How Social Media can help you reach your fundrasing goal

Consistency in social engagement, essential to successful crowdfunding

Don’t be scared about annoying the people in your social circles with regular updates. This could hold you back at a time when you really need to keep reminding people about your efforts. Simply ask your friends: “Are my posts annoying you? Be honest.” You’ll soon realize that most will be excited to see your progress and feel a part of the journey. So don’t be afraid to talk about your project. If you are sincerely excited and handle it as an opportunity to share your enthusiasm, people will be glad to join you for the ride. And as the finish line draws closer, you might be amazed to see friends and colleagues rally around your project to spread the word… Especially if you are bold enough to keep asking! Invest time in building your social network Many people are on Facebook and Twitter. If not already, you need to be there too.

Invest time in building your social network, a key for a successful project

Many people are on Facebook and Twitter. If not already, you need to be there too.
Daily tweets

  -post tweets telling of your funding percentages, or about a milestone you’ve reached -motivate your followers by sharing what you need and add a word on your reward! -add links at the end of your tweet sending your followers to your Boostbloom profile page or to your Boostbloom project directly (which you can find by going in your profile, clicking…) -don’t just keep posting the same link!

Have a look at this screenshot:

This is an example on how to use tweets during your project’s funding.

-Hashtag relevant words to your #Project ! In every tweet you send, be sure to “#” words and phrases related to your project and its campaign. This makes it easier for random people to find your project on Twitter or through a Google search. #boostbloom for example will get you noticed by anyone who follows the boostbloom hashtag and #crowdfundingarmenia by anyone interested in crowdfunding in Armenia. However be sure not to add more than two # (or you’ll risk looking like a spammer) and to keep space for linking to your project. Our twitter link under the project will allow ou to easily share the project link with your followers.

HOW TO GET RE-TWEETED

More RTs will make it easier for you to attract new followers by getting more exposure in other people’s stream. This will drive more traffic to your project. Here are some things you can do to make sure you get re-tweeted as often as possible.

Keep your tweets short
The more straightforward your tweet is, the quicker people understand it, and the easier it is to get it Re-Tweeted. Just remember to leave enough free space for your tweet to contain the RT and @username. We suggest leaving at least 20 characters free space.

Carefully choose the time you are going to tweet throughout the day and don’t over tweet.
Try to spread your tweets out a bit and make sure that if your followers are in another country they are not sleeping at the time you tweet. You can also choose to schedule your tweets with www.su.pr. About the number of acceptable tweets there is no right or wrong but a single tweet can easily get lost while tweeting too much will make you look like a spammer. And remember not to tweet exclusively about your campaign.

Don’t rely on people to just find you on Twitter: Identify some twitter users in your niche and re-tweet them

Find related tweets by people in your field and retweet them on your account. This will help you come off as sharing opportunities and ideas with your fans and the poster will (hopefully) re-tweet or re-post something of yours in return. As a result, you will be reaching new fans and ultimately increasing your audience.?
Several websites can help you do this. On TweetDeck you can create a new column with @username, check the RTs they get and follow those people who made the re-tweet. Easy.

Be grateful to people for re-tweeting your tweets.
Something as easy as a simple “thank you” will help build a relationship with your ‘RTers’ and will make them more willing to re-tweet you again. Everyone loves appreciation!
Don’t forget to retweet your followers , most of them will return the favor!
And finally… Just ask for a RT! This may sound obvious but a 'please' can often get you just as far as a “thank you”. Ask your followers nicely to RT you; you’ll be surprised at the response. (Check the screenshot above for examples of tweets.)
 

Facebook for fundraising, Armenians are well connected!

Motivate your friends and your friends’ friends

The idea here is to make your friends and contacts feel like stakeholders in the project. Give them credit for their help and value their efforts when they explain why they believe in your project as they reach out to their networks.
If you feel your friends are sharing your project out of obligation or guilt, that's an indication that you haven't made a compelling case for why audiences should support you. On the contrary when friends as well as your friends’ friends are willing to share your project on Facebook, it’s a very good indicator that your project is going to be a success! Taking into account your friends’ feedback will also help you refine your message.
If you don't have that, you may not be ready to create a big Boostbloom project.
 
