Is Crowdfunding Without Social Media Effective?

By: Raj, Diamond

Published On: February 28, 2022

When you learn, teach. When you get, give.

-Maya Angelou

With the Internet, we found a place where people could easily search for any product or service that they needed and request the same with just a click! As per Statista's report, India has more than 680 million active internet users, a number that is growing exponentially every year. When we talk about the digital world, it is impossible to miss one powerful source of networking and connecting people, i.e., Social Media Platforms. Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media platforms are growing in an unprecedented manner, currently at 518 million active users in 2020, which will rise to 1.3 billion active users by 2030, as given by Statista.

Social media is generally used to receive new and upcoming information and events, build a community of diverse groups, and stress relief with time. Presently, Social Media platforms are also used for noble causes like help for underprivileged people through donations and crowdfunding.

What Is Crowdfunding?

In simpler terms, crowdfunding is all about using the internet and social media platforms to raise funds for yourself or those in need. Crowdfunding could be used to raise funds from people for rare disease treatment, help a brilliant child secure funds for admission to top-notch universities, or even finance new startups and business ventures.

In India, crowdfunding may seem like a new concept, when in fact, the act of giving or helping others has been inculcated in all of us since we were children.

A few of the considerable obstacles due to which people prefer crowdfunding without social media are:

Lacks Personal and Emotional Connection: Without the perfect strategy, social media may come across as lacking personal and emotional connection, making it difficult to build the empathetic bond required in fundraising.
Difficult to Express Love and Care: It may be hard to convey or understand one’s feelings or thoughts with social media, hindering fundraising via social media.

Shorter Duration of a Social Media post: Lastly, the typical lifespan of a social media post is much shorter than that of a blog post. The average social content that exists live across people is between 5 hours to 48 hours at last, while a blog post could be more effective till one year from posting, and after repurposing, would last much longer.

Now, a doubt may arise in mind if social media is not a place for crowdfunding, so, “what could be the best alternatives for Crowdfunding without social media?”

Don’t worry. We have sorted different ways for fundraising without social media that could be more helpful in raising funds. Some of the substitutes for crowdfunding without social media are as follows:

Contacting an NGO for a social cause.

One of the best ways to pursue crowdfunding without social media is to get in touch with nearby prominent NGOs for help in raising funds. NGOs have a good relationship with all levels of local government that helps to satisfy the fund needs of deprived people.

Sometimes, even NGOs are restricted in providing funds to the needy. During this time, NGOs contact crowdfunding platforms to generate funds for them in their social cause.

Crowdfunding platform - a new way to raise funds effectively.

The most preferable and straightforward choice for crowdfunding without social media is utilizing an internet crowdfunding platform to raise funds for your emergency needs. With the help of a crowdfunding platform, you could raise funds from across the globe. There are several fundraising platforms, and choosing the right one could be difficult. It is essential to trust the platform that has completed successful fundraising and have good feedback from people.

ImpactGuru- A digitalized crowdfunding platform with their crowdfunding partners has helped save more than 25,000 lives. ImpactGuru had a positive influence on more than 5 lakh lives till now.

Live game streaming.

Nowadays, people spend a maximum of their leisure time playing online games to de-stress. Online games are made to keep a gamer active for a long time and make it challenging to keep them engaged. Here, pro gamers could take advantage by streaming live games to help other people learn new tricks and upskill for their better play; in return could ask for a small contribution or donation for a noble cause from a group of people.

Partnering with college students for help

The majority of our population is young, and every young individual believes in contributing something good to society with their studies. College students could be asked to spread the word of mouth regarding crowdfunding. Students could also conduct street plays in communities to create awareness and, in turn, help in fundraising for the cause.

Using Display advertising (Google ads) - Banner ads.

Display advertising is the process of promoting a product or service on third-party websites using images, text, and banner ads. With Google Adsense, it’s possible to use display advertising for fundraising to generate favorable results in terms of social cause awareness to people. As your banner ads are placed on reputed or relevant websites, it will be more beneficial to get support from them.

Writing free blogs for your cause on the best blogging platforms.

Blogging could be the most influencing factor for crowdfunding without social media because the average life expectancy of a blog post is more than 1 year. Still, it could be extended by repurposing it. Free blog posts published regarding the crowdfunding need on prominent blogging platforms like Blogger, Wix, WordPress, etc., will help the blogpost rank on the first page of organic results in search engines. Search engines are the best way to create awareness of your product or service and are the new way people find what they need through searches.

It will be your chance to grab people’s attention on your fundraising needs through search engines, but Google bots need relevant information to rank on the top slot.

Sending text messages or emails to people.

A personalized text message or email to a large group of people would be vital in building an excellent relationship to raise funds from them. Bulk emails customized for people could be a cost-effective strategy as it helps to keep track of: How many of them see your email? How many of them replied? And all these questions could be the basis to improve our next email campaign.

But, people nowadays need a trustworthy source to notice your message where else it could be not easy to get people’s attention for crowdfunding.

Organizing a free learning event or workshop in turn of small contributions.

If you have any exceptional skills or know someone with an extraordinary talent, then with his help, organize a free workshop or small event to assist people in learning those skills. In return, people could help in fundraising by contributing any small amount they wish for the person in need. This method would benefit both parties!

Conclusion:

That’s it; we have covered all the best ways to raise funds online without social media. Depending on your fundraising requirement, you could select any of the above options for crowdfunding. As every other resort has some pros and cons for crowdfunding, it’s better to choose trust and quality regarding how effectively and efficiently it is conducted.