Christian Record Services for the Blind is a 100-plus-year-old nonprofit with a great story. They provide reading material and services for the blind. The communication strategy for this social media campaign focused on growing the nonprofit’s friend base in  Facebook by telling its story through the experiences of its users. The visuals and messages selected engaged new and old audiences in consistent and delightful ways. The nonprofit had created a safe and joyful community–sustained only by gifts of caring donors. In the above-looped video, Maddox, a teenager who had participated in the summer camp program offered through the nonprofit, waved happily at an underwater camera. The flash of bright white at the end of the video clip provides an “eye-catcher” for Facebook users aimlessly scrolling through their feeds. The organic post was boosted. Then, using Facebook’s “similar audience” tool, a series of videos and stills were crafted into ads and tested against this original post. Constant monitoring helped determine the best ads to use, and an appropriate budget was set for growing the nonprofit’s friend base.

Results

• From April to August 2018, the campaign increased the nonprofit’s Facebook Friends and Followers by 164%  and engagement by 40%. Donations increased by 3%.