The advent of social media has done a world of good to the social sector considering its immense and innumerable benefits.

It is amazing when social sector organizations get social media strategies and tactics right, and are able to engage successfully with their target audience. However, the case is not so for all NGOs, and so arises the need to guide NGOs in their social media strategies and tactics.

The 2015 Global Web Index reveals that an average person has at least 5 social media accounts, and spends an average of 100 minutes daily browsing these platforms. Though a competitive landscape, social media presents a great opportunity for NGOs to tell their stories.

So if you are looking to improve your social media presence this year, here are some things to keep in mindbefore you hit the post button.

Know your goal: It is not just enough to post on social media, have a goal in mind and ensure your goals are SMART, that is;Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time Bound. Your goals must also support your organization’s mission and vision.

For NGOs the goals could include, but are not limited to: Fundraising, Brand awareness, Education on your focus area, Issue awareness, Donor recognition etc. Setting your KPIs on social media enables you choose the right tactics, messaging, and approach.

Select your target audience: Do you know that every post you put up on social media should have its core target audience? As NGOs, your stakeholders cut across a wide spectrum of people and each social media post should be for a specific stakeholder group.

Established NGOs may have insights on their target audience and organizations that do not have these insights should endeavor to have one. Another helpful tip is to have a pen portrait of your various target audience and know how to craft messages that appeal to them.

Content is King: It is important that your content is relevant to what your non-profit is focused on. If not, it will be a miss. Furnish your target audience with up-to-date factual information that will evoke the appropriate reaction in them. Be conversational and relatable always giving room for two way communication.

Ask interesting questions to garner responses and feedback. You may wish to consider creating a content calendar to guide weekly and monthly social media posts. This will also ensure that posts are thought-through, and there is no downtime because consistency is key. There is no generally approved number of posts per platform, so audience insight will prove to be useful in determining this.

Be appealing:Everyone loves thingsthat look good, social media posts included. Make sure you employ catchy images to tell your story. Use high resolution images, creative graphic designs and engaging short videos to keep your audience glued to your page.

Hashtag: This trend is useful in categorizing content and connecting your post to people with similar topics. The right hashtag will increase the reach of your social media posts, thus helping you gain new followers.

Use hashtags that relate to your sector, campaign, focus area or cause, and location. Always ensure that your posts relate to the hashtag you are using. Don’t forget you can always use the name of your organization as a hashtag to make it easier to be found on social media.

Click Post:Keeping all these in mind, you may be ready to hit the post button. Ensure you re-read your post to avoid grammatical errors, as there is nothing as tacky as a non-profit with errors as this doesn’t help build trust and accountability,which is the currency of the social sector.

Don’t forget to monitor and evaluate:With your post trending, and your social media platforms being the go-to NGO page, don’t underestimate the importance of monitoring and evaluating your media activities.

Decipher which post each target audience group engages with the most, what time to upload posts, which videos trend more, what makes people donate to your cause, and what makes people love your NGO. When you know these things, keep doing them and keep improving on them to stay on top.

Written by Alexandra Bazuaye