Another year, another conference, another wave of conversations about how Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn could be the magic key to reach new audiences and unlock huge amounts of untapped funds. Surprisingly, digital (and therefore social media) is still the poor relative when it comes to contributions to income, even while eCommerce is putting the high street out of business. People spend money online, but why aren't they doing it with us? Because we are obsessing with platforms and not thinking about consumer behaviour.
Our decision-making journey is not linear: we form our impressions of brands from advertising, news reports, conversations and our own experiences. Unless we're actively looking to donate (or indeed make any sort of purchase) much of that can appear wasted. But what happens when something triggers the impulse to buy? Those accumulated impressions then become crucial.
Research shows we really listen to our social networks – those we like and admire as well as our friends and family. (According to Nielsen, 90% of us trust recommendations from those known to us and 70% trust recommendations from strangers. Only 14% of us trust advertising.)
Many of those conversations will happen offline – as they've always done – and many will be in social media – where they can be hugely amplified. Social media is where we should be entertaining, inspiring and informing, with a view to convincing people to donate.
If we have one goal, it should be to reach people at moments that most influence their decisions. How are we telling our stories? How are we engaging our (potential) supporters? Why would they share our conversations? How are we sharing theirs? And, crucially, how are we measuring that? We need to look beyond "last click" (or its offline equivalent). Where the final transaction took place is just a part of our evaluation. How did all our channels – including social media – influence that transaction?
When we stop thinking about social media, and start thinking about how we're going to engage empowered consumers across multiple channels, is when social media has a point.
Charlotte Beckett is head of digital at the Good Agency and responsible for putting together digital, social and mobile strategies for fundraising, campaigning and communications
This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. To join the voluntary sector network, click here.
