What is Facebook’s new guide for nonprofits?

Facebook has a new website only for nonprofits. With the introduction of its donate feature in August and expanded social good division, Facebook is becoming an even bigger touchpoint for social change organizations. If you’re not effectively managing your image, someone else is doing it for you. What does this new website for nonprofits mean for you?

Joanne Sprague, marketing manager for Facebook’s social good division outlined the recent developments in a blog post:

“We are constantly blown away by the ways people and organizations use Facebook — not just to connect, but to make an impact in their communities and around the world.” She continues, “This is especially true of nonprofits, who inspire us every day by raising awareness about their causes, activating supporters and raising the funds they need to support their organizations. We want to help nonprofits use Facebook more effectively to achieve these goals.”

Facebook’s new guide is a valuable resource, even though it’s a bit generic. It doesn’t solve the core challenge with Facebook — its algorithm and pay-to-play system. Even with knowledge from the how-to guide and strong content, organizations with larger budgets will still crush smaller ones. Organic post reach tends to be between 2% and 5%, while some have predicted as high as 16%, so most organizations pay to boost posts to expand their reach.

While there are limits, nonprofits can engage with this new site to improve their overall content and strategy. The guide provides more detail on metrics for success and goes beyond traditional vanity metrics, which helps organizations use Facebook rather than simply “be on Facebook.”

The metrics and guide give organizations a foundation upon which to build. Digital specialists — like ours at Fenton — can help you take it further.

More advanced strategies can be seen in the case studies section of the new guide. They feature organizations of all sizes, so there are insights to take from each and ideas to be had.

While the guide is written at more of a surface level now, it will consistently evolve — like Facebook — and morph into a tool for organizations to continue to push their social media boundaries.

Curious to know how your Facebook page stacks up and how to get the most from your Facebook strategy? Get in touch with us today.