Setting Up Social Media & SEO
Two of the most common marketing channels used for online campaigns include Social Media and SEO (search engine optimisation). Understanding how Raisely can configure both is helpful for all your campaigns, so let's explore...
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Using Social Media with Raisely
Using Social Media with Raisely
Marketing via Social Media, whether it be Facebook, Twitter, or others is common practice for most online fundraising campaigns. Whether it be a new post, reel, or bio link, sharing your Campaigns home page URL is often the call to action. The other use case is when fundraisers or donors choose to use the social share buttons on your Campaign site to post to their own networks.
So how can you make sure that when you or others share your Campaign link, it appears the way it's meant to? There are two areas you need to configure to get it right:
- Campaign Name
- Social Share Previews
Campaign Name
When sharing your Campaign link on social (or even SMS), a generated preview will appear. That preview will likely contain an image preview, campaign name, and URL. The Campaign name is set in your campaign settings.
Within your campaign, from the sidebar select Settings > Campaign Settings. Here, set the Campaign Name, as this will be the name used in the preview link.
Note: the image that appears on the link preview is set in Settings > Social Media > Share Image.
Social Media Sharing Settings
On your campaign pages, you may be using the Social Share block in order for donors and fundraisers to share the campaign URL with their network. The social share option can also appear on the Donation Thank You popup. To configure the social share preview, simply:
- 1
- Within your Campaign, from the sidebar select Settings > Social Media
- 2
- Here you can set the Title, Description, default Share Image, and the Profile Page background image.
- The Profile Page background image is used when the fundraiser shares a link to their personal donation page. If left blank, no preview will appear, so it is recommended you place an image.
- Using the Tabs, you can also enable/disable Facebook sharing, enter the default share text when someone tweets a page, and setup the email share options.
Understanding SEO & Raisely
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a collection of strategies and techniques used to increase the quality and quantity of web traffic to your site via non-paid search engine results (organic search). More simply, it's the reason why some websites appear on the fifth page of Google search results and some appear on the first.
Generally speaking, SEO consists of two basic parts:
- Understanding what people search for (keyword research)
- Knowing how to explain your site's content to search engines (SEO optimisation)
Combining these parts well means your campaign will appear higher in search results, and more often-- thereby expanding your cause's reach and potential donor base.
Tip: for more in-depth information about SEO, check out this article by Moz
Optimising for SEO
At Raisely, we do everything we can behind-the-scenes to make sure your campaign is SEO-friendly. To ensure your campaign is fully optimised, we recommend the following steps:
1. Use keywords within your page settings (select settings ⚙️ on top left of page within the editor)
The reason you do this is not so much to directly influence Google so you rank higher. It's actually more to influence the decision of the viewer who sees you among the other options when the search results come through. Making sure you reflect back to the viewer what they searched for is key to seeing your ranking grow, as it's all about getting traffic to your site.
Some things you can do then include:
- Include 1-2 primary keywords in your Page Title
- Use your Meta Description to clearly state what your page contains, providing the 'searcher' a reason to view. Using keywords that are applicable is helpful, and keep length between 120-160 characters.
- Make your Page Path URL clear to the searcher, so they know where they are going.
2. Think through your content
Google is looking for 'value-based' content, judged by people going to your page and staying on your page/site. Therefore, start with offering the viewer genuine value for being on that page. If using article/blog based content, longer is better (generally) because it keeps people on your site longer. Therefore, think through combining content, using 'hyperlinks' for people to find what they are after, and structuring content so it has a narrative people want to get through.
Another helpful suggestion is to use your headings wisely. H1, H2, etc are important as these HTML tags are one way google sees what is a priority. They are a way to structure your contents hierarchy, so use tools like SEO Meta in 1-Click Chrome extension to see how your competitors are using their headings.
3. Don't put all your eggs into the SEO basket
SEO takes time (like 3-6months) of time to really see traction. If you are setting up a reoccurring campaign that will be run every year, then it's worth investing in SEO simply to make sure you are recognised. The same applies to your organisation, as you would invest in SEO to make sure people see your brand and organisation list top 10 in say 'trusted blood cancer charities'.
But remember, investment in SEO pays best when in a competitive/comparison market. This is why if it is a short-term campaign (3month), your viewers most likely are not searching for 'summer charity fun run'.
If you are serious about optimising your sites SEO, we'd recommend Surfer SEO. They offer a free 7 day trial and are a great one stop shop to helping your content thrive in rankings.
Advanced: Submitting your Sitemap to Google
If you have a custom URL connected to your campaign, submitting your site's sitemap to the Google Search Console could have a higher impact in terms of Google Results
You can follow Google's instructions for adding your sitemap here: Submit your sitemap to Google.
Your campaign's sitemap is automatically generated and can be found here when using the Raisely subdomain:
https://raiselycampaignname.raiselysite.com/sitemap.xml
Google doesn't guarantee any specific timeframes, nor do they guarantee that new websites will appear higher up on the search results.
Ready to find out where your campaign's traffic is coming from? Add Google Analytics to your campaign to track donation sources, tailor email blasts to specific demographics, or figure out where your advertising will have the most significant impact.
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