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By Jessica Sharp, Maven Communications

Many companies and their employees are involved in their communities through sponsorships, charitable work and volunteerism. These “good works” activities are great to share with target audiences, but they aren’t necessarily “newsworthy.” Social media can be a very valuable asset when it comes to gaining additional exposure and sharing the good works of the firm with clients, potential clients, referral sources and the community at large.

There are many advantages to building strong social communities for a company, particularly when it comes to showcasing the “personality” of the company and its employees – a way to really demonstrate the people behind the brand.

If used correctly, social media has the ability to be an indispensable microphone for your company’s cause. Instead of thinking of social media as simply a step in promoting your company’s involvement, think of it as the heart of how the company’s “good works” are promoted. Approaching social media with this mindset will allow it to play a vital role in encouraging engagement and buzz before, during and long after a sponsorship has happened.

For the sake of this article, let’s assume your company is one of several sponsors of a half-day community event that benefits a local children’s charity. Let’s also assume that your company has a Facebook page, a Twitter account, and a LinkedIn page. Here are 14 ways that you can effectively use social media to enhance your company’s promotional efforts.

• Follow the charity on all of their social media platforms. This seems obvious, but many companies forget to take this small, yet important step.
• In addition to following the charity, follow the other sponsors of the event on Twitter and Facebook. Regularly favorite, retweet, like and share what they’re posting. You’ll soon find that they will begin to do the same for you, allowing your company to reach their networks. The idea is to create a mutually beneficial relationship, by sharing updates and engaging in online conversations.
• If there are media sponsors of the event, follow each media outlet’s social media assets. They will likely begin promoting the event early, so join in on their conversation by expressing your excitement about participating.
• For several weeks before the event, tease the company’s participation on social networks by calling out individuals who are participating, other sponsors, or those you know who will attend. In turn, those who you are calling out in your posts are likely to retweet, repost, share and comment, giving your company visibility to their networks. Creating enthusiasm before the event will encourage others to promote the event.
• Make it very easy for the charity to promote your company’s sponsorship on their own social networks. Send them any appropriate website links, links to the company’s social media pages, and logos or other images to use for posting. You might even want to craft tweets and Facebook status updates for them that they can simply cut and paste.
• Find out from the charity if they have specific messaging they would like you to use when promoting their organization or the event. Any savvy nonprofit will realize that this type of social promotion to your company’s network is “free” publicity and as important as the monetary donation.
• Always think visually. Social media is a very visual medium and content that contains images is much more likely to be read and engaged with. When posting images, tag people and companies so that the post appears in their feeds as well, and they’re compelled to share with their own networks.
• Demonstrate why your company is supporting this charity. Instead of simply stating that the company supports the good cause, share a story of someone who is directly benefiting from the charity on your social media. Tell their story, rather than the organization’s story. You will find that this type of post is much more likely to be shared and engaged with.
• Tap into the power of your employee’s networks. Once an update is posted to the company’s LinkedIn page, ask individual employees to share the update on their personal LinkedIn page, therefore gaining exposure to their network.
• With every post to Twitter regarding the event, be sure to use a designated hashtag. If there isn’t one, suggest one, and then share with the charity and other sponsors so they will use it as well. In addition, see if the charity can display the hashtag on the day of the event, so that attendees and participants are likely to use it when posting their own updates.
• If any of your employees or company leaders are speaking at the event, record the remarks and upload to the company’s Facebook page. Then, share the link on all of the company’s other social media sites.
• Always keep in mind that social media is a conversation. Don’t just broadcast information, but consume it as well. Ask followers for feedback and ideas. Poll them in order to get them involved in the decision making process. Is there a shirt design they can vote on? Can you create some competition between employees that culminates with the event? The idea is to engage followers so that they become a part of the conversation, ultimately connecting your company’s network with their own.
• Live tweet during the event to keep followers informed and engaged. Use the event hashtag and call out other attendees of the event to start conversations. Take pictures or short videos and tweet them out throughout the day.
• After the event is over, consider writing a blog post about the experience. Include why the charity was selected, how it impacts the community, why supporting the charity falls in line with the mission of the company, and future involvement, if any. Share the post on your company’s LinkedIn page, and ask employees share it on their LinkedIn pages as well. In addition, when posting it to LinkedIn, link to the charity’s LinkedIn page, which will hopefully prompt them to like or share with their own network. 

The power of social media is in creating an environment where sharing is valued. If you’re always tooting your own horn, people will stop listening. But if you’re giving love to others (in the form of “likes,” retweets, shares and “favorites”), you’ll find that that the love will come back to you. This type of third-party promotion and recognition is much more valuable to the company’s brand than self-promotion by itself.

If you’ve effectively used social media to promote your company’s sponsorship, the end result should not only be more followers on all of your social networks, but also more awareness among target audiences of your firm’s involvement with the charitable organization as well as a better understanding of people who make up your company.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jessica Sharp is the 2015 president of the LMA MPC and principal of Maven Communications, a strategic communications agency focused on the professional services industry. Follow her on Twitter @jessicagsharp.