Resources for teams
Everyone Loves a Good Post: A How-to Guide for Impact-Driven Social Media Managers
Ron Yakar
March 3, 2022
As a social media manager, you have a huge platform to influence people. You want to use that platform for a good cause, but you’re not sure how to do it authentically.
In this article, we’ll explain why and how volunteering can transform your social media presence and do wonders for your brand, while making the world a better place:
How to create and leverage organic content on social media
How to share authentic and inspirational content
Six ideas for social media posts about volunteering
Your brand’s social media accounts are a stage on which you can share inspiring content with the world—like your company’s social impact initiatives—and gain loads of likes and followers along the way.
Sharing your team’s volunteer work will do much more than increase your brand awareness and engagement, though. It’ll show your audience that your brand is more than its product—that your brand matters. It’ll also help you drive real social change and awaken your followers to their own power to do good in this world.
And if your team isn’t volunteering already, you can get them started. You can start a revolution in your organization and be the voice that inspires everyone to get involved in their community.
You have the tools to motivate people within your company (and beyond) to collaborate with nonprofits on urgent causes and make a difference. Check out Vee for Teams to make it happen.
The competition surrounding office perks on social media has become outrageous. Companies are bragging about benefits ranging from the ordinary (beer on tap) to the downright bizarre (free Botox injections).
But perks do matter. Beyond attracting and retaining top talent, they boost your brand image and prove that you’re focused on your employees’ experience.
To join the big leagues, you need to show the world that you offer your team unique and meaningful experiences. Volunteering is the perfect way to do this.
When creating this type of content, you have 3 main KPIs: increased engagement, increased reach, and increased leads. Organic content about your team’s volunteering activities can hit all 3 KPIs. Let’s break down how different types of content can help you reach your goals.
Engagement is often measured by clicks, likes, shares, comments, mentions, or profile visits. Depending on your social media strategy, your brand’s maturity, and the measurement tools available to you, you may be focused on some metrics more than others.
Regardless, pictures and videos of your team volunteering with people in need will boost engagement because they tell a story and elicit empathy. People love stories: when we see a heartwarming post, we’re inspired to express our support by engaging with it.
To get this reaction, though, your post must feel authentic—otherwise, it may elicit a cynical reaction and be counter-productive. Authenticity is the holy grail of social media posting, and we’ll dive into it in the next section of this article. For now, the bottom line is that pictures and videos captured by your team while they’re volunteering will feel more authentic than anything shot by a professional photographer or videographer.
Reach is typically measured by followers, impressions, and website traffic that comes from your posts. You may choose to break these down even further: for example, you could look only at followers who’ve engaged with your profile in the last 30 days or the amount of impressions you made on users who aren’t following your profile.
Quotes and testimonials about your team’s volunteering experiences will boost your reach because they’re shareable and they stick in people’s minds. You can post brief quotes on Instagram or Twitter, or share longer reflections on Facebook, LinkedIn, or YouTube. You can use testimonials to improve your brand image, retain current employees, or attract new talent. You could even use them as recruitment ads.
The best sources for these quotes are private communication channels, like WhatsApp groups or Slack channels, rather than formal surveys or interviews after the volunteering activity is over. When your team volunteers with nonprofits they care about, they’ll swap positive stories with each other of their own accord. Listen closely and you can share those stories with the world.
Your customers—especially Millennials and Gen Z—care about corporate social responsibility (CSR). They want to know that the products they buy were produced without harming the planet or other human beings. But CSR also includes social initiatives outside of your usual operations, like volunteering.
When you show your customers that you’re serious about CSR, they’ll be more inclined to purchase from you. The question is how to leverage social media to tell a story about your CSR initiatives that generates leads.
Vee’s volunteering dashboard empowers you to quantify and share your impact with your audience. Imagine sharing this with your customers:
It would increase your customers’ trust and loyalty, prove that your brand acts on its stated values, and drive more leads—all as a result of helping people in need. Talk about a good deal.
As we mentioned before, posting authentic content is challenging. The key is to keep your content strategy simple. In that spirit, let’s dive right in.
Each team in your organization has its own spectrum of personalities and skills, its own dynamics and ways of working. As such, teams should choose volunteering opportunities that suit their unique preferences.
For example, a software development team might be more inclined to tutor kids in math, while a legal team might want to help advocate for refugees. Large teams spread out over multiple locations can volunteer together remotely, while small teams can pack into a van and drive to volunteer on-site. With Vee, every team can find a volunteering opportunity that works for them.
Your social media followers can tell when your photos and videos are staged, and when they’re candid. The lighting, the subjects’ body language, their facial expressions—there are loads of telltale signs that differentiate an artificial shot from an authentic photo.
So encourage your teams to shoot their own photos and videos while volunteering. Post their selfies on Instagram or Facebook. Post their videos on TikTok or YouTube. Reach other segments of your audience on LinkedIn or Twitter. Point, shoot, and post.
A picture is worth a thousand words, and one real smile is worth a thousand emojis. When you post photos from volunteering events, let those intimate moments speak for themselves. There’s no need to edit the photos, add design elements, or write extravagant captions. A brief description will do the trick. ‘Nuff said.
Here are six ideas to get you started with posting about your team’s volunteering events. Be sure to tag us when you post on Instagram (@vee.app), Facebook (@veevolunteers), or LinkedIn (@veevolunteers).
Post a 60-second video of your team’s reaction to the volunteering event right after it’s over, while they’re still on-site.
Share candid photos (or a Reels video) taken by your team during the event.
Tweet a thread of 3 quotes from your team about the event.
Upload a brief montage (or a Shorts video) of clips shot by your team during the volunteer event.
Post a graphic that quantifies your team’s volunteering impact.
Upload a behind-the-scenes video that takes your viewers for a ride through your volunteering day from start to finish.
Sharing your team’s volunteer work will generate a positive conversation about your brand among diehard customers and the uninitiated alike. It’ll demonstrate that your brand acts on its values, is committed to meaningful causes, and cares about people in need.
There’s no better way to improve the public opinion about your brand than by giving your time, energy, and skills to help strengthen vulnerable populations. When it comes to social impact, you’ve got to put your money (or should we say, your time) where your mouth is.
And once you do, you’ll stand out from the crowd. Current and future customers and employees will develop an emotional connection with your brand. They’ll engage more deeply with your ads and posts, and begin to care about the messages you share online.
In fact, 70% of customers want to know what a brand is doing to address social and environmental issues when making purchases (Markstein and Certus Insights survey). Yep, the people who don’t care about social impact are now in the minority.
Imagine what you could accomplish with just a single day of volunteering with your team. Let’s change the world together—sign up today.
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