Have you tried Facebook Advertising?
by Ryan Garnett on April 9th, 2016How many of your likes do you expect you’re reaching through your Facebook posts? 100%? 75%? 50%? The truth is that you’re likely only reaching 5-10% of your likes. Maybe 15% if you’re lucky. Why? Because this is exactly the way Facebook wants it.
They continue to refine their algorithm to ensure that the only way you can reach most of your supporters is through Facebook Advertising. Luckily though advertising on Facebook is still fairly inexpensive, and it’s something you should be testing for your charity.
There are three primary tools within Facebook advertising that you should be considering – Boosting your posts, increasing page likes, and sending people to your website. Each can be effective depending on what your purpose is.
Boosting a post (or multiple posts) is most effective for increasing your visibility and awareness. You can choose to boost your post to your likes (ensuring they all see it) or you can boost it beyond your own page, choosing demographic selections that work the best for you.
Increasing page likes is viable as an entry strategy if you eventually plan to boost posts to your likes. Just increasing your likes won’t do a lot of good on its own as you’ll only reach a small percentage of your actual likes. If one of the goals set out by your board is to increase the likes on Facebook this could be the tool for you.
Sending people to your website is most effective if you’re looking for donations. Be sure that if you are using this you send them to a page that clearly identifies your mission and provides an easy way to donate. Ideally this would already be part of your homepage, but if it’s not be sure you make the updates before testing.
Any of these options can be tested at a very small cost. $5/day is actually enough to start testing one of these tools in Facebook Advertising. If you plan to test all three I’d recommend a budget of around $15/day to start. This works out to less than $500 in a month of Facebook Advertising. If you’re able to convert even a small number of your new likes to donors, you’ll easily see a return on your investment. And you’re also be building a following, which if well-cultivated and stewarded, will be a strong pool of potential future donors for you.
Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides Facebook Ad Campaign
A lead generation campaign including a series of Facebook ads and landing pages.
Marmot Recovery Foundation Facebook Ad Campaign
A lead generation campaign including a series of Facebook ads and landing pages.
University of Alberta Legacy Survey
This was a traditional direct mail campaign leveraging a long-form survey to learn more about their donors and identify those who are interested in leaving a gift in their Will.
Plan International Legacy Microsite
HMA led on the design and implementation of a microsite focused specifically on legacy giving.
Children’s Health Foundation Legacy Booklet
A scrapbook-style legacy booklet featuring the history of healthcare at Children’s Health Foundation of Vancouver Island.
Template Name
This is the template you clicked for.
Georgia Straight Alliance Year End Campaign
This has been a successful annual digital fundraising campaign that includes a series of seven emails.
Rare Trait Hope Society Website Redesign
HMA led on the redesign of the website for the Rare Trait Hope Society, an organization whose mission is to help children suffering from ultra-rare diseases.
Vancouver International Film Festival Email Campaign
A digital fundraising campaign including a series of four emails.
Template Name
This is the template you clicked for.
Template Name
This is the template you clicked for.
Oxfam Canada Threads of Change
This campaign was so successful it was featured in I Wish I Thought of That (IWITOT). The direct mail package includes a piece of fair-trade fabric and asks the donor to write a message of hope and send back to be included in a commemorative quilt.
Indspire Calendar
This direct mail fundraising package includes a calendar featuring artwork created by Indspire bursary recipients.
Lions Canada Dog Guides Newsletter
This direct mail package features the ‘Pawsitivity Report’, a quarterly donor newsletter that focuses on sharing the impact that donors make in providing dog guides to those who need them.
Greater Vancouver Food Bank Monthly Donor Invite
We created the design and copy for this direct mail monthly donor conversion campaign.
We also created a new monthly donor club logo. The logo consists of 12 blue hearts, representing each month the donor donates. The hearts create a circle that encompasses an orange circle, which conveys a feeling of unity and community.
This campaign included integration through direct mail, telemarketing, and e-mail. It also included a match as an incentive.
April Campaign
This is the template you clicked for.
Greater Vancouver Food Bank Holiday Campaign
This campaign continues to improve every year. From the first year they started integrating digital with direct mail, the Food Bank has seen a 227% increase in revenue. The combination of direct mail, Facebook ads, e-mails, and a campaign-specific donation page has really increased the online donations, with more than 70% of the donations to this campaign now coming online.
Amnesty International Light of Hope Campaign
This annual campaign leverages direct mail and other physical components with e-mail and other digital components, to deliver a strong integrated approach.
BC Children’s Hospital Foundation Holiday Campaign
A highly successful integrated fundraising campaign including direct mail, e-mails, and digital ads.
Oxfam Newsletter Legacy Feature
A quarterly donor newsletter for Oxfam Canada that includes a section highlighting legacy giving.
Amnesty International Legacy Campaign
This legacy package includes a booklet that features stories of families that have been reunited thanks to donor support. It also includes a survey to ask donors if they would consider leaving a gift in their will.
Template Name
This is the template you clicked for.
Template Name
This is the template you clicked for.
Template Name
This is the template you clicked for.