Use Facebook the Right Way:
Using Facebook to thank contributors is one of the most effective ways to increase your contributions -- if you do it properly.
Here is the best way to use Facebook to get maximum reach:
- Write a thank you message on your personal Facebook account (not your athlete page)
- Tag the contributor by name (you can’t do this from your athlete page)
- Add a link to your campaign
Olympic luger, John Fennell did a great job of this during his campaign:
Proud to announce that Rick Mercer (legit) has jumped on board my campaign. I'm thankful that people on the opposite...
Posted by John Fennell on Tuesday, January 6, 2015
By tagging the person by name and including your campaign link, you’re ensuring your campaign appears on their wall, with a message that clearly indicates that that person supported you. This will give you credibility in the eyes of their friends, who might then contribute as well.
Do you see how this can turn into an infinite chain of supporters?
John Fennell reached 100% of goal ($10 000) and explains that he didn’t receive contributions for 15 days, but “as soon as [he] was mentioning that this friend had donated, another one would see that and then in turn they would donate. That was a very interesting phenomenon, which [he] didn’t expect at the beginning, but it really paid off big for [him]… literally.”
Track and Field athlete, Karelle Edwards, used Facebook to show her gratitude throughout her campaign and also reached 100% of her goal.
When asked about the correlation, she said: “I believe that most of the people who contributed saw my stuff on [Facebook]. I also think that writing the "thank yous", reminded people who wanted to donate but had not done so yet.”
Give Your Contributor a Face
Add to this winning formula by including a photo of your contributor and a personalized message in your thank you post. Not only are you showing them that you really appreciate their support by taking the time to personalize the message, but you’re making your campaign seem more credible by putting real people’s faces behind it.
According to Kissmetrics, Facebook posts with pictures get 53% more likes, 104% more comments and 84% more click-throughs on links than text-based posts, which makes the post even more visible in your extended network’s newsfeeds. This helps you increase your reach further.
Wesley Matos created a nice template for these thank you messages and they always garner a minimum of 15-20 likes and a couple shares!
Mais uma grande contribuição! Obrigado David Faustino pela força e apoio ao esporte. Grande Abraço.http://makeachamp.com/pt/wesleymatos
Posted by Wesley Matos on Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Jerome Cabanatan consistently posted thank you messages on his various social media channels, which included pictures of his supporters, and he raised close to 60% of his goal in 5 days.
A lesson to be learned from Jerome: be creative! As one of his rewards, he offered a comic book that he created, and he tied this into his thank you messsages too!
Thanks @rcabanatan for your @makeachampion contribution! @yctkd44 http://t.co/B1tHtaxHom pic.twitter.com/IIx1HZznBd
— Jerome Cabanatan (@jroamcab) April 14, 2015
Choose the Channel that Best Suits Your Audience
While Facebook may be the most effective at increasing your reach in some countries, this may not be true everywhere. Take time to think about which social media channels your community uses the most and which will give you the most access to your extended network.
Meggie Ochoa for example, is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu athlete from the Philippines, who uses Instagram as her main venue for her thank you messages. She says that she does this because “Instagram is getting pretty big [in the Philippines], especially because Facebook has been getting a bit too cluttered lately.”
Be Accessible
Privacy is important, but as an athlete, you are bound to have supporters who want to see what you’re up to, so remember to set your accounts to public. This way, your fans will see your posts about your sports crowdfunding campaign, and they can help you achieve your goal by sharing and contributing!
Turning a thank you message into contributions is as easy as that, so what are you waiting for?
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