How to Start a Successful YouTube Channel

Been thinking about starting a YouTube Channel for your nonprofit or social enterprise? if so, you’re not alone. My intern, McKenzie Bethel, is about to share some compelling stats that may move you beyond simple curiosity.

In fact, for nonprofits, it may be the perfect time to begin! Just a few weeks ago, the video giant announced YouTube Giving, which will offer expanded tools for soliciting and receiving donations. But no matter your business model, here are a few, easy ways to create your YouTube channel.

It can be difficult to clearly convey what you are thinking and feeling through written text. While traditional social media sites are great for starting, growing, and expanding your organization, sometimes the human to human connection can get lost in translation. This is one reason video has become so popular. It’s the next best thing to being in the room with someone.

And when it comes to video, there’s still no one bigger than YouTube. Along with connecting to your audience, YouTube can be used as a great marketing tool.

Why YouTube?

Over two million videos are viewed on the platform each day. Just imagine how much attention even a portion of that could bring to your nonprofit or social enterprise!

A little over 10 years ago, Google bought YouTube, making it one of the most searchable platforms around. This merger is great news for your organization and growing a channel, as this allows you to appear in many more search results.

YouTube has become a powerful form of communication because it makes sharing your message incredibly simple. And unlike other social media outlets, YouTube’s content is widely consumed outside of itself, such as on other websites. Embedded videos allow users to share your content almost anywhere for more people to see.

Another perk is its longevity. Videos are often watched and shared months after they were posted, even without promotion.

Before you jump in, though, there are a few things you need to know to make the best out of your new YouTube channel.  

1.     Choosing a URL

As they say, the internet is forever. Well at least your YouTube URL will be. Google, the owner of YouTube, makes it very difficult to change your URL, especially if you have a young and growing channel. Unless you qualify for a custom URL, you are stuck with the first one you select.

Choose something that is synonymous with your organization and brand. It’s also a good idea to examine your other platforms. Having the same username across all of your different social media channels makes it easier for your audience to find and connect with you. Using a tool like Namechekr will help you make sure that the name you want is available on multiple platforms.  

 2.     Consistency

The key to a successful YouTube channel is being consistent! To keep an active audience, you must be active as well. One way to stay consistent is to let your viewers know when you will be posting and to stick to that promise. It lets them know that you will be coming back regularly and are committed to your work. It also gives them something of yours to look forward to.

The frequency of your uploads depends on the type of channel you have. With a vlog, you would want to post more often to keep the audience in tune with your daily life. For most other channels, posting once a week is sufficient.

Whatever upload schedule you decide on, stick to it! Your audience will lose trust in you and your nonprofit or social enterprise if you make promises that you cannot keep. 

3.      Optimization

If you haven’t heard yet, YouTube is going through major algorithmic changes. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with, even for the current, popular creators. However, there are a couple of ways to stay ahead of the game.

Quality, quality, quality. No one wants to watch a blurry, difficult to see video. High resolution, high quality videos will attract more viewers. More viewers will, in turn, encourage people to like, share, and subscribe. And greater interaction will increase the ranking of your video and that is how more people will see it.  

Close behind video quality is content optimization. Telling YouTube what your videos are about will help them reach more people. The title, tags, and description will tell YouTube’s algorithm how to categorize your video and make it appear in the appropriate search results.

Find the right buzzwords that relate to your video. Use them in your title, tags, and description along with other relevant words that will attract a larger audience. Shorter descriptions tend to perform better. Not many people want to read an essay before watching a video.

A good rule of thumb is to keep the description under 180 characters without forgetting the most important information. With that being said, do not use fluff words. YouTube can detect “filler” tags and will shift your video ranking lower. Use words that are relevant to the context of your video, channel, and cause-focused organization as a whole. Always include your website, social media links, and other links you want your viewers to have handy.

 4.     Thumbnail, Title, and Trailer

The thumbnail and title are the first two viewed elements of your video. If they are not interesting enough, no one will click to watch more. YouTube is considered one of the largest search engines at the moment, so having a catchy title can increase your channel traffic tremendously.

Make sure your title is short, yet engaging and descriptive. One thing to note is that video titles are not permanent! You can play around with different keywords and title structures to see what works best for you.

One of the easiest ways to gain views is by having incredibly eye-catching thumbnails. YouTube will offer random screenshots for you to use as thumbnails, but it is a much better decision to create custom thumbnails. A great resource for that is Canva, which has numerous templates, including one specifically for YouTube thumbnails and intro videos. This way you always get to control what people immediately see on your videos, rather than worrying about someone’s eyes being closed or mouth being open.

