Questions to assess your presence on social platforms

It can often feel like there are too many social platforms out there, making it difficult to prioritize your energy and resources on the right channels. For charities, it’s crucial to focus on social media platforms that align with their audiences and goals to maximize impact.

The best way to maintain a successful social presence and keep up with algorithm changes is to plan regular reviews.

In this blog, we look at key questions to consider when evaluating your presence on major platforms to help your team decide where to focus their efforts.

X/Twitter

With the ongoing changes and uncertainty surrounding X (formerly Twitter), many organizations are thinking about their presence on the platform. It’s important to consider whether maintaining or reducing your activity, or abandoning the platform altogether, makes sense for you as an organization.

Main questions:

• Should we maintain, reduce or remove our presence?
• Are we facing a smaller reach or a changing audience?
• Will our presence (or lack of presence if we leave) impact our relationship with our beneficiaries or internal stakeholders?
• What do we think about how the platform is changing?

It is important to understand any potential risks to your organization’s reputation and prepare a clear review process and communication approach.

Consider the long-term viability and stability of the platform. Changing user base and platform uncertainty can affect its value to your charity. Alternatively, you may discover that there is a way to use X that suits your mission. Evaluate these risks and opportunities when deciding to stay or change the platform’s focus.

TikTok

TikTok’s growing popularity offers exciting opportunities for charities, especially those with a younger audience. However, its video-first nature requires a significant investment of time and resources.

Main questions:

• Do we have the skills and capacity to produce engaging video content on a regular basis?
• Is the TikTok audience aligned with our cause?
• Are we using TikTok’s fundraising tools effectively?

Meaningful engagement on any platform is key. Asking these questions will help you understand what your team needs to get attention on TikTok.

Instagram

With a focus on visual storytelling, Instagram is ideal for charities that can convey their mission through images and videos. Its diverse tools and donation options can increase engagement.

Main questions:

• Are we using a combination of Stories, Reels and posts to engage different segments of our audience?
• Are we using Instagram’s donation tools to reach fundraising goals?
• What visual stories do our audiences want to see?

The Instagram algorithm rewards a diverse mix of content. Make sure to use all available formats to reach a wider audience and increase engagement.

Review your feed to ensure your posts tell compelling stories that resonate with followers and show the impact of your charity.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a powerful tool for charities looking to connect with professionals, corporate sponsors and volunteers. As a professional networking platform, it requires a different content strategy compared to more informal social media platforms.

Main questions:

• Is our audience on LinkedIn?
• Are we effectively engaging professionals and potential corporate sponsors?
• Do we use LinkedIn for thought leadership, networking, and recruiting employees or volunteers?
• Do we adapt content to appeal to a corporate audience, highlighting impact and leadership?

Determine whether your key stakeholders are active on the platform and use it to position your organization as a leader in your cause area.

Remember, it is a platform where sharing insights, blogs and updates can increase your credibility as an organization and professional. Additionally, you can use it to create content that demonstrates organizational impact and leadership. If your posts focus too much on general updates, consider switching to content that talks about corporate values ​​and achievements.

Facebook

Despite the decline in the number of younger users, Facebook remains a significant platform for community building and fundraising. For many charities, it is still one of their main social channels.

Main questions:

• Are Facebook groups and fundraising tools helping you effectively build community and generate donations?
• Are we satisfied with our metrics on Facebook?
• Do we use Facebook for organic and paid content?
• Is there any reason to be concerned about Meta’s policies, guidelines, or negative public relations?

Facebook can still be a valuable platform, especially for charities looking to build strong communities. That said, it’s important to regularly review your performance metrics and how Meta policies can impact your brand.

A balance between organic content and paid campaigns can maximize your reach. If you’re only using one or the other, consider how a mixed strategy could produce better results.

Emerging platforms

As emerging platforms like Mastodon and BlueSky grow in popularity, they can offer charities new ways to engage with niche audiences.

Main questions:

• Should we experiment with emerging platforms to engage niche audiences?
• Can we allocate resources to build presence on these platforms?
• Should we focus on decentralized, privacy-conscious messaging platforms? that is, platforms that utilize distributed systems (using BlockChain technology) rather than a central server like traditional social media platforms.

As data privacy becomes a greater concern, some audiences are moving to decentralized platforms. If your charity advocates for privacy or ethics issues, this could be a valuable space to explore.

However, building a following on new platforms takes time and effort. Make sure you have the resources before committing to a strategy involving emerging platforms.

If you want more help thinking through your social media platform choices, check out the resource I’m working on with CharityComms. Our social media platform checklist will help you choose and evaluate your social media platforms, creating a strategic and personalized approach.

Image credit: Leeloo, first on Pexels