Savvy Planned Giving Marketing in the Age of Social Media

The social media movement that burst upon the scene just a few years ago is continuing to expand at exponential rates. But what impact does it have on your organization’s overall planned giving marketing strategy? And how can you effectively navigate among the various communication channels to best reach your potential donors?

Social media is in constant flux; Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram currently are the most-used social media platforms along with the video site YouTube, though newer ones are gaining ground. Facebook has become so widespread—even among those over 50—that it is an effective way for many charities to reach prospective donors. It far outpaces the other sites in terms of usage by Americans who are older, more highly educated, and with higher income, though LinkedIn’s demographics also include many prospective donors.

Here is a chart based on research by the Pew Research Center showing the percentage of internet users with typical donor characteristics who use the top social media sites.

Social Media Usage by Age, Education, and Income*

	Facebook	LinkedIn	Pinterest	Twitter	Instagram
Age 50-64	60%	24%	14%	9%	6%
Age 65+	45%	13%	9%	5%	1%
College+	68%	38%	25%	18%	15%
$50,000-$74,999	68%	22%	21%	15%	15%
$75,000+	69%	38%	27%	19%	16%

*The percentages are of Americans who use the internet, not all Americans
Source: Pew Research Center, 2013

Savvy planned giving professionals adopt comprehensive, effective marketing plans

A well-crafted marketing plan provides proven donor results. For a good analogy of how social media fits in, simply visit your local exercise gym. Those individuals who made New Year’s resolutions to exercise more and get healthy flock to the gym in the first few months of the year. Visit the gym a few months from now and you’ll likely find that many of these enthusiasts are no longer there. They had a burst of excitement but not a long-range plan for achieving their goals.

Social media, in whatever form it takes, is similar. It can certainly work as an additional tool in your planned giving program, but jumping on the latest trend shouldn’t eclipse your larger objective of maintaining multi-channel donor communication.

For planned giving professionals, donor engagement is key

It’s said that people need to hear or see a message seven times before it sinks in because of all the competing information floating around. By engaging with donors through a good mix of formats and media—print newsletters, eNewsletters, eBrochures, print postcards, and ePostcards to name a few—your message is more likely to get read by more potential donors.

You can reinforce the information contained in your planned giving marketing materials by posting updates to your organization’s social media accounts, and you can even consider creating your own Facebook page, perhaps about your Legacy Society, to build and strengthen your donor relationships. Just make sure you have a plan in place for getting followers and engaging them with consistent and strategic postings. First, however, ask yourself if you have the internal resources to do this—and of course if you have permission from the higher-ups!

Contact Pentera’s marketing experts for help designing and implementing marketing strategies specific to your organization (info@pentera.com).