While you want to make your thumbnail interesting, avoid click-bait! Click-bait is using a provocative title or photo in order to get someone to click on it, only to find out the topic is not related to the content at all. Click-baiting is very deceiving and will make your current followers, and new viewers, lose trust in you.

Your video titles should be short, sweet, and clever but not to the point where they are difficult to understand. They should hint to the biggest point in the video without giving too much away.

Your channel trailer, or intro video, may be the first video your growing audience will see when they visit your channel. It’s a short clip that promotes your channel and hooks your audience into wanting to see more. The best trailers show the highlights of your page and display your businesses content in a fun way. Instead of sitting down and talking about your channel, show us!  

If possible, use clips from previous videos and compile them into your own little story reel. That is a creative way to explain what your channel is all about. Keep your trailer short and sweet, too. YouTube analytics predict that trailers under 40 seconds perform better than longer ones. Keep in mind that the ultimate goal is to make the viewer subscribe. If you were a new viewer, what is something you would be excited to see?

5.     Content

Content is the heart and soul of your channel. Ultimately, it’s what draws viewers in and keeps them coming back. Your channel is the perfect place to introduce your work or cause, share ideas, and promote upcoming launches. The most common and successful videos for small businesses and organizations are product explanations, customer testimonies, and tips.

It sounds daunting to create so much new content, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Repurposing video and content is more than welcome in the YouTube community. For example, if you are already producing a podcast, try taping it and posting that footage to your channel. People would love to see the mannerisms and facial expressions that go along with their favorite podcast.

Another way to repurpose content is by using footage from a previous event and adding to it. Show snippets of the event and add in your commentary so the viewer is engaged. Of course, the type of content you choose to post will depend on each organization, but a good rule to follow is to mix it up. Switching it up between sit-down videos and “in the field” type videos will keep your audience looking forward for your next upload.

6.     Be social, share, and collaborate

Popular videos are promoted more often by YouTube and that’s all thanks to engagement levels. More subscribers and more views will place your videos higher in search results. It’s a huge plus if someone subscribes to your channel right after watching one of your videos, according to YouTube.

The easiest and most organic way to generate growth is to ask for it! Share your channel and videos on your other social media channels and website, tell your friends and colleagues, and collaborate with other entrepreneurs and organizations. Using a Call To Action (CTA), is a great way to get the word out about your cause and YouTube is no different.

Each one of your videos should have a CTA at the end to further engage your audience and encourage them to take action. Tell viewers exactly what you want them to do whether that’s subscribing, liking, or sharing your video. 

Last but definitely not least—become a part of the YouTube community. Find channels that correlate with your organization, cause, or personal brand and engage with them! Even leaving a simple comment on another creator’s channel can connect you with the right person.  

Contributing to discussions will attract new viewers to your channel as well. Leaving thoughtful comments will grab the attention of passer-by and encourage them to check out your content. Avoid spamming others’ comment sections, however. That gives of an insincere vibe and will not yield great channel traffic results. 

Would you like to see this advice in action?

Here are four examples that showcase the tips above. The first two are nonprofits, and the latter are for-profit organizations.

The Task for Global Health has a wide variety of videos. Some explain who they are and what they do, and others are stories from communities they have served. And Dosomething.org caters to young people, so they have a more laid-back approach to their channel. The incorporate interviews, challenges, and some public service announcements into their content.

The Body Shop is a cause-oriented brand. They use their YouTube channel to show tutorials for their products and on occasion, have serious conversations. Finally, most of us know about Tom’s Shoes and what they stand for. Their videos range from completely creative content to their newest shoe to showing off their charity work. These four organizations can be great inspirations for your own channel.

Does your organization have a YouTube channel? If so, leave your link in the comments, and we’ll check it out!

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I’m McKenzie Bethel and I’m a fourth-year Economics Major at the Georgia State University with a minor in Journalism.

I have many hobbies but writing, filming, and creating content hold a special place in my heart. I hope to use economics to advocate for caused-focused organizations in the future.

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I'm Kristi Porter, and I started Signify to provide writing and consulting services to nonprofits and for-profit organizations with a social mission, primarily through copywriting, marketing, and business communications. I also teach solopreneurs and small businesses how to incorporate philanthropy and giving strategies. I believe that cause-focused organizations are the future of business. You're proof that companies can both make money and do good. And I'm here to help you get noticed and grow. When you succeed, we all win.

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How to Generate and Organize Content for Your Blog

This month we’ve made our way around the revolving door that is content marketing. If you haven’t had a chance to review Kristi’s take on email marketing, or our other posts on storytelling, trends in content marketing, or social media’s role in content marketing, then give those a rundown.

