It takes a huge amount of effort to nurture and financially support an innovative idea. Fortunately, you don’t have to do it all by yourself.
You can raise and acquire money through crowdfunding. The thought of it may seem intimidating at first but it has surely redefined the game of funding.
How Do Crowdfunded Projects Raise More with an Online Presence?
Remember these three words: volume, visibility, and reach.
Volume is the total number of posts about your project in a given time frame. Visibility is the measurement of the impact of a piece of content online. Reach is impressions generated by the posts.
Add to that, the millennial generation claims the largest chunk in today’s population. “First Digital Natives” is a good term for them. They represent the main category of mobile and internet users.
Millennials grew up with smartphones in their pockets and on-the-go internet access.
Having an online presence broadens and boosts your reach, essential if you want to reach your target audience and maximize the effectiveness of your campaign.
Millennials are one of the top crowdfunding contributors across the US. Research from the Pew Research Center showed that 30% of 18-29-year-old adults have contributed to support fundraising projects.
According to a 2015 study by Goldman Sachs, millennials have a disproportionate desire for their investment decisions to reflect their social, political, and environmental values. It’s their way of expressing how their awareness of social issues has increased. Coincidentally, “Business & Entrepreneurship” and “Social Causes Market” ranked 1st and 2nd on most funds gathered online with 41.1% and 18.9% respectively.
What Is the Modern Way to Engage More People?
Two words — form and content.
# 1 – Writing
First impressions last.
Strive to be creative and catchy with your project title. It draws the audience to read more about your campaign.
After considering the audience, think of how “visible’ it is on the WEB. Apply search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to improve your website’s rankings and/or social media marketing to create more buzz. Learn about writing pointers to help you engage more people.
On a side note, you don’t have to write the contents yourself especially if you’re not confident with your writing skills. What better way is there to have a well-written body than to have professional essay writers, or an expert on writing to raise funds, create it for you? GrantWriterTeam’s professional grant writers can write the content for your campaign and help run the campaign for you.
#2 – Appeal to the Emotions
How to engage a reader? Use emotions in your writing.
Studies show that people tend to appeal to their emotions, instead of logic, upon purchase.
The 6 key core emotions — happy, sad, surprised, angry, afraid, and disgusted have been historically influential in a buyer’s purchasing behaviors.
Similarly, appealing to the emotions of the readers and potential donors is a strategy that must be taken into consideration. One of the ways to do this is storytelling.
#3 – Videos
A picture paints a thousand words.
A video paired with a compelling storyline and a captivating product/service background can launch your project to higher ground.
The vision, the mission, and the reason behind the campaign need to be supported by the videos as well.
Make it long enough to cover the essential parts, but short enough to spark and retain interest.
# 4 – Choose the Right Website/Portal
They say that one can’t serve multiple masters at the same time.
Aside from comparing processing fees and other collection-related fees of the hosting portals, there are other things to consider when choosing the most suitable option for your project. This is because each solution is specifically designed for a certain audience.
YouHelp is a free crowdfunding platform offered by GrantWatch open to anyone looking to start a fundraising campaign. YouHelp provides suggestions and templates to reach your goals and shares your campaign across all our social media channels while assisting you in sharing it on yours.
At the same time, it’s beneficial for you, if you have your own website, to explain in detail what your project is all about and how it helps. It’s a good place to show the updates of your project.
If you already have a website, don’t forget to promote your crowdfunding project on your website as well. The more people who know about your project the better.
# 5 – Leverage Social Media Marketing
Businesses and non-profit organizations should be leveraging social media channels.
Aside from the ability to further boost your cause and reach out to an even wider audience, major social media channels have proven and advanced tools for even better targeting.
While it would take quite some time to build up your profile, it does not always directly help you raise more funds. Still, it’s one of the main marketing channels totally worth considering as a long-term solution. Even if you are not planning on using adds, a free profile is enough to let you reach more people and keep your story going.
Conclusion
Online crowdfunding is no easy feat. There’s no basic formula for its success. In fact, there’s no guarantee of its success. But one thing’s for sure — it’s a hotpot of time, patience, determination, creativity, and online presence.
About the Author: Joey Feldman is a young technologist with experience in marketing and SEO and a master’s degree in computer science. This guy is always looking for a new way technology can be used to improve something. Being a passionate writer, Joey wants to share his experience and make new connections.