Ok, so you’ve got yourself set up with a Facebook page for your non-profit. Now what? What exactly are you going to do with it? As it turns out, many non-profits fail to use Facebook effectively, and social media in general, to drum up interest for their cause. The idea here is to generate genuine interest and engagement that leads to conversion and greater support for a cause. If your strategy isn’t delivering this, then you will be missing a significant opportunity. So, what can you do to turn this around? Well, these 5 Facebook tactics should help:

1. Ask and listen

If you’re not really sure what your followers want to hear, ask them, and then listen to their responses. ‘Give the people what they want’ – it’s a classic marketing quote, but can be transferred to more of less any part of business, even for non-profits and charities. By using surveys, focus groups, and interviews, you’ll be able to find out exactly what your target audience want to see on your Facebook feed. Listen closely, and deliver the type of content that clicks with them. You can be sure that doing so will lead to more interaction through commenting, discussion, likes, and shares.

2. Track and measure

Tracking and measuring your clicks, likes, shares, and so on is crucial. For every post you link to on your wall, for every ad you place, and for every comment or snippet of info you add to your feed, you need to be tracking interaction from your audience. When you know how many shares your posts are getting, how many comments are being made, and how many likes you receive, you’ll have a benchmark to work from. Now, raise the bar. If your posts average out at 50 shares, aim to double this number. If certain articles get more interest than others, focus on these. Track everything and optimize your Facebook strategy to get as much out of it as possible.

3. Devote time, and be consistent

This is nothing new. Organization and consistency are essential in engaging your audience and being an active presence online. However, with non-profits, greater active engagement comes across as passion, and a drive to deliver help to a worthy cause, rather than just profit hunting. You need to be active on Facebook, commenting, posting articles and videos, linking to your blog, and responding to your market each day. Your passion will help to turn people’s heads towards your cause.

4. Be different, be visual

Video and imagery are already huge online, but they are only going to get bigger. People tend to engage with video and imagery more than just text because they stimulate more of their senses. In particular, video can include both video, audio, and textual stimulation, giving it a wider reach. Using video on your Facebook page will help you to come across more ‘real’ as well. For example, video diaries that document your journey for a charitable cause help to inspire people, certainly more than writing articles would do. Video enables you to display real emotion, and this helps people relate to you better, especially when you are trying to conjure interest in a truly worthy cause.

5. Make donating easy

If you don’t ask, you don’t get. Be transparent with your message, your cause, and your reliance on support from charitable individuals. Ask them for donations, however small, and always thank people when they do make any contributions. Set up a donation button on your page to make this as easy as possible for people. However, don’t harass your followers or go overboard. This will invariably backfire.

If you use these 5 simple techniques, you should be able to increase your following, increase interaction, and increase donations to your non-profit through Facebook.