Are You Taking Advantage of Google Ad Grants to Boost Your Nonprofit’s Impact?

Are You Taking Advantage of Google Ad Grants to Boost Your Nonprofit’s Impact?

Nonprofit organizations depend on donations and grants to sustain their activities. However, it’s not always easy to get those grants, either because the competition for them is often quite stiff or because the process is too complicated.

One of the great programs you may have heard of is Google Grants, a program launched in 2008 by Google to help nonprofits. This is a program that offers up to $10,000 USD of free advertising on Google each month, and it’s one of the most important grants given that is accessible to any nonprofit that meets the requirements. 

It is an effective way to transform and grow nonprofit organizations by helping them become visible to their audience, deliver their message and advance their causes. With the help of Google Ads Grants, nonprofits can reach audiences they might not have otherwise. But between eligibility requirements and account performance rules, it can be both challenging to set up and maintain the Google Ads Grants program. So, here are some practical tips to help your organization get the most out of the program.

If your goal is to accelerate your giving programs, advance your cause, strengthen your digital marketing presence, improve your digital performance…. Then this program is a great resource for you!

 What are Google Ads Grants?

Google Ads Grants, formerly known as Google Ad Grants, is a program that offers up to US $10,000 in free advertising on Google search results each month. This budget can be used to display your text ads on the search engine results page. Note that it is currently only possible to show text ads, the program does not allow ads to appear on other Google networks such as Display, Gmail or YouTube for example. But still the help is crucial because you can appear in the main search engine to connect with your audience.

What are the benefits of Google Ads Grants?

The main advantage of Google Ads Grants is that you can use it for your search engine marketing. Your organization can reach new audiences. Plus, Google Ads Grants provides recommendations to help your campaigns become more effective. You can access reports on your ad performance and see how people are interacting with them. 

In summary, by using Google Ads Grants, your organization can:

    • Generate more traffic and therefore more interest 
    • Raise public awareness 
    • Connect with your audience
    • Find donors online
    • Recruit volunteers
    • Promote your partnership programs 
    • And more!

In addition, through the combination of Google Analytics and Google Ads Grants, you can gain valuable insights and analytics about your audience, whether they are donors or volunteers. “Google Ads Grants” is a great way for nonprofits to generate more interest and find new donors. It’s a free program that will give your organization the opportunity to grow and succeed.

What are the eligibility criteria?

The program was launched for the first time in 2008 and is still active today. Registration for the program is completely free, but certain conditions apply. To be eligible for the Google Ads Grants program, NGOs must meet certain conditions. 

Here below a list of the most important points:

1– In Switzerland, for example, organizations must be registered with a Google certification partner. Organizations must operate on a non-profit basis for the public good as: (1) foundation, (2) association, or (3) tax-exempt corporation. You should also be able to confirm your organization’s nonprofit status with Google.

2 – Your non-profit organization must be based in one of the 50+ eligible countries. Each country has specific criteria. 

3 – There is a list of important criteria inherent to your organization’s website. Information such us : secure site / domain with HTTPS, optimized pages that load quickly and without broken link, clear description of your mission and activities, association / status number or tax exemption number, name of the organization, clear contact details and more. 

Once you have taken care of each of the elements, you will be able to submit your application, which will be reviewed by the Google Ads Grants team. The process require an advance knowledge of Google Ads rules and requirements from Google must be addressed and implemented rapidly. 

If approved, you will be contacted with additional information about the grant and how it can help your organization. If the account does not meet the criteria requirements, Google reserves the right to not grant or close the Ad Grants account.  

In Buzz Factory, we have a long experience helping many organizations to submit applications in a timely manner to obtain Google Ad Grants. We are well aware of the important details that need to be taken into account while applying to the program, and we will help you to make the necessary modifications to get the grant.

Tips on Google Ads Grants Terms of Service:

Google Ads Grants is an innovative way to reach new audiences with your message. With the following tips, you can start to make the most of this opportunity. Google is very strict on how accounts should be managed. The Mountain View giant even reserves the right to exclude from the program those who do not meet certain conditions. These conditions are also likely to change over time, so be sure to follow them regularly (or work with specialists like Buzz Factory).