Among topics in the inescapable tide of content marketing is the importance of blogging. Blogging is the “meat and potatoes” of the internet right now and, if it’s not already, it should be an important tool in your marketing tool belt. 

Blogging builds your audience (in our case, Signifers), brand image, and increases your visibility on the internet. It’s also a very easy and practical way to show off your expertise. But don’t take our word for it—talk to our friend SEO. “Who’s SEO?”, you may ask. Well it’s not a “who,” but rather, a “what.” SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. 

In layman’s terms, SEO is your visibility and popularity to followers, fans, and partners online. This is how you get to sit at the big kid’s table of websites and gain a following on the interwebs. Blogging plays a far more crucial role in you getting the attention you deserve than we sometimes like to believe.

Tech guru Larry Kim says, “If you’ve done any SEO at all, you’ve probably noticed that the stories that rank well tend to have high social share counts.”

Blog Consistently: Start with Objectives in Mind

Search engines like Google and Bing use algorithms that discover analytics about your website. The more recurring visits, frequency of clicks, length of visits, and perpetual content (like blogs and social media) that these algorithms discover, the more likely it is that your website will be placed in an optimal position on search engines (hear: the coveted front page). Therefore, blog consistently. And, of course, make sure the content is good!

Soooo then, how do you blog consistently? To do this well, it begins with organization. If you want to blog well, you must plan well. 

You can’t assemble a car without the engine. You can’t construct a skyscraper without the frame. And you can’t create a phone without a silicon chip. Each of these objects has a core element—an piece that it can’t operate without. And each design is planned carefully around this centerpiece, knowing full well that the screen wouldn’t light up without the chip, the building tower go up without a frame, or the car fire up without an engine.

In the same way, you should create objectives and goals for your content. Start with a broad goal in mind and then move into the specifics required to accomplish it.

Objectives should be succinct, specific, and inform everything else. For example: 

• Increase monthly sales by 5% in 90 days through increased blogging content about products

• Increase email sign-ups by 150 in 60 days through increased exposure on your blog

Objectives exist as the frame for the overall picture. By setting clear objectives, you have a directed vision of where you’re going. Otherwise, it might lead others to believe that there is no consistency, thought pattern, or organization in your company’s writing. However, objectives require specific content. Starting from your objectives, first assess content that you have currently and then generate new ideas or improvements.

Auditing Previous Blogs: A Plan for Improvement

Last week, our other intern, Megan, suggested conducting a simple audit of all of your social media platforms. Through this process you can use an easy analysis—like SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats)—and revamp the existing content on your website. You have to know where you’ve been to know where you’re going.

In the same way you can analyze and improve Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, you can evaluate the current content on your blog. Take an hour or so to study your websites analytics. (Google Analytics is a great, free tool!) See which content performed best, what is now off-brand and may now need to be removed, and what can be updated and reused. Also, take note of what content should’ve been included, but wasn’t, what’s new with your nonprofit or social enterprise that should be discussed. You can certainly do a more in-depth audit, but that’s probably the quickest way to evaluate your current and previous edits. 

So, now, how do you generate new content?

Moving Past Writer’s Block: Here’s What to Blog About

In her guest post,  Ask The Experts: Content Marketing 101, Jennifer Garrett addressed the issue of content oriented writer’s block. Yes, there’s a solution to the cry, “I don’t know what to blog about!” 

Currently, the content that is the most valuable online is the content that tells a story and intersects with your audience. However, you also need to make them take an action as a result of reading your stellar content. This could be signing up for your email list, purchasing a product, registering for an event, or making a donation. Remember, it’s a mutually-beneficial relationship. So, start with your end goal and make a list of ideas that both aid that goal and serve your audience. 

Here are just a few types of blog post examples: 

• Surveys

• Feedback or answers to customer service questions

• Holiday-oriented content

• Transcript or summary of your podcast episodes

• Product or service spotlight

• Successes or updates

• Year-end giving campaign

• Tell people about what problem you solve and give examples

• Confronting objections people may have to your work

• Questions that prompt ideas or actions

• Guest posts

• Updates to old posts (revive if outdated and repost; from your audit)

• Upcoming events

• Partnership or sponsor highlights

• Grants or awards won

• Member or staff profiles

• Insights into your culture

• Your organization’s history

• Mention influencers or celebrities that recommend you

• Milestone celebrations

(Want 80 more idea? Click here.)

Also check out this previous post on 12 Questions That Inspire Content Creation.

