Photo: Courtesy Big Brothers Big Sisters of Dane County
Case Study: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Dane County
Sector: Nonprofit Project: In-House Team Development, Same Page Content Planning Session, Social Media Implementation Plan
The SBS Team partnered with BBBS team on the creation of a social media implementation plan to improve the clarity and consistency of digital communications, while involving a cross-department team in the process.
The Challenge
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Dane County (BBBS) is the top youth mentoring organization in Madison, serving kids who are facing adversity and who are navigating life on their own by matching them with caring adult mentors. BBBS’s adult mentors, known as “Bigs,” are matched with their “Littles” for an average seven years, and their ongoing mentoring has a huge impact on children’s lives.
BBBS approached Sarah Best Strategy (SBS) about working with their team to develop a marketing and social media implementation plan that would:
Differentiate the work of their organization from peer organizations
Improve the clarity, quality, and consistency of communication to donors, prospective volunteers, and other audiences
Improve cross-team collaboration in brand storytelling and digital marketing
Create practical strategies that could be implemented step-by-step within the unique vision and constraints of the organization
Identify professional development needs to grow the digital marketing capacity of their hardworking, tight-knit team
The Idea
SBS identified two services that would help BBBS achieve their goals and objectives.
Same Page Content Planning Session
The Same Page Content Planning Session is a 2-3 hour whiteboarding strategy designed to get a cross-department team together to get “on the same page” about their marketing activities and to plan a quarter of content, to be distributed across the nonprofit’s website, email, and social media marketing channels.
An outcome of this process is a blueprint for content development, but another core outcome is a time-efficient process that can be repeated, and integrated into the team’s workflow on an ongoing basis.
Social Media Implementation Plan
We interviewed key staff, including CEO Sandy Morales, BBBS department team leaders, and Marketing and Communications Coordinator Kenzie Hagerstrom, about the vision for the organization, and what they would like their social media and digital marketing channels to be doing for them if anything were possible. From there, SBS assessed roadblocks that are getting in the way of achieving those goals, and identified the strengths and superpowers of the nonprofit’s hardworking team that could potentially be leveraged to overcome obstacles.
The outcome of this process is a detailed set of recommendations on how to achieve BBBS’s goals, a practical set of strategies and solutions to the roadblocks that are keeping them from achieving their goals, and a detailed month-by-month plan for putting this strategic plan into action, with goals identified for Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3.
The Results
The outcome of our work together is a clear, mission-focused gameplan that Kenzie, who recently transitioned into a full-time role can follow to fulfill the executive team’s vision for the organization through clear, consistent communication that is time-efficient to produce, as well as a detailed blueprint for planning digital content on a quarter-by-quarter basis.
In addition, the organization now has a set of practical solutions, such as a loaner library of equipment and signage that will help the BBBS team photograph and market events, and a targeted list of professional development that will help build the capacity of their team to fulfill the plan.
Most importantly, marketing staff now have a set of best practices for working with the organization’s busy Match Support Specialists, who manage a caseload of Big and Little relationships over a period of many years.
These new processes were created with input from the Match Support team, and will make it much easier for the marketing team to get stories and photos that best tell the story of the organization and its incredible impact on kids’ and volunteers’ lives.
Follow-up meetings with the SBS team will help the team be accountable for progress against the plan and troubleshoot issues as they arise.
"I enjoyed working with Sarah and her process to help us come up with a tangible plan and system on how to better communicate our work and match stories to our donors and other supporters. It's a worthwhile investment that leverages your current staff resources to get your message out."
- Sandy Morales, CEO, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Dane County