Social Media Fundraising Approaches

Let’s talk about what’s actually working on social right now because the game has shifted. TikTok is limiting us to five hashtags. Instagram has quietly confirmed that hashtags are no longer significantly helping with reach. And now Google is getting involved. Instagram just made a big move. Public posts from professional accounts can now appear in Google and Bing search results. Not just your profile or bio, but actual posts, captions, and hashtags can show up with previews. Here’s why that matters. - Hashtags are now more about organizing your content than pushing it further. - Captions should be written with search in mind. - Alt text and even the name of your image file could impact visibility. If you’re building a brand or growing an audience, this is a moment to start thinking about Instagram the way you’d think about your website. What words are people searching for? How clearly are you communicating your topic, product, or service? Social SEO is here, and it's changing how we create content. What’s something you’ve started doing differently with your posts lately?

Social media and SEO just had a baby. Google can now show you which Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube posts appear in search, what people searched to find them, and how much traffic they drive. That means your social posts are becoming search results. And almost every search falls into one of four buckets. Informational: “How do I get more protein?” That’s a tutorial video. Navigational: “Netflix login” or “Chipotle locations.” They already know where they want to go, they’re using Google to get there. Commercial: “Best CRM for small businesses.” That person wants comparisons, rankings, and honest reviews. Transactional: “Price,” “discount,” “book,” or “near me.” They’re ready to take action, so give them one clear next step. Most content creators only make informational content because they don’t realize the other three categories exist. Here’s what I tell my clients: type your topic into AnswerThePublic. It shows you the questions and phrases people are already searching for. Then create videos across all four types of search intent, adapt them for Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, and publish them across every relevant platform. Finally, use Google Search Console to track which topics rank, which searches drive traffic, and which videos deserve follow-ups. You’re not just posting more content. You’re covering the entire customer journey and using real data to decide what to create next. The feed rewards whoever posted last. Search rewards whoever answered best.

There's no point fighting over budget allocation between SEO and social. They're becoming the same thing. From my conversations with GTM leaders, there’s no longer a clear distinction between "search content" and "social content." → Your buyers are googling "best enterprise software for X” and finding YouTube videos. → They're scrolling LinkedIn and discovering content that leads them to visit your website a few weeks later. → They search for your CEOs name and find their short-videos on social. The best teams optimize for algorithms and humans... but mostly humans, because humans are the ones buying. Content needs to serve both purposes from day one. Because your buyers don't make decisions in silos. Google, LinkedIn, ChatGPT, industry forums. And increasingly, LLMs are pulling insights from social conversations to answer their questions. The opportunity is creating content that naturally shows up wherever your buyers happen to be researching… and that’s everywhere!

If I was starting a $10k LinkedIn Ad Account fresh in 2025. Here's how I approach it in 5 steps: ↓ Step 1: Understand Historical Data Firstly, going in blind with LinkedIn Ads is 99% guaranteed to burn your budget. Some strategy work is essential before investing in the platform. Understand all current available data sources you already have. Some common sources to analyse are: → CRM → Sales calls → Web Traffic → Other channels/tools (Google/Meta/GA) These data sources should answer the questions of: → Where does our revenue come from? → Where do our conversions come from? → Who do we want more of? → Who do we want less of? If a segment or tactic isn’t already showing positive signs elsewhere, it likely won’t perform well on LinkedIn. Step 2: Pick your battles Not every strategy works for everyone on LinkedIn Ads. Pinpoint what differentiates you: → What is your strength? Is it Product/Content/Brand? → Do you have existing performing content? → Does it translate to LI? There’s no universal playbook - what works will vary from company to company. Step 3: Find the fastest path to statistical significance. Speed is key in validating your approach. Some formats collect more data and provide valuable insights faster: → Thought Leader Ads for engagement rates → Conversation Ads to test messaging/offers → Lead Forms to test conversion rates → Videos to test content relevance This way you'll learn far quicker what messaging/positioning/offer works. Once you know, you can reverse engineer your longer-term plays such as your: → Blog Topics → Landing Page Copy → Templated Dashboards etc. Step 4: Make the Campaign Manager tool work for you. → Audience network? Off → Audience expansion? Off → Lead Forms? Work Email Validated → Bidding? Start with manual bidding → Creatives? Invest in 4-8 great creatives → Targeting? AND targeting only, rarely use OR. → Exclusions? Competitors/entry roles/customers. → Retargeting? Active in a separate campaign to native targeting. → Audience size? Match it to your budget. Not too big, not too small. Around 50,000-60,000 audience is plenty for a $10k monthly budget. Step 5: Let it run for 3-weeks before making changes If you've done the strategy work and correctly setup everything, back yourself and give it time. Frequency is important on LinkedIn, the more people see your ads the more likely they are to respond. LinkedIn Ads are too costly to hit and hope. Start with data, measure early, and build for long-term success.

