It's easy to get into ruts on social media, continuously posting the same types of content until your boards or pages are as unvaried as ticker tape. Eventually, you risk your donors, potential donors, and your other constituents no longer visiting your bloards.

Here are five suggestions to help you diversify your pins, make sure the pins really benefit your organization, and increase your chances that the pins will drive traffic to your organizations website:

  1. Pin  videos from YouTube or Vimeo.
  2. Oerlay text on images.
  3. Pin infographics.
  4. Create an online fundraising catalog.
  5. Pin items on your organization's wish list.

Pin Videos from YouTube or Vimeo

Videos are a great way to draw people into your cause. Suggestions of videos and tips for posting them include:

  • Post videos of volunteers, testimonials, and success stories.
  • Post videos of your latest fundraising events or campaigns.
  • Post videos that raise awareness of your cause.
  • Keep the videos short!  15-20 seconds of video is all you need.

Overlay Text on Images

While a picture is worth a thousand words, by adding text on top of an image you can frame how visitors to your board should see the image. Four tips for overlaying text on pages include:

  • Always link images directly to your blog posts or website!
  • Add white text to dark  images and dark text to light images for the greatest contrast to enhance readability.
  • For images that vary in the level of darkness, considering adding text within a solid text box.
  • Choose a readable font.

Infographics

Infographics are an attractive and accessible way to convey important information. Sharing infographics helps establish your organization as experts in your field and a valuable source of information.  

Re-pin infographics designed by others. You can search keywords such as “animal infographic,” “environmental infographic” or “women infographic” based on your nonprofit’s cause.

Online Fundraising Catalog

Create an online fundraising catalog:

  • Add “$50” or another value in the caption of your pin – and quantify the impact of an individual donation. (For example: $40 buys training for one poultry farmer in Cambodia.) People are more likely to give towards a specific, tangible project than a pie-in-the-sky project.
  • Pinterest has a gift section on their home page. You must add a dollar amount in order to be selected.
  • And here’s an interesting bit of economic psychology: Pins with a price get 36% more likes.

Organization Wish List

Your nonprofit organization most likely has a wish list of items that you want and need. What better way to get that list out than by pinning them on your boards.  Here are some tips:

  • Pin items that your nonprofit needs with very specific instructions of how to donate to them in the caption.
  • Pin volunteer opportunities with short descriptions, linking back to your website to sign up.

General Rules of Thumb

As a bonus, here are the basic principles of savvy pinning:

  • Add visually compelling pins
  • Tack pins that are of interest to your nonprofit’s online community
  • Include clever captions
  • Pepper your pins with keywords and links