Social media tips for charities and cause campaigns

1. Engage, network and converse

Don’t just broadcast your content, engage with others. Use hashtags (your own or other appropriate ones), mentions, ask questions, be chatty, reply and discuss

2. Call to action

Be clear about what you’re encouraging people to do – ask for engagement, tell them how they can make a difference, share links (probably to your webpage – and use a link shortening service such as bit.ly)

3. Clear and concise

Keep posts short, clear and compelling. Tweets with links do best if they are 120-130 characters, for Facebook it could be even shorter – under 70 character link posts get the most engagement

4. Be visual

Use images whenever possible – and make sure they’re bold, clear and engaging too

5. Be timely

Have a ‘news peg’, a reason you’re sharing this information now

6. Have personality

Write as someone might talk, and develop a real personality for your brand