Your Complete Guide to Superior Word-of-Mouth Volunteer Recruitment

The Top Line

A thoughtful word-of-mouth volunteer recruitment campaign has a better chance of getting traction than relying on random moments of enthusiasm or a few superstars. Therefore, get everyone involved – both volunteers and employees – in helping raise awareness about opportunities to support your organization’s mission and activities. See increased volunteer applications and grow your database in a win-win for everyone.

Read on to Discover:
3 Reasons People Rave About Your Volunteer Recruitment Opportunities
How to Launch a Tell-a-Friend Volunteer Recruitment Campaign in Three Steps
How to Collect Powerful Testimonials to Fuel Your Volunteer Recruitment
How to Save Time Creating Volunteer Recruitment Content

Encourage Current Supporters to Spread the Word

When I start working with Volunteer Recruitment Accelerator clients, I always ask about their current volunteer recruitment strategies and what’s working now. Nine times out of ten, the primary way organizations attract volunteers is through word-of-mouth, and most often from their existing volunteers.

When I then explore whether proactive, planned word-of-mouth volunteer recruitment strategies are in place, the answers are usually, “No,” and “Why didn’t we think of that?” Sometimes the most obvious answers are right in front of our faces, and it takes an outsider to point them out.

The fact is that while volunteers are the most effective messengers of volunteer recruitment appeals, they are often only casually asked to help spread the word, and the results aren’t that great.

The problem is that there is no purposeful framework in place to create a marketing campaign with purpose, and no support for your most powerful ambassadors.

For more on diagnosing why your volunteer recruitment may not be delivering results, check out Why Isn’t Your Volunteer Recruitment Strategy Working? HERE >>

You may have asked volunteers to help amplify your recruitment appeals in the past and received a lukewarm response. Or volunteers may have responded enthusiastically but may not have followed through. Or volunteers may have helped spread the word to their personal or professional networks, but nothing came of it.

Regardless of the reason and whatever the results, it may be time to rethink your approach.

Wondering why you can’t get more volunteers to share your volunteer recruitment appeals in a way that works?

To inspire your supporters, you must first give them something wonderful to talk about. This means both an exceptional volunteer experience to brag about and remarkable stories to tell.

Second, you must speak to the needs and motivations of the messenger in ways that inspire action with conviction.  

3 Reasons People Rave About Your Volunteer Recruitment Opportunities 

There are three key reasons why your supporters will spread the word about your cause: it’s about you, it’s about them, or it’s about us. In other words, it’s all about a sense of belonging.
When volunteers feel a sense of relevance in one of the following three domains, they will share your story with others. Below are some specific reasons why people will talk about your cause with others, plus ideas for implementing word-of-mouth volunteer recruitment around each.

YOU: It’s About Your Organization & Services

• People will talk about you because … 
• • They love you and your cause 
  • You’ve given them something to talk about related to your mission 
  • You’ve made your information super-fast and easy to share
• Try these to inspire word of mouth … 
• • Create buzz-worthy information and events 
  • Share short and smart tips, facts, feel-goods 
  • Include social sharing buttons on every web page 
  • Offer free training to the public 

Them: It Makes Them Feel Good or Important

• People will talk about you because … 
• • It makes them feel smart 
  • They feel important and like an “insider” 
  • They genuinely want to help 
  • They want to express themselves and their identity
• Try these to inspire word of mouth … 
• • Include a “tell-a-friend” link (e.g., a Share This widget) on every web page that mentions volunteering 
  • Ask for volunteer testimonials that focus on how their role aligns with their values 
  • Give volunteers exclusive online badges or bling to wear 
  • Invite volunteers to lead recruitment teams 

US: It’s About Feeling Connected to the Group

• People will talk about you because … 
• • They are part of your volunteer “family” 
  • They belong to your local neighborhood or community 
  • They are part of a successful team 
  • They consider themselves “insiders”
• Try these to inspire word of mouth … 
• • Offer “sneak peek” insider info they can share as someone who is “in the know” 
  • Offer priority registration and seating for events 
  • Facilitate team-building activities that strengthen team spirit 
  • Launch group projects that build greater cohesion and volunteer leadership over time 

In addition to these three reasons, supporters will also be more likely to spread the word on your behalf if they are trained, supported, and encouraged to do so.

To feel confident, capable, and effective, volunteer ambassadors need a structure to work from. This comes in the form of a well-crafted volunteer recruitment campaign based on word-of-mouth marketing.

How to Launch a Tell-a-Friend Volunteer Recruitment Campaign in Three Steps

Tell-a-friend campaigns are the most obvious choice for boosting word-of-mouth marketing. The steps are simple, so don’t overthink it.

All you need to do is engage a group of volunteers to help. Equip them with the necessary tools, and give them the power to enter the community and speak on your behalf, then let go of control.

As a side note: The idea of “control” is an illusion – people already can and do speak about your organization and its volunteer opportunities. Isn’t it better that you lead the way with a thoughtful campaign?

Here’s how it works …

Step 1: Engage Your Team

Try to find people with the right heart for it, but don’t feel the need to find the “perfect” team for the job – they don’t exist. Rather, ask and listen to current volunteers as they speak about their experiences – who has a compelling story to tell? Who is passionate about what you do? Try to find people with the right heart for it, but don’t feel the need to find the “perfect” team for the job – they don’t exist. Rather, ask and listen to current volunteers as they speak about their experiences – who has a compelling story to tell? Who is passionate about what you do? Also, quickly brief any potential campaign team members with what it’s all about and how they can help. 

In short, be sure to … 

• • Recruit people with enthusiasm 
  • Listen and interact to see who is a natural 
  • Offer a short campaign briefing 

Step 2: Equip Your Team

Next, if you want to promote robust word-of-mouth marketing about your volunteer opportunities, you must give supporters something to talk about.

