How to recruit volunteers through social media

Know your digital footprint

If you’re going to reach out to people on social media, expect them to want to find out more about your organisation online by visiting your website. For this reason, it’s important to have a strong, consistent online presence matched with a clear description of what your organisation does.

Make sure you have an attractive website before you embark on your social media recruitment campaign as those you attract will most likely want to find out more about your organisation before applying, and they will do so by visiting your website.

Taking control of your digital footprint also means knowing what people see when they search for your organisation. You may find your organisation has been listed on various directories. In these cases, it’s worth claiming your organisation’s listing so you can make edits and add extra information to ensure your message is consistent.

Highlight the benefits of working for your NFP

You may have an amazing cause, but people often want to know what they are going to get out of a volunteering role. People will be more likely to offer their time and skills to you if you can highlight the benefits of working with your organisation.

For example, the Cancer Council lists the benefits of volunteering for the organisation on its website, including gaining work experience, learning new skills, meeting new people and building self confidence.

For the social media generation, other benefits can also include recommendations on LinkedIn, inclusion in volunteer-only Facebook groups and being listed on your website.

Show off your workplace culture

Acknowledging the work your volunteers do publicly through your organisation’s social media channels provides an opportunity to demonstrate your organisation’s culture and the value that it puts on its volunteers.

Posting a Facebook photo album of your volunteers gives you great content to share with your audience and allows volunteers to tag themselves in photos and share them with their individual networks. This is where social media shines as your existing staff and volunteers become your biggest advocates.

Use targeted advertising tools

Advertising on social networks such as Facebook can also help you reach out to the people who are already connected to you and their personal networks.

When it comes to online advertising, data is like gold and many social networks allow you to use what they know about their users to target your advertisements to the best possible audience. For example, on Facebook, if you’re doing a volunteer drive, you can advertise only to the people who are connected to your page and their friends who are interested in not-for-profits. This way you know that you are getting more value for money from your advertising spend which is usually charged every time someone clicks your advertisement, or every time it appears. This makes social network advertising a lot more specific than print advertising or even some job sites.

Go on the hunt

While there are plenty of websites that allow you to advertise volunteering positions, social media allows you to identify those people who may already be talking about your organisation or are aligned with your cause and may have time to contribute to your organisation.

With millions of Australians actively sharing content across their networks, monitoring keywords and hashtags can help you discover who’s passionate about your cause and who can help.
In addition, Google Alerts and other search tools can be used to identify people talking about particular topics or issues that relate to your cause but who may not be connected to your organisation yet.

Sarah Harding

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