    •  Your ads should redirect users to a single domain, that of the nonprofit organization’s website approved during the registration process.
    • You are responsible for managing your Google Ads account. You should log in monthly and make at least one change every 90 days. If you do not make any changes within this period, your account may be put on hold or closed automatically, without notice.
    • Your ads should be related to the organization’s mission, and your keywords should be relevant to that organization’s programs and services.
    • Strictly commercial advertising is not permitted under this program. If you plan to promote a product or service, all sales and / or income should be used to support your actions.
    • Your Google Ads cannot redirect to pages that consist primarily of links to other websites.
    • Ads offering financial products (such as home loans or payment cards) or asking for donations of boats, cars or real estate are not allowed, as are keywords associated with such ads.
    • Your website is not authorized to serve Google AdSense ads or affiliate advertising links while participating in the Google Ad Grants program.

Source: https://www.google.com/intl/en_be/grants/eligibility.html

 

Managing Google Ad Grants is not easy and requires a good knowledge of Google’s advertising platform. Managing an account and ensuring compliance requires attention to several aspects. Here are a few:

  • One-word keywords are not allowed; your own brand names, recognized health concerns, and a few specific keywords are exceptions.
  • No overly generic keywords that do not clearly correspond to the user’s initial search (examples: “free videos”, “digital books” or “daily news”).
  • Keywords should have a Quality Score greater than 2. Consider automating the pausing of Quality Score 1 or 2 keywords before improving the Quality Score.
  • Your click-through rate (CTR) should be at least 5% every month. If you fail to achieve a 5% CTR for two consecutive months, your account may be temporarily deactivated.
  • Your account must use a valid conversion tracking method (if applicable) and must have at least one conversion per month.
  • As for the account structure, it is strongly recommended that you have at least two ads per ad group, at least two ad groups per campaign, and at least two site links ad extensions.

Source:https://support.google.com/grants/answer/9042207?hl=en

 

What to do if your Google Ads Grants account is deactivated?

If you do not manage your campaign correctly, your Google Ad Grants account may be deactivated. Once deactivated, your account will take time to be reinstated or may be suspended forever, depending on the violation committed. If your account has already been temporarily deactivated, all problems related to the compliance and rules of the Ad Grants program must be corrected.

Before attempting to reinstate your account, you will need to ensure all points required by the Google team are correctly addressed. Many actions require fast responses and may obviously require good knowledge of Google Ads. In addition, you have to make sure that you are able to make the respective modifications to your website or digital assets.

Google Ads Grants is a great resource for any organization. However, it is a program that needs expertise, managing Google Ad Grants differs from Google Ads paid accounts. To get the most out of the program, be sure to continually meet the eligibility criteria and comply with the rules and guidelines. 

If your organization is looking to obtain Google Ad Grants, or has not been eligible in the past, or if your campaign results are not performing as well as expected, contact our experts for assistance. We are the leading Google Ad Grants agency in the country and have a team of experts in the different languages. We also conduct webinars and trainings for nonprofit marketeers in partnership with Google.

New Study of Top 100 Nonprofits in Switzerland by Buzz Factory Reveals a Huge Shift in Digital Trends for 2021

New Study of Top 100 Nonprofits in Switzerland by Buzz Factory Reveals a Huge Shift in Digital Trends for 2021

Following the massive success of last year’s report, Buzz Factory is about to release the Swiss Top 100 Nonprofits 2021 Report, which looks at the leading NGOs in the country in terms of their digital marketing performance. 

At Buzz Factory, we believe that opinions are good, but data is better. This groundbreaking report is the only data-based report that examines nonprofits using current digital marketing analytics, and you can claim your copy by attending the free webinar hosted by Buzz Factory on August 10th at 11 AM.

digital fundraising - buzzfactory

The Importance of Digital Marketing

If there’s anything we learned from 2020, it’s how important digital communication will become for all types of organizations, including nonprofits. However, not all organizations have been able to make the transition needed to safeguard their donor base. 

For this report, we analyzed over 500 organizations in Switzerland and collected their online performance data from January-April 2021. Last year’s report looked at 3 months’ worth of data (January-March 2020), but we extended the analysis period to 4 months this year to get an even more detailed view of each organization’s online presence. 