After establishing each objective and writing a list of topics, create specific content to support it. For the example of “Increasing monthly sales by 5% in 90 days through increased blogging content about products,” you might create a month-long blogging series on popular products your company sells. So, if your social enterprises sells jewelry to fight human trafficking, talk about your cause and how the product will aid in that process. By talking about what you know, you will become an authority in that topic, and people will follow you and come back to your blog to read more about subjects that interest them.

Plot and Plan Ahead

Plotting out blog content six or 12 months in advance can seem like a tall order. However, there are a variety of tools to help aid and hone your marketing skills and consistency.
Google Sheets or Excel are easy to use, often recommended, and even utilized by a lot of pros. A simple Excel doc is even what we use here at Signify. It has simple headers for the date, topic, the action we want people to take as a result of reading, if a supplemental piece is being created for the post (like a checklist), relevant holidays to tie-in, and notes. And here’s an example that’s broken down by the team at Edgar.

By organizing your content, you’re creating a strategy for your organization. You’re telling yourself and your team what’s important to talk about right now, and in the future. It’s relevant and actionable. Creating a professional editorial calendar will also aid in this process.

I prefer to use Google Calendar or a computer’s calendar to amplify the benefits of an Excel sheet. Google Sheets are nice, but it’s additionally helpful to have your deadlines and purposed content stored in a calendar somewhere so you can see it visually and even add reminders. The combination of Google Sheets and Google Calendar can be a powerful planning tool. There are plenty of how-to’s on the internet for merging Google Sheets with Google Calendar. Take a look at this example. As always, the idea is to find a system that works for you, and that you can stick with.

Maintaining Frequency in Your Blog Posts

But what about frequency? We recommend blogging a minimum of once per month. But remember, this is a minimum, not ideal. But start something, and build on it. Create the consistency for yourself and your readers. This gives them an expectation of when they’ll see new content from you, and allows them to eagerly anticipate what you’ll be talking about next. A by-product of this is that you’ll start sticking to a schedule, when it might have previously been easy to let it slide. Plus, Google’s algorithm loves frequently updated content!

You may also be asking yourself when you should post? After researching the best times to post and surveying analytics on your website or blog, you might realize that Wednesday and Tuesday mornings are great times to post because your audience is online around that time. These analytics vary by audience, demographic, and region. Research your audience a little bit, look for the right times to post, and then maintain a consistent schedule. 

This research can be done through your website analytics, social media analytics, and even reading experts online. But don’t get too hung up on the analytics portion if that seems overwhelming. (Totally get it!) We’d rather you get started than put off regular blogging for another month or two because you don’t feel like you have all the information.

While you may have some topics that need to post at certain times, like sales or giving campaigns, you’ll also have gaps on your calendar to fill in, or loads of ideas you aren’t sure what to do with. Don’t let those ideas past or go to waste! Be sure to capture them so you can fill in your calendar as needed. You definitely want to have a reservoir of topics to choose from so the supply doesn’t run dry. 

Helpful Tools For the Planning Process

Here are a few tools to help you jot down those notes as well as plan your content: 

• Word doc - See, it doesn’t have to be fancy! You can just keep those “extra” ideas here for safekeeping.

• Evernote (or Microsoft OneNote) - Not necessarily the best platforms for specific date planning, but can be helpful for simply jotting down ideas. Kristi uses Evernote, and loves it.

• Asana.com - Good for planning specific deadlines and tasks, and delegating to specific employees or yourself. We use this here at Signify.

• Monday.com - Stripped down planning software

Through consistency and effectiveness in your planning, you can ensure greater success for your blog and begin to implement a strong content marketing strategy. It will begin to feel more intentional to you, and that feeling will also translate to your readers. That blog doesn’t need to stay bare! 

This practical approach of generating ongoing content can increase your company’s visibility, which is exactly what you’re looking for because that results in more sales or donations. And that’s why content marketing is so important.

Read the other posts in this series:

• Content Marketing 101

• How Screenwriting Can Help You Better Communicate Your Brand's Story

• What (and Why) You Should Be Emailing Your List

• Building Better Content: How to Improve on Social Media

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Michael Griffith Banks is a graduate of the University of Georgia with a degree in Public Relations and a minor in Spanish. He’s throughly involved with UGA’s Office of Admissions, having served as an Orientation Leader for the University.

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Building Better Content: How to Improve on Social Media

We’re continuing our theme of content marketing for the month, and this week we’re focusing on one teensy, tiny thing (joking, it’s huge): social media! Love it or hate, it it’s here to stay! So, we might as well learn our way around it and benefit from it.

