I love the quote, “The first step to receiving an answer is being brave enough to ask a question,” because sometimes, it does take bravery to admit you don’t have all the answers!

And you know what, that’s OK!

No one has 100% of the answers 100% of the time. 

Here’s the good news. We all have different knowledge about different things. Life is like one big information-swap. But you can’t start learning new things until you start asking questions… And that’s what we’re doing today… Answering your questions! A big thank you to everyone who wrote in with a question for today’s episode.

Buckle up, we’re covering a lot of ground in this episode – from how to share an Instagram post, to what’s the difference between Facebook ads and boosting a post… and everywhere in between! Answersville, here we come!

Question: Any tips on making a good website?

Answer: Less is more. You need way less text than you think, especially on the home page – the first page people see when they go to your website. 

If people are overwhelmed by the amount of information they see, especially right off the bat, they are less likely to stick around and read it. It’s like trying to give someone a sip of water from a fire hose – it just doesn’t work. Whittle your message down to just a few sentences – 3-5 sentences or less – and work with that. 

Think of 2 or 3 nonprofits, or businesses that you LOVE. You love their style, you love how they present themselves. Go to their website and look at how much text they have, especially on their front page. 

Example: I’m obsessed with Joanna Gaines from Fixer Upper. Her Magnolia Market website has two sentences in the main part of the front page, plus the company’s manifesto and a few links.   

Example: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. One of the biggest nonprofits out there. It costs $2.3 million dollars a day to run the hospital -- they definitely know what they’re doing in terms of marketing and fundraising. They have 4 sentences on the page. 

You don’t need a lot of words, you just need your words to mean a lot.

Challenge: Find 2 or 3 businesses or nonprofits that you want to emulate – you like their style and you want your website to resemble theirs. Use their styles as a guide, and work to get the most important details about your nonprofit into less than 5 sentences on your nonprofit’s website front page.

If you have a big story or important details that might be important to your donors, you can absolutely include that stuff – just give it its own separate page where people can read it if they are interested. 

Q: What are the websites with the free, good quality photos you always talk about?

A: Unsplash.com and Pexels.com

Q: What is the difference between a Facebook ad and boosting a post? 

A: Facebook ads is a more advanced version of boosting a post. Basically, you have more options to choose from when it comes to where you ad appears – for example, if you boost a post, it will show up more in the News Feed. With Facebook ads, you can choose if it appears on the side of the News Feed, or in Messenger ads, Instagram Stories, things like that. With Facebook ads, you also have some different options in creating different audiences.

To create a Facebook ad, you will use Facebook Ads Manager (facebook.com/adsmanager). From there, if you’re signed into Facebook on a computer, you’ll see your nonprofit’s ad account. If you manage more than one page, you might have to select the account for the page that you want to access from the dropdown bar in the middle of the menu at the top.

You can get a lot of the same things accomplished with your advertising by simply boosting a Facebook post. Boosting a post or an event on Facebook is INFINITELY simpler and more user friendly. 

If you’re a busy person and you want to get a lot of bang for your buck without putting a ton of time and effort in, boost a Facebook post and don’t mess with Facebook ads. 

You can re-boost old Facebook posts that have worked for you in the past. You can still target your audience demographic and location. There’s lots of overlap between Facebook ads and boosting posts, so I recommend going with just boosting a post if you’ve got a lot on your plate.

Q: I can’t figure out how to share or like Instagram posts from your podcast. Help!

A: To LIKE a post on Instagram, all you have to do is double tap the picture you want to like. 

Sharing on Instagram, is possibly the most complicated thing about Instagram. There is not currently a button you can just push to share a post in your feed.

You CAN, however, share someone’s post to your Instagram Story…We went over how to use Instagram Stories back in Episode 16, if you need a tutorial (link below).

All you have to do to share a post to your story is tap the little paper airplane and select “Add post to your story.” 

It will let you preview it before you actually post it, plus you can add writing, stickers and things like that. I encourage you to try it – again, it will just send you to a preview before it posts, so there’s no harm in just seeing how it works!

It is possible to repost someone else’s post to your feed, but you have to download a whole separate app for that. There are a number of apps out there like the Repost for Instagram app that you can use in addition to regular ol’ Instagram…. But I’m here to tell you, reposting apps like that are a time wasting machine, really hard to use, and not fun at all. 

So if you truly want to support someone on Instagram, the easiest way to do that is to like their post, leave them a comment – even if it’s just an emoji - and share their post in your story.

Q: What is a podcast?

