Social media changes so fast that it can be hard to keep up with – or know where to start! Small charities and voluntary groups can still make very effective use of social media channels to help further their goals. The trick is not get overwhelmed or try to do too much too fast.

This guide will help you think through the steps to develop a basic social media strategy that works for your group.

1. Let Your Purpose Lead You

If you are clear about why you use social media, it will drive everything else.

Do you want to grow awareness of your organisation? Build relationships with people who are already familiar with your work? Are you trying to fundraise?

Look at your Strategic Plan and consider how social media can help with the goals you have already identified.

2. Your Audience & Where to Find Them

Next, map out who you want to reach with as much demographic information as possible. For a local community group, this might be obvious in terms of location, but consider age range and other defining factors as well – who are your priorities?

You should do some research, even if it is just asking around informally, to learn about the people you want to target. Where are they likely to be online? What do they want from your group on social media?

Social Media Sites

Choose the platform or platforms that work best for your purpose and your audience. There’s no point in starting an ‘X’ account if most of your target audience only uses Facebook. A quick rundown of the most popular channels includes:

Facebook
Facebook remains a dominant social media channel and is probably the best place for a small charity or community group to start. Facebook allows you to create a page for your group in addition to an individual personal account, so that you can interact with others as either yourself or as your organisation. Your organisation should always have a ‘page’ rather than a profile. This will give you greater flexibility and keep your personal info separate. Facebook has a very comprehensive ‘Help’ section, which will take you through the steps to set up a new page for your group and answer any other technical ‘how-to’ questions.

Although Facebook has suffered from various privacy and data scandals, it maintains a lead over the others in terms of user numbers. It has grown a little older in terms of demographics, with young people preferring TikTok and Instagram, but most people will expect to find your organisation there.

Facebook Groups
Facebook groups are good for building communities online. They can be set to public or private to allow members to discuss local issues and concerns. Your groups can be set to be associated with your page.

‘X’, Formerly Twitter
This site has a fast-paced newsfeed that is especially useful for networking and news distribution. It can be a powerful networking tool for savvy users. Many charitable organisations have stopped using this platform due to concerns about toxic content, misinformation, and the use of AI image tools such as Grok. The rise of hate speech, misinformation, and harmful content has made the platform incompatible with the values of many charities, especially those supporting vulnerable groups.

Instagram
This platform is visual (image or video) based, so your picture will lead your content, not your words. It has seen massive growth in younger audiences. Since Facebook bought Instagram, they have made it possible to link the two accounts, so it’s easy to post the same thing in both places at once if it suits you. You’ll gain new followers through the clever use of hashtags and striking visuals on this site.

TikTok
This is a social media platform for creating, sharing and discovering short videos. The number of users on TikTok has been increasing over the past few years. The average age of users tends towards younger people, so if that is your target audience, it’s time to learn TikTok - the number of older users is growing, too!

YouTube
If you make your own videos, then this channel can generate huge engagement. It is the world’s second-largest search engine and the third-most visited site.

LinkedIn
This business networking channel is less commonly used by charities, but it can be a good place to engage with potential donors and peers in the charity sector. It can be especially powerful if employees and volunteers post with referrals to their charity.

Threads
Threads is Meta’s answer to Twitter, a text-based app created by Instagram to allow users to share updates and participate in public discussions. It launched in 2023, so it’s still very new, but it had an initial surge of interest from those who wanted to leave ‘X’.

And more! New social media sites are popping up all the time, think Bluesky, MeWe, Mastodon, Upscrolled, etc. We’ll just have to see if any of them can compete with the more established platforms!

If you are not familiar with the social media site you want to use for your group, we recommend setting up a personal account on your chosen platform to get to grips with it and see how others use it first.

3. Content: What to Post Online

Next, you need to know what you want to say and how you want to say it. Answer these questions to help guide you as you get started:

  • What are your key messages? What are the main things that you want people to know and remember about your charity? This should be the basis of your social media content.

  • What is your organisation’s ‘brand’, and how do you want to come across in terms of tone of voice? Do you want your followers to think you are helpful, friendly, and approachable? Keeping traits like this in mind will help as you write your messages.

  • What are similar organisations doing well online? Can you learn anything from their example?

  • What is unique about your group? Play to your strengths!

Plan Your Content

You should try to post new content regularly to maintain an up-to-date online presence. Some charities have a very detailed schedule of planned content. Some smaller groups may tend to wing it when inspiration strikes!

A designated person (or perhaps two working closely together) should oversee your group’s social media to ensure consistent, clear messaging.

To get started, map out the key events, activities, and information you know you’ll want to put online, and plan to tell your audience about them in good time. A simple calendar or spreadsheet will work for this. Don’t leave it all to your designated social media person, though. The group should think collectively about content ideas. People don’t realise what useful information they are sitting on! You can also share relevant information on your page from other organisations (like Supporting Communities!), it doesn’t always need to be your own content.

Think about photos or other visual elements you can include in your post to make it stand out in a newsfeed. You can even spend a little time making your own graphics to catch people’s eyes as they scroll on by!

There are loads of online tools available to help you make your own graphics. We like Canva!

4. Monitor Your Account

Social Media is a time commitment, but mostly a fun one! Your designated social media person must check in on your account regularly – at least once a day, ideally more often – to respond to any comments or messages. If you put the app on your phone, it’s easy to check in throughout the day to see if anything is happening.

Responding to comments and engaging your audience in discussion online is the whole point of social media, so be social!

Dealing with Negative Comments and Trolls

You will also need to be on the watch for the less pleasant aspects of social media. You may receive criticism or complaints online and should be prepared to address them fairly and openly. If someone has an issue that can’t be resolved there and then, it’s a good idea to ask them to take the matter offline, where you can discuss it privately by message, phone, or in person.

Remember, what you say online can be seen by anyone. Always be polite and helpful to protect your organisation's reputation. There’s no need to take abuse online, however. Your group should agree on a policy for banning or blocking abusive people if that occurs.

How are you doing? A quick look at built-in analytics

Most social media platforms have a built-in section for business or organisational accounts where you can see detailed information about how your content is performing. For example, on Facebook’s ‘Insights’, you can see how many people have seen your post, commented on it, shared it, etc. It will provide a demographic breakdown of your followers and other useful information. This can help you see which types of content perform better than others, so you can refine your approach.

5. Get More Help

If you are just getting started and find that your digital skills need a bit of work, Supporting Communities offers a range of Digital Inclusion training.