Does your charity have a future on X?
Digital comms consultant Madeleine Sugden explores how recent changes are pushing the sector to review its use of X and drive a move to Bluesky.
Posted 16 January 2025
10 December 2018
by Google Digital Garage
Guide
5 minute read
The Digital Garage from Google is a free service that helps you increase your knowledge of all things digital, from websites and tracking to online marketing and beyond. Here the Digital Garage team share their five top tips for charities to get started with digital marketing.
1. Use Social Media to engage with an audience and find new customers online
Social Media lets you talk directly to both current and prospective volunteers and contributors, share your content, get involved in conversations, build brand trust, reach more people, grow your sphere of influence, and ultimately understand your audience better. You can use the various channels available to share news about your charity in the form of written posts, photos, and videos.
By using social media, you are likely to recruit more loyal volunteers and contributors, who in turn will be happy to recommend and talk about your charity to their network
2. Attract new volunteers with your free Google listing
Google My Business allow you to show photos of your initiative and key info like opening hours, address, phone number and star ratings. This is a great way to have a web presence even if you don’t have a website yet. Sign into google.co.uk/business to get started.
3. What you should look at before creating or refreshing a website
Most charities have websites, but if you are looking to refresh yours or create a new one, it’s important to first think about its purpose. Do you want it to raise awareness, recruit volunteers or raise more donations? A good website connects your audience’s want with your charity’s needs, so when it comes to web design, you need to think of the customer experience without losing sight of your own goals.
4. Think mobile first for your website
Make sure your website is easy to use on a mobile. More people than ever are using their smartphones as their primary device for browsing the web, and if your site is difficult to use on these devices, you’ll lose opportunities. The easiest way to have a mobile-friendly website is to build it that way from the start, using an approach like “responsive design” which automatically detects the type of screen being used and displays the site accordingly.
If you want to get a sense for whether your site is mobile-friendly, try Google’s free Mobile-Friendly Test tool g.co/testmysite
5. Increase your number of volunteers and donations through Email Marketing
Email marketing is another activity that will build customer loyalty and engagement without breaking the bank. Free and affordable services such as MailChimp and Constant Contact are easy to use and allow you to design attractive layouts while building valuable subscriber lists. Email marketing also allows you to track and analyse your recipients’ interaction with each message, allowing you to see what is working and what needs improving.
Want to learn more?
Check out the Digital Garage’s suite of online courses where you can develop your knowledge on all things digital, from building a website, to understanding your online audiences and getting to grips with data and analytics.
You can learn by selecting individual modules, or dive right in and take an entire course end-to-end. You can even get certified in the Fundamentals of Digital Advertising with a free course accredited by Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe and The Open University. There are 26 modules to explore, all created by Google trainers, packed with practical exercises and real world examples to help you turn knowledge into action.
Start learning today
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