Nonprofits often struggle with creating and managing content across channels with limited resources. According to nonprofit marketing expert Julia Campbell, effective content creation and curation should be one of the four pillars of a nonprofit’s social media strategy.
To start, nonprofits need to create original content to share their mission and stories. This could include blog posts, videos, photos, or podcasts highlighting program successes and the people they serve. Nonprofits should tap into their annual reports, grant materials, and other resources they already have to repurpose content. They don’t need to create content from scratch for every social media post or communication.
However, nonprofits also need to curate content from other sources to demonstrate their expertise and share industry news. Nonprofits can follow reputable news outlets, thought leaders, influencers and curate content from them to re-share with their audiences. When curating, add context or opinions to make the content more relevant for your followers.
With limited resources, nonprofits will need to prioritize and focus their efforts.
Campbell suggests using the “four pillars” as a guide, choosing one area to focus on for just 20 minutes a day.
For example, spend Mondays focused on community engagement by responding to comments and messages. Tuesdays on content creation, writing one blog post. Wednesdays on research and curation, finding and re-sharing two industry articles. And Thursdays on measurement, analyzing Google Analytics and social media insights.
No matter the content, nonprofits must have a plan and schedule to organize their efforts. Using a project management tool like Asana or Basecamp, map out content plans for the next month or quarter. Log types of content, topics, and a content calendar for social media and email newsletters. Share access with marketing and program teams so everyone can see the schedule, add to it, and help achieve your goals.
With a strategic approach, limited resources don’t have to limit a nonprofit’s ability to create and manage effective content. By focusing their efforts and working together, nonprofits can build a sustainable content creation plan to engage audiences and further their mission.
View the full recording of this session in our Resource Library.