The average person spends nearly two and half hours on social media daily. And with more than 1.3 million users joining social media every day, there is a growing, engaged, multi-generational audience out there. But there’s also a lot of noise to cut through to reach that potential audience.

What should your nonprofit do—and not do—to connect with your existing supporters while also drawing in new donors and volunteers? Here are some must-haves and must-avoids for nonprofits looking to use social media effectively.

Must-haves

Complete storytelling

To stand out, you need to post engaging content. After all, social media—no matter what platform––is for sharing.

Every story has three components: characters, conflict, and resolution. Your nonprofit’s characters are the people, places, or things you serve, support, and depend on. Depending on your mission, characters could include patients, the environment, researchers, the unhoused, or a particular segment of history. The Sacramento History Museum, for example, put some 19th-century technology on 21^st-century TikTok. Even though its (now famous) volunteer Howard is decades older than the average TikTok-er and demonstrates 200-year-old technology, his videos have gotten millions of views because they captivate audiences with their simplicity and the force of Howard’s personality. And thanks to the popularity of his videos, the museum has seen an increase in visitors and revenue.

The conflict is the problem facing your character(s). What is the problem they are trying to address, and why does it matter? Visuals and data are essential for illustrating those conflict(s). You must give people specifics if you want them to act.

Perhaps most importantly, you need to share why your organization is best positioned to help solve the problem—and who helped you get there. Those details make up the resolution to your story. What will you do with the funding to solve the conflict? Share the measurables of your mission: How many FDA-approved treatments did you fund? How many acres of the forest did you protect? What does the history you preserve do to inform the present society we live in?

A brainstorming session with your staff and high-level volunteers will no doubt surface an abundance of stories worth sharing.

Content calendar

With a bit of thoughtful planning, your social media posting can drive engagement and support for your mission. Take note of holidays, fun days, and your organization’s history to determine a framework for your content calendar. Incorporate other themes that are relevant to your audience to develop an organized, strategic plan.

Tailor your content to each platform so as to be relevant to each target audience. Twitter limits how much you can say. Instagram stories have an incredible amount of engagement. Most TikTok users are under the age of 24. While the posts can be about the same content, their length and visuals (infographic, video, photos) should be specifically customized for each platform.

Empowering volunteers

Influencer marketing is a nearly $15 billion industry. And while influencers are likely not a line item in your marketing budget, there’s no reason not to apply that model to your existing supporters. Enable and encourage your volunteers and supporters to post and tag you. Things like branded swag to wear, “I support” signage to use for unselfies, templates for copy, or video prompts will help ensure that your message will be widely shared.

Must-avoids

Only making an ask

Don’t fall into the trap of only posting with asks to buy tickets, register, or donate.

Use the 70/20/10 rule as a base for your content plan: Seventy percent should be short, informative, entertaining posts and graphics. This is where your storytelling posts fit best. Also, thanking (and tagging!) high-level volunteers and celebrating supporters fit into this category. Twenty percent of your posts should be shares of or duets with related brands or industry articles. Only the remaining 10 percent of posts should be self-promotional calls-to-action and donation requests.

How many of your valued relationships involve a majority one-way asking and asking? Probably zero. The 70/20/10 model helps support genuine donor relationships and makes your nonprofit worth following.

Being off-brand

There’s a lot of competing content on social media. Now, more than ever, it is important to create eye-catching content. That means it isn’t enough to have outstanding copy.

But it doesn’t have to be complicated. You likely don’t have a massive budget for graphic designers. You may have loose brand guidelines. With a few free tools and written brand rules, you can create engaging posts, graphics, and videos that feel like you and communicate your organization’s story. Unsplash is a free source of stock photos that allows you to curate an image library without having to hire and plan for an expensive photo shoot. Canva for nonprofits is a free tool for graphic creation. You can add your brand colors, design templates, and create a feed that will convey your voice, tone, and who you are as an organization at a glance.

With a deliberate, strategic plan, your social media outreach won’t just be noise. It can drive genuine engagement with your existing supporters and captivating promotion that appeals to future donors.

There are over 4.5 billion people on social media. That’s a lot of reasons to get it right.

Steve Greanias is general manager of fundraising solutions at GiveSmart.