Our News – socialforgood.ie

by admin

September 4, 2023

Why should a charity advertise online?

Wouldn’t we all love to have a huge advertising budget, endless amounts of time and an amazing team that are strategically planning fundraising campaigns.

Unfortunately, some charities I work with don’t have these resources. Instead they advertise in an ad hoc fashion – you do what you can, and really, something is better than nothing, right?

So often, this will lead to inconsistent messaging and branding. No longer top of mind when a certain problem is being discussed on the TV or an international incident arises around the world.

No cohesive advertising strategy can take away from the charity’s brand and dilute their message. People can become less interested or attentive, which will affect a charities online reputation and make it difficult to build relationships with the wider community or their target audience.

Remember, regular engagement with this audience can help manage and respond to any negative feedback or misconceptions.

Running ads this way will also lead to charities spending more money and fail to generate real results. In particular, tracking the return on investment (ROI) of ad hoc online advertising campaigns can be challenging, making it difficult to determine which campaigns or ads were successful and why.

Ultimately, charities that advertise in an ad hoc manner may find it difficult to compete with organisations that have a well planned and an ongoing advertising strategy. Building brand awareness and engagement often requires a sustained effort over time, and sporadic advertising may not be enough to accomplish this.

Consistency will help charities stay competitive.

How often does your charity advertise online?

by admin

September 18, 2024

Performance Max – Google Ad Grant

Performance Max is being added to the Google Ad Grant

On September 4th, Google announced that it is making Performance Max campaigns available to Google Ad Grant users.

Does your charity use the Google Ad Grant?

This is a significant update, and it offers charities the opportunity to maximize their online visibility, although there are some limitations to be aware of.

Initially, you may not see the Performance Max option in your account, as it is being gradually rolled out. If you do see it, please let me know—I’m very interested to hear how a PMax campaign performs for a charity or nonprofit.

It’s important to note that the Google Ad Grant version of Performance Max currently only shows ads in search results, so it’s not the full Performance Max experience available in paid Google Ads accounts, where ads run across all Google platforms.

So what is Performance Max?

Essentially, Performance Max is a goal-based campaign type in Google Ads that allows charities to advertise across all of Google’s advertising channels from a single campaign. These channels include Search, Display, YouTube, Discover, Gmail, and Google Maps.

The primary goal of Performance Max is to help advertisers maximize their campaign’s performance across all Google advertising channels by leveraging Google’s machine learning and automation capabilities

Final thoughts!

Personally, I am very excited about seeing Performance Max in the Google Ad Grant despite that the fact we are getting a diluted version of it.

I would love to know how you get on with it?

by admin

August 1, 2024

5 GA4 configurations every charity or nonprofit should make..

Let’s be honest, most charities or nonprofits don’t use Google Analytics 4 (GA4). It’s another thing they have to learn while also learning Facebook, Meta, AI, and other tools. Despite this, I am on a mission to change that. To get you started, here are 5 GA4 configurations every charity should make in every new GA4 property you create…

1. Change the data retention from 2 months to 14 months

By default, GA4 keeps user data for just 2 months, which can limit your ability to analyse the effectiveness of online fundraising campaigns. Extending this period to 14 months gives you more historical data to work with, allowing for better year-over-year comparisons and deeper insights into donor behavior.

2. Define and exclude internal traffic

Internal traffic from your own fundraising or communications team can skew your analytics data, making it difficult to accurately assess how external users are engaging with your content. By defining ( adding your IP address) and excluding internal traffic, you ensure that your data reflects only the activity of genuine visitors to your website.

3. Remove any unwanted referrals

Referral traffic can sometimes include websites you don’t want to see your traffic reports, which can distort your data and mislead you about where your visitors are coming from. By identifying and removing unwanted referrals, you can clean up your data and focus on the sources that actually drive traffic to your site.

4. Change the default session time

The default session timeout in GA4 is 30 minutes, but this might not be appropriate for every nonprofit. If your visitor tend to spend longer periods of time on your website, such as making a donation, reading in-depth reports or watching videos, you may want to extend the session time. Adjusting this setting ensures that your data accurately reflects user engagement without inflated session counts.

5. Configure domains if running multiple websites from the same GA4 property

If your charity manages multiple websites under the same GA4 property, it’s essential to configure your domains properly. This setup prevents data from being combined incorrectly, ensuring that you can accurately track user behavior across different sites while still viewing data in one place. This is crucial for charities that operate various microsites or campaigns.

Configuring these 5 settings will ensure your GA4 account is correctly set up, the data you collect is accurate and actionable for every charity or nonprofit.

If you want to learn more, I am hosting a GA4 workshop on Monday 2nd September 2024.

by admin

March 11, 2024

Managing the Google Ads Grant in 2024

Managing a Google Ads grant in 2024 requires adherence to Google’s policies and best practices while effectively using the grant to achieve your charities goals. So often however charities accounts will be suspend and staff members are not sure how to get the most from the Google Ads grant.

Visit: https://www.google.com/nonprofits/

The Google Ad Grants are a great tool, a perfect introduction to Search Advertising however it does have it’s limitations. I have always recommend charities invest in a paid PPC account as well in order to achieve their goals.

