Hello! Just to let you know that we use non-essential cookies (including analytics and third party cookies) to help us understand if our website is working well and to learn what content is most useful to visitors. We also use some cookies which are essential for our platform to work and help us to provide you with the best experience possible. You can accept or reject our non-essential cookies and change your mind at any time. To learn more, please read our cookies policy.

Update cookie preferences

Social Media Tips For Fundraisers.

30 September 2022

Eight Ideas To Help Charities Connect With Business Supporters

Social Media Tips For Fundraisers

Businesses are run by people and every day billions of people use social media. That's why we at Work for Good see so many of our charity members use platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram to connect with the people behind the businesses. Relationship building via social media is a key part part of their business supporter engagement strategy.

Businesses on social media:

  • 50 million businesses use Facebook.
  • LinkedIn, the B2B platform, has a significant reach of 830 million users.
  • 80% of UK Instagram users follow brands or businesses.
  • A recent charity survey found that 57% of traffic to fundraising campaign pages came from social media.

Here are some ideas to help fundraisers reach business supporters via social media:

  1. Video is key: Video content boasts the highest engagement rate. Use your phone camera to create Reels, or utilise Zoom to record a free session for businesses that can be shared on YouTube. Use short, engaging videos to tell your followers about how they can use their business to fundraise for you. Take a look at the Work for Good Instagram to see how we make Reels. You may also be inspired by domestic abuse charity Refuge which has found a way to create Reels that raise awareness of tricky issues.

  2. Talk to existing followers: Go where your audience is already engaged to reach business supporters. Already have a big following on Instagram - use it! Do some of your fundraising team have LinkedIn profiles? Create content for them to post about ways businesses can support your charity. Put a poll out on Twitter and ask your followers if they own or work for a small business to gather information.

  3. Look for groups and communities to join. Reach out to Facebook or LinkedIn groups to target local businesses or SMEs from a specific sector. Admins of social media groups need to keep their community interested so may well be thrilled to hear from a charity that wants to talk to their community about the ways businesses can support them, whether that be sales fundraising, payroll giving or a bake sale!

  4. Celebrate sales fundraising! On Twitter, every month Women’s Aid celebrates a small business that has raised funds for them through sales across their social media. Saying thank you to small business supporters makes them feel valued and that leads to loyalty. It will also inspire other businesses and encourage them to support you too.

  5. Post at peak times: Avoid posting during the day, after all, that is when people are working! Just like everyone else, sole traders and small business owners will be checking their social media feeds in the evenings, early mornings and lunchtime. Use scheduling tools to ensure your social media doesn’t switch off when people are most active.

  6. Share user-generated content (UGC): Posting content created by a small business that is supporting your charity, will build trust and sharing that lived experience will also give other business supporters tangible examples of how sales fundraising works. Don’t be afraid to ask businesses to create content about their fundraising, it’s likely they will feel pleased to support you as it is also great for them! We’ve done this many times - check out some of the Reels businesses have made about their sales fundraising over on the Work for Good Instagram.

Tip - when sharing a reel use the Collaborator function on Instagram as it means a single post will appear in two different users' Feeds or Reels. That means more people see it, as it is shared in two places at the
same time.

7. Talk to businesses on LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a platform where business decision makers go to connect and get new ideas and opportunities. The way the LinkedIn algorithm works is different from other platforms and posts with more likes, comments, and shares will continue to live in the newsfeed for days, sometimes longer. So make sure you get your team to post on their LinkedIn pages and engage with your charity's posts and share them to their community.


8. Stream an online event: Tell your supporters about sales fundraising via a short Live stream. Highlight what their support would mean to your charity, what the impact would be, how it is a sustainable way to fundraise, the ease of setting up the legal agreement via Work for Good and also the benefits to their business. Live Streams are available via LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. And they don't disappear, once they have been recorded, you can share them again!

Remember to follow us and tag @workforgooduk on social media posts, so we can support your sales fundraising.

Find more marketing advice and tips to help charities connect with business supporters on our tool kit for charities.

Related blogs.