The #GivingTuesday countdown is on! See how your nonprofit can build momentum this #GivingTuesday with a social media countdown.
Where to Begin
Step 1: Start with your content calendar.
Whether it’s a spreadsheet, Google Sheet, Asana board, or Hootsuite - it doesn’t matter. The first step to creating a countdown is making sure that you’ve already mapped out a general content calendar for November and December with the overall year-end giving communication.
This is key! If you don’t see how #GivingTuesday fits in with everything else, it’s not going to make sense to donors. The main thing most nonprofits will notice once they do this is the volume of financial appeals. Between direct mail, email appeals, text messages, events, and social media posts, it can be a lot of asking without a lot of thanking and celebrating impact.
In marketing, appreciation and celebration content is often called “breather content.” Nonprofits must step back and look for ways to add more breather content so that #GivingTuesday feels more like a breath of fresh air for donors than a burden.
Create Your Images
Step 2: Begin creating simple graphics to go with your countdown posts.
(Psst, did you know Canva is free for nonprofits? Check out our blog on "How to Create SMM Graphics for Nonprofits in Canva")
The number of countdown posts you create depends on how much time you have. If you can count down from 10, awesome! If you have to start 3 days before December 1st, no worries.
Remember, starting somewhere is better than not starting at all.
The purpose of the countdown is to build excitement in your donor base. So, when it comes to copywriting, leave them hanging a bit. For example, “#GivingTuesday is just 10 days away! For the next 9 days, we’ll be counting down and sharing bit by bit of #RoryTheRescue’s incredible story of finding his fur-ever home. Without further ado, meet Rory 🐶.”
#GivingTuesday Toolkit
There are of course more details to planning a successful #givingtuesday event, so to help we created a #GivingTuesday Toolkit for nonprofits. Download your free kit here and get ready to have a fabulous day of giving for your nonprofit.
For more information about ZGIVE and our simple, smart digital auction platform for nonprofits, visit www.zgive.com.