We analysed a variety of digital media channels to collect the data, and compared it to historical data to understand the trajectory of these NGOs over time.

Our extensive research into the online presence of Swiss NGOs reveals that the organizations which have thrived in 2021 were those who prioritized a digital-first approach to donor engagement. 

On the other hand, we’ve seen some surprising new entrants to the Top 100 giving the big organizations a run for their money. These nonprofits have managed to make a significant impact through their digital marketing efforts in this new online landscape.

Understanding the New Normal and the New Donor Journey

Perhaps the biggest impact which the pandemic had on Swiss nonprofits is the digitization of the donor journey. The way nonprofit organizations deliver their programs to potential donors and interested parties has been completely transformed.  

For the last 16 months, all of us have been gripped by the events of the COVID-19 pandemic. With social distancing and travel restrictions in place almost all around the world, NGOs have had the challenge to adapt to the “new normal”. They had to attract donors without many physical activities and with limited resources. 

 Our latest report reveals the importance of mastering these new donor journeys. Even if they don’t host virtual fundraising activities, all nonprofits are having to invest in online touch points migrate to online channels due to the pandemic, and this has prompted many organizations to adapt quickly to this change. The Swiss Top 100 Report analyses the data to explain how NGOs made the offline-online transition successful, and what other organizations can learn from their success stories to remain relevant and competitive today.

digital marketing nonprofits - buzz factory

Who are this Year’s Top Risers?

In this year’s report, we compare the leading Swiss nonprofit organizations to last year’s leaders to reveal the top 20 movers in the digital landscape  in terms of strategies and  performance.

It was fascinating to see how these organizations quickly adapted to the changes, forced by the global pandemic. So Be prepared for some surprises! This year, there were some unexpected winners, while some  very well-known and established organizations were missing from the list. 

Have we seen improvements in all these metrics from 2020 to 2021? Make sure you register for the free webinar to find out. All attendees will get a free copy of our report.

We Show You What Worked and How to Future-Proof Your NGO

We know that any report is incomplete without the mention of top trends to watch out for and recommendations for the way forward. 

In our report, we’ve gone through analysis and drawn actionable insights from the trends we’ve noticed this year, including all the potential ways for nonprofit organizations to reach their donors in the new normal. There are many learnings for NGOs this year, as we embrace a more hybrid way of working and interacting with audiences. 

 For example, while some donor interactions are slowly returning to pre-pandemic norms, most touchpoints have now moved to digital platforms. Potential donors have adapted to these changes and now want to work with an organization that has a solid digital presence.

The Schedule for our Swiss Top 100 2021 Webinar

So, what can you expect in the webinar? 

The webinar is scheduled for August 10th, where we will reveal the top 100 most influential nonprofit organizations in Switzerland. We will be talking more about the report and all the efforts we’ve put into creating this valuable resource for NGOs who are seeking to broaden their impact online. Last year’s edition of the top 100 report was downloaded more than 2,000 times, and we expect that this year’s report will be even more successful, as it includes more valuable data and analysis… 

Data is an integral part of everything that we do here at Buzz Factory. We’ve looked at data from leading organizations in Switzerland, such as the World Economic Forum, the International Olympic Committee, IUCN, UN agencies based in Switzerland, ZEWO-certified organizations, sports federations (FIFA, FIBA, etc.) and others. We’ll discuss our findings from our analysis of these organizations’ metrics, and talk about how these metrics were affected by the challenges of the pandemic. 

We’ll also take a look at where the sector is going, like which areas are accelerating and which are being abandoned. 

Here’s the program for the webinar:

  • 11:00-11:15 – Welcome
  • 11:15-11:45 – Presentation of the report and insights
  • 11:45-12:00 – Closing remarks

 

Register Today

If you run a nonprofit organization, handle marketing or communications for NGOs, or work with alliances and corporate responsibility partnerships, we’re sure you won’t want to miss this event and your chance to get the report. 

