Facebook engagement is so confounding for so many nonprofits, so when I hear about an organization that seems to have figured it out, I have to share.
This recent article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy (subscription required) describes how AARP Studios, the org’s digital team, has grown its social media presence and engagement by huge leaps and bounds over the last few years. A few key elements include lots of experimenting and data watching and using personas like “Rhonda” — a woman in her mid-50s with adult children who likes to garden and have wine nights with her female friends — to help get various team members talking in the same way to the community. The team also discovered that posting to Facebook three to four times per day and on weekday evenings and Sundays worked best (quite different from your schedule, I bet!).
But what really grabbed me as something to pass on to you was the “Rule of One” they developed over time. It’s a formula for posts that includes one photo, one sentence, one link, and one request from readers. They don’t do it every single time, but if you scan their page, you’ll see the formula a lot.
Here are some recent examples . . .
