5 Ways to Grow Your Nonprofit’s Facebook Fan Base

A Few Words of Caution: Small to medium-sized nonprofits should take Facebook case studies and best practices based on the success of large nationally and internationally well-known nonprofits (with huge e-mail lists and multiple communications and development staff) with a heavy dose of skepticism. 99.9 percent of nonprofits just can not duplicate their success, and such case studies and best practices set up many nonprofits for failure and disappointment. Large nonprofits with well-known brands simply have a different experience on Facebook. They can post more often with less risk of getting hidden or unliked, their fan bases grow faster, and they often have great content to share in status updates that easily inspire comments and likes. Great for them (they were small once too), but most nonprofits will have to make a concerted effort to grow their fan bases and find their Facebook voices. It takes time, patience, great content and a commitment to integrated online communications.

That said, here are five ways to grow your nonprofit’s Facebook fan base.

Heather Mansfield is owner of DIOSA Communications and principal blogger at Nonprofit Tech 2.0. Reach her at heather@diosacommunications.com