Social media marketing is a huge part of content marketing. Why? Because you can quickly and easily use social media platforms to advertise and share content to your target audiences.

Over 70% of Americans are using social media! Not to mention pretty much everywhere else in the world. These platforms are massive and they literally help you reach millions of people. This is where you need to be spreading your message and promoting your business or organization, and you need to do it right.

The content you share on social media has the ability to attract your target audience and turn them into loyal customers or supporters. That’s why this is so important. It’s also the perfect opportunity to interact with your audience, whether it’s answering questions, addressing concerns, or just showing your appreciation!

Listening to your audience and understanding what they like and need will help you create more engaging and effective social media content. In turn, you'll improve your content marketing strategies and grow your nonprofit or social enterprise. But how? Let’s break down social media content marketing and the components you need to maximize your business exposure, easily.

Your first step: conduct a content audit on all of your current social media platforms.

This is your starting point to building a better social media presence. You need to evaluate what you have already done, assess your strengths and your weaknesses, and determine how you can improve. A simple content audit will allow you to see what posts have performed best and what topics your audience likes most, eliminate posts that are outdated or no longer relevant, locate gaps in your content, and generate new ideas. The goal is to create better content and increase traffic.

This doesn’t have to take long, only an hour or so! It depends largely on how long your social history is, and how in-depth you’d like to go. Just sort through your social media profiles and evaluate what you’ve posted. Most social media platforms, like Facebook and Instagram, also have really helpful post and profile analytics, and data on business pages that you can take advantage of. These usually show you how posts are doing in terms of likes, reach, engagement, etc.

It’s also important to look at how often you are posting. If you have a social media profile linked on your website that you rarely if ever touch, it’s probably a good idea to remove it! You don’t necessarily have to delete it, but you don’t want to promote something if your last post was four months ago….or let’s be honest, four years ago. So, let it go!

Developing a simple content plan for your social media profiles will also save you time and stress.

After you conduct your audit, we also recommend starting some sort of spreadsheet for current and future social media posts, if you haven’t already. Or a calendar! Here’s a good example from Curata. This is a more broad, long-term plan setup for content ideas, but it’s still good starting point.

This will help keep you organized and serve as a great reference tool should you ever need to go back and quickly and easily find a post. To go more in depth, I recommend creating a spreadsheet for each platform and then listing the date of the post, the content, and any links or outside sources you included. It doesn’t have to be super complicated, however, you can also add analytics later such as how many people were reached, the number of likes, etc. Knowing any of this information will make future audits easier, too!

Laying all your content out in a spreadsheet will help you see what items, events, holidays, etc., your organization needs to promote at a glance. Then you can fill in any gaps with more day-to-day, behind the scenes, or fun posts that also fit with your brand. Here’s another simple example of an Instagram plan for a service-based business.

To help develop your plan, ask yourself a few questions. What are your goals? Is it to get the viewer to visit your website? Do you want to gain more email subscribers? Do you need more donations, or more sales? What do you want the overall tone of your profile to be? Funny and lighthearted? Serious and issue-oriented? What kind of content does your audience want? Is it mainly photos, text, or videos (I’d definitely recommend using them all.)?

These questions will also help you generate content ideas. Figure out the answers and let that drive your content creation. Brainstorm ideas and get them in writing, then develop them further.

If you’re still stuck on what kind of content to post, here are some ideas:

• Guest takeovers: Have someone on your staff or that you know talk about a relevant topic to your business/organization, something they are an expert in, or if they are an influencer, they can draw new fans to you with their perspective on your work.

• How-to posts: Share helpful tips and advice with your audience.

• Behind-the-scenes: Give your audience a look into the background of your business or nonprofit. This makes you more personable and approachable, too!

• Do a Q&A session live on Facebook, Twitter, or on an Instagram Story. Be sure to engage with audience!

• Create visuals like infographics to demonstrate how your business or nonprofit is making a change. Quotes are always popular, too.

• Video is enormously popular right now, whether it’s live or recorded. Talk about your mission, show off your work, introduce your team, promote your events...the possibilities are endless!

• Reuse and recycle: Are there previous pieces of content like blogs, videos, interviews, podcasts, etc., that you haven’t promoted in a long time? Or maybe they only lived on your website and never made it to social? See what you already have available that should still the light of day again.

• Conduct a poll: This is another great way to interact with your audience and get their feedback. Facebook and Instagram Stories offer built-in polls you can use, making it super easy.

• Show your viewers what a day in the life looks like for you or for another key member of your nonprofit or social enterprise. You can do this via photos, video, or story!

