the “Go Pro” generation—people want to ‘be a hero.’ They don’t want to spectate they want to participate.

“We’ve created something that is very visually engaging and people “like” it and share it with their friends,” he says.

The running courses are designed with photo opps in mind and the organisers avoid putting professional photographers on the course so that people take photos with their own phones. Meanwhile, they sell glow sticks and other illuminated props, resulting in thousands of fun, colourful photos being shared online. Despite only being launched in 2012, Electric Run UK already has over 98,000 likes on Facebook.

Key Takeaway: Create opportunities for your attendees to share fun content from your event on social networks and reap the benefits of peer-to-peer marketing.

Related: How to build loyalty for your fundraising events

Conclusion

In a world of marketing messages, supporters can become immune to requests for donations. That’s why it’s imperative to find new ways to connect with stakeholders and get them to take your cause to their heart.

Using social media imaginatively can spark engaging dialogue and build strong relationships leading to better attendance at your events.

Don’t forget to keep the conversation going afterwards. Entering into a meaningful relationship with supporters is an on-going commitment, but one that’s well worth the effort.

How have you used fundraising events and social media to create more engagement with your donors? Please share your experience in the comments!