Nonprofits On The Go

     Thanks to mobile technology, communication is happening all the time. You can be in line at the grocery store and be sending or receiving information or watching TV while messaging friends or family. Communicating has never been easier or more abundant. For nonprofits though, mobile technology can seem overwhelming and daunting. While nonprofit professionals may use mobile technology daily in their personal lives, that does not mean they understand how to integrate it into their work in a meaningful way.

image source: https://solutionsreview.com/mobile-device-management/mdm-holiday-humor/

Knowing how to leverage of power of mobility will help position nonprofit organizations to reach more people and strengthen their organizational reputation (Rowles, 2013). With shoestring budgets and no designated communication director, many small nonprofits forgo mobile technology all together in their strategic planning, because they don’t think they can afford to invest in it. The good news is that there are many part of mobile technology that nonprofits can leverage to increase public engagement and build brand awareness. These include:

• ·         Social media outreach
• ·         Fundraising efforts
• ·         Email newsletters
• ·         Texting campaigns (Nonprofit Tech for Good, 2016)

Mobile technology is not a stand-alone method of communication. Like social media, it should be integrated into a more comprehensive strategic communication plan. For nonprofit professionals, understanding how to create content that is mobile-friendly is key. The biggest factor in using mobile as a communication method is screen size, which shrinks drastically.  So creating concise, informative and engagement messaging should be a priority for nonprofit communicators.  And knowing which apps to use to help content right-size itself for mobile is also key. For example, Constant Contact, an email software company, provides easy-to-use templates for e-newsletters that are mobile friendly, which is good since 56% of email is opened via a mobile device (Lewkowicz, 2017). 

 

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By tailoring content to be more mobile friendly nonprofits can increase user engagement, drive more traffic to their main website and ultimately further their organizational mission and vision. 

References

Lewkowicz, K. (2017, January 18). The top 10 most popular email clients of 2016. Retrieved from Litmus: https://litmus.com/blog/the-top-10-most-popular-email-clients-of-2016

Nonprofit Tech for Good. (2016, November 22). 5 nonprofit technology trends to watch in 2017. Retrieved from www.nptechforgood.com: http://www.nptechforgood.com/2016/11/22/5-nonprofit-technology-trends-to-watch-in-2017/

Rowles, D. (2013). Mobile marketing: how mobile marketing is revolutionizing marketing, communications and advertising . London: Kogan Page.