Think social media is just for scrolling memes and dog videos? Think again. (Forbes). If you’re a crowdfunder, it’s your stage, amplifier, and backstage pass to success. The more people engage with your content, the more those juicy algorithms show it to others. It’s like crowd-powered magic — and it starts with strategy.
So, what does this mean for crowdfunding?
Whether you are just starting, an established creator with a solid brand, or are an indie publisher, studio, or collaborator group – if you plan on utilizing crowdfunding for future projects, your success will come from the audience rallying behind you on your social media accounts.
Let’s look at some top trends propelling social media engagement forward and the tools Crowdfundr offers to work alongside them.
Trend #1 – Community building
🎤 Build Your Hype Squad
Community isn’t just a buzzword—it’s your campaign’s secret weapon. Think of it as building your own niche fanbase that roots for your every post, update, and milestone. People support people, not just projects. So show up, connect, and rally your crew. Success in crowdfunding comes from trust, and trust comes from a sense of community. Become a micro-influencer for your target audience in your creative space.
21% of social media users aged 18 to 54 bought items an influencer recommended, and that number jumps to 32% among Gen Z (HubSpot). And this younger crowd is entering the workforce and becoming a larger percentage of the consumer market.
Social media has become a place to build communities. Subreddits, Facebook groups, and Instagram and TikTok influencers focus on a niche interest. With over half of the world’s population using social media (Forbes), we’ve no doubt you’ll find your kin somewhere out there.
Build your community wherever your target audience spends time. Our Crowdfunding Promotion Toolkit includes identifying this audience and where you can find them. Do this exercise and start on the platforms that will help you get the most engagement.
Trend #2 – Varying content types
🎬 Mix It Up, Keep It Fresh
Don’t bore the algorithm (or your fans). Shake things up with bite-sized videos, behind-the-scenes photos, juicy progress updates, and fun polls. Treat your feed like a highlight reel of your journey.
Short-form videos (less than one minute) are the most engaging content (Forbes). However, long-form videos (two to five minutes) are apparently making a comeback (Hootsuite). Not only that, text-only posts are still popular, as are ‘photo-dumps’ (what we older ones would call carousels; Hootsuite).
Based on this, we recommend varying the content type you post. Be strategic – don’t post 30-minute-long videos every day while occasionally throwing in some pictures and short-form videos – but don’t stick to one thing, either.
Snippets of your Crowdfundr campaign video, pictures, milestones, updates, and comments are all great, shareable content. We know we boast about our platform’s direct sharing capabilities, but you cannot simply post your campaign daily and expect the internet to drop everything and click the link. So, just as you need to vary your general social media posts, change how you promote and share your crowdfunding campaign.
Trend #3 – Authenticity
💡 Be Real or Be Forgotten
Forget polished perfection — your audience craves you. Your wins, your stumbles, your late-night breakthroughs. Share the real stuff, and watch your followers turn into believers.
Again, crowdfunding success comes with trust from your community. The driver behind this trust is authenticity (Forbes, Hootsuite, and every other article on social media trends). Your goal is for followers to support you rather than just your campaign (Social Media Examiner).
Create your content on the assumption that you will run more than one crowdfunding campaign (or a storefront with continuous offerings). Content, for the sake of throwing something up, is pointless (more on that in Trend #5). Each post should be carefully curated to showcase your authentic self: your personality, values, lessons learned as you grow as a creator, etc.
This does not mean you must spill your deepest, darkest secrets to the internet. But you do want to be honest and real. Say so if you’re struggling with an aspect of your project or campaign! Not only will supporters appreciate you more, but they might also have helpful suggestions to get you through.
The same is true for the opposite: celebrate your wins with your community, too! Get excited and share when something amazing happens, such as recognition for your project or a fully funded crowdfunding campaign.
Many creators worry about appearing ‘braggy’ or self-important. Trust us, we get it. At Crowdfundr, such a large chunk of us tended to shy away from praise and self-promotion (including yours truly) that we had to create a rule when someone gives you kudos: you’re not allowed to deflect and point the gratitude elsewhere. You simply must accept the praise and feel good about it.
So, share your ups and downs with your community!
Trend #4 – Social media as search engines
🔍 Instagram is the New Google
More people are searching on TikTok than typing into Google these days. Want to show up? Use killer keywords in your bio and posts. You’re not just a creator — you’re a searchable story waiting to be found.
Particularly as Gen Z comes of age, people use social media rather than search engines to search for information and products more often (Hootsuite). Platforms like Instagram and TikTok respond by targeting relevant keywords in posts and bios.
So, there are two things you can do:
- Find the optimal keywords to target for your creator niche. Plenty of free resources exist to help you discover the most-used words, phrases, and questions users tend to input when searching for content. Write your social media bio around these keywords and insert them into your posts.
- Link to your Crowdfundr profile (either your creator-brand organization profile or your user profile) as a free space to post all other links you want supporters to know about.
Trend #5 – Shares are mattering more than ‘vanity metrics’
🔁 Make Your Content Worth Sharing
Likes are cute. Shares are powerful. When people repost your stuff, they’re vouching for you. Focus on creating content that educates, entertains, or inspires — and they’ll do your marketing for you.
Vanity metrics refer to aspects that don’t necessarily mean too much, like the number of followers or likes your profile or posts receive. Considering bots now exist that will like and follow random posts, we’re moving away from that being a metric of a strong profile.
Shareable content is where it’s at.
There are two things my Instagram social feeds are inundated with:
- Contest posts that urge you to share them on your stories, and
- Posts with funny or loving messages are meant to be sent to other users. For example, (my favourite): Send this to someone, and if they don’t respond in an hour, they owe you a puppy.
As you can tell, these posts are designed to be shared. Sharing content suggests to the platforms’ algorithms that it contains something valuable and is a way to get your profile in front of new users. But posts like the above don’t suggest authenticity. And they don’t provide YOU with much value because those with whom the posts are shared are likely not your target audience.
Shareable content is non-salesy, like educational content, and is more likely to appear in searches (Hootsuite). You have information and skills to share: advice, lessons, and experiences. I guarantee at least one person reading this thinks they don’t, but I assure you, my friend, you do.
The Social Media Examiner interviewed renowned social media marketing expert Katie Brinkley, and I love her ‘4-post method.’ Here is the link – have a look for inspiration!
Trend #6 – Analytics are crucial and will keep getting better
📊 Track It Like It’s Hot
Don’t just post and hope — measure what matters. Social platforms are treasure maps if you know how to read them. And yes, we have some cooking tools that’ll make your insights even juicier. (Can’t spill the beans yet… but stay tuned 👀.)
Every social media platform has analytics, but consider purchasing more advanced apps. Like our campaign referral links, these analytics will help determine which posts work best for you.
From there, you can determine which types of posts are viewed, shared, and commented on the most and keep creating more of them. But you must always be looking because social media users and algorithms are mysterious and constantly changing behaviours.
Now go forth and post with purpose!
Whether you’re trying to raise $500 or $50,000, your social feed is the rallying cry that brings your crowd together. With these trends in your toolkit, you’re not just following the algorithm—you’re dancing with it.
And we have the perfect (FREE!) kit to help you get started!
We’re here to help!
Our Discord channel is a place to connect with other creators and the Crowdfundr team to ask questions, seek advice, and share strategies. But if you don’t do Discord or wish to schedule a demo, feel free to email us at support@crowdfundr.com.
Yay! Thank you for compiling all this info in one place Shan!!