Probably the BIGGEST update for marketers, SMMs, and creators! You can now track which search terms lead people to your TikTok, X, Instagram, and YouTube.   → Which content is populating in search → Clicks & Impressions → Top-performing posts & keywords   Social teams now need to think like SEOs.   This is a deceptively important update.   On the surface, it sounds like another analytics dashboard.   But Platform Properties could become a pretty meaningful shift for social media managers, creators and marketers.   Your social content is no longer just competing inside social feeds. It is competing on Google too.   For years, social teams have obsessed over platform-native metrics like reach, views, saves, engagement rate, follower growth.   But this gives teams a clearer view of a different question:   What social content is being discovered when people are actively searching?   That is a very different kind of intent.   You should now audit which social posts are surfacing in Google, identify the queries driving clicks, and build more evergreen, searchable social content around those patterns.   Understand intent, answer real questions, make content legible, and package posts so they can travel beyond the feed.   The creators and brands who will benefit most are the ones making content with long-tail search value.   How-to posts. Explainers. Product reviews. Travel tips. Local recommendations. Trend explainers. Founder commentary. Comparison posts. Evergreen education. Opinionated takes on news moments.   The throwaway meme post may still crush in-feed.   But the useful, specific, well-packaged post is more likely to have a second life on Google.   That’s the geeky bit I love here.   Social SEO used to mean optimising for search inside social.   Now it increasingly means optimising social content for discovery outside the platform too.   P.S. Are your social posts built only to win the feed, or are they built to appear in Google?

Imagine you’re training for your best 10K—not running or lifting every single day, but hitting peak workouts 3–4 times a week. Which gets better results: always on mediocrity or a few powerful, focused, intense sessions? Your LinkedIn content strategy works the same way. The temptation is to crank out 7–10 posts a week. More shots on goal, right? Except the data says otherwise: • Consistency matters more than sheer volume. Posting 3–5 times weekly drives ~78% more engagement than irregular posting. But pushing content every day often leads to rushed ideas, weaker storytelling, and audience fatigue. • Quality is king. A thoughtful post beats a dozen throwaways. One law firm shifted from daily posts to two crafted posts per week and saw stronger, lasting engagement. • The sweet spot is 2–5 posts per week. That’s the range recommended by the The Influencer Marketing Factory - Influencer Marketing Agency in their 2025 LinkedIn report, echoed by Business Insider. More than that, and your best insights may risk getting buried by your own content. • Timing still matters. Tuesday–Thursday mid-mornings remain the strongest windows. Pair that with formats LinkedIn rewards: carousel PDFs (I still struggle with these, ugh), storytelling text posts, video, punchy bulleted breakdowns with context. Think of it like fitness. A few intense, intentional workouts each week usually deliver more gains than seven half-hearted flat terrain jogs. Same with LinkedIn: 3-4 posts where you really flex your insight, tell a story, and engage will outperform daily generic filler every time. And here’s the PR lesson: Reputation isn’t built by volume; it’s built by moments that truly matter to your target constitifencies. High-quality posts are your reputation reps. They shape the narrative others remember, share, and trust. Fewer, better posts win. Now off for some morning hill sprints too?! 😉

Maximizing Results with a Low Ad Budget: A Strategic Approach Think you need a big budget to achieve meaningful results with your ads? Not necessarily. Here’s how to make the most of a modest budget through strategic planning and careful analysis: 1. Set Clear Objectives: • Start by defining your target Cost Per Lead (CPL). This gives you a clear goal to work towards and helps guide your strategy. 2. Reverse Engineer Your Strategy: • Work backwards from your desired CPL to determine the budget and resources needed. This reverse engineering ensures you stay focused on achieving your goals within budget constraints. 3. Understand Your CPM (Cost Per 1,000 Impressions): • Analyze your average CPM to gain insights into where your money is going. This data is crucial for optimizing your campaigns and ensuring you’re getting the most bang for your buck. 4. Strategic Targeting: • Focus your ad spend on the most relevant audience segments. It’s more effective to target a smaller, more engaged audience than to spread your budget too thin. 5. Test and Optimize: • Even with a low budget, regular A/B testing can help you identify what works best. Use these insights to continuously refine your approach and improve performance. 6. Optimize for Efficiency: • Ensure that every dollar is spent wisely by creating ads that are designed to capture attention and convert effectively. Remember, success in advertising isn’t about how much you spend—it’s about how strategically you spend it. With the right approach, even a limited budget can deliver strong results. Let’s connect if you want to explore strategies to maximize your ad spend and achieve your marketing goals! #DigitalMarketing #AdStrategy #LowBudgetAds #MarketingROI #LeadGeneration #CPL #coachingniche #coaches

