5 Ways to use Google+ for Community Fundraising - Internet

Social Networking has become an indispensable part of our lives, both personal and professional. Besides being a means of staying in touch with friends and family, it has also emerged as a crucial advertising and marketing platform. Nearly a year ago, Google made its contribution to the world of social networking by launching Google+.

Quite evidently, Google+ has its task cut out in the presence of networking giants like Facebook and Twitter. However, it has something unique to offer to Community Fundraising organisations looking to promote themselves. The networking site recently introduced the brand page feature using which an organisation can have its own presence online.

Here is a list of the top five ways to use Google+ for community fundraising:

1. Let's begin with a quick Google+ guide for beginners. The most prominent features of this site are Circles where you can group your contacts into different categories and the Hangouts feature which allows you to video- chat in groups. The Circles feature can be particularly helpful for community fundraising. An organisation can have different circles for regular donors and new members and post messages and images accordingly. Regular donors should be told about how their contribution has helped the organisation whereas the focus should be on future plans for new members.

2. Any Google+ guide will boast about the Hangout feature and quite rightly so. This versatile feature can be used as a public platform for regular question and answer sessions. It is important for any organisation to clearly state their objectives and activities to convince prospective donors. It always helps to be forthcoming in such matters and Google+ can help you do just that.

3. Additionally, virtual meetings can also be held using Google Hangouts. In this day and age, organisations have multiple centres all across the globe and regular contact and travel can cost a lot of money. This feature can be used to connect with colleagues and other contacts from within the fraternity as well.

4. Community fundraising doesn't have to be dull and colourless. In fact, you must try to spice things up to attract attention. You can always use Google+ tools like photo editor or photo collections to have presentations. Events or small scale competitions can also be organised to draw people towards the brand page on Google+.

5. And finally, always remember to adopt a positive outlook towards things. People usually tend to associate negative sentiments like pain and suffering with organisations interested in fundraising for a cause. Try to focus more on what has already been done and how it has made a difference. Give credit to your donors for making it all possible. After all, they have to feel involved in the whole process.

Thus, Google+ has the potential to serve as a great public platform where policies can be announced and views can be discussed and debated. It is also very productive in terms of building new contacts. The site is still in its incipient stages and if you start now, your community fundraising organisation can grow simultaneously with Google+ in terms of popularity.