Taking a Social Media-First Approach to Annual Reports

A well-crafted annual report can be a powerful vehicle for sharing your message and accomplishments. Once finished, organizations often step back and strategize how to convert the full-breath of the report into engaging social posts. But what if you approach the annual report from a social media-first perspective at the very outset?

It's common knowledge that attention spans are getting shorter. We're bombarded by news, videos, and images every day, every where. It's estimated that Generation Z's attention span clocks in at roughly eight seconds, with 98 percent of them owning a smartphone. A report from Deloitte, the average American consumer now checks their phone 52 times per day. 

That means your audiences are likely interacting with your annual report in ways you never planned for. Taking a social media-first perspective will do more than make your social media manager happy, it'll bring in more readers and drive fresh traffic to last year's content, keeping key stakeholders engaged throughout the year. 

As you approach the year's end, take an inventory of all your blog posts, stories, photos, press releases and other materials over the past year. As you sort through it all, think about which stories qualify as the most compelling and keep in mind where you can utilize dynamic visuals. As you keep a social-first focus, consider using the following strategies to highlight the necessary facts, figures and images while opening the door to greater interest (and engagement):

Less Text, More Context

With many annual reports, there's a tendency to create drafty long stories and standard letters from the leaders. With a social media-first perspective, consider where you can use visuals instead of text--and gather together facts, figures, images and examples that can demonstrate your work and vision in a more succinct way. 

Nonprofit Annual Report Example - Taking a Social Media-First Approach

For example, in developing last year's annual report for Food 4 Farmers, we spread a conventional story arc across three pieces:​​

• Illustrate the challenge - Food 4 Farmers does more than help farming families develop food security strategies, it builds awareness of the challenges that coffee farmers face. What's the challenge you face? What didn't work? How did you overcome the challenge or not?

View this post on Instagram

This graphic from our annual report sums up the problems facing so many coffee-farming families. A combination of rapidly rising food costs, falling coffee prices and the effects of climate change are fueling migration across Latin America. Last week, we witnessed the effects during our visit with old and new partners in Guatemala. We heard firsthand accounts of the challenges farmers face in feeding their families. The difficulty of running a cooperative when prices fall well below the costs of production. But we also heard inspiring stories that show a path forward with families working together, focused on farm diversification and growing better food. Young women and men jumping into beekeeping to help provide for their families. Cooperatives providing services beyond coffee to help their members. There's an important article in the @Guardian today on the food crisis in Guatemala at http://bit.ly/guardiancoffee (with photos from @mimundo_org). Read it and then visit www.food4farmers.org to help.

A post shared by Food 4 Farmers (@food4farmers) on Jul 29, 2019 at 1:15pm PDT

• What success looks like - Success was illustrated by one of the Food 4 Farmers' most popular programs: beekeeping. Not only did it help farming families diversify income, these pollinators also contributed to food security. 

View this post on Instagram

The #PollinatorWeek hits continue. Did you know pollination by bees and other animals contributes 5-8% of global crop production value? And while coffee isn’t as dependent on bees for pollination as other crops, research shows that pollinators do have an impact. Bee pollination in coffee can lead to a 10-30% increase in productivity & quality. That means better coffee for you, diversified income for farmers & food security for families. Click the link in our bio to read the story in our Annual Report. Photo by @JuliaLuckett

A post shared by Food 4 Farmers (@food4farmers) on Jun 20, 2019 at 12:00pm PDT

• Setting aspirations - Eighty percent of all participants in the organization's programs are women and young girls. While food security is the organization’s main goal, there are intersecting issues—like gender and productive opportunities for young people—that Food 4 Farmers focuses on. You have challenges, you have success, but where are you headed next? 

The Pieces of a Story

When you build your story with different elements rather than a self-contained narrative, you'll make it easier to break your annual report down into posts that you can share over weeks and months as you roll it out. 

In any of the narratives we used for Food 4 Farmers, we gathered common elements that easily convert into social media posts:​​

• Impact information - What are the numbers that get to the heart of each story? (It's not just about how many people you reached.) For Food 4 Farmers, we looked into how much families saved on groceries after they added a home garden and how much income or productivity increased (or didn’t) thanks to interventions like beekeeping. â€‹

• Images - Well-composed photos can generate interest beyond words. Make sure that each story has at least one photo that defies description and invites your readers in. 

View this post on Instagram

"This past year made it clear once again that coffee is simply not enough to support the millions of families who rely on it. The global coffee price has hovered well below the average cost of production, and farmers are struggling to feed their families and maintain their land. The social and economic impact has been enormous. The need to transform coffee farms into economically viable businesses is vital." Click the link in our bio to read our 2018 Annual Report & share, pls. Photo by @JuliaLuckett with Teresa Jacinto of the Maya Ixil Cooperative in Guatemala. #WOCBerlin #worldofcoffee #BerlinWCC #FoodSecurity #annualreport #FoodSecurity #FoodSovereignty #Guatemala #Nicaragua #Colombia #Mexico

A post shared by Food 4 Farmers (@food4farmers) on Jun 7, 2019 at 11:00am PDT

• Individuals - Figures and numbers are important, but they're difficult to relate to. Create concise stories of people—the important individuals that illustrate the larger goal and make success possible. 

View this post on Instagram

This is Sandra Isabel Obando, at left. During the political crisis that rocked Nicaragua in April 2018, many of the roads to communities served by our partners at SOPPEXCCA were barricaded. Sandra put the skills she learned in Food 4 Farmers’ organic market program to good use, feeding her family with the fruits and vegetables she grew, while earning additional income selling produce to her neighbors. She continues to sell produce at the new farmers' market in Jinotega (another Food 4 Farmers & SOPPEXCCA project) and has become an expert in cultivating organic produce. ?? Read her story & more in our 2018 Annual Report.?? Click that little link in the bio!

A post shared by Food 4 Farmers (@food4farmers) on Jun 27, 2019 at 12:00pm PDT

• Infographics - Rather than creating a singular infographic, develop artwork that can be broken down into pieces and shared individually or all together.​

Neither political strife, nor historically low coffee prices could stop our partners from improving food security in coffee communities.

Read our 2018 #AnnualReport & share, pls. https://t.co/KxGiwSIUtN #WOCBerlin #worldofcoffee pic.twitter.com/CeJO5qrKYk

— Food 4 Farmers (@food4farmers) June 12, 2019

Extra Credit Considerations

For those of you eager to go above and beyond this year, we've got two more tips to share:

• Sizing is important - Don’t just share the same graphic across all social media channels. Make sure the images are cropped to the proper size for the channel you’re chasing. Vertical, horizontal, square? It matters to your readers. Try using Canva, which offers free templates to help you set up the proper size.
• Extend the approach to all content - Preparing for an annual report shouldn’t just come up at the end of the year, it’s a process that hums in the background throughout the year as you consider what to publish on your blog, social media and in traditional media. How are you planning your stories for the entire year? How will these be reflected in your day-to-day posts on Twitter, Tik-tok, Facebook or LinkedIn? 

 
For ideas on boosting your content planning strategy, check out our Same-Page Content Planning Case Study. And if you’re looking for help promoting your Annual Report or other accomplishments on social, we offer Social Media Management for nonprofits of any size.

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Kyle Freund

Kyle Freund is a Senior Strategist and Writer for Sarah Best Strategy with over 15 years of experience in strategic communications and marketing for non-profits, NGOs, and sustainability-minded organizations and companies. As an English/Spanish bilingual communications professional, he has provided media relations, communications guidance, crisis communications strategy, and digital messaging for a wide variety of clients that span from Fortune 500 companies to small-scale coffee farmers seeking to diversify their income.