How to Use Pinterest For Your Nonprofit

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How to Use Pinterest For Your Nonprofit

By Janette Speyer and Katrina McNeill

We would never venture to say that men are not philanthropic, but studies (like this one from IUPU) have shown women to be more likely to give to charities. That being said, with Pinterest being majority women, it seems a very good place to promote your nonprofit! So how do we best utilize Pinterest to promote nonprofits? You must first decide if your nonprofit is a good fit for Pinterest by evaluating if your organization can tell a story with images. If the answer is yes (and it typically is), then you can work with Pinterest! Now you just need to understand some Pinterest guidelines.

The Guidelines:

  • Tag and categorize: Pinterest gives users the option to categorize pins. Know that it is incredibly important to select the appropriate categories for pins as a correctly named category means that your pins will appear in the feeds for those topics, which puts your images in front of the right audience. As far as tagging goes, if you want your content to be found, it has to be searchable. Put tags (keywords) in both the pin’s caption and the website where the image came from.
  • Keep links up to date: There is nothing less useful than a broken link. Make sure that users who click on your pin will get directed to your website. Broken links on your Pinterest images won’t help your reputation with customers and it certainly won’t earn you a donation!
  • Good graphics: If you have a great image, use it, but know that infographics are also a good choice for sharing on Pinterest. This is due to infographic’s ability to easily go viral with a combination of thought-provoking factoids and striking visuals. When creating infographics for your own nonprofit, think about the type of information that will intrigue your supporters.
  • Do it like the pros: The habits of 15 superusers will give you some good insight into how to use Pinterest well.
  • Don’t just pin, repin: Pinterest is just like any other social network. It’s not all about you. Search through Pinterest and find images that you can repin on your boards. As with most social platforms, this is where the magic happens!
  • Utilize your supporters: Add “pin it” buttons to your blog or web site so your visitors and supporters can create their own pin boards that highlight your cause.
  • Share everywhere: Pinterest is such a great platform that integrates well with your other social networks! Get more followers by putting your Pinterest links up on Facebook and watch as your Facebook fans follow your Pinterest page. This goes for most other social networks as well.

Fundraising

If your social media goals go beyond promotion, and you have hopes for fundraising, you can use one of the many fundraising apps that link with Pinterest like Help Attack! But don’t assume you have to have any “Donate Now” buttons! Some of your audience may need to first be engaged through your images, leading to your website and then evaluating your message, content and branding. After they have looked into your nonprofit, the hope is that they will contribute their time and resources. Pinterest can help you to grab new donors, if you are curious who and how many are coming from Pinterest, set up your analytics software to track these stats.

Ready to get going!

Now you have some guidelines to get you started, but be sure you don’t turn away potential supporters by constantly pushing your cause! Pin interesting images that capture the essence of your organization to help build a community of potential donors and volunteers who share the same interests. See how we have built our community on our Web Success Team Pinterest page.

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