The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been felt across every sector of society. For many charities and nonprofits who depend on events-based fundraising, or capitalise on a significant moment in the year to engage their partners and supporters, this was a massive blow — particularly for organisations where fundraising is to provide services. Even at a time where we are apart, a highly targeted approach can still ensure you keep people connected and engaged with your cause. Even if these large events have been put on pause, you can still reaching out to your community through social.

We began working with Nekton, an ocean exploration charity, back in February of this year. We were hired to conduct a Social Diagnostic for the charity — a deep dive (excuse the pun) into their analytics ahead of a key moment — their expedition. We were also hired to help Nekton amplify the content they were creating around the expedition through a paid media campaign, helping to get the content in front of new audiences through detailed targeting.

The pandemic put a stop to these plans, and as a result we had to pivot our strategy, too. Until the expedition resumes again, we decided to spend the month of April testing our assumptions we developed as a result of the Social Diagnostic — so that once the expedition does resume again, we have key learnings to work from.

Over the month of April, we spent a very limited budget across Facebook and Instagram, achieving some incredible results and valuable learnings.

For Facebook, we managed to increase followers by 74%, with over 15,000 new followers for the organisation. It also resulted in increased organic engagement, which increased by 646%, as well as over 7.4 million users reached (an increase of 804%).

On Instagram, we were able to increase followers by 5.71%. Overall, we saw 11,215,467 total impressions and over 1.3 million total engagements, with an average cost per click of £0.001.

The success of our month of testing, despite the modest budget, comes from the alchemy of engaging and compelling content and stories, along with reaching the right audiences on the right platforms. By optimizing Nekton’s content through paid targeting, we were able to run a successful campaign during trying times. We spoke to Lisa Hynes, the Nekton Foundation’s Head of Communications, about how Nekton approach their content.

Social Misfits Media: How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted Nekton?

Lisa Hynes: We were literally just about to start our expedition exploring the ocean depths in the western Indian Ocean between Seychelles and The Maldives when the decision was made to postpone the mission because of the pandemic. We had almost 50 people on board and raring to go after months and months of preparation, so it was an incredibly difficult decision to make. We are now all back in our home countries and waiting for the global situation to change before we can get back on with what we want to be doing — gathering useful scientific data to ensure ocean protection and raising awareness of the importance of ocean protection.

SMM: How has Nekton used relevant content to speak to their audience in the past?

LH: Nekton is a science-led organisation and ocean exploration and protection is at our core. But communication about the ocean is equally important to us. The more people that are aware of the importance of the ocean in regulating our planet’s climate, the more pressure will be put on governments to create marine protected areas. So content creation that tells the story of the ocean and what we do is hugely important. We are fortunate in that what we do is incredibly visual — we have extraordinary footage of parts of the planet that have never been seen before so we are able to make great videos and inspiring stills of ocean depths, sea creatures, life at sea, that make for a good feed.

We have a number of different audiences — partners, scientists, the environmentally conscious and with the help of Social Misfits we have been able to target different audiences.

SMM: What is your approach to digital content as an organisation?

LH: Digital content is an important part of what we do. Not least because some of our major sponsors closely monitor our growth and engagement and we have to prove that we are delivering in that area. It’s important to us to grow the profile of Nekton and digital content is the most immediate and accessible way of doing that. Our client is the ocean and raising ocean awareness is a key part of what we do.

Before working with Social Misfits we were paying a bit each month to promote our content but in quite a generic way with fairly mixed results. Our followers were going up but very slowly and it felt like a bit of an incomprehensible dark art. Working with Social Misfits has been fantastically helpful and has helped us to focus on who we want to reach and why and you have made it happen. We couldn’t be more pleased.

SMM: The results of the paid campaign have been incredible — a lot of the success has come from amplifying your content, but targeting highly specific audiences. What are some learnings you will take with you moving forwards?

LH: We have learnt so much — from really easy tips about the importance of adding a location on Instagram or asking a question, to much more specific advice about how essential it is to really identify who it is that we are trying to target and why we want to reach those people.

One post won’t appeal to everyone so be really focused in why you are posting and who you want to reach. The other thing that was interesting was to have the differences between the platforms really explained to us. We have learned so much and will much more focused in our posts moving forward. I think I have also learned that it really is worth investing in help and advice from an organisation like Social Misfits, rather than trying to muddle along and hope that the followers just come.

SMM: Was there anything that surprised you about the paid activity?

LH: I think the thing that surprised me the most was how little changes in the wording can make such a difference to user engagement. I hadn’t appreciated the subtlety of it all. I was also really impressed to see that you really don’t need to spend a fortune on promotions — what matters is understanding the audience and targeting the right people and the results can be dramatic with a relatively small spend.

SMM: How would you approach the content for the expedition (once lockdown has been lifted) differently, based on what you have learned?

LH: We will definitely differentiate what content goes on what platform. We will also ensure that we know who we are trying to reach with each post and therefore be far more strategic when we put our content plan together. It isn’t just a question of posting anything that looks good. We will go through all the learnings from the excellent reports that Social Misfits has done for us and plan much better.

SMM: What advice would you give other organisations looking to think about their content creation processes?

LH: I would say that even if you are not a wealthy organisation, and we are not, it really is worth investing in getting some proper advice as without spending much we have seen the most extraordinary results. I would also say that you should be really clear about who you want to reach and why. Saying “the general public” is too wide — which followers will be the most valuable to you as on organisation and how can you reach them?

To find out more tips and advice, be sure to visit our website, or feel free to get in touch!