• Share your favorites: This could include books, podcasts, movies, products, another business...anything you think your audience will like or benefit from! Give some recommendations!

It’s a good idea to mix evergreen and timely content. Evergreen content is content that stays fresh and relevant for a long period of time. Like an evergreen tree, it never dies. Timely content is content revolved around more short-term situations that won’t be relevant in a few months. For example, a holiday, event, fundraiser, promotion, etc., would all be considered timely content.

Both types of content are important. Timely content shows what you are actively doing and evergreen content will always be useful. You can continue to repost and repurpose it. A good rule of thumb here is the 80/20 rule. Eighty of your content is evergreen, 20% is timely.

Speaking of time...

Consistency is key in social media content.

You have to make sure you can stay consistent in developing and putting out content on social media. If you don’t, people will forget you or won’t even bother following you. You have to stay on their minds and in their feeds.

I know this may seem daunting and overwhelming—there are so many platforms to keep up with! However, I think it’s better to consistently keep up with just a few, strong platforms than to try to keep up with all of them, spreading yourself too thin, and then end up neglecting some. So, pick a few that work for you and your audience and make them your babies.

The most used social media sites right now are Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. These are the four I would recommend keeping up with and building a presence on. Familiarize yourself with these platforms and what they can do for you and your business. Here’s a quick guide.

You also need to determine where your specific target audience hangs out the most, though. That may differ from business to business. Try to see where your audience congregates and then make those platforms your top priority.

In terms of how many times a day or week you should post and when, this also varies by platform.

According to the Content Marketing Institute, posting on Facebook once or twice a day, monitoring Twitter all day, and spending time each day on LinkedIn is the best.

Studies also show that at a minimum you should post three times a week to Facebook. Once a day is optimal, but you can build. Three times a day on Twitter is the minimum, 15 is optimal, and 30 is maximum. You want to post about three pins a day to Pinterest, twice to once a week on LinkedIn, and post once to three times a day on Instagram. Again, you can always start at the minimum and build up from there once you get the hang of it. Find what works for you!

As far as times of day goes, here is a good article on the best days and times to post to each social media site. I would also highly recommend setting up a social media calendar or using a scheduling tool like Buffer, Smarterqueue, or Hootsuite.

These tools will make your life so much easier. You just write your social media post, add an image or video, schedule a day and time, assign it to a profile, and you’re done! No more worries, it’ll just automatically post to your profile when you scheduled it to. Here’s more on that.

See, social media isn’t so scary anymore, is it? You just have to determine your audience, find what works best for the both of you, and then get organized. Once you start brainstorming and getting the hang of things, you’ll be surprised how quickly ideas flow!

But, again, the point here isn’t to overwhelm you. It’s to help you evaluate what you’ve done so far, make a plan for the future, and start posting great content consistently. Your consistency may be slow right now, and that’s fine. But creating a schedule and plan to follow will help you and your followers.

Social media content marketing: check. Come back next week to learn more about maximizing your blog!

Read the other posts in this series:

• Content Marketing 101

• How Screenwriting Can Help You Better Communicate Your Brand's Story

• What (and Why) You Should Be Emailing Your List

• How to Generate and Organize Content for Your Blog

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Megan Westbrook holds a B.A. in journalism with a focus in public relations and a minor in Spanish from Georgia State University. An aspiring writer, her interests reside in blogging, social media, content creation, design, and photography. She is also a passionate social justice advocate and interested in nonprofit or cause-focused work. Megan is currently a receptionist at Servcorp in Atlanta, Georgia. 

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What (and Why) You Should Be Emailing Your List

We've been talking all things content marketing this month, and today's subject is a biggie. Everyone wants to talk social media all the time, but it's not the most important thing when it comes to engaging with your current donors and customers. That's right I said it—social media is NOT the most important thing. Breathe that in, people.

Don't get me wrong, social media is an important (and unavoidable) part of marketing, especially when it comes to finding new prospects, but it shouldn’t be your top priority, and it isn’t even what your donors or customers prefer. I'd rather you stop focusing on social media, and start focusing on your email list. 

I've had many, many conversations with friends and clients about this topic. I get some slow head-nodding, blank eyes, puzzled looks, and then a question or two usually follows. Something along the lines of, "Why is email marketing so important?" or "Ok, but what should I send to my email list?" I usually also hear that people do send emails to their fans and supporters, but it's been a few...months.

Sending emails just sorta happens when they get around to it. Maybe they'd planned to send out an email blast, but there was yet another fire to put out. Or, they'll email again when they have something "important" to say. 

Any of this sound familiar?