Here are my top tips! And they are in no particular order..

Follow the structure

It’s important to understand how your account is structured and to follow it. Each account is composed of campaigns, ad groups and ads. Each campaign can be categorised around a goal like, “fundraising” or “recruitment”. Within those campaigns, you will create ad groups centred around specific keywords. Each ad group will contain multiple ads.

Remember, each campaign must have at least two ad groups and 2 ads per ad group.

Image Source

Use Google’s Smart bidding

Google smart bidding refers to bid strategies that use Google AI to better optimise ads. The main advantage for a Google Ad Grant account is that it allows you to bid more than US$2.00, which is usually the max when setting bids manually in a Google Grant Account.

These Smart Bidding strategies are for the following;

Target CPA
Target ROAS
Maximise Conversions

Dynamic Search Ads

It can be difficult for charities to create ads for every relevant search. Dynamic Search Ads can help you! Here is a link to how to make them.

Dynamic Search Ads will automatically target keywords and create ads based on the content that is on your website. You can use your whole website or target specific pages.

Sitelink Extensions

Google says, you must have a minimum of two sitelink extensions for every ad in your Google Ad Grant. These extensions direct the user to specific pages of your website. Beyond sitelink extensions, there are also call extensions, lead form extensions and callout extensions. While Google doesn’t require you to use other extensions, they ad very useful.

Set your daily budget to $329

I don’t see any reason why you should divide your budget. If you are, then perhaps you are running to many campaigns and you may need to prioritise the campaigns that are actually performing well for you.

Optimise your landing page

When someone clicks on your ad you are required to give them a good experience when they get to your landing page. It’s important your landing pages load fast, get to the point quickly with no distractions, compelling ad copy, have social proof and function great on mobile or desktop.

Lastly, if would like help with your Google Ad Grant I do provide the following service

What other tips would you recommend?

by admin

February 14, 2024

We’re seeking your feedback on Facebook Challenges in Ireland

Facebook Challenges first started in Ireland and the UK but in recent years many have not performed to the same levels as they did during the pandemic or earlier. The purpose of this survey is to understand what charities are seeing the best return and analyse in more details Facebook Challenges in 2023.

The information in this survey will be discussed at the next Charities Institute Ireland digital forum in May.

Please click on the link below to fill in this short survey.

https://forms.gle/4xwh6sF3xwwVYxUNA

Thank you,

Andrew Parle

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Leveraging Facebook Conversion API for Charities and Nonprofits

by admin

January 15, 2024

Leveraging Facebook Conversion API for Charities and Nonprofits

Charities and nonprofits are continuously looking at ways to optimise their online presence and digital fundraising efforts. One powerful tool that can help is the Facebook Conversion API (CAPI).

Charities can use the Facebook Conversion API to send important data from their website straight to Facebook.

Client-side tracking:

Client-side tracking refers to the method of collecting and processing data on the client side, which means within the user’s browser or device.

When it comes to Facebook, client-side tracking is associated with the Facebook Pixel. The Facebook Pixel is a snippet of code provided by Facebook that advertisers embed on their websites. It allows Facebook to track users’ actions on the site after they click on a Facebook ad. When a user visits a website with the Facebook Pixel installed, the pixel code executes in the user’s browser.

The data collected by the Facebook Pixel is then sent back to Facebook’s servers, providing valuable insights for advertisers to measure.

However, In the last few years, the strength of the Facebook pixel has declined. Mainly due to iOS 14 privacy features, ad blockers and lots more, eventually most browsers will fully block third-party cookies making the Facebook pixel useless.

Server-side tracking:

Server-side tracking refers to a method of collecting and processing data on the server side rather than on the client side (user’s browser). Server-side tracking with the Facebook pixel, involves sending the data directly to Facebook servers from the web server hosting the website.

The Facebook CAPI will track conversions, optimize campaigns, and create custom audiences instead of relying solely on the Facebook Pixel within the user’s browser.

How to implement the Facebook Conversion API

Firstly, there are various ways to implement the CAPI, both free and paid. The key is to understand the method that best suits your needs.

While there is a WordPress CAPI plugin solution available, it’s worth noting that based on reviews, it has only received a 1-star rating. If you have used it, we would love to hear your feedback.

Our first recommendation is setting up Facebook CAPI via Google Tag Manager, which is certainly worth investigating and allows any kind of customisation. However, it does require a strong technical knowledge of Google Tag Manager.

Facebook, along with many experts, recommends configuring Facebook CAPI using Amazon web servers, but this option comes with an approximate cost of €100 per month.

Our top recommendation however is Stape. They offer two subscription plans, both of which come with a 7-day free trial for the Facebook CAPI.

Pay as You Go: $10/month or $100 annually for each Pixel.
Unlimited: $100/month or $1000 annually for an unlimited number of Pixels.

Conclusion

Keep in mind that Facebook’s platform is continuously evolving.

For the moment you do not need to set up the Facebook CAPI in order to advertise on Facebook. In fact, Facebook recommend that if you are spending more than €3000 per month, then the Facebook CAPI is the ideal solution for your charity.