Posting 3-5 times a week is NOT a universal rule. It’s context-free advice. And context-free advice is useless. If you’re starting out, no audience, no demand, no inbound… Posting “strategically” 3 times a week won’t save you. It will slow you down. You don’t need restraint. You need surface area. If you want faster opportunities, faster feedback, faster relevance- 📌 Posting daily is not desperate. It’s practical. Daily posting does 3 things: • Trains the algorithm • Trains you • Compresses the learning curve Silence doesn’t build authority. Repetition does. Now here’s the part most people miss 👇 If you’ve already built distribution If people recognise your name If your ideas already travel Then yes 3 to 5 posts a week is enough. At that stage, you’re nurturing. Not proving. Same platform. Different seasons. Different rules. The mistake? People follow advice meant for someone 10 steps ahead of them …then wonder why nothing moves. Don’t ask: “How often should I post?” Ask: “What stage am I actually in?” That answer decides everything.

Starting today, your Instagram posts can show up in Google search. Not just your profile but your actual photos, videos, Reels and captions from professional accounts can now be indexed by search engines. That means someone searching on Google might find your Instagram content, even if they’re not on Instagram. This is a BIG move in how social content is discovered and it has a direct impact on how we think about social strategy. What it means 👇 1. Social and SEO are no longer separate. Teams absolutely must work closer together. 2. Social content, especially on Instagram, now needs to be written and structured in a way that helps it perform both in the feed and in search results. 3. Captions, hashtags and alt text carry more weight as they now help search engines understand what your content is about. 3. Instagram becomes part of your wider content ecosystem. 4. If you’re already thinking about search intent ("social search") for TikTok, YouTube etc, Instagram now belongs in that mix too. Teams that start optimising now will likely gain extra visibility from search and for social teams, this is a BIG reminder to start working more closely with SEO and content and to approach posts with both platform and search discovery in mind. Small changes like writing clearer captions, using keywords, and adding alt text could make a big difference in where and how your content shows up.

#Entrepreneurs & #CEOs rarely find time to post on LinkedIn. ↳ How often should you post, and when? 🤔 Not everyone can post daily, and staying consistent feels impossible at times. Standing out requires more than great content - strategic timing. Here are 3 POSTING SCENARIOS and my suggestions on how to grow your account. ✍️ 1️⃣ Posting Once a Week 🗓 Best Days: Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday (sometimes even Saturday morning!) Once-a-week posting is okay, but it won't be able to maximize your visibility. For B2B offers, you want to stay at the top of your mind, and 1x post per week won't do it for you. LinkedIn doesn't prioritize sporadic activity, so your growth will be super slow. 😓 2️⃣ Posting Twice a Week 🗓 Avoid consecutive days. Skip Friday and Saturday. Ideal pairs: • Monday & Thursday • Tuesday & Thursday • Monday & Wednesday This frequency strikes a balance but still leaves room to grow. 3️⃣ Posting 3–5 Times a Week Posting 3–5 times weekly gets the best results. Why? Because LinkedIn and your audience view you as consistent. 🗓 Suggestions: • 3 posts: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday • 4 posts: Monday to Thursday • 5 posts: Sunday to Thursday EXTRA TIPS FOR MAXIMIZING IMPACT: 💡 If you can, post more than once daily. It worked tremendously well for me and other big accounts. 💡 Engage on non-posting days by commenting on others’ content. Visibility = consistency. 💡 Monitor your engagement metrics. Test, learn, and adapt! It’s not just about picking the perfect day – it’s about showing up consistently and staying active in your network. What’s your current posting frequency? Let me know in the comments! 👇 #linkedin #posting #b2b #marketing