Unleashing the Emotional Potential of Social Media: How to Create an Engaging Digital Presence

Social media is an essential marketing tool in today's digital landscape. From having instant content available to the ability to target specific demographics, social media makes it easier than ever to connect with your nonprofit audience and build trust. Social media has the potential to be so much more than just a place where you post nonprofit status update pictures. 

It’s also a powerful tool for engagement and persuasion. The question is: How does your nonprofit unlock that potential? Let’s explore the critical emotional reactions that encourage users to respond positively and stay engaged with your brand online. Here is how your nonprofit can create an engaging online presence for your nonprofit audience and digital marketing strategy.

What Makes People Respond Emotionally To Brands Online?

Social media is primarily used to produce and consume content. However, what draws people to your brand online is the feelings they get while doing it. People engage with brands when they feel something — and your nonprofit story is a primary driver. Telling your story well gets people to respond online and drives a sense of connection and community among your donors. There are three key areas where you can boost your online presence and encourage emotional responses: 

1. Your brand’s story. 
2. Your content.
3. The way you communicate with users. 

These three areas are critical because they’re the things people remember most. So, if you want to encourage people to feel something, highlight the things that make your nonprofit unique and distinct from the competition. Moreover, the best way to stay consistent and distinctive in social media is to stick to your brand's story. Make sure your story is clear and concise.

Be Distinct And Consistent

One of the best things you can do to boost the emotional response of your brand on social media is to build upon the things that make it distinct and consistent. These things naturally increase people's emotional response to your brand, so always stick to your strengths. Further, keep your brand consistent and ensure your nonprofit sharing is consistent across all of your social platforms. Doing so helps users become familiar with your brand, and that breeds feelings of familiarity. Also, build upon your brand's distinct qualities. Share content highlighting what makes your brand unique.

Organize a Town Hall Meeting

One of the best ways to boost engagement and encourage users to respond positively to your brand online is to organize a town hall meeting. At a town hall meeting, you can create an authentic connection with your supporters, encourage them to engage with people and drive emotion. A great way to create a town hall meeting is to invite your donors regularly on social media platforms to attend remote community discussions. Keep the tone of the session light and conversational, and perhaps have  your CEO or chief marketing officer host the panel hosted.

Add Value With a CEO Q&A Session

Another excellent way to encourage emotional responses in your brand’s online presence is to add value to your audience’s daily lives. If you have passionate donors and supporters, why not add a virtual CEO Q&A session quarterly or twice a year? In this session, your supporters and followers ask your CEO questions and hear your story in living color. Suggest classes and practice to develop your CEO to become a dynamic speaker. Remember, the more you have a public face to your nonprofit, the more people will emotionally connect.

Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Feedback

Another excellent way to boost the emotional response of your brand online is to ask for donor feedback. This approach involves asking your existing and potential supporters for their thoughts and opinions on your brand. At the same time, you should ask the right questions to get meaningful and emotional responses from your audience. Encourage engagement with your brand while keeping your brand distinct and consistent. Remember, you want your brand to be more human and relatable.

Encourage User-Generated Content

Another excellent way to boost the emotional response of your brand online is to encourage your users to create user-generated content. So, consistently encourage your audience to share their experiences with your brand. For instance, you can create contests encouraging users to create user-generated content with your brand. These contests can be anything from a photo to video contests (i.e., think of images that support and align with your mission). You can also ask them to share content on Giving Tuesday, events or team fundraisers for your nonprofit organization. 

Share Your Day With Photos and Video

Another excellent way to boost the emotional response of your brand on social media is to share a day in the life of your nonprofit. You can do this by sharing photos and videos of your activities and experiences with your audience on social through the lens of members of your team. Again, doing so helps build a human and relatable brand presence for your brand — driving emotional connection. The best thing about sharing your day in photos and videos is that you don't need to focus on a specific topic. All you have to do is share experiences with your audience on social media.

Your donors and volunteers want to support your nonprofit. As a result, the proper techniques and strategies are powerful tools for engagement and persuasion. The key to unlocking the emotional potential of social is to emphasize the ways that make your brand distinct and consistent. Your aim should always be to bring your nonprofit brand to life online and drive emotional connections. Doing so allows you to create meaningful online relationships because you're human, relatable, authentic and memorable.

The preceding blog was provided by an individual unaffiliated with NonProfit PRO. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of NonProfit PRO.