Social media
Knowledge Center: Communication & Visibility
Knowledge Center: Communication & Visibility
Using social media as an organization
Social media can do a lot for your organization: building awareness, recruiting volunteers, promoting activities, and keeping your supporters engaged. However, without a strategy, it is easy to invest a lot of time for very little result.
Social media can do a lot for your organization: building awareness, recruiting volunteers, promoting activities, and keeping your supporters engaged. However, without a strategy, it is easy to invest a lot of time for very little result.
Choose the right platform
You don’t need to be everywhere. Choose the platform where your target audience is active:
Facebook — effectively reaches the 35+ demographic and local communities. Good for events and neighborhood-focused communication.
Instagram — a visual platform, popular among young people and young adults. Works well if you have great images of your activities.
LinkedIn — useful if you are seeking partnerships with companies or professionals, or want to reach board members.
WhatsApp — less suitable for broad communication, but excellent for group communication with existing volunteers.
Start with one platform and do it well. You can always expand later.
What works on social media?
People scroll past quickly. What sticks in their minds are:
Photos and videos of real people — not stock photos, but volunteers in action
Short, concrete messages — one message per post
Stories — why does someone volunteer? What has it meant to them?
Practical information — when is the next activity? How do I sign up?
What works less well: long blocks of text, too much information in a single post, or messages that focus solely on the organization rather than the people.
Consistency beats perfection
One post a week that appears consistently works better than ten posts in a week followed by weeks of silence. Create a simple schedule and stick to it.
You don’t need to make every post perfect. Authenticity and consistency win out over polish and sporadic activity.
Respond to comments
Social media is a two-way street. Respond to comments and messages — even if it’s just a "like" or a quick thank-you. This shows that there are real people behind the page.
Use your page for recruitment, too
Post your volunteer vacancies on social media. Ask enthusiastic volunteers to share your posts. This increases your reach at no extra cost.
A specific post attracts more interest than a general call for help. "We are looking for volunteers" is less effective than "We are looking for someone who can help out for an hour every Wednesday afternoon at our clothing bank in [neighborhood]. Interested? Leave a comment below."
Next step
Want to know how to write volunteer vacancies that stand out? Get in touch with us.