5 Ways Photos Promote Fundraisers on Facebook

A recent study from Dan Zarrella shows that the best type of content to share on Facebook is photos. Facebook users love to share and like photos more than any other type of content. They also love sharing their own photos, uploading over 300 million photos every single day!

So how can you take advantage of these trends for your nonprofit? Here are five ideas on how you can use photos to promote your fundraiser on Facebook:

1. Post Big Photos

Before you upload anything at all, make sure that you’re set up to post photos that look beautiful in fullscreen. The dimensions vary depending on screen size, but as an example, a 17-inch Macbook Pro is 1920×1200.

To give you an idea of where technology is around photos, iPhone photos are 1936 x 2592. In other words, you don’t have to spend a boatload of money to capture good quality pics.

2. Make Photos Easily Personalized

One common factor that helps content go viral is the ability for users to make it their own.

The Ellie Fund created this photo (shown above) that allowed users to point an arrow at their profile pic once they shared the photo (make sure you put your Facebook Page URL at the bottom of the image).

3. Create Covers For Fans

When someone starts a personal fundraising Page for your event or cause, the very first thing they ask is “How can I let my friends know about my fundraiser?” A simple way to make this challenge easier is to create a few beautiful cover images that they can use for their profile (covers for Profiles aren’t restricted by the guidelines that apply to covers for Pages).

The critical point around covers for fans is to make ones that resonate with your audience. A Reason to Ride is a bike ride in Massachusetts that will raise money for cancer research. People who participate in these rides are serious about bike riding, which is reflected in the cover image above.

Check out the batch Best Friends Animal Society created to promote their Spring Pet Super Adoption campaign.

4. Post Photos Instead of Links

Links are the least effective type of content to share on Facebook. But photos, which have a huge Edgerank advantage over links, will get shared more throughout Facebook, and in the process, generate more traffic to your fundraising page.

Follow these steps to post a photo with a link:

  1. Find an awesome photo (if it’s not awesome, it won’t get shared).
  2. Post this photo on your Facebook Page
  3. In the “Say something about this” field, post a short description about the article along with a link (as shown above).

Users will be more likely to share, comment on and like an amazing photo than they would a link to an article containing that same amazing photo.

5. Solicit Photos from Participants

Make it clear from the outset of your campaign that stories matter! The personal each participant’s fundraising page is, the more likely they’ll reach their fundraising goal.

Encourage them to post photos on your Facebook Page as part of a contest, or just to be heard (creating a culture of trust each may take time). Take some of the most compelling ones and re-post them to your fans.

What other ideas do you have?

3 thoughts on “5 Ways Photos Promote Fundraisers on Facebook”

  1. Pingback: What Trick-Or-Treating Can Teach You About Social Media Fundraising | Inspiring Generosity

  2. Anyway, a great info. Sometimes I think that people are too resistant to fund for an initiative which is from third world? a campaign like this http://indiegogo.com/fundfornadeem should get more attention and support. We live in a country where technology is boosted in its high and I am sure that most of the fundraising folks pay much to promote the campaign. I am sure the this person wonu2019t know this type of strategies and we donu2019t contribute even the price of a concert ticket for him.

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