Guide to Content Strategy for Not-For-Profits

Your mission as a non-profit organisation is to raise public awareness about a particular issue or cause and to raise funds, generate engagement and advocacy from those who share your concerns. The global COVID-19 virus pandemic, on the other hand, has shown that the old ways of doing things don’t cut it anymore. You most likely find yourself in a situation where you need to:

• Change your approach to fundraising
• Continue to establish your credibility online (which may be completely new or challenging to you)
• Apply for further government grants and stimulus opportunities
• transform current business relationships into long-term sustainable models for success
• look for ways to work together and be creative with others

What is a Content Strategy?

Content strategy is a process, not a product. A content strategy is a process that helps you to create and manage content for your company or organisation. It’s not just about creating blog posts, it’s about understanding the audience, what they need and what they want. A good content strategy will start with defining the goals of your organisation and then deciding how to achieve them through content marketing.

What is the Purpose of a Content Strategy?

A content strategy is a plan for how an organisation will create, deliver, and manage content. It is a blueprint of sorts that outlines what types of content you’ll create and how you’ll distribute it to your target audience. Content strategy has many benefits: it enables you to cut down on the time spent on marketing and promotions; it improves customer engagement; it helps with SEO.

Benefits of Content Strategy for Nonprofits, Charities, and Not-for-Profits

Your non-profit can benefit from a well-planned content strategy in the following ways:

• Aligning your mission, vision, and values via shared content
• Increase credibility, trustworthiness and advocacy
• Increase visibility
• Differentiation from competitors
• Contribute to the success of your company’s overall marketing objectives and goals

As part of your content strategy, you should think about the types of content you’re going to create and distribute. That way, you can ensure that it is in line with your values and goals.

Decide What You Want to Achieve and Stick To It.

What does success look like now that you know where you’re starting from and what you’re measuring? Is it possible to gain 1,000 new Instagram followers in an organic way? Increasing web traffic by a factor of 200???

Using your key performance indicators (KPIs), establish clear objectives and track your progress on a regular basis. That is all there is to it, in a nutshell.

Principles of Content Strategy for Not-for-profits

#1 – Identify What’s Working and What Isn’t

If you already have a website, blog, or social media presence, you need to conduct an audit to determine what worked and what didn’t work in the past and what is working and what isn’t working now. Analyse all your content channels; website, social media, email etc. It is also best practice to conduct an audit on a 3- or 6-month basis ongoing.  It’s possible that the most popular parts of the website (and the content that led to the most traffic, donations or engagement) were geared towards things you can no longer do because of COVID, changes in the business, or offering. However, content that focuses on your organization, team and cause and you are delivering what you do may suddenly have more value. You can use a content audit to identify any gaps in your current content, as well as any areas that need to be worked on.

To get started, we suggest reviewing your Google Analytics data when analysing your website. It is important to pay attention to the following aspects of your website’s traffic: where it originates, what it is being used for, how long it is being viewed for, and where it is being abandoned. Look at audience behaviours and user journeys to discover what content your audience are discovering and how they are navigating through your website. Google Analytics can show you how people find your website in the first place (through paid ads, social media posts, or by googling), as well as which pages of your website are the most effective once they arrive (which are the most frequently visited?).

Remember it’s important to stick with what’s working and not abandon what has worked in the past. For things that aren’t working, it doesn’t mean stop all activity, but try to optimise and test before ruling specific content out. Be careful not to put all of your eggs in one basket.

As with your website, you should regularly analyse your social media content and its performance. You can use native in-app analysis tools in Facebook and Instagram, or choose from an abundant range of online software which you can find through a simple Google search.

Afterwards, go through and evaluate each piece of work you’ve done. Analyze all the data you can get your hands on to find out what is working and what isn’t for your website, blog, social media, or email marketing.

Organize your findings into a comprehensive report that will help you prioritise your efforts over the next three to six months.

#2 – Your Content Should Align With the User Journey

With your analysis complete, it’s now clear to you how your customers use your website and social media, and how they respond to your email marketing (both before and after the pandemic hit). Map out the user journey of the people you’re trying to reach with your content, remembering to focus on different audience groups – not just the one who donates/makes purchases, but also those who engage with your content, those who visit but don’t engage etc.

One of the most important aspects your user journey is how people move through it and the different paths they take. When considering your audiences, keep in mind:

• What kind of help do we require?
• What are we asking of our audience?
• Is it still possible to rely on the help of our past supporters and engagers?
• Is it possible that we need to find a new audience?
• What are the best ways for people to show their support, both digitally and physically?
• Is it simple for donors and engagers to help spread the word?

What kind of content you’ll need to create and for whom will be determined by mapping out your user journey for your different audiences.

After mapping out your user journeys and content ideas for audiences and before you get stuck in creating all your content, remember to ask yourself:

• What is the purpose of this content?
• Who is the audience it is for?
• What method will they use to locate it and engage with it?

The answers to these questions are critical to ensuring that every piece of content you create is effective in moving your supporters through complete user journeys and bringing them closer to your organization. Creating content for the sake of creating content is a waste of time if you don’t know what you’re talking about or why you are doing it.

As a non-profit, you understand the importance of establishing meaningful relationships with your audience and supporters. It’s important to demonstrate your ability to empathise with your customers’ needs by answering the questions above, now more than ever.

The last and one of the most important parts about planning for your content is to use your content across multiple channels; don’t just write a blog and post it, promote it in your emails, on your social media. Squeeze that content for all it’s worth.

#3 – Storytelling Is at the Heart of a Content Strategy

A common problem we see in non-profit content is the promotion of the organisations themselves rather than content aimed their audience (and the people who help them help). There’s an old marketing adage “Facts tell, while stories sell” which has been around for decades for a reason. To put it another way, stories are essential if you want to persuade people to support or engage with you. This is especially important at a time when electronic connections are frequently disrupted.

Work to make your supporters, volunteers and the people you help feel like heroes.

As soon as you’ve found a story that you like, try to describe it in terms of its beginning, middle and end. For each story, you don’t have to go into great detail. However, showing your supporters that they matter by including stories about them in your content is a powerful way to engage your audience. At a time when we’re all feeling overwhelmed or frustrated, this will demonstrate to potential supporters the impact they can have. The use of new stories and the repurposing of old ones to appeal to new audiences can both be effective strategies.

So, rather than focusing on your not-for-profit organisation’s overall impact, tell the story from the perspective of your supporters. You might be surprised at how many more people want to help if you demonstrate the impact they are having.

The Importance of Having an Effective Content Strategy for NPOs

Summing up, the importance of having an effective content strategy cannot be emphasized enough. Content marketing has become a crucial aspect in the success of any business and it is imperative to have a strategy in place to ensure that you are reaching your goals. The greater the focus and, in turn, the results from content marketing, the less reliance your organization will have on advertising.

When it comes to running a non-profit with limited resources, at Pink Lemonade Social we understand that it can be a challenge. To assist you in determining the best content strategy for your non-profit, we’re are always available to chat and offer free consultations for your NFP.

BOOK YOUR FREE NFP CONSULT TODAY!

Your non-profit’s content strategy may benefit from our assistance. As a strategic content marketing agency, Pink Lemonade Social takes pride in assisting companies with bold ideas to confidently connect with their audiences. We specialise in content strategy, creating content and amplification of the content. Check out our case study on Content Marketing for Auski Australia.

Some of our Not-For-Profit Experience includes