If you have already built the online image of your NFP organisation, you must have discovered the many benefits of using social media profiles for engaging current and prospective supporters and fans. Undoubtedly, the main social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ are a great and inexpensive way for online marketing and that is even truer for NFP organisations because of the many supporters and passionate volunteers ready to share and like the posts. But have you ever stopped to think about the real worth of your social media posts and exactly how much they help your NFP?

The impact

It’s not easy to analyse the impact of social media posts on any campaign and things are never straightforward, but a new research project has given us some solid figures for reference. Of course, every social media page or profile is different in terms of fans, reach and audience, but Eventbrite, an online ticket selling company, found that a share across Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn adds $4.80 to their revenue. In addition, each share on Twitter brings 9 visits on their website.

Speaking in general, Twitter has been known to bring in $10.90 per share (at most), while Facebook and LinkedIn settle for $4.10 and $3.20 respectively, the global average being $3.70. Limiting the data to Australia only, it appears that a share here is quite useful and exceeds the global average, giving way only to the Canadian shares.

Australian data

It is important to note that the leading and most profitable social network in Australia is Twitter, so each Twitter repost (retweet) is likely to bring in 38 more website visits, followed by 11 visits from LinkedIn and 7 from Facebook. It appears that having more users actually makes Facebook less capable of increasing the profit and traffic for companies and organisations using it – the large amount of information, a great part of it irrelevant and cluttered loses the attention of its users and distracts them instead of engaging them.

Concerns

Those responsible for the social media profiles of their NFPs need to remember, however, that the platforms can be a double-edged sword. There have been cases when an irrelevant or inappropriate post has had a negative impact on the social media audience, sometimes even angry responses and loss of fans. It appears that the best liked and most shared pieces of information in the social media include food-related events, seminars and music performances. On the other hand, sports events (especially those requiring participation) and conventions are less liked and therefore, less shared.

Overall Value

All in all, it appears that the positive impact of social media on your NFP is not just a myth. The more interesting and engaging posts you make, the more likes and shares you are likely to get, which means increased visitors on your website and more fans and supporters. With a well-developed online strategy at hand, you can turn your social media profiles in a source of funding, traffic, supporters, volunteers and most of the other resources your NFP needs. If you have saved your efforts because you was not sure social media works, now you have the evidence – all you need to do is start using it actively!