The cost of the report is CHF 160 for companies and CHF 120 for nonprofits; however, you can get it for free if you attend our free webinar on August 10th

Social Media For Social Good

Social Media For Social Good

Many people still think that social media is only there to offer trivial or fun content. Others think that what works on some social media platforms like Instagram can’t be taken seriously. But, there’s a lot more behind that. Why do top organizations put so much effort into social media? How effective are these channels?

When it comes to connecting with their audiences, many nonprofits experience the exact same challenge. They do meaningful work, they have worthy causes, but no one seems to notice. Why? They don’t know their audience, they don’t know how to deliver the right message, they don’t have a strategy, they aren’t willing to invest time and money, and ultimately, they don’t know how to connect with their audience. 

UNICEF’s way of using social media for social good paves a nice and smooth path for the NGOs to follow. Let’s find out how other nonprofits can achieve their fundraising goals through social media.

social media for social good - Buzz Factory

How to Link Innovation and Impact to Social Media

Step 1: Think of the Impact

To make a real impact in your audience, you need to follow these steps :

First, you have to communicate your difference, your new methodologies, technologies and innovations. If you are not yet innovating, you have to communicate about your approach and your solutions to advance your cause. 

Secondly, it is important to focus on impact; how are you improving, advancing your cause? The solution is to do this by creating an emotional link between the audience and your content. It is important to appeal to emotion; your target audience needs to feel the sentiment you are trying to communicate through text, images or videos. It’s important to understand your audience very well, psychographics and demographics are essential to know what message resonates best with them. What type of content to use? The saying goes that a picture is worth a thousand words, the same goes for video, a video is worth a thousand pictures. 

Finally, you have to connect your work with your audience; show how it affects them or impacts them personally to advance your cause. What is the value to humanity and also to donors? Calling for a specific action, however small, is a commitment, a first step that will grow and change things. It is your work to regularly show how they are changing and improving thanks to them and to you, to the common effort of both. This is what powers all things.

social media - Buzz Factory

Step 2. Leverage the Power of Social Media

Whatever your top priorities are: fundraising, building brand awareness, recruiting volunteers or sharing news: Social media is the perfect tool for most of those goals.

Why? Because to achieve your goals, you will need to reach your audience where they are and exchange, on social media. The mobile penetration rate of social media in Europe is over 90%. This means that there is no shortage of opportunities to find people who can support your cause through platforms such as Facebook, Instagram or YouTube. Also think about a consistent budget to invest in social media, without which the effect of any campaign will be limited.

The right use of social media gives you the opportunity to promote your non-profit organisation and find people to help you with your mission.

social media - Buzz Factory

Ideas for using Social Media for Social Good

Share stories

You can share inspirational or motivational stories on your platform, along with images and videos. Knowing the basics of storytelling is important. It’s not talking about your organisation all the time, but about your impact, about how the world is a better place because of your contribution. Show the human side of your organisation, your community, your team, the people behind the scenes. It’s a great way to connect with your audience and raise awareness. World Wildlife Fund is a great example, here their Facebook page with great fresh and inspiring stories.

Team up with influencers

In addition, it is important to enlist the help of influencers. Whether it’s a celebrity, micro-influencers or macro-influencers, engage them to foster leadership and gain visibility. It’s also a great way to make new connections, along with promoting social good. Knowing who the right influencers are for your organisation is no easy task. It needs to be very well regulated and defined. Both parties expect to gain from this collaboration, and it is often not obvious. At Buzz Factory we have worked with many influencers and can help you manage this part. 

Throw a small challenge

There are many campaigns that trend all over the internet, which have an impact related to social good. Like many influencers, they raised money for a good cause while doing the Ice-Bucket challenge or the campaign Movember to spread awareness about men’s health issues. Make it easy for your donors to share their action on social media right after they do it. With the donation module, they only have to click once to share their donation with their followers, family and friends. There are several solutions for this like this one for WordPress, GiveWP.

Listen your community 

Social media listening can help you understand the needs of your target audience. They tell you what the public and your community feel and think about your organisation. This activity provides important insights and valuable information about the public perception of an organisation and the success of a campaign. It is not just about analysing the quantity but the quality of what is being said. You can use all this information to correct or stop messages that are not perceived properly, create new messages. Network listening definitely improves the use of social media and your digital strategy.

social media - Buzz Factory

Conclusion

The advantage of social media is that it helps to extend the reach of any organisation. Your content is key! But it is also important to allocate a significant budget to advertising, without which your content will have no impact. Unfortunately, the era of free visibility is over. Social media work allows two-way communication between your organisation and your followers. People can respond to your posts by liking, commenting or sharing them. It’s not just about posting, it’s about responding, educating, motivating and driving action.

