“What should I post on social media?” is one of the top questions nonprofit marketers ask. To help answer that question and to see if it lines up with best practices, we asked nonprofit communicators to tell us how often you share different types of content on social media. Here are the results found in our 2024 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report:

Highlights:

• 46% of survey takers said they share news or upcoming events most of the time with the same percentage saying they market their programs most of the time.
• Very few nonprofits want to make waves on social media, however, with almost 90% saying they seldom or never try to evoke controversy and 66% saying they seldom or never take a stand or share strong opinions.
• Only 6% of nonprofits say they share funny content most of the time with almost 60% saying they seldom or never share humorous posts.
• Using social media for fundraising was fairly split with 52% saying they seldom or never ask for money on social media and 48% saying they ask for money sometimes or most of the time.

Does this content align with what social media users want?

We know from research we’ve done for social media webinars that what social media managers post does not always match with what people want to see. And unfortunately we see a lot of the same issues in this data.

According to Hootsuite’s Social Media Trends for 2024, over one-third of social media audiences say that too much self-promotion negatively affects how they view a brand. And yet, according to our survey, almost 90% of nonprofits are marketing programs either most of the time or sometimes as well as sharing news or upcoming events and showing how they help. All of these things could be considered self-promotion depending on what exactly you are posting.

And despite memes, how-to content, and opinion pieces doing well on social media, over half of nonprofits say they seldom or never post that type of content.

Let’s break this down further and look at how nonprofit social media content aligns with what people are doing on different platforms.

Our previous Trends Reports show that Facebook is used most frequently by nonprofits followed by Instagram.

If we take data from consumer research company GWI and look at how Facebook users want to interact with others on the platform, over 58% say they are looking to “keep up to date with news and current events.” Since, as we said before, most nonprofits share news and upcoming events, Facebook is a good place to do that. LinkedIn and X (Twitter) should also be considered as users listed “Keep up to date with new and current events” as their top reason for being on both of those platforms.

BUT you need to consider what you consider “news” and what users consider “news” may be two different things. Hiring a new ED is news for you, but the average social media users – even your followers – will not consider that a “newsworthy” event in their lives. When they say they use social media to keep up to date with news and current events, they don’t mean they log in to find out if you got that grant.

Do you have to be funny?

When we did our webinar on conveying your personality on social media, many people asked if they had to be funny to get attention. You probably won’t like the answer as almost 55% of Facebook users and over 64% of Instagram users are on those platforms for funny or entertaining content.

And another survey from Oracle Fusion Cloud Customer Experience (CX) and Gretchen Rubin says 91% of people prefer brands to be funny. That same survey said if a brand uses humor, people are more likely to buy from the brand again (80%), recommend the brand to family and friends (80%), choose the brand over the competition (72%), and spend more with a brand (63%).

As mentioned above 60% of nonprofits say they seldom or never share humorous posts. So you may want to lighten up a little bit to get more attention and stand apart from other organizations.

Like “newsworthy,” the phrase “entertaining content” can mean a lot of different things though. Dramas are still entertaining – look what usually wins Best Picture awards!

If you just can’t do the funny stuff, keep leaning into storytelling. Eighty percent of nonprofits say they post inspiring stories either most of the time or sometimes so it’s something most of you are already doing!

If you are one of the many nonprofits who just aren’t seeing the results they want from social media, it may be time to change your approach.

For more on social media and how nonprofits should be approaching it, download our 2024 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report and register for our webinar Social Media Trends for Nonprofit Communicators in 2024.

We’ve just published the 2024 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report! Thousands download this report every year (it’s our 14th edition) as it’s the “go-to” source for what’s REALLY happening in the world of nonprofit communications. Nonprofit communicators, get your copy of the 2024 trends report by filling out the form on the Nonprofit Communications Trends Report page OR you can join our Private Community space and access this year’s report, trends reports from the last several years, and lots of other resources. Oh yeah, it’s all free by the way! If you are already a member, just go to the Free Resources space or enter “trends report” in the search bar.