Make graphics for Facebook showing where you are in your funding
Include the URL of your project in your Facebook cover image! A “call to action” is not allowed in your header image on Facebook, but you can simply put your URL with a well chosen picture. A URL is not a call to action in Facebook terms.
Don’t forget to create a Facebook page for your project. This helps you develop a community of people who will follow you on your journey toward funding. Don’t be afraid to experiment with titles, descriptions, imagery. Soon you’ll see that whenever someone likes your page, you get double bonus: people can easily follow your project and even their friends will see that they liked your page, therefore becoming themselves more likely to follow along as well.
If you decide to use Facebook ads, you can do so in a number of ways to expand awareness of your project.  Try creating an ad to promote your Boostbloom project and another to promote your Facebook page, and think about who you are going to target: demographics, genders… It’s even better to think about your future audience even before the launch of your project; this will boost expectations! For instance if your project is about making a Hip-hop album, maybe you should target hip-hop fans from Armenian descent in the US or hip-hop fans in Armenia? You’ll be surprised by the number of people ready to support you from day one.

Blogs: a useful tool to spread the word on your crowdfunding project

Do you blog? Then write a blog post about your project. Remember to put a graphical link to the project in your sidebar so that readers who find other articles through Google will still see your project. You can even easily include the Boostbloom widget to your blog (see the Boostloom tools at your disposal below).

If you don’t have your own Blog, you may want to create a key list of individual bloggers and leaders/influencers that write about the field your project belongs to. Contact them telling them how great your project is, and some of them may be happy to do free advertising for your project!
The most results you will get are by finding connections with notable people in your area of interest and getting their help to promote your project. If you aren’t widely known, getting the assistance of better-known people and taking advantage of their circle of followers is a good way to push your effort forward. Consider offering a favor or a special reward in return for their help and make sure your request is relevant to their focus and that you quickly get to the point on your ask. Anything that makes them feel like you are taking too much of their time or that they’ve just been spammed is going to hurt your effort rather than help it.
Be a guest author. More and more blogs accept guest authors. Guest posts are great to buzz up your project. Bloggers usually love them as your project can mean free content for their blog! Email the bloggers you have a good relationship with and check popular blogs on your topic to see who is seeking content. Just be ready to write about your project in an engaging way without copy/pasting the Boostbloom story.
 
Some blogs also accept paid ads. This is something to consider only if the blog has a large audience and the ad is cheap. If nobody ever comments or only three people read the blog through Google, you probably don’t want to waste your money or your time on it.
 

Press as a support for crowdfunding

Likewise, think about getting the word out to the press, especially local press whose audience might genuinely be interested in your project. In Armenia, there are lots of talented journalists willing to help you and your proeject. Take advantage of their advice and their support.
Quickly explain why you think they and their readers might take an interest in your story and make it clear that you've read their work.
If you are doing a small project and you believe you can raise enough funding through your immediate friends, then maybe you don't need to reach out to press at all. Otherwise, press will often want two weeks of lead time and a news story, which ideally might be your launch. Take this into account when you prepare your timeline.
Like before, never spam people or press. If you feel you need to, this is a sign that your project isn’t as compelling as you had hoped and that you might need to refine your idea.

Print promotions (and connecting them to your social media efforts)

Why not create your own flyers to promote your Boostbloom project and leave them around town at the start of the campaign? Make sure you choose places relevant to your topic and be sure to include a QR code so that people can quickly access your page if they see it on the go.
As a general tip, when generating promo materials and rewards for supporters, make sure you consider the return on each investment. Don’t set yourself up to owe more in rewards or in marketing than you make on your Boostbloom campaign. Starting small will limit your exposure: if you aren’t sure if a postcard will work for your promotion, start out by trying a few fliers from your color printer first, and track the results of those before expanding.

Go get’em!

At this stage your social media strategy should be well advanced. By now you should have prepared a list of blogs or press to reach out to, some tweets ready to start with, a cool Facebook picture with a link to your project to share around you.

At launch you can have a "launch party" where you reach out to all your friends and family and ask them to share your project. Making it easy for friends and family to share (by sending them the link to your project on Boostbloom) will allow you to get early the traction that will be helpful later on. While blogs work great for some, you can decide to reach hundreds of people individually via Linkedin if you believe they may be interested in the project.
And don’t forget the rule: don’t spam, be genuine and be personal. People will be much more likely to answer if they feel they are the only ones you emailed! In short, be bold and experimental! Get ready to work and to make new friends! And if you don’t make it the first time around, don’t give up: many false starts precede amazing victories.