Recently, I had a great sample of a pie at a farmer’s market. I’m not a huge pie fan but this Grapefruit Rose Petal Cream creation was fantastic.
I picked up a flyer for the baking business. Later, I was glad to see that Pamela’s Pies has a website and more than 150 followers on Facebook.
But upon further investigation, I realized that Pamela’s online marketing is half-baked. She’s got a great product but could promote it better. This is the same challenge that many nonprofits face every day. You’re really good at something but not so sure how to tackle social media.
So in return for Pamela giving me a piece of pie, I’d like to give her a slice of advice. These are tips that can help all of us in our marketing.
Right now, a lot of the baker’s promotion happens at the Farmer’s Market. People can meet her and taste her pies. But what happens when it rains? Your foot traffic goes way down.
It doesn’t rain on Facebook or on YouTube. These platforms give you a chance to send out your message 24/7.
Video: If I was Pamela, I’d shoot some simple videos, upload them to YouTube and then distribute them through my website and Facebook. Here are some suggestions for topics:
- Tell your story. Further online research told me that Pamela is an architect who’s become a baker. That’s a cool story. Share it.
- I also found out that she learned baking from her Grandmother, Hattie Mae, who doesn’t measure her ingredients. Wow!
- Pamela researches old pie recipes and then gives them a modern twist. Tell me more!
- Do a video on each kind of pie you bake. Build my anticipation and activate my taste buds.
- You could do a series of pie tips. One tip per video clip.
- Try to get some video testimonials from people who have eaten your pies.
This could represent more than 20 video clips that can be consistently posted online. These clips can be shot with a webcam or a basic video camera/cell phone. The audio quality is more important than the video quality. They don’t have to be long. A minute or two is fine. Take us into your world.
Pictures are also a wonderful tool to use on Facebook. They help create anticipation for your creations. It would be great if we had smell-o-vision for pictures and videos but that hasn’t been invented yet. But that hasn’t stopped The Food Network from making a lot of money off food that viewers can neither smell or taste.
How about this for fan engagement: Have a online contest where you ask people to send you pictures of themselves eating your pie. The best/funniest/most memorable entry gets a free pie. This is a great way to get people to give you content.
Finally, I would suggest that Pamela post more on Facebook. Her last comments to her followers was six months ago. You don’t have to post every five minutes. But pick a schedule, like weekly, that works for you and then stick to it like butter.
So many nonprofits have a great product that not enough people know about. Take my recipe for Pamela and adjust it to your organization.
Additional Resources:
How Long Should My YouTube Video Be?
Posted by Ken Okel 