The possibilities are endless in terms of the magnitude of impact and support you can get from social media. Remember that the most important thing is to have clear objectives, a solid strategy and a good understanding of your audience.

We’ve just shared our thoughts, and we’d be more than interested in getting your feedback. For almost a decade, Buzz Factory has been working with local and international NGOs to promote their social campaigns, and you can utilize our talented team to take your campaign to the next level. From Switzerland, we run campaigns at home and around the world, be it for animal protection, children’s aid, education and much more.

Maximizing for Social Media: How to Repurpose Your Content for Multiple Platforms

Maximizing for Social Media: How to Repurpose Your Content for Multiple Platforms

Creating content is a difficult task, but one of the most rewarding in terms of visibility and conversion. It requires a lot of time and effort. Content creation is an art that requires skills and expertise that may seem hard to acquire for professionals that are not digital writers. However, content should be the core of your strategy and must be used intelligently.

Creating quality content requires strong research, writing, designing, editing/proofreading, and time management, which may not be your forte. You need to be well aware of where you want your content to sit on your website. 

While creating fresh content is one thing, repurposing it for multiple platforms is a different ballgame. A great content strategy always incorporates content repurposing. 

It should address how the content could be tailored for selected social media platforms. 

Which content format or what type of content works best on a platform? Which style should you follow and maintain on another?

This blog is all about repurposing your content for multiple platforms. We are sure it will address some of the major concerns you might have and provide you with a solution. 

So, let’s get started!

instagram 2 buzz factory

How to Repurpose Your Content

In the conference on Global Marketing Day, we discovered various examples on how we could repurpose content on multiple platforms. Before anything, you need to be familiar with your audience and their expectations. 

For better awareness about the audience’s expectations on each social media platform, it is necessary to go through different analyses and be aware of what customers need. Let’s share an example:

In the conference, Cristy Garrat, Head of Digital Video & Social Media at CNBC International, presented a fine example. She showed how we could repurpose content to various social media channels.

Some time back, CNBC ran a TV series called The Brave Ones. It was an international series with 40-minute episodes, and it earned quite a success as well. Obviously, they wanted to repurpose the content of that series. For CNBC, there were two challenges:

  • How could they repurpose that content?
  • How could they move that content into modern-day’s digital era?
Buzz Factory digital marketing social media smartphone people timelapse street

Here’s what CNBC did and what you should learn

Step #1 Always check if the content is worth repurposing

First, they started by uploading small cuts of the series on YouTube. They made sure that the videos remained short so that the audience didn’t get bored and stayed connected with them. The focus was on measuring engagement.

Step #2: Create a marketing campaign

After seeing that the content enhanced and got a lot more attention on the web, they decided to go with the advertising. They began creating appealing images, with some texts, brought directly from the TV series. They also started to write articles and put them on their website. In the articles, there were some smaller snippets. 

social media - Buzz Factory

Step #3: Repurpose the content differently according to the platforms

Next, the point was to adapt the content on different platforms. 

Repurposing content for Facebook and Twitter

People using Facebook and Twitter don’t necessarily have earphones. That means the audio is not always available. It was an objective to find an alternative, repurposing content. 

So, they came up with the idea of adding subtitles to images that were presented on the TV show. To garner more engagement, they used animated subtitles. With a typewriting tool and CSS animation, sometimes the script was in bold, and so on. 

Repurposing content for Instagram

Regarding the Instagram account, the decision to do a real take over for season 2 was made. They made nice visuals and presentations, with infographics and descriptive content.

One other way Instagram helps content creators and brands publish their content and generate fame is via interesting quizzes, posts, stories (we’ll discuss these), and questions. Once a page is public or open for others to follow, all these features can be utilized by the people to take part in the campaigns. They might sound very simple but are extremely efficient. 