I'm here today to tell you what and why you should be emailing your list. Because it's vital to the health of your organization. Yep, it's that big of a deal. Whether you're concerned about content marketing for your nonprofit or social enterprise, or not, email needs to move up on your priority list.

WHY EMAIL MARKETING IS IMPORTANT

Though social media is the shiny object of the marketing world, email marketing should be the staple. It's true that nothing will ever beat in-person conversations; those should always be the first option. But for electronic or online communication, email should be your focus.

Why? You "own" your list. We've already seen a handful of algorithm changes on Facebook this year alone, and they're all making it more difficult for your business to get seen by your fans and followers. That's great for us as individuals who want to see more pics of our friends kids, pets, vacations, or last night's dinner. Not so great from a marketing standpoint.

And as things change again, and they will, you'll be further and further removed from your audience, unless you are paying to get in front of them. However, with an email address, you land directly in their inbox. Whatever you need to communicate to them is front-and-center. They don't have to go hunting for it, and they don't have to wait to just see it occasionally, if the internet powers that be, decide today's the day to show them.

Plus, if one of those nifty social networks goes away tomorrow, or decides to remove businesses entirely, you have no way to reach those people. Poof! They're gone. But you know what you do have? That's right, your email list!

You also have more real estate in emails to get your message across than on social media, and emails still have the highest conversion rates as well. Two, more very good reasons!

Oh, and if you're slightly panicked about neglecting your social media, here's my solution.

(Side note: I recommend setting a reminder to download your list a few times per year so you never lose it either. Unfortunately, nothing is guaranteed!)

WHAT TYPES OF EMAILS YOU SHOULD SEND TO YOUR LIST?

Okay, now that you understand why you should be making more use of your email list, you might be stuck on what to send. Besides a lack of time, this is the issue I hear most.

So, what should you email to your list? The good news is that the options are pretty limitless! 

Here are just a few examples:

• Program/product/service updates

• New hires, job openings, or internship opportunities

• Recent blog posts

• Behind-the-scenes details

• Thoughts from the founder or staffers

• Links and resources your audience would find helpful

• Tips and tricks

• Surveys

• Needs list (ex: resources a nonprofit might need to further their mission)

• Staff or recipient profiles

• Holiday announcements or celebrations

• Photos or videos of people using your product/service

• Testimonials and stories

• End of year impact reports

• Recent press/media

(Want 85 more ideas? Click here!)

Think about it: These people willingly gave you their email. That means they want to hear from you! And they want to hear from you more than a couple of times per year... So, don't neglect sending just because you don't have any "big announcements." 

I also recommend keeping a list somewhere of topics that would be good for your emails, even if it means they need to wait a while. You don't want to lose any good ideas! I use Evernote, since it's always handy, but you can use Google Docs or Sheets, a Word doc, a sticky on your computer, or whatever is a good fit.

To make things even easier on yourself, you can even set up a template for your regular email newsletters so that all you have to do is just drop in the new content each time. This is exactly what I do with Special Features. I have a formula that I follow of specific things I want to communicate to my audience. Each section has a purpose. Doesn't mean that it'll stay that way forever, but right now, it works for me.

A FEW TIPS ON FORMATTING YOUR EMAILS

Photos and graphics, or no photos and graphics? Headers or no headers? Long or short?

The truth is that I've seen emails of all shapes and sizes get the job done. Some are beautiful and some are plain. So, whether you have yours laid out by a professional graphic designer or not is your call. What works with your brand and your voice? That choice is up to you.

Here's what I will stress, however: It needs to be easy to read on laptops, tablets, and phones. (A LOT of people are reading your emails on their phones these days!) That may sound completely intuitive, and like I don't need to say it, but trust me, I do. I have seen some emails that likely have great content, but they are so hard to look at and read that I just hit delete. I'm sure you've done the same.

So, what's the cure? Well, a lot of the advice we've been giving over the past few months for websites and blogs carries over here, too. 

Namely:

• Write is short paragraphs of one to three sentences. If you're reading anything on a phone, do you want to just stare at a wall of text? Answer: Nope.

• Use headers where needed for clarity and changing topics, especially if the email is long. People are skimmers, whether we like it or not. Don't fight it.

• Let white space be your friend.

• Leave the jargon at the office. Keep the language easy to understand.

• Give clear calls to action (telling people what you want them to do), and make it easy for them to do it.

• Make it about the reader as well as your organization. Make the content relatable, and let them feel a part of your work.

