2018 Nonprofit Social Media Statistics Hubspot

There's no shortage of advice in the blogosphere on how and where to spend your time on social media. How organizations are actually spending their time online, nevertheless, is a unlike story.

We recently surveyed over 9,000 small-scale-to-medium-sized nonprofits in the United States and Canada to see how they use social media and to what end. Marketers and fundraisers akin will find the results fascinating and, at times, alarming.

Survey Highlights

• An overwhelming majority of nonprofits list Facebook every bit their master social network.
• Most nonprofits do not accept a documented social media strategy.
• Goals are varied and diverse -- most half are measuring their results.
• Responsibility typically falls to simply 1 employee.
• Tracking the social media accounts of donors within a donor database is a rare practice.

Here are the total survey results:

48% of nonprofits believe social media is very valuable.

Nonprofits no longer seem to be lagging behind on social media adoption, with a majority of responders stating that they find it to be valuable to their outreach efforts. The effect is really how social media actually impacts the mission directly and how to ameliorate measure its effectiveness.

Sharing news nearly the organization, the crusade, and brand recognition are the superlative three goals of nonprofits' social media efforts.

A diversity of goals suggests a diverse content type distributed via social media. The fact that nonprofits aren't just spamming for donations is a adept sign.

98% of nonprofits are on Facebook.

Facebook has virtually universal adoption among nonprofits, likely due to its broad reach and low barriers to entry.

80% of nonprofits say Facebook is their primary focus for social media.

Kivi Leroux Miller's 2014 Nonprofit Communications Trends report also found that nonprofit communicators spend most time on enewsletters, Facebook, and event marketing. Considering Facebook's "pay to play" model coupled with the fact that nonprofits operate under tight marketing budgets, beingness then highly tied to Facebook may prove problematic going forward.

Nonprofits would similar to focus more time on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Nonprofits seem to have little-to-no want in exploring Quora, SlideShare, Vine, or Tumblr, but bear witness a slight interest in visual mediums like YouTube and Instagram.

Considering it's already depression adoption, this group may desire to consider making Google+ a college priority. Its SEO benefits accept been widely reported, and the network represents an affordable means of video conferencing and video product in the grade of Google Hangouts.

38% of nonprofits spend between one-2 hours a week on social media.

By comparison, VerticalResponse found in belatedly 2012 that 43% of minor businesses spend at to the lowest degree half-dozen hours per week on social media.

44% of nonprofits take but i person monitoring its social media.

While information technology's okay to have i person dedicated to social media, you accept to proceed in mind that that ane person can just do so much. Go on your social media channels to a minimum, between one and three is ideal. Make certain to ask which channels your constituents are on and appoint them accordingly.

53% of nonprofits are not measuring their social media.

Almost one-half of nonprofits are measuring the outcomes of their activities on social media. Michael A. Stelzner reported last year that only near one in iv for-turn a profit marketers (26%) agreed that they are able to mensurate their social activities. Maybe ROI is easier to rail in the nonprofit world?

81% of nonprofits are not tracking the social media accounts of donors and volunteers in their database.

Many nonprofit CRMs are not equipped with this functionality, only it'southward still a skilful idea to list "social media" every bit a communications preference -- particularly for millennial donors. Acknowledging gifts or volunteerism online tin can be highly constructive.

67% of nonprofits accept no social media strategy, policies or goals documented.

These are perhaps the most troubling statistics found within the survey results. Operating without a programme tin can spell disaster, and nonprofits tin can't afford any wasted time or effort.

How is your nonprofit organization using social media? Let us know in the comments beneath!

Originally published Mar 20, 2014 4:00:00 PM, updated Jan eleven 2022

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