Which social network shall I use to promote my crowdfunding initiative?

Which social network should I use to promote my crowdfunding project?

The quick answer to this frequently asked question is clear: all possible. Because the proper functioning of crowdsourcing initiatives (including crowdfunding) relies largely on the people you reach, the more social networks you use properly, more people will know the project, and the probabilities of getting money from the crowd and get the project funded raises.

Focusing on the topic of crowdfunding, it is true that each social network has its particularities and that each may work better depending on the type of project. For this post, I am going to focus on the three most representative social networks: Twitter (+543 million users), Facebook (+900 million users) and LinkedIn (+250 million users) … although it’s obvious that there are more social networks that can be used.

These three social networks differ, among other things, on the level of relationship between the user and his network, and therefore the confidence level (in the social network).

Twitter

Users of this social network can have many contacts (followers) with which they have,  in many cases, a nonexistent relationship. It works more often as a way to keep up with what certain person tweets. If it’s well done and the are conducive, in this social network you can make the news flow quickly.

This social network can make a lot of people to know about your project, even if they participate or not, so it’s highly recommended to use. On the other hand, getting your message reach a community of large users, focused and interested in the theme of your crowdfunding project, or getting relevant people of your crowdfunding theme to retweet your messages, can take you to potential investors.

In this case is also important to use a simple hashtag which identifies your project. It won’t be trending topic, but it will allow people to see and identify the tweets related to the project, both yours and those who use it.

Facebook

In this case, the level of trust between the contacts is supposed to be higher. I say “supposed” because in many cases Facebook users accept contacts about which they don’t have too much information. Facebook is often used to get in touch with nearby people: family, friends, colleagues, possible customers when using Facebook for business, etc.

It’s also important to use this network, both in terms of profile, such as creating a public page where users that follow and support the project could interact. Interaction, well made, it is essential to build trust.

As a novelty, Facebook has added the ability to make donations to nonprofit organizations. If your crowdfunding project falls into this category, you have a point in your favor.

LinkedIn

In this network, the number of users that form the network of a particular user are usually more restricted. The reason is that you can not add anyone, but you need to have any previous contact (e-mail, having worked in the same place, share some interest group …).

This social network, rather than to promote crowdsourcing or crowdfunding initiative, it is useful to establish trust relationships with other users, which is particularly important when people invest money and amounts that over the 5, 20 or 50 €/$.

Through individual users or participation in LinkedIn groups of professionals of your crowdfunding issue, you can find potential investors whether using a reward based or an equity based crowdfunding project..