What happens in turn of answering questions or taking part? Reward your user’s actions with something that improves their trust in your brand. For CNBC, it was them talking about actors giving a shoutout, causing a huge boost in engagement and brand love. 

IGTV videos

IGTV videos allow you to create long video-form content, and that’s what the brand utilized for their show. This kind of action creates a significant increase in the engagement rate. 

They further decided to modify the content in a visual way and adapted it into IGTV videos that were more fun. 

That’s the key purpose of content – to quickly grab attention and pass this lead off to somewhere, which compels the user to take action in favor of the brand

social media - Buzz Factory

Key Considerations to Content Repurposing

Device Orientation

Using good infographics is key to getting your point across your followers. Some social media platforms are more susceptible to this form of advertising, while others aren’t. 

Majority of the users have mobile devices. The point being, the content has to be repurposed in terms of the usage or orientation of the device as well. For mobile, the usage of infographics is extremely useful.

Platform’s Strengths and Limitations

Next, considering Twitter’s limitation on the number of words, there’s also the need to present content in a short form. That requires you to understand two things: 

  • The purpose of the message you’re going to send 
  • An understanding of the audience it’s posted for

This will help grasp quick attention and open pathways to lead to other platforms for a more thorough look at the advertisement.

Present Your Content Differently

When you’ll be leading your branding campaigns on several platforms, the same content can’t be repeated as is. 

Let’s say the brand starts off generating leads from Twitter. It will be important to know where these leads go to. Facebook and Instagram are two other, picture-intensive social media platforms that will require more attention. Here, the content can be a subtitled-video (like we discussed before) or long-posts with quick attention-grabbing sentences. That’s on the level of the copy!

Utilizing Time-specific Content

The last decade has been very intensive in terms of ‘stories’. These are pictures, which have a special meaning. They are short and timed, so they can be seen for a limited time. That’s one other medium where a brand might be required to put up content. 

However, most social platforms allow users to re-use the content which was shared in the past, but is not active. This feature lets you leverage the old content, and prevents you from recreating the same content again and again.

social media - Buzz Factory

Conclusion

This was an explanatory example of how a brand can repurpose the content across different platforms. We’ve seen that it is possible to transform some text into a video just by enhancing it into subtitles. It’s possible to go from video visuals to just simple images. 

It can also help with repurposing content by getting inspired by a text and illustrating the text through an image. Generating content, adding attention-grabbers, and call-to-actions on relevant platforms based on their audience is the way to excellence. 

Though this is hard, it’s definitely doable with research and actual experience of how the audience reacts (which you can get by means of feedback and polls). 

If you need assistance in repurposing your content for multiple social media networks or even creating fresh content on your social media accounts, you can talk to Buzz Factory. We have experienced social media marketers, familiar with all content formats. We can help you optimize your content for any platform, be it Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, or more. 

Watch Out for This Must-Read Report: Top 100 Most Influential Swiss Non-profits on the Internet

Watch Out for This Must-Read Report: Top 100 Most Influential Swiss Non-profits on the Internet

What makes these Swiss nonprofits so successful on the Internet? How are they running the show? What’s in them that others NGO are lacking? Well, there may be plenty of similar questions in your mind that haven’t been answered so convincingly until this ground-breaking report by Buzz Factory.

Our main purpose by creating this document is to help the entire nonprofit sector better understand trends, best practices and challenges. We hope that this report will show the exact position where everyone stands today. We also aim to provide clear guidelines on how to succeed in online marketing.

If you run a nonprofit organisation, or work there as a marketing or communication executive, we are sure you don’t want to miss it. Why? To answer that, Buzz Factory has analysed more than 450 local and international organisations. We found key insights and valuable information about best practices, tools, priorities and more that we’ve enclosed in our report titled “Top 100: Swiss Most Influential Nonprofit Organisations on the Internet”

The launch of the report will be on 23rd June, CEST 10AM, to get your FREE invitation register in the link below:

What Makes it ‘One of a Kind’ Report

This “One of a Kind” report is about to launch soon and offers an in-depth analysis of Switzerland’s most dynamic organisations that have been building strong communities, position themselves as authorities on search engines and thrive on social networks.