A: I get this question a lot… and if you’re listening to THIS podcast right now, you’re already ahead of the curve! There are a lot of people out there who A) don’t know what a podcast is, or B) have heard of podcasts but they don’t actually know how to access them.

A podcast is basically, like a radio show you can listen to any time. It’s an audio file that lives out there on the internet and you can access it anytime you want on your phone or a computer or a tablet. 

There are different apps you can use to access podcasts like Apple Podcasts – if you have an iPhone, you already have this app downloaded. Stitcher is another popular podcast app, iHeart, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Luminary are all the big ones… You can listen to Unlocking Your Nonprofit Potential on all of those apps - links to listen below.

Podcasts are really interesting because there is a podcast for everybody… It’s literally a library of topics, and hosts, and genres. Health and fitness, self-improvement, gardening, podcasts that will teach you a foreign language, comedy, fiction, nonfiction, news, sports, entertainment and so much more. 

I drive all the time – as you might know, I live in a very rural little corner of the world in Wyoming, so I regularly do things like, drive half an hour to get the mail. Or drive 100 miles one way to go to the dentist. So if I want to just zone out and be entertained or feel productive and learn something while I’ve got some windshield time, I listen to a podcast. 

Q: Who are your favorite nonprofits to follow on social media?

A: Holy Angels and the Humane Society of Central Oregon. 

Holy Angels, is a nonprofit organization based in Louisiana that supports and empowers individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It’s an amazing organization and they also have a fabulous social media presence. It’s easy to see why they have more than 14,000 followers – their posts are clear and easy to understand, they often give a call to action that tells their audience what to do next when looking at their post like call or text a number, or visit a website or use a hashtag. 

They also have a good blend of inspirational posts with educational posts and they showcase how they can be a resource to the community. They take lots of photos of their events and activities and it really puts a face to their organization and what they do, and it’s easy to scroll through and be inspired by their mission! 

Another great example of a nonprofit organization that has a great social media presence is the Humane Society of Central Oregon. Not only are they one of the MOST consistently posting organizations I’ve ever seen, they do a mix of inspirational and informational posts, and they almost always use “THE FORMULA” which is a picture, a caption and a call to action. 

These organizations have been around a long time, and have grown their following over a long time. Do you know how they grew their following? Posting consistently and always posting about their mission. They kept showing up. They put effort into their posts, they tell their audience what to do next – how to support them, how to get involved. And, everything they post ties in DIRECTLY to their mission. 

If you’re brand new, or just starting out, or maybe your organization isn’t new, but your consistent presence on Facebook and Instagram is new, then I want you to focus on being consistent. Keep showing up. And if you are overwhelmed by it, remember – all you NEED is a picture, a 1-2 sentence caption to go with it, and a call to action. You can download my cheat sheet below.

A HUGE thanks to Karen for writing in with her sweet note of encouragement – it made my day!

I think everyone has days where they’re on the brink of quitting whatever it is that they're doing. But here’s the thing… We can’t quit. Now more than ever, we can’t quit. The world needs YOU to keep going, and keep helping people in your community. There is someone that needs you to encourage them, someone that needs you to help them, and someone that needs your nonprofit. So even if you feel like you’re just exhausted and you have no momentum, I want you to look at ONE THING you have accomplished this week. One step you took forward, no matter how tiny. I want you to look at that thing, and celebrate it. I want you to jump out of your chair and clap your hands because YOU MOVED FORWARD. Celebrate that!!! Then, I want you to build on it. 

I love that quote that says:

“Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out.” 

So repeat that tiny little step you took forward! AND LOOK, there is your momentum. 

Keep going! Keep going! Keep going!

If you have a question for me – be brave and ask! Send me a message on Facebook or Instagram or send me an email through NonprofitPotential.com and I’ll answer it on the show!

Remember to check out NonprofitPotential.com and get access to the guide that breaks down into easy-to-understand steps how and what to do for REALLY GOOD Facebook and Instagram posts – and it’s free and yours to keep forever.

Get access to that guide now and other great tools at Nonprofit Potential.com

Links I mentioned in this episode:

Cheat sheet on really good Facebook and Instagram posts 

Facebook Ads vs. Boosted posts

Facebook Ads Manager 

Instagram - Privacy settings for sharing stories

Unsplash.com

Pexels.com

Episode 16: Instagram 101

Holy Angels on Facebook

Humane Society of Central Oregon on Facebook

Podcast Apps (Use one to listen to Unlocking Your Nonprofit Potential!):

iHeart

Apple Podcasts

Stitcher

Spotify

Luminary

If links are not visible in your podcast app, visit the Episode Webpage and Show Notes at https://nonprofitpotential.com/21