How to Plan Your 2021 Social Media Marketing Calendar

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My first P2P fundraising campaign

The COVID-19 pandemic, the election, and racial justice protests have upended the entire nonprofit landscape. It is no longer business as usual for nonprofit fundraisers.

With all the noise on social media, along with serious ethical considerations clouding the platforms, how can we continue to reach our audiences and spread our messages online?


COVID-19 and the resulting stay-at-home orders have changed just about everything, including our relationship with the internet, how often we use it and how we use it. We are online more than ever, working from home, attending school from home, catching up with friends via video calls. And as stores and restaurants around the globe shuttered their doors for months on end, we all headed to the internet to order essential items online


The Harris Poll conducted between late March and early May, found that between 46% and 51% of US adults were using social media more since the outbreak began. In the most recent May 1–3 survey, 51% of total respondents — 60% of those ages 18 to 34, 64% of those ages 35 to 49, and 34% of those ages 65 and up – reported increased usage on certain social media platforms.
However, it's important to keep in mind that certain social media sites will sustain more engagement than others, and time spent on these social networks and messaging may change as people start to go back to work and school. Which consumer behavior trends on social media will continue after the pandemic and how can we prepare for any expected shifts?


Social media started as a way for people to connect and communicate with friends and family. However, as it became more and more popular, brands began recognizing it as a great opportunity to interact with their target audiences and customers, as well as to expand their reach and grow.

Before we begin, a bit about the landscape we are entering into. Landscape
There are just three of many reasons that your nonprofit needs a strategic social media marketing plan going into the end of this year and to prepare for next year. 


Be wary of anyone that tells you there is only one way to do anything. No matter how much someone says it works great if it’s out of line, you are the expert, this is a collection of techniques and best practices and tips tha you can select from, it is not a mandate to do everything or you will fail. Suggestions and ideas

Unless you are starting 100% from scratch with no database, email list, and social media accounts, you already have a group of people (even if it’s a small group) who have raised their hands to say that they want to hear more from you.

When revamping your social media strategy, it’s a heck of a lot easier to focus on the group of people who have already opted in than trying to grab the attention and interest of complete strangers. 
To learn about the demographic makeup and other characteristics of your current digital and social media following, you can:
What is the demographic makeup of your fans? Age, location, gender? Where do they predominantly reside, in which time zones? 
Which topics tend to elicit the most engagement? What spurs the greatest amount of comments and share? What gets a lot of likes or reactions? 
Which types of content—photo, video, text—generally get the most engagement? When you post a link to an article, does that resonate more than a text update? Do people love your video content? Does live video work better than recorded video?   



For example, if one of your goals is to build up your peer-to-peer fundraising program, but your current audience is made up of baby boomers and matures, you may need to target younger donors more comfortable with technology and social media fundraising.

If you want to start a text advocacy campaign, and your supporters don’t have smartphones, trying to reach civically-engaged digital natives, 20 and 30-year-olds comfortable with mobile technology, may be your desired audience. 


If you have determined that you need to reach and engage an entirely new audience, answer the following questions:    

The only solution to the digital clutter problem is to craft inspiring, relevant communications designed for your target audience, asking them for their attention and earning their participation. This is why we spent so much time in the previous section identifying who you are engaging with and what action you want them to take – different messages inspire different actions.  


You won’t be able to schedule EVERYTHING - and you should leave some white space in there - but it will give you a good handle on what’s happening that month and how you can get ahead of it. 

Creating engaging, well-received content is the name of the social media game.
The best way to create your own high-performing social media content strategy is by completing the 3 steps that we will cover today:
Brainstorm Content Categories that are laser-focused on your target audience and to your specific nonprofit;
List out several different Content Types, based on what works on each social media platform, as well as the technical capacity and resources of your org;
Put the Content Categories and the Content Types together into a Content Calendar.