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Everything Nonprofits Need to Know About TikTok Fundraising
2020 was a big year for TikTok. During the pandemic, millions of active users posted dance videos on TikTok to stave off boredom. Challenges such as the "Blinding Lights Challenge" also became popular worldwide.
With a series of viral challenges like that, TikTok grew rapidly. The app soon became essential to most companies’ social media strategies. More features were added as the platform grew, one being a fundraising feature.
As a result, TikTok is now an essential part of many nonprofit organizations’ fundraising strategies. So let’s discuss how to get the most out of TikTok fundraising.
1. Mention Your Fundraiser on your Profile
One of the simplest ways to promote your fundraiser on TikTok is to display it on your profile. TikTok allows users to link to an organization they'd like to support on their profile page.
This is an excellent way of acquiring donations from first-time visitors to your TikTok profile. It helps bring attention from users to your fundraiser right away. If your fundraiser is one of the first things people see on your profile, they are more likely to take notice.
Similarly, for long-time followers, displaying a donation button serves as a reminder. It can't hurt to remind your online community of your fundraiser whenever they go through your profile.
You should also include a link to your fundraiser in your posts. TikTok is a very fast-paced platform, mainly consisting of 10-15 second videos. Users may not look at your profile page. They may just see one of your posts as they scroll through their feed.
TikTok has partnered with Tiltify to create these fundraising features. However, you must be verified as a charitable organization to use these features. To get the verification, you need to sign up for Tiltify. To avail of TikTok fundraising, you must be an approved charity on Tiltify. You’ll have to provide some information on your organization to get approved.
2. Participate in Hashtag Challenges
Challenges are among the most popular content types on TikTok. It is essential to keep up with the latest trends and participate. When challenges go viral, content with relevant hashtags does well with the TikTok algorithm.
Taking part in viral challenges provides increased exposure. So, to drive traffic to your fundraiser, you need to participate in these challenges and use the relevant hashtags. This will help you grow and increase your following, hence getting you more donors.
TikTok challenges like the "Level Up" challenge are perfect examples of engaging content. The challenge, which required participants to build a wall and attempt to jump over it, went viral in 2020. Check out this compilation of TikTok users attempting the challenge
Once challenges like this go viral, they seem to take over the internet. Challenge posts appear at the top of TikTok feeds worldwide. The trends also start popping up on other platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and even Whatsapp.
So, it is crucial to capitalize on this opportunity for extra exposure. Remember to include the relevant hashtags in your challenge posts. Otherwise, the algorithm won't recognize it as a challenging post.
That said, you don’t need to participate in every trend. Make sure to choose challenges that align with your brand, as not all TikTok challenges are appropriate for fundraising campaigns.
3. Use Charity Donation Stickers
Using donation stickers is another essential part of any TikTok fundraising campaign. Donation stickers are clickable icons embedded in videos (see the example below). Viewers who click on a donation sticker are brought straight to a digital donation form. From there, they can give money to your non-profit organization.
You can see the donation sticker at the top left of this TikTok.
A donation sticker is a call to action, encouraging viewers to donate to a worthy cause. This is a handy feature for non-profit organizations trying to raise funds. It is much more eye-catching than a standard link to your fundraiser.
On the other hand, with a regular link, it isn't immediately clear what you want the viewer to do. A viewer may have to look closer or click the link to find out more. TikTok is a fast-paced platform, and people nowadays want instant gratification. So, people are more likely to make an in-app donation than to click a standard link to find out what it leads to.
It is important to note that not all non-profit organizations can use this feature on TikTok. As stated earlier, you will need to be verified by TikTok and Tiltify to access features like tappable donation stickers.
4. Be Regular with Content Posting
Aside from using fundraising tools, you must post consistently on TikTok. Post content relevant to your cause and ensure that you post multiple times each week to enhance your TikTok fundraising efforts.
As with all social platforms, the more consistent you are on TikTok, the better. Posting regularly helps to build a following quickly. If you post daily, you will get more views over a week than if you only post once a week, creating more fundraising opportunities.
It also helps with donor retention. Posting regularly allows for maximum interaction with your followers. This helps to build relationships with them. It makes them feel like a part of the cause, so they will likely keep donating.
Consistently getting your message out in front of people is half the battle. It can be hard to catch viewers' attention and facilitate interaction with donors. So, as well as posting regularly, you should post at peak times for maximum engagement.
As TikTok is such a fast-paced platform, you may miss out on views if you post at the wrong time. The highlighted times above are the peak times for global engagement on TikTok for each day of the week. Keep in mind that these times are in US Eastern Standard Time.
To help with consistency, you can repurpose content from your other platforms and turn them into TikTok videos. It can be challenging to create enough videos to post daily. Repurposing content from all the social media platforms you manage in one place or manage individually helps to take a bit of the pressure off.
However, you should not sacrifice the quality of your content to be consistent. Ensure that the content you put out is always high quality.
5. Upload Informative Videos
Although TikTok is mainly known for dance challenges, educational TikTok videos have also become popular. The short format provides a platform for quick and easy tips on everything from cooking to sports.
A lot of informational video content on other platforms is overlooked as it uses a longer format. Consumers want instant gratification these days. They don't have the patience to watch a ten-minute video. Informational videos on TikTok provide a happy medium.
The short format means you can provide value for customers while maintaining their interest. No matter what your target audience likes, you can provide them with valuable information.
Focus on common queries or debates within your community. For example, in education, there is often debate about the benefits of homework, as shown in the screenshot below. This would be a good topic for an education charity to cover. Even if viewers disagree with you, if they are interested in the topic, they will watch to see your opinion.
Another popular format for informative videos is top 5/10 lists or quick and easy tips. Again, you should focus on popular topics. However, breaking down the information makes it more interactive for viewers. They can go and put your recommendations to the test or compare their top 10 list to yours.
Also, make use of text for these videos. This helps to keep your informative videos short, snappy and interactive. You can use a free alternative to Grammarly to avoid spelling and grammar mistakes.
To summarize, TikTok is a very fast-paced platform, so you don't have much time to draw people in. That means you should consistently mention your fundraiser in your bio and posts.
The TikTok algorithm places hashtag challenge content at the top of users' feeds. Make sure to keep up with the latest trends and participate as much as possible.
As well as hashtags, donation stickers are essential to your fundraising strategy. These can be included in your posts as a call to action to encourage viewers to make instant online donations.
Finally, you must regularly post informative content. Informative content allows you to provide value for viewers, making it more likely that they will donate.
All told, TikTok is an excellent platform to spread your message and build a loyal donor base.
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