In today’s episode I’m answering your questions about Snapchat, birthday fundraisers on Facebook…and more! If YOU have a question you’d like me to answer, send me an email– just click on contact, or you can always send me a message on Facebook or Instagram. Here’s the first question… Question: I know people have different opinions about this, but how many hashtags do you recommend an organization typically use on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Linked In for our posts?  Answer: Well, you’re right - there are differences in opinion on the topic of hashtags! It varies depending on which platform you’re using. On Instagram, there is a 30-hashtag limit on a post. You’ll have to experiment to find out what works for you. Try using 10 hashtags, 20, or 30 hashtags and then look at the insights for that post to see what your numbers tell you. Every audience is different. Personally, I’ve seen using 30 hashtags gets me more engagement and more views on my Instagram posts.  TIP: Always use relevant hashtags to the topic to make it easier for your audience to find posts.  On Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn: you might use the “less is more” approach. Use 1 or 2 hashtags for those platforms.  Make them relevant to your post: For a post about Veterans Day, your hashtag could be #VeteransDay or if you’re posting about a festival, your hashtag could be a twist on the name of the festival like #SpringfieldFallFest. Using a hashtag specific to your organization or your brand? Be consistent and use the same hashtag repeatedly. That makes your hashtags effective.   Question: I have been asked to use certain sponsors’ hashtags in addition to all our own when posting. To be clear, the sponsor hashtags aren’t relevant to all posts, but I have been asked to use them. We have five of our own hashtags we currently reference on all posts without even including sponsors (which can add six to ten more. I feel all the hashtags are overkill and may bog the post down. I know you can use up to 30, some folks suggest just six at most, but Facebook says sometimes six is too much and it should not be more than two. What say you? Answer: Use as few of the sponsor hashtags as you can and put them at the very bottom of your post. For Instagram, leave your multitude of hashtags as a comment below your post – it’ll keep things looking clean. With your hashtags in the Instagram comment section when it posts to Facebook simultaneously all those hashtags don’t show.  If you want to see how well your hashtags are working for your posts, check out Episode 12: How Many People Have REALLY Seen Your Post?    Question: Lauren, how can we get more people to have birthday fundraisers on Facebook for our nonprofit? Answer: Birthday fundraisers on Facebook are a nice idea. Make sure you message the people setting up the fundraiser and get their address so you can send them a handwritten thank you note. Be grateful. There are two reasons you don’t want to depend on Birthday Fundraisers.  They don’t build a relationship with donors. Relationship is the most important thing for fundraising. In a birthday fundraiser on your behalf, you only form a real relationship with the host of the birthday fundraiser, but not with the people who donate to the fundraiser. The key to WHY people donate and continue to donate is that they know, like and trust you. Relationships build the “know, like and trust factor.” No customer service: Facebook doesn’t have a customer service hotline where you can just call and resolve an issue. Facebook has glitches. There are lots of stories out there about people not being able to receive their money from fundraisers. You wouldn’t want your donors to give thinking their money is being put to good use, but it winds up in Facebook limbo instead, would you? Here’s what you can do instead of a Facebook fundraiser - focus time planning and preparing for your next real-life, non-Facebook fundraiser. Stay in touch with your donors via your email newsletter. Nurt