The report is downright straightforward in terms of selection criteria, and it goes to show the ‘True and Fair’ standings of the nonprofits fully based on data. 

Data-driven analysis

No question about data accuracy as all the organisations included in the list can be validated in terms of online traffic, social media popularity, domain authority, user reviews. In this report, we’ve explained these indicators in great depth to help you learn how to improve your organisation’s online profile. 

Also, these indicators will help you gauge your current performance. You can easily identify what’s lacking and where you need to improve, in order to be part of those leading nonprofits in the list. 

Rising the standard

Yes, that’s right! If anything this report is, it’s the performance standard for all the new and old nonprofits that are striving to have a significant digital footprint. And this is what makes our report completely different from others. It is not just a review, a compendium of personal opinions, or, based on , a generic introduction to those organizations. 

We intended to go beyond conventional barriers, analysing these nonprofits through the most important channels they use, to bring out a comparable picture in front of you. The nonprofit digital environment today is very complex and challenging. We can differentiate leaders who are monopolizing the attention of swiss audiences and creating a gap between them and their followers. 

So, whether it’s about your website, your social media pages, communities, posts, user reviews, you can learn from the leading organisations to improve yours.

Takeaways

Perhaps the best thing about this report is its concluding part – the takeaway section. Again, we’ve kept it simple, to-the-point, and actionable so you can learn best practices of the industry. Here are some of the points we covered:

Domain authority

To get into the limelight or become Google’s favourite, you need to work and monitor your domain authority. Domain Authority (DA) is a search engine ranking score developed by Moz, that predicts how well a website will rank on search engine result pages (SERPs). A Domain Authority score ranges from one to 100, with higher scores corresponding to a greater ability to rank.

Social media presence

Don’t think that it’s sufficient to create your organisation’s profile on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and other popular networks. Though follower counts can be a perfect measure of social media authority, in this report we also analysed the engagement rate of each and every account. In digital, every like and share is important.

E-reputation

Also, don’t think online reviews are worthless. In fact, they are the lifeblood for any organisation, profit, or nonprofit. E-reputation strives to protect and maintain an organization’s reputation and credibility. It involves creating, maintaining and leveraging all publicly available online information about an organization. Online reviews can have a positive or negative impact on the organization. Similar to real life, people online trust other people’s advice. For this report, we have used Google and Facebook reviews, as they are the most popular. 

You are invited

In a nutshell, the Top 100: Swiss Most Influential Nonprofit Organisations report has got everything to set new trends on the internet. It’s deep, with an unbiased methodology, and will give the best value to enhance the digital presence of any organisation. 

How to Grow Your Instagram Audience

How to Grow Your Instagram Audience

Fun fact – more than 50% of Google search results end up with zero clicks. With the scrolling feeds of Social media on the other hand, there are no click-throughs (read: barriers) for users to engage with your content.

There are multiple techniques literally designed into the functionality of social media apps that increase visibility, maximise engagement and remove communication barriers.

One such platform used by small-to-large scale businesses successfully (for quite some time now) is Instagram. Using ‘the gram’ properly for your business can bring in higher conversions. But, the question on many marketer’s lips is how to grow that Instagram audience in the first place. 

Here are our top tips to get you an all-star, follow-worthy Instagram profile:

Use Your Biography Wisely

It’s the first thing Instagram users will read about you, so what better place to start? Yep, that’s right – it’s your description or biography. There’s only 150 characters to play with, to summarise your business AND offer enough value for them to hit that follow button. Choose them wisely!

  • Be straightforward and clear. Customers like to-the-point information; they want to know your profile’s purpose instantly and, more importantly, the topics you’ll discuss there. 
  • Consider a thought-out hashtag – it can help you reach even more users. 
  • The “Highlights” feature is a trick not to miss (and you can literally add 100 of them!) Divide them into distinct topics like Sales, About us and Fun.
  • Best of all, Instagram allows one direct clickable link so make sure your bio description utilises one already. But think carefully about the link because it has to be really important and relevant. It’s a real call to action and it has to be strong.

Your profile picture shows alongside the bio too. It’s worth noting that this circular picture (and your username) is the only thing most users will see of you, say, when you comment on a post, unless they choose to view your profile. 

