Top 5 Ways to Engage Your Board Members via Social Media
Include a social media checklist to your Board Member welcome packet (e.g. “step 1: follow us on social media”, and include of the profiles they should follow.)
Call your donor or setup a 1:1 coffee to discuss where they’re at. This is to say – ask them how they want to be involved before you start sending out requests. Start with an open ended question asking them how they envision their involvement, then follow-up with, “Are you on social media?”, if so, “Which networks?”.
Once you know if they’re on social media, and where, meet them there. After the meeting, send them an email with 5 actions items you want them to take on one social media network. For example, if you find out a donor is active on Twitter, ask them to:
- Ensure they follow your organization’s Twitter
- Add your organization’s handle to their bio – e.g. “Board Member for @greatergiving”
- Tweet something about the organization once a month – e.g. a stat, why they decided to become a board member, volunteer opportunities, etc.
- Re-tweet your organization’s Tweets 2-4 times a month
- For events (e.g. annual gala), have them switch our their Twitter cover photo with your event graphic for one month leading up to the event
Based on the social media network that the board member is active on, send periodical reminders via email (not to exceed once a month), to remind them what you’re up to on that network and how they can support you.
Send a social media call-to-action when you need to spread a message (e.g. volunteer recruitment or event registration). Send sample messaging to your board members that active on social media, and include links directly to the posts you want them to share so it’s as easy as possible for them to post and share your content.
Engage them by tagging them in posts, asking them a question directly on Twitter, sharing something on their Facebook wall, etc. Do not abuse this and do it only once to twice a year. Use your best judgement to read your board member and determine whether or not he or she would prefer to have something posted to his/her wall or sent to them via private message.
Board Members want to help but they are short on time so make this as easy for them as you can.
