An organic social media feature to improve your non-profit engagement
In 2023, Meta rolled out a feature for Creator accounts on Instagram (evaluate whether your charity can utilise a Creator Account versus a Business Account). You can read more about the feature on the Meta website, but we’ve reviewed the feature with a non-profit lens to see whether it’s a worthwhile feature.
Spoiler alert… This could be a game changer for your organisation!
What is Instagram Broadcast Channel?
Currently available for Creator accounts, this feature allows creators to reach a user’s inbox by using limited two-way communication with people who choose to join your broadcast channel.
You can send messages with images, videos, polls, and voice notes, and you can also share content from your feed into the channel. Slipping right to the top of their DM’s and overriding the algorithm- isn’t that our dream as a non-profit?!
You can also add collaborators/partners, so if you have charity ambassadors they can take over your channel for a period of time to share content that resonates with and connects to your audience.
Will it improve engagement for our non-profit organisation?
Average engagement rate for Instagram organic social media content is 0.65%[1]. Photo posts 0.59%[1], video posts 0.66%[1], and carousel posts 0.76%[1]. As an example, Black Dog Institute’s 10 most recent organic Instagram posts (as at 18/12/23), have a 1.9% engagement rate[2].
From another perspective, Steven Bartlett (Diary of a CEO) has a 1.4% engagement rate[3] for their 10 most recent organic Instagram posts (as at 18/12/23) compared with their Broadcast Channel seeing a ~25% engagement rate on polls and ~3% on all other post types.
To give another comparison, Adam Mosseri (Head of Instagram) has a 0.92% organic engagement rate[4], compared to his Broadcast Channel seeing an 8% engagement rate on polls and ~4% on all other post types.
Even if your organisation can achieve half of this, it’s a monumental improvement on what you’re likely already seeing with your organic engagement numbers.
Benefits of Instagram Broadcast Channel for your non-profit
Only followers can join the broadcast channels - exclusivity!
You can place the channel link in your bio for followers to join, or you can ask followers to DM you for the link or comment “channel” on a feed post to be sent the link to join.
There’s an option for multiple channels - relevance!
You can have multiple channels for various topics. For example, if you’re a mental health organisation you could have a channel for seasonal coping content and another for workplace policy and rights.
People can only like/react/vote
Keep your fundraising challenge fun with votes of what they’d like to see next, and even start your post-campaign survey early with some questions to gather insights while the challenge is running.
It’s quick and easy for followers to engage with the campaign while also being very easy to monitor as there are no comment capabilities.
Engage your donors with voice notes
Voice notes provide a new way to communicate with your followers. For example, you could send a good luck voice note on the first morning of the challenge, let followers know total funds raised so far, and if you’re at an in-person fundraising event you could ask others to share their favourite part of the day. These ideas bring a human element to your digital fundraising campaigns or any part of your non-profit social media strategy.
Snapshot of other Instagram Broadcast pros:
- All messages you send in this channel will go straight to the top of a followers inbox, just like any other message from their friends and family.
- Currently you can’t share clickable URL links on Instagram grid posts, however with Instagram Broadcast Channel, the links you share are clickable.
- Send messages, photos, videos, voice notes and publish questions for votes - variation!
Cons of Instagram Broadcast channel
- Currently there is no scheduling option for this feature. So if you’re going to use it, you have to post manually.
- It’s not available for business accounts at the moment, but this will come in the future. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it’s easy to switch from a Business to Creator account. We’re happy to talk to you about whether this is right for your organisation.
How can I use Instagram Broadcast Channel for my non-profit organisation?
We’ve put together a few examples of how you could use the Broadcast Channel to connect your audience on a deeper level:
- Announcements of new fundraising campaigns
- Sharing big news and milestones
- Sharing video stories from beneficiaries
- Sharing videos from the CEO about the work your organisation does
- Behind the scenes of the organisation (i.e. in the office, at an event)
- Reminders about important days for your cause
Donor surveys and polls
Gain insights over time with a more gradual questioning strategy, as opposed to sending an email with a large number of questions that overwhelm your audience.
Surveys and polls can also help followers learn about your organisation and then encourage them to share the answer with their friends and family, further increasing your reach. For example, give followers a true or false quiz to raise awareness about your cause (and give them the answer after 24hrs).
Using surveys and polls could also help you understand what content your donors want to see. Ask them to help you shape your digital fundraising strategy and show them that their engagement matters to your organisation.
Option for multiple channels
Picture this: you’re running a month-long fundraising challenge and you’d like to set up a broadcast channel for updates and milestones (plus competition reminders!).
But also this: you’d like to have the option for people to choose whether they receive a humorous style of motivation throughout the challenge, or whether they would prefer cause-related motivational content.
Instagram Broadcast Channels are the solution! You can run a broadcast channel for people who are interested in behind the scenes content, and a separate channel for important updates from your charity. For example, charities who research cancer treatments for example would be able to offer a channel for people who wish to receive information on the progressions in research.
How to get your Broadcast Channel seen?
Here are some ideas on how to boost followers on your Broadcast Channel:
- Share it in your stories (use the ‘join channel’ sticker)
- Pin it to your Instagram bio
- Don’t just share the same content you share everywhere else - otherwise people will leave. Create a strategy specifically for this audience.
How do I set up Instagram Broadcast Channel for my non-profit?
We can help! One of our marketing experts took a special interest in this feature and has been investigating it all year. We’re testing it out with some upcoming fundraising campaigns and we’re excited to see what it can bring as part of their organic peer-to-peer campaign strategy.
If you’d like us to help you set up an Instagram Broadcast Channel for your non-profit, whether it’s for a specific campaign or for the organisation as a whole, we’re ready for you! We can help you with the strategy, content creation, set up, and implementation.
This feature is providing a new way for non-profits to engage with their fundraisers, donors, and anyone else interested in your organisation. We can’t wait to see how charities choose to use it!
