Delivering a Social Strategy Reset for British heart foundation
BHF, along with many other charities, have struggled post-pandemic and from the impact of the cost-of-living crisis. They lost direction when it came to social and struggled to keep up with internal demands for publicising a multitude of messages through social channels. They required an agency partner who could do a complete reset on the way social is used to help improve overall performance for the charity. This is where eight&four came in. This project is a prime example of how eight&four integrate into a brand to understand their challenges and opportunities from within.
INSIGHT
Through our extensive experience working within 3rd sector and charities such as Marie Curie, Gamble Aware and Alzheimer’s Society, we understand that delivering a full social strategy reset doesn’t just stop after the solutions document is presented. A large chunk of making a new strategy successful is ensuring the brand knows how to implement it and move forward. We need to develop new ways of working (e.g., developing reporting and community experience frameworks, outlining a cadence and approach to content planning meetings, to name a few) and deliver training workshops and onboarding plans to ensure everyone internally is singing from the same hymn sheet. These elements are crucial to how a social strategy reset can truly succeed.
solution
An initial ‘Discovery’ phase including extensive research and stakeholder interviews allowed us to deep dive into how the BHF currently operates and how their teams integrate, the 3rd sector landscape and understanding target audience groups. Taking these learnings, we then developed a 360º strategy for the BHF to reach their target groups effectively (content / channel / community), underpinned with key frameworks for measuring performance that would evolve as they reached different stages of social maturity.
As part of the roll-out programme, we developed a comprehensive ‘Ways of Working’ document to bring the strategy to life, as well as further operational consultancy e.g., recommendations for new hires and resource utilisation. We rounded off this project by hosting training sessions with different areas of the business in collaboration with the BHF social team, to onboard the wider teams into the new way of thinking and inspire them to get the most out of social. We worked closely with our clients, and carried out multiple workshops and check-in sessions, to make sure the direction of travel felt right and doable for them – ultimately, our key priority.
THE CHALLENGE
Charities were hit hard by the global pandemic and British Heart Foundation were no exception to this. Internal budgets were squeezed, headcount was cut and social was deprioritised across the board. The in-house team lost direction and struggled to manage the needs and expectations from the many teams within the organisation whilst also utilising social to push for donations and awareness of their extremely worthy cause.
The BHF approached us to develop a comprehensive 360° strategy keeping in mind their internal organisational complexities, multiple stakeholders’ demands and range of business objectives and key messages to push.
IMPACT
In the 6 weeks immediately after the strategy was reset, there have been noticeable improvements across the BHF’s social media output.
Some highlights include:
20,000+ more followers
86% increase to on-post engagements (from start of period to now)
There are less posts being published per month, meaning the content is working harder for the business
Instagram engagements have increased 200% YoY
As a result of the stakeholder engagement and specific team trainings we conducted, we know there has been improvements internally too – with more streamlined comms, regular planning meetings instead of last-minute requests and enhanced collaboration.
“The team at eight&four have helped us to take a step back, gain perspective, and to find a new direction. We are more focused than ever on building a meaningful connection with our audiences, and we see that success starting already through our engagement. The team were fantastic to work with – they are a highly skilled team of experts, honest and insightful, who have helped us in developing a social engagement strategy that aligns with our organisation’s values, mission and cause.”
— Amy Clarke, Senior Marketing Manager at the BHF