2024 Trends for Nonprofit Communicators

We broke down this year’s data into four main sections (and one bonus section for those of you in Canada):

2024 Hot Topics

• Artificial Intelligence Use and Concerns
• Impact of the 2024 United States Election Cycle
• How Nonprofits Reacted to Changes at Twitter (Now X)

Social Media

• Who Should Take the Blame for Falling ROI
• Types of Content Nonprofits Post Most Often
• Content Nonprofits Post vs Nonprofit Social Media Objectives vs Content People Want

Brand and Style

• Changes Being Made to Style Guides
• Website and Email Newsletter Template Redesign Frequency
• The Most Popular Brand Archetypes for Nonprofits
• Disconnect Between Archetype and Content Posted on Social Media

Communications Teams

• Most Effective Team Models
• Team Growth
• Team Size
• How Teams Manage the Marketing/Communications Budget
• Use of Outside Consultants/Freelancers/Agencies
• Who Manages Internal Communications?

Canada Versus the World

• Team Models
• Number of Full Time Employees
• Internal Communications
• Social Media Content
• Archetypes

(Yes, this year we had enough data from our Canadian friends to do some interesting comparisons!)

There is a ton of great data on all of these things in the report, so I recommend you download the full report to get the big picture. But I thought I would share what surprised me and what didn’t in this year’s Nonprofit Communications Trends Report.

 What Surprised Me in the 2024 Trends Report

Only 53% of nonprofits said they used AI for grammar. Editing tools in word processing software, your browser, CMS, etc. are technically AI, but I guess not everyone thinks of them that way. Or maybe y’all are way better at proofreading than I am!

Few nonprofits are worried about the 2024 election cycle interfering with their communications. I hope they are right and it doesn’t turn into the crap storm it was in 2020.

Nonprofits don’t ask for money as much as I thought they would on social media.

A lot of you are making changes to how you describe your work or programs.

A majority surveyed said they had redesigned their website in 2023 or were planning on doing so in 2024. It’s good to see, but it’s such a major investment to change your website.

I did think updating email templates would happen more frequently though.

Just over half of communications teams either grew in 2023 or expected to grow in 2024. One of the main points of frustration for nonprofit communicators since I started doing this work was not enough staff. So I am very excited nonprofits are realizing how much a good communications team can bring to the table.

Only about a third of nonprofit communications teams draft and manage their own budgets. I probably shouldn’t have been now that I think about, but I was shocked not more of you have control over your budget. Eighteen percent of you just have to “find” money within the organization? That’s crazy!

Over half of nonprofit communications teams hired graphic designers or videographers and web developers/consultants in 2023. After I read the budget data, I was surprised so many of you were able to bring in outside experts to help.

Canadians are less likely to post optimistic or positive content on social media most of the time compared to the rest of the world.

While the order changed some, the four most popular brand archetypes remained the same across the world.

Download your copy to get all of the data from the 2024 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report

What Did NOT Surprise Me in the 2024 Trends Report

Despite misgivings about using AI (which we also cover in the report) the vast majority of nonprofits do not have any kind of policy in place for its use.

Nonprofits have cut their use of X (formerly Twitter) and that they switched their efforts to the Meta-verse.

Nonprofits aren’t exactly setting themselves up for success on social media when it comes to the type of content they post. When looking at what nonprofits are posting most of the time, sharing news or upcoming events (46%) and marketing programs (46%) top the list. Not exactly shareable, engaging content.

Nonprofits are not funny (or at least they don’t post humorous content on social media). Almost 60% of nonprofits say they seldom or never post funny content. Again, not really giving the people what they want.

The Caregiver is the most popular brand archetype in the nonprofit sector, followed by the Sage. When I first started doing research on archetypes, these were the two I thought made the most sense and would be the easiest for nonprofits to embody.

The content nonprofits post most often on social media does not reflect their archetype. For example, only 10% of Sages say they offer advice or tutorials most of the time. And a whopping 89% of Jesters are only posting humorous or light-hearted content some of the time or not at all. To help nonprofits with this disconnect, we shared several content ideas for the top 4 most popular brand archetypes in the full report.

