How To Promote Your School Event-Athon On Social Media For Maximum Impact
Hosting a school fundraising event or athon is a fantastic way to raise funds while fostering community spirit. If you’re brainstorming fundraising ideas for your school event/athon, leveraging social media can amplify your campaign’s reach, ensuring your event is a resounding success. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how you can maximise your impact with social media.
How to promote fundraising campaigns for schools on social media
- Understanding your audience and goals
The first step in promoting your event is understanding who you want to engage. Parents, guardians and caregivers are often your primary audience but don’t forget about extended family, local businesses, alumni and other community members. Each group could contribute in different ways, from donations to sponsorship of items like prizes and colour powder.
The second part involves defining clear goals. With a Go Raise It event/athon your main goal/focus should be initially on promoting the fundraiser to parents and caregivers to encourage them to create a page for their child(ren) and seek sponsorship from their networks. After that, you can also look to boost your fundraising total by sharing your community donation page with the wider business community.
- Crafting compelling content
Social media thrives on engaging content. The more interesting and relatable your posts, the more likely they will gain traction. To create engaging content, you must:
- Share vivid visuals — Use high-quality photos and videos to showcase the excitement of your event and capture the attention of users scrolling through their feeds. A great way to engage your parents to get their child(ren) signed up could be to create your own school video using students to introduce the event and what you are fundraising for, including the “Sign Up” call to action at the end of the video and make sure your Fundraising Hub link is included when the video is shared.
- Highlight your cause — Tell stories about what the funds will support — whether it’s new equipment, facilities or programs.
- Include strong calls to action — Clearly guide your parents to your Fundraising Hub to set up a fundraising page for their child(ren). Posts to your community should guide them to your community donation page, asking for them to support your fundraiser.
By keeping the online content of your school fundraising campaign varied and authentic, you’ll maintain your audience’s interest throughout the campaign with honest storytelling.
- Utilising social media platforms effectively
Each social media platform offers unique advantages for promoting your school event-athon.
- Fundraiser Pages — Facebook is perfect for your fundraisers to share their fundraiser pages with their wider network to collect sponsorship. This is super easy as they are provided with a Facebook sharing button on their page.
- Community Donation Page — All Go Raise It fundraising websites include a community donation page. You can share this on your school’s Facebook page to collect donations directly to your school.
- Prize/Incentive Draws — Share news of your prize and incentive draws on Facebook and use this to remind your parents to sign their child up for a fundraising page.
- Instagram — Use reels, posts and stories with features like countdowns and Q&A stickers to build excitement leading up to the event. Use this to remind and encourage parents to sign their child(ren) up for a fundraising page on your fundraising website.
Creating a posting schedule ensures consistent visibility. You can even use online tools to plan and automate posts, keeping your campaign fresh and engaging.
- Engaging the community
When it comes to school fundraising ideas, community involvement can enhance your event. You can foster community engagement by:
- Encourage parents to set up a fundraising page for their child(ren) to share within their own community network and seek sponsorship for their child(ren) ‘s participation in your fundraising event.
- Approach local businesses for sponsorships or assistance to provide incentives and prizes for your fundraisers. In return, offer promotional opportunities such as featuring their logos on event materials and your fundraising website. If you are holding a Colour Run event, why not ask local businesses to sponsor a colour and help cover the costs of your colour powder?
When your community feels personally invested, participation and donations can naturally come through.
- Leveraging hashtags and social media challenges
Hashtags are a simple yet effective way to unify your campaign.
Create a unique, easy-to-remember hashtag like #GreenwoodFunRun2024 or #SmithfieldReadathon2024 to encourage participants to tag their posts and share the community spirit.
You can even consider launching a social media challenge! For instance, a photo or video contest themed around your event can generate excitement and expand your reach organically. Make sure to share your community fundraising donation page! - Partnering with influencers and advocates
Local influencers and advocates can help spread the word about your fundraiser.
Start with influential parents, teachers or alumni who are well-connected in the community. Their endorsements can boost credibility and reach.
You can also collaborate with local businesses or minor influencers with a strong following. A shoutout or shared post from them can significantly increase visibility. Make sure they have your community donation page URL to share to boost your fundraiser’s success.
Partner with Go Raise It for your next primary school fundraising idea in Australia
All of the above ideas work well, but the expert team at Go Raise It Fundraising can assist you with promoting your school event or athon on social media. It doesn’t have to be daunting. With the right approach, you can engage your community, secure vital support and make your fundraiser a resounding success.
At Go Raise It, we work alongside school fundraising committees and know what it takes to build a winning campaign that exceeds revenue targets. Our industry-leading fee model — just 10% + GST — allows schools to raise more while keeping more, unlike competitors charging upwards of 40%.
With no upfront costs and larger profits for your school, allow our passionate team to build a custom fundraising website for your next school fundraising campaign and help you take the headache out of your next fundraiser!
Ready to supercharge your event’s success? Request your free info pack and partner with Go Raise It today!
