Communicating with heart: the challenges of communicating on social media with no budget

Not-for-profit (NFP) organisations are central to Western Sydney’s social and economic infrastructure. With services ranging from parenting support to food banks, crisis accommodation to counselling, these regional organisations play a vital role in community life, promoting social inclusion, advancing health and wellbeing, and fostering resilience. However, despite this, the scale and scope of their contributions is not always matched by the communication strategies needed to amplify and grow them. Many Western Sydney NFPs operate with limited resources, which includes a reliance on ad hoc communication practices that, while well-intentioned, are limiting the impact of their efforts. Social media is often part of their strategy, however, the reliance on volunteer labour, combined with a lack of training, means many NFPs are missing opportunities to leverage platforms effectively. Many are using social media inconsistently and without clear strategic direction, which impedes the organisation's ability to build and sustain engagement and cultivate critical stakeholder relationships.
In this paper I present research-in-progress that responds to this gap in current NFP communication strategies. Over the past few years, I have been investigating how a more structured and strategic use of social media could strengthen influence, foster stakeholder relationships, and enhance community impact in Western Sydney's NFP sector. Social media offers Western Sydney NFPs a cost-effective platform to engage with stakeholders, raising awareness of their support services, educating and mobilising social change and support. It has the potential to enable real-time communication, foster relationships, increase dialogue, encourage transparency and enhance visibility amongst diverse and hard-to-reach audiences. It can facilitate co-creation in a resource-constrained context. Drawing on netnography (Kozinets, 2020), Schoenmaker’s Engagement Framework (2014), and Grunig and Hunt’s Excellence Theory (1984), I have studied the social media practices of Western Sydney NFPs to better understand their capacity and approach to engaging with their target audience via social media. While the research is ongoing, preliminary findings demonstrate that even resource-constrained organisations can use values-driven digital engagement strategies to improve the way they serve their communities and support their most important resource - their volunteers.