How to use Bitly: Free Promotional Tips for Fundraisers & Crowd-funding Campaigns

When promoting a campaign, fundraiser, online content or website what is your main objective? Clearly it’s to get people to engage with your content by donating to your cause, purchasing an item from your campaign, or for them to help you spread the message right? But before any of this can happen the first step is to get them to click on the content you share!

Most of us have heard of Bitly…but you might not have realized just how useful this tool can be for optimizing promotional efforts for your crowd-funding campaign or fundraiser. Bitly is a URL shortening service that also provides free data on your URL clicks. It’s a very intuitive and convenient site to use (not to mention it’s FREE) and is a great tool for individuals who want to know which channels are the best for promoting their campaign.

Why use Bitly.com?
There are several benefits to using Bitly to monitor your promotional efforts:

• It’s a free service that provides you with insightful info
• Using Bitly will help you save time – once you know which channels are the most effective you for getting clicks on your campaign you can focus your promotional efforts on that channel
• You can use Bitly to see what kinds of tweets are helping you generate the most clicks – it tells you what type of content gets you the most clicks!
• You can also use Bitly to specifically compare different channels like Facebook vs. Twitter vs. Email/Newsletters
• It also provides geographical info on where your clicks are coming from – it tells you who’s interested in your content

How to use Bitly
Below you’ll find a short video featuring Kate, a Campaign Manager at Fabrily, wherein she explains how to use Bitly to monitor your promotional efforts and how to create a Bitly link yourself. 

Please visit our Free Promotional Tips page and the Fabrily YouTube Channel for more helpful information on campaign set up, promotion, and product options.

FABRILY 2014 PART 2: CHAPTER AND LNADJ FUNDRAISER PUTS A SMILEY ON BEN’S FACE

Hi everyone, my name’s Ben and I’m a Campaign Manager here at Fabrily. So, we come to the end of 2014. It’s been an incredible year personally and professionally, and I’ve been super lucky to be able to spend the latter part of 2014 working at Fabrily.

In my time with the company, I’ve been able to work with some incredibly interesting people from a range of different backgrounds. I’ve seen tiny organisations empowered (watch this space) and thrilled to be able to offer something new to their supporters. I’ve appeared on podcasts with Sarah Weldon from Oceans Project, a very inspiring woman who is going to undertake the first ever solo row around Britain.

Despite all of the above, I need to pick but one highlight for 2014…it was such a tough choice, but it was hard for me to go past the ‘Chapter Smiley’ campaign that the Last Night a DJ Saved My Life Foundation (LNADJ) ran in November.

The popular Chapter ‘Smiley’ tee

LNADJ is a charitable foundation providing a platform for the dance music industry to make a positive impact to communities across the world – changing lives, saving lives.

I reached out to LNADJ in October, and immediately they could see the potential in what we do. Understandably they had the usual questions about the model and how it works. Knowing a number of designers and artists however meant that they were willing to give it a try.

They decided to run a T-shirt campaign featuring a popular design created by the incredibly talented Chapter, a famous street artist. The original artwork was sold at the Smile Britannia Auction of 2013 to none other than Fatboy Slim!

Scott Gray aka Chapter with Fatboy Slim and the original ‘smiley’ artwork

What really set LNADJ apart was their commitment to making the campaign a success. They tirelessly got the word out to their supporters, used their network to promote the campaign and took full advantage of their social media channels. Facebook worked particularly well for them, with their posts being shared a number of times by fans of the organisation, boosting sales.

The result was the campaign was a resounding success! The campaign ran for 9 days, and raised GB£1400 (US$2000, €1700). Over 100 people bought the tee and can now act as walking billboards for LNADJ. More than this though, was how inspired the campaigner had become.

Jonny Lee, the co-founder, remarked to me that using the platform in the future had the ability to change lives, and could contribute greatly to their well building projects in India. A well, for example costs £1500 and provides clean water for 1000 people for 10 years. They almost hit £1500 in their first 9 days using the site! The plan for the organization is to launch a number of campaigns in 2015, so we look forward to moving on to bigger and better things! Jonny also mentioned how easy the process was and how willing Fabrily were to assist them every step of the way.

Working with inspiring organisations like these is why I get up in the morning. I love working with Fabrily, as I get to engage with all sorts of people using the site for all sorts of reasons. I’m really looking forward to 2015, as I’ll be able to help empower more and more organizations to raise money through the platform, so that they can deliver on their wonderful work. What’s more, they can do all this with no risks, costs, or hassle. Bring on 2015!

Fabrily attends the Institute of Fundraising’s Individual Giving Conference

On the 1st December 2014, Ben, Fabrily Campaign Manager and ‘all-round nice guy’ was lucky enough to attend the Institute of Fundraising’s Individual Giving Conference at the Regents Park Holiday Inn in London.