This might be their own exceptional experience as a volunteer or stories about what people have achieved or how communities have been transformed through the organization’s work, led by volunteers.

Create an info bank of the following kinds of content for your team and give examples of how it might be shared …

• • Compelling stories 
  • Testimonials  
  • Insider knowledge 
  • Unbelievable facts  
  • Funny disclosures 

Step 3: Empower Your Team

Finally, give your team the go-ahead.

If there are things they should not be doing (e.g., speaking to a reporter without first going through your marketing director), then let them know those guidelines. If there are specific ways to use your logo and a style guide, brief them on this, too.

Also, give your team full access to a wide range of marketing collateral they can use, depending on the situation. Plus, give them tips and ideas of how these can be used in their outreach …

• • Brand guidelines and style guide 
  • Graphics and photos (that have been cleared for use) 
  • Tell-a-friend buttons and links 
  • Webpage “widgets” (simple graphics that can be placed on partner websites) 
  • Emails to forward 
  • Social media posts 
  • Postcards, rack cards, or business cards 
  • Links to videos 

Get your team fired up and then meet with them regularly to share ideas, what’s working, and what resources they need. Report back to them regularly about how your volunteer application rate is improving and where new applicants are coming from.

And, of course, recognize your team privately and publicly for their demanding work. After all, they are superstars, right?!

How to Collect Powerful Testimonials to Fuel Your Volunteer Recruitment 

The info bank you provide your team should be full of testimonials from volunteers, employees, partners, and those they serve. Testimonials are one of the most powerful ways to give your volunteer opportunities credibility. It helps to use text and photos together for more impact. So, provide both whenever possible.

There are some great times to ask for a testimonial, right in the moment. They include:

• • Right after you helped a volunteer accomplish something wonderful 
  • Right after hitting a particular milestone  
  • Right after an increase in their depth of involvement 
  • Right after they positively respond to a volunteer satisfaction survey or sent you a positive email 

In addition, the task of collecting, editing, and posting stories and testimonials that are ready to share might also be a task that your tell-a-friend recruitment team takes on.

They can practice interviewing each other first to kick-start their collection process.

In addition to sharing through the campaign team’s networks, there are plenty of other places to share testimonials, too. They include … 

• • On your home page 
  • In social media posts 
  • On an event registration page 
  • On a volunteer application, registration, or informational page 
  • At the bottom of emails 
  • In volunteer recruitment marketing materials 
  • In volunteer position descriptions 
  • In volunteer manuals 

Further, by featuring the “voice” of the volunteer at key inflection points in the volunteer journey, you can also reinforce how others take action. This helps them begin to take the steps toward true commitment. 

Build a Volunteer Recruitment Story Bank 

Story banking helps you manage your story collection and reference process, so you and your team have edited and approved stories ready to go whenever you need them.

Five basic story themes work well for nonprofits:

• • “Overcoming the Odds” stories are just that, tales of how regular people experienced personal revolutions 
  • “Making a Difference” stories show the power of people who work together to change their community 
  • “A Day in the Life” story follows a staff or volunteer as they go about their day while changing the world   
  • “Our History” tells the story of how your organization was founded and why
  • “Unlikely Connections” shares how people from diverse backgrounds come together for the common good 

Your story bank can be incorporated into your tell-a-friend volunteer recruitment team’s info hub, so that everything is at their fingertips when needed. Here’s how to set up a story bank, step-by-step.

How to Set Up Your Story Bank

• Step 1: Decide your goals for the story bank (how many stories, what kinds of stories, in what format, etc.) 
• Step 2: Choose formats and collection methods for stories (text, video, audio, etc. – below are a few ideas) 
• • Interviews 
  • Audio and/or video recording 
  • Web form 
  • Surveys and focus groups 
  • Social media 
  • Art projects, games, and other crowd-sourcing techniques 
• Step 3: Choose the tools you need to collect and store stories (software and hardware) 
• Step 4: Decide when you will collect stories (set the beginning and end date for the current campaign) 
• Step 5: Choose where you’ll “bank” your stories (brainstorm a list of where stories can and will be shared – see the list for testimonials above to start) 
• Step 6: Decide when to share stories (create an editorial calendar so that stories are shared regularly across your organization’s platforms, but don’t compete or overlap with one another – let each one shine; ask the team to amplify your shares to their network as well.) 

How to Save Time Creating Volunteer Recruitment Content 

It’ simply not necessary that every piece of content you develop be unique. Similar to how people read books and watch movies more than once, your story might be just the thing that lifts their day! In other words, one story will go a long way.

How to Set Up and Repurpose a Single Story and Save Yourself a Ton of Time …

• • Set up your camera or smartphone and record whoever you are interviewing. Now you have video, audio, and text to repurpose for all kinds of different content.
  • Take the transcript from the interview and turn it into a blog post
  • Use inspiring quotes as tweets
  • Take a few seconds of their best audio and drop it in your Instagram stories, linking back to the full 2-minute video
  • Reformat the interview into an informational case study
  • Have the interviewee send you some pictures from their service or childhood, and use them as a Facebook post linking to the blog post
  • Do you know someone who draws well? Have them take funny or interesting moments from your organization’s history and turn them into comics.
    

You can also recycle stories and share them again later. No need to remember what you shared six months ago. Don’t be afraid to repeat a relevant story. Think of your story as a content cascade, starting with your cornerstone and then excerpting pieces to be shared elsewhere.

Final Thoughts on Word-of-Mouth Volunteer Recruitment

If you take the time to develop a volunteer recruitment marketing campaign that includes a tell-a-friend element, you will exponentially grow the number of people who hear about your opportunities. What’s more, trusted community ambassadors will carry the message. Their influence will ensure your calls to action are not only heard but responded to.