• Go back to your brand standards. All your fonts and photos should match your brand, or be extremely complementary if, for example, you have a really uncommon font. But make sure everything looks like goes together—and matches your brand. Watch out for sizes, spacing, and keep those headers in check, too. Tip: Look at it like a blog post. Get all matchy, matchy.

If you think that you do want to include graphics, but aren't good at design, have a graphic designer create templates that you can use over and over, just replacing text and photos as needed. This is what I did.

I had my designers create a standard template for my monthly newsletter, a couple variations for different categories of opt-ins, and a really generic one for simple announcements. Now, anytime I need to create a new email blast, I just choose the right template and switch out the info and graphics—presto! Now, I don't have to reinvent the wheel every time. (Hint: This also makes coming up with your content easier because you know what "boxes" to fill in!)

Your formatting is just as valuable as your content, so don't skip this step.

WHEN SHOULD YOU EMAIL YOUR LIST?

As with pretty much everything else, there are no concrete, black and white answers. Sometimes that's a good thing because you may feel bad that you can't keep up with "standards." However, sometimes that's bad because you don't have a guaranteed blueprint to follow for success. What works for some may not work for others.

But, here's what I tell my clients: I'd like you to email your list at least monthly. I guarantee you've got something to share each and every month. If you can email more frequently with smaller updates throughout the month, do it! But if you wait more than a month, you risk being forgotten.

Remember, we're all out of sight, out of mind creatures. So, if you aren't talking to your list, you'd better believe someone else is!

I'd also like you to figure out a consistency or frequency that you can stick to. This is an effort to make sure it happens, and also helps people expect when to hear from you. Both are uber important.

For example, in an ideal world, I'd email my list a couple of times per month with small updates and information that will be helpful to them. But as a solopreneur, I've got a lot on my plate. So, for now, Special Features goes out once per month. Specifically, the first Thursday of the month. I even have a reminder in Asana to help keep me on task. One particularly busy month, I worked late and finally hit send about 10:00 p.m., because come h*ll or high water, that thing was going out on the first Thursday of the month! It's a promise I made to myself and my tribe.

Others I know send emails every Friday, or every other Wednesday. So, make the decision of when you're going press the magic button, and commit to it.

To make this easier to understand, here are some great email guidelines for nonprofits.

THE NUMBER ONE EMAIL MARKETING MISTAKE

One of the biggest problems in not emailing your list very often is that you only tend to email them when you need something. This is a big no, no.

It takes time to build the "know, like, and trust" factor with your audience. This is what leads them to action.

Like real life, this is a relationship to be nurtured. So, how would you like it if you had a friend that only talked to you when they wanted you to buy something or donate to their cause? Ewwww. I imagine they'd move off your friend list pretty quickly!

Yet, this is what I see nonprofits and social enterprises doing again and again. They get busy, and only email their fans and followers when it's convenient for them. As a result, donations flounder and sales fumble.

The result? Organizations are left thinking email marketing doesn't work. So, once again, they put it off.

But the lesson should be to change the strategy. Begin working on the relationship with your audience regularly and gradually, rather than using it part of the backup plan.

EMAIL MARKETING AS A STRATEGY

Here are Signify, we're big on strategy. Yes, it's good to be sending those emails, writing those blog posts, and connecting on social media, but it becomes much more effective when there's a strategy behind it.

Other than, "because I have to," WHY are you sending the email?

Do you need to sell a product, drive donations, announce a new program, or promote an event? All of these are pretty big "asks" and will usually require more than one email. A series of emails primes them to take action. This gives them all the information or motivation they need to make the decision. And this requires planning. You'll need to figure out ahead of time what what to say and when to say it.

Often, once you lay out on a calendar or spreadsheet all the things you absolutely need to say in a year, you'll see how fast space actually fills up. Then you can plug in other types of emails such as the above examples.

Of course, the unexpected will come up, and that's fine! Nothing wrong with a special announcement now and again.

If you find it overwhelming to think about a year's worth of emails, start with six months, or a quarter, or heck, even a month. But it's time to get intentional. Email marketing is too important to ignore or leave to chance.

What questions do you have?

Read the other posts in this series:

• Content Marketing 101

• How Screenwriting Can Help You Better Communicate Your Brand's Story

• Building Better Content: How to Improve on Social Media

• How to Generate and Organize Content for Your Blog

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I'm Kristi Porter, and I started Signify to provide writing, consulting and strategy services to nonprofits and for-profit organizations with a social mission, primarily through copywriting, marketing, and business communications. I believe that cause-focused organizations like yours are the future of business. You're proof that companies can both make money and do good. And I'm here to help you get noticed and grow. When you succeed, we all win.

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