Social media: Friend Raising or Fund Raising?

Who is Merlin?

International health charity

Founded in 1993 by three friends

Work in 14 countries around the world

The Social Network @MerlinUK

Friend Raising

Fundraising

OR

Fundraising Success with Twitter and Facebook

How?

Emergencies

Facebook advertising

Twitter links

Celebrities

Hugh Bonneville

Community

Sponsorship

Sign ups

Friend RaisingThis is our focus

Across all our social media channels

Active Engagement

Raising awareness

Can be done from anywhere

Instant & Immediate

Reaches thousands of people

It’s free

Reach

Brand awareness

Feedback

Instant communication and response (positive & negative)

Another fundraising & communication channel

Cost Effective

Why bother?

Our Learning It can be incredibly time-consuming, for little financial return

But can reach thousands of people

Income generated on these channels is growing but still a tiny proportion of overall online income

Allows us to develop personal connections with people who we have never interacted with before

Be realistic: although there are lots of people talking and responding the number that actually convert is small

It is essential to use social media as another fundraising channel….but also important to keep it in perspective in comparison to other digital fundraising channels such as email and search marketing

Create your social media champions (internally & externally)

The future? Income from these channels will grow

Income generation will not happen overnight

Need to be in it to win it!

Get involved now – don’t leave it too late

Follow us on Twitter:@MerlinUK

Find out more about our work now:www.merlin.org.uk