Solo communicators are most likely to be working in the more ineffective team models compared to larger teams.

Over a third of this year’s survey participants say that internal communications is one of their primary responsibilities or they play a leading role. Through past webinars and blog posts I have worked on, this was not surprising. Doesn’t make it right! But not surprising.

Canadian nonprofits embody the Everyperson archetype more than those in the United States.

Download your copy to get all the nonprofit communications trends for 2024

Let us know what surprised you or if you have any questions! If you are a member of the community, we are already talking about the trends report. Not a member? Join now. It’s free!

Here are the Top 10 Blog Posts published by Nonprofit Marketing Guide in 2023 according to WordPress most viewed:

Note: Several of the Nonprofit Social Media and Newsletter Ideas for each month usually do well enough to make the top 10, but seemed a little like cheating to include each one of them. I update those every year and you can find them under the Writing Prompts tag.

1. Four Models for Nonprofit Communications Teams by Kivi Leroux Miller
2. Nonprofit Email Deliverability Is Pretty Bad: Here Are 10 Steps to Help by Kristina Leroux
3. 2023 Nonprofit Communications Trends – Highlights from Our Report by Kristina Leroux
4. Photography Tips for Nonprofits by Kivi Leroux Miller
5. 7 Steps to Take BEFORE You Leave for Vacation by Kristina Leroux
6. Community Engagement for Nonprofits: What It Is and How to Do It
7. The Best Thing Nonprofits Can Do on Social Media Right Now by Anysa Holder
8. Why Communications Staff Need the Ability to Say No by Kivi Leroux Miller
9. Why People Use Each Social Media Platform by Kristina Leroux
10. Is LinkedIn Finally Having its Moment in the Nonprofit Sector? by Kivi Leroux Miller

Honorable Mention

These posts were top performers around the time they were published, but didn’t quite make the cut for the year:

• 2023 Marketing Trends from Around the Internet by Kristina Leroux
• Our Top 10 Tips for Working from Home by Kristina Leroux
• Making Your Social Media and Other Messaging More Relevant by Kristina Leroux
• How to Take a Workcation (Not to Be Confused with a Vacation) by Kristina Leroux
• 10 Types of Video Content Your Nonprofit Should Be Creating [With Examples] by Kristina Leroux
• 11 Easy Ways to Repurpose Your Content by Kristina Leroux
• Should Your Nonprofit Join Threads – the Latest Twitter-Like Social Media App? by Kristina Leroux
• Curating Content: Why You Should Promote Other People’s Stuff by Kristina Leroux
• 6 Messaging Options for Email Re-Engagement Campaigns by Kristina Leroux
• Stuck in Endless Review Loops? Talk about the Levels of Editing by Kivi Leroux Miller
• Funny Social Media for Nonprofits: Add Humor to Your Advice by Kivi Leroux Miller
• Three Ways Nonprofits Are Improving Their Editorial Calendars by Kivi Leroux Miller

Wish we would write about something in particular? Let us know!

BREAKING NEWS: Mixed Links will be moving to our community soon! Get your free membership here to join us now before we make the switch. But for now, you can still get the most helpful articles, posts, and tips for nonprofit marketers from the last week or so right here. This week we have AI platforms and policies, social media engagement benchmarks for nonprofits, blog post ideas, bizsplaining, and more.

It’s time for Mixed Links…

Here are 89 Power Words that Will Help Your Marketing Copy Stand Out.

Looking for social media engagement benchmarks? Hootsuite has them.

TikTok’s Exploring a New Partnership With Google to Help Drive More Search Traffic

Facebook Will Now Allow Users to Create Multiple Profiles to Explore Different Interests.

In AI news, Seth Godin talks about ChatGPT for you.

Hubspot has the 19 Best AI Platforms for Marketers and Marketing Analysts in 2023.

And Sprout Social tells you how to craft an effective AI use policy for marketing.

Read This Post If You Want Your Most Successful GivingTuesday (That’s the actual title of the post. I make no such promises)

Not sure what to blog about? Check out 52 Types of Blog Posts that Are Proven to Work.