It was a fascinating insight into the world of fundraising and the 150 senior fundraisers from charities across the UK were treated to talks and seminars from experts in the field.

The conference opened with an address from Alberto Lidji, the Director of Development at the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation who formally served as director of EMEA, which specialised in capital introduction to emerging markets.

Having extensive experience in the private sector has given Lidji a unique perspective in his current role. He stressed the need for charities to embrace a healthy appetite for risk in order to achieve the sort of transformation that the sector aspires to. According to Lidji, nonprofits and private sector organisations had a great deal to learn from one another and a lot of potential to work together to achieve social aims.

The application of these principles to Fabrily is obvious – Fabrily is a private sector organisation that seeks to empower charities to be able to offer products to their supporters without financial risk.

Another highlight of the day was listening to Jennie York from WaterAid talk about the hugely successful “To be a girl” campaign. She spoke about the need to deliver a consistent narrative across all marketing and communication channels. It was inspiring stuff, with the campaign being able to raise vital funds to transform lives across the developing world.

Key Themes of the Day – Nonprofits…

• Need to embrace risk-taking in order to achieve the transformations they aspire to
• Need to deliver consistent, complimentary messaging across all marketing channels
• Can learn a great deal from private sector organisations, and vice-versa
• Have to ensure that they fundraise in a responsible way, being mindful of people in vulnerable circumstances

Overall, the conference gave the representatives of the many worthy causes in attendance plenty to think about. Many ideas from the conference could be implemented straight away, and it was fantastic to be able to mingle with so many people passionate about so many fantastic causes.

Promoting for Success: Spotlight on Bat Conservation Trust’s Fundraiser (VIDEO)

From start to finish Bat Conservation Trust’s fundraising and promotional efforts were spot on! They followed the Fabrily promotions guides for Facebook, Twitter, and Post-Campaign perfectly and the results were quite impressive! Below we’ve highlighted several of the promotional methods BCT used with specific examples for you. The steps are quite simple, but when followed correctly they can be the key to having a (or many) successful campaign.

During campaign:

1. Write the perfect campaign description
2. Share campaign via Facebook and Twitter (and newsletter, blog, etc. when possible)
3. Encourage supporters to share your campaign & thank them for their support!

After campaign ends:

1. Ask supporters to send in photos of their new items (selfies!)
2. Create a photo album where these photos can be shared
3. Re-launch your campaign!

Check out the video below where Fabrily Campaign Manager Kate goes over specific examples of putting these promotional methods into practice:

Fundraising with Fabrily: How to write the perfect campaign description

You’ve got your design idea and are in the process of setting up your first Fabrily campaign…now what? It all starts with a great campaign description! Below we’ll offer tips and examples on writing a great description and explain why it’s so important to the success of your campaign.

Campaign Description DO’s and DON’Ts

Your campaign description is more important than you think! Having a good campaign description adds creditability to your campaign, provides people with a way of contacting or connecting with your organization, and offers you the opportunity to ask your supporters for help promoting the campaign. Here are the DO’s and DONT’s of writing your campaign description:

DO:

• DO write 1 – 2 paragraphs about the organization & how funds raised will be used
• DO include inks to your website, social media accounts, etc.
• DO make sure to thank people for their support and ask them to help you promote the campaign through their social media accounts

DON’T:

• DON’T make your campaign description too long – this is something we see a lot and it is a big NO-NO! When your description is super long it makes viewing different styles/colours very difficult. Also having the “buy now” button clearly visible increases the chances of people making a purchase.
• DON’T leave out links to your website or the website of the organization where the funds will be sent – the absence of this information can make a campaign look less credible; people want to know where the funds raised are going.

REAL CAMPAIGN EXAMPLES:

1. Marie Curie Fundraiser

Vicki wrote up a great description for her campaign – she explains why she is raising funds, how the funds will be used, included links to her social media accounts, as well as asked supporters to help her promote the campaign via social media. Also notice the shirt styles and colour options are clearly visible.

2. Blackfish Brigade

Blackfish Brigade is a perfect example of a good campaign description – all the information is clearly visible, they have included links to their social media accounts, and they thank their supporters as well as explain exactly where the funds raised will be sent.

3. MSA Awareness

This campaign description by MSA Awareness is short but it tells us the main things we need to know– who the fundraiser is for, how the funds will be used, and where we can find more information about the organization. Notice the colour options are clearly visible as well as the green “buy now” button.

For more tips please visit our Success Stories page where we provide video tutorials, campaign insight, advice from past campaigners, and promotions guides for Facebook, Twitter, and post-campaign promotion.