Pick an image that captures the essence of your brand and feed. If you’re running a business, it’s recommended you choose your business logo or, for a personal account, pick a photo of you with clear graphics that stand out, even as a small icon.

Focus on the Aesthetics of the Feed

person holding smartphone taking picture of a bridge during daytime

Surprise surprise, Instagram is a visual platform… and yet Hubspot found that 72% of users have purchased something they’ve seen on the platform

Aesthetic sells. This applies to the feel of your page, as well as the individual posts, and your feed is the meat of your profile. It might sound obvious, but it has to look great; high-quality and consistent. The little squares making up your feed are the second thing customers instantly see when they go on to your page. 

Ideally, before even launching your account, consider the style and the theme you want to emulate (bold and colourful, black and white, pastel). 

Colour-coordinated themes make a cohesive and appealing Instagram feed. Make sure to incorporate your brand’s colour scheme into your feed and keep the same guidelines every time. 

Go for Catchy Content

So, what’s catchy? While there’s no definitive answer, there are rules of thumb you can follow: 

    • Prioritize quality instead of quantity
    • Make sure you know what you’re posting
    • Be smart and entertaining!

With IGTV, Instagram is tapping into Youtube’s longer-form video content potential. It’s the perfect platform to showcase a product or concept in greater detail. Keep in mind; the needs of your customers should be met with the content

Pick more topics and you’ll reach users from different walks of life, instead of posting into a vacuum. 

When it comes to creating compelling content, there’s a wide variety of tools you can utilise. A common favourite is Canva. To create animated GIFs there’s Giphy. If you want to get a bit more technical, there’s also Lumen5, Remove.BG, Pixlreditor, Adobe Lightroom… chances are, if you can dream it, there’s a tool to make it come true! 

The more a post is shared and engaged with, the higher priority it garners on the feed and the more audience it reaches, just like a social-media snowball.

This means, you should interact with your Instagram followers regularly. Ask for their feedback, reply to their queries and thank loyal customers. The more you chat with people on your feed, the more likely they are to bring business to you.

Give Back to People

person using a smartphone posting on instagram

Followers choose you for a reason. Besides your services or products, what else are you offering to your visitors? 

Organize lucky draws, opportunities and giveaways on your Instagram feed (being careful to follow the rules) This is a tried-and-tested way to promote your brand while increasing your Instagram following. The more people participate, the more recognition and audience you get. Win-win!

Giveaways are not all that hard to organize. Combine newly-launched products alongside some old bestsellers. Collaborate with other brands or influencers. Just make sure you aren’t giving away sub-par content or products. Show through your freebie how much value comes when paying you.

The Fun Stuff 

Instagram updates so much they have a blog dedicated to telling you about new features. If you’re thinking of growing on Instagram it’s worth keeping an eye on the ever-changing trends.

 Upload stories Every. Damn. Day. Yes, you got it right, daily is key! It shows your social availability and commitment and builds trust between you and your followers. Come up with innovative and unique story ideas such as conducting a Q&A session or creating a poll. 

Is it a video, is it a GIF, no, that’s a boomerang – and we all love a good one. Think up cheery boomerangs of your products or clients. What about a brief “How to” guide using boomerangs on your Instagram stories? 

It’s called social media for a reason. Make some friends and share the love with guest bloggers and influencers to collaborate and boost both parties. Influencer involvement is an organic way to essentially share visibility between several, like-minded accounts.

Finally: Consistency is Key

person holding smarthphone near laptop

While going viral is often the dream, the reality is that follower counts won’t quadruple overnight without the use of questionable automation or bot use. If you want legitimate followers, minus the risk of getting your account shadow-banned, it takes patience and time. 

Winging it with posting a single picture per week probably cut it either. Plan your content ahead of schedule. Is there a notable calendar date coming up? Prepare a photoshoot beforehand! With some effort, you’ll have content to spare, even on the days you’re not feeling inspired. 

Lastly, don’t give up if you haven’t yet reached your desired goal. Hang in there, keep actively engaging – all it takes is one big account to notice and repost you and the Instagram odds could begin shifting in your favour.