And finally, tips and tricks for dealing with bizsplaining trolls who think nonprofits are inferior to for-profits.

Catch Up on Our Content from This Week…

• Nonprofit Social Media and Newsletter Ideas for October 2023
• Nonprofit Storytellers Bills of Rights

Nonprofit Communications Training for You…

The Annual All-Access Training Pass

You can attend all of our training webinars and workshops at no extra cost (as well as access lots of other goodies) for 365 days with an All-Access Pass.

Learn more and get your All-Access Pass

Registration Is Open for the Following Events:

Learn More And Register

Learn More And Register

Learn More And Register

Learn More And Register

Welcome to September! Let’s kick it off with the most helpful articles, posts, and tips for nonprofit marketers from the last week or so. This week we have Instagram Reels news, storytelling techniques, social media post ideas, and more

It’s time for Mixed Links…

Here are Five Steps to More Creative Marketing.

Find out how strategic planning helps answer the difficult questions.

Let’s talk about Nonprofit Storytelling Techniques: 4 Inspiring Examples.

AI results still not quite right for you? Try these 12 ChatGPT Tone Modifiers to Improve Your AI-Generated Content.

Have a podcast? Spotify will let podcasters customize their show page to bring in new listeners.

Meta Launches New FACET Dataset to Address Cultural Bias in AI Tools

Can Threads Still Capitalize on Early Interest?

Instagram Testing 10-Minute Reels For Long-Form Video Content.

Stuck for what to talk about on your social channels? Here are 21 Social Media Post Ideas.

Or maybe try some of these 60 Facebook Questions to Engage Your Audience.

Thinking of running a campaign for Halloween or Thanksgiving, etc? See 5 Tips for Planning A Fundraising Campaign Around a Holiday.

And finally Vu Le says, Nonprofit professionals, we need to be louder and more vocal, and possibly more obnoxious.

Catch Up on Our Content from This Week…

• 6 Messaging Options for Email Re-Engagement Campaigns

Nonprofit Communications Training for You…

The Annual All-Access Training Pass

You can attend all of our training webinars and workshops at no extra cost (as well as access lots of other goodies) for 365 days with an All-Access Pass.

Learn more and get your All-Access Pass

Registration Is Open for the Following Events:

Learn More And Register

Learn More And Register

Learn More And Register

Welcome to Fridays on the Nonprofit Marketing Guide Blog when I share the most helpful articles, posts, and tips for nonprofit marketers from the last week or so. This week we have Threads on the desktop, online donation page help, content creation tools, the cost of speaking up, and more.

It’s time for Mixed Links…

Mashable let us know Threads is now available on desktop for some users. How to try it. (I did not have it when this article came out a couple days ago, but I do now)

Still working at home? Remote Work Isn’t New, But It Brings a New Challenge for Marketers.

Nonprofit Tech for Good talks about Unlocking Digital Giving: 7 Essential Steps to Accept Donations Online.

If you are still using the social media channel formally known as Twitter, you should know X is Changing How Link Previews are Presented In-Stream, Which Could Impact Your Posting Strategy.

Here are the 18 best content creation tools that will make creating content a breeze.

Need to up your bio game? Check out 27 of the Best Professional Bio Examples We’ve Ever Seen [+ Templates].

Meta Shares Key Best Practices for Facebook and Instagram Ad Campaigns.

If you aren’t getting the responses your like on your landing pages, see this Beginner’s Guide to Conversion Optimization.

And finally Seth Godin says “For many, the imagined cost of speaking up is almost always higher than the actual cost.”

Catch Up on Our Content from This Week…

• Nonprofit Email Metrics: Three Strategic Choices in 2023
• Nonprofit Social Media and Newsletter Ideas for September 2023

The Annual All-Access Training Pass

You can attend all of our training webinars and workshops at no extra cost (as well as access lots of other goodies) for 365 days with an All-Access Pass.

Learn more and get your All-Access Pass

Registration Is Open for the Following Events:

Learn More And Register

Learn More And Register

Learn More And Register