Give Them Something to Talk About
“I had the best time!”, I learned so much”, “I met some cool people”. We have been hosting guest writers on our blog for a couple years now and one thing is for certain when people have a positive experience volunteering with an organization, they want to talk about it. These experiences have ranged from one-time events to longer relationships with an organization. We do not have data around the ripple that this causes for an organization or community, but it sure does make a person curious. Does this positive experience cause a person to donate? Does this cause other in their network to volunteer for the same organization or cause? Does it open the door for someone’s own volunteering story? Does it create a sense of community belonging that then shows up in other spaces? The data shows that word of mouth has significant impact on people’s behaviour in terms of consumerism so it does not seem like a far reach to think it can also impact an organization volunteer program. If we take the advice from the product and brand world and try to apply it to volunteerism here are some tips to utilize word of mouth in promoting volunteerism.
-Make sure volunteers feel connected. This can be through whatever means works for the culture of the organization- text, WhatsApp, Email, newsletter, live human moments etc. Listen to what they have to say.
-Ensure volunteers are in the loop about all the things the organization is up to. The special events, the fundraisers, the meetings, the accomplishments.
-Let people know when you are looking to engage more humans in your organization. Encourage them to share all the things with the people in their lives.
-Give all the humans who are engaging with your organization a fantastic reason to talk about the their experience by making it a good one.