6 Ways non-profits can thank sponsors on Social Media
Corporate sponsorships play an integral role in non-profit fundraising and are usually critical to achieving financial goals. Given their importance, acknowledging sponsors on your social media networks should be an essential piece in your overall social media strategy. Ultimately, you want your sponsor to return for future fundraising initiatives. Making your sponsor feel special is one way to make that happen.
Social media networks continually add new features and functionality and these changes can be daunting to stay on top of. Fortunately, however, these updates present fun and innovative ways to recognize the generosity of your sponsors. If your current online thank you consists of visiting your sponsor’s website, grabbing their logo and posting a grainy, poorly formatted image, it’s time to show your gratitude with some of these suggestions:
Share their Social Media Page with your Followers
This is perhaps the easiest way to express appreciation while giving your sponsors social media accounts some added visibility. In your accompanying text, be sure to capture why your sponsor is unique and/or an asset to the community. Your followers will only need that magical 1-click to check out, and hopefully, follow your sponsor’s page.
Thank you via Stories
Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat all have a Stories feature – bite-size content that is only viewable for twenty-four hours. Use this feature to give a thank you shout out. If you are low on visual content, a selfie with fun and correlating stickers will do nicely. Given the short lifespan of this content, make it light in tone, and crisp and to the point!
Bonus – tag your sponsors Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat business page in your Story.
Create a video thank you
Post a short video with the Chairperson or well-known board member of your non-profit communicating your thank you. This type of post can be memorable, particularly if you can share a little-known story, or spotlight the sponsor’s philanthropy.
Bonus– If the sponsor’s organization is local, go the extra mile and create the video in their store or office.
Promote product and services of your sponsor
Is your sponsor in the midst of promoting a new product or event? Use your social media thank you to give it some timely online exposure. For this kind of content, be sure to always post high-quality pictures or video. You want everything about your sponsor – their products, their storefront, their employees – displayed in the best possible light.
Share sponsor media highlights
Do you have a sponsor that distributes a lot of press releases, receives regular positive media mentions, or is periodically in the news? Share a favorable article with a caption that incorporates your thank you.
Create the post or review on their page
If your sponsor has a Facebook page, extend the shelf life of your accolades by posting directly to their page in the form of a visitor post or review. When visitors come to check out the sponsor’s Facebook content, your comments will be seen. In general, these types of posts greatly improve the validity of the page.
Yes, staying informed about the constantly shifting features of social media can be difficult. However, each time a social media network introduces a new feature or type of content that can be shared presents a new opportunity for your non-profit to thank your sponsors.
