Forever Manchester raises money locally and invests it in grants to support the local people who are making change and improving Manchester’s communities Forever!

Objective

• To raise awareness and understanding of the Forever Manchester brand among a new generation of people who love Manchester
• Connect with people who love Manchester, both current and ex-pat, and encourage online engagement with Forever Manchester throughout the world
• To raise awareness of Forever Manchester’s grassroots community activity and the impact of donations on the area
• Increase the level of positive sentiment, buzz and influence around Forever Manchester
• To make Forever Manchester the voice of people who love Manchester

Target Audience

Anyone with a Manchester affiliation on a personal or professional level, specifically this includes:

• Youth and families in and around the Greater Manchester area
• Community groups in Greater Manchester
• Professionals and businesses in Greater Manchester
• Greater Manchester ex-patriots

Strategy

• Develop the existing presence on social media channels to reach, engage and interact with people who love Manchester, on a personal level
• Become the voice for people who love Manchester by having active discussions with audiences and showcasing Forever Manchester’s fundraising initiatives, through posting videos, images and updates, to people who love Manchester
• Discuss issues in the Greater Manchester area/community and encourage people who love Manchester to pass on messages and initiatives to their friends
• Connect with passionate/active individuals to encourage philanthropy and fundraising initiatives as well as key influencer endorsement of the charity
• To champion community groups/grant schemes and encourage support and participation from target audiences

Implementation

Developing a Presence

• The campaign began in June 2010 with a review of profiles on Facebook and Twitter www.twitter.com/ForeverManchester www.facebook.com/4EVRManchester
• The profiles were amended to create a consistent brand identity online
• Applications such as Twitter Karma were used to clean the Twitter profile of spam and irrelevant members before a targeted follower campaign was put in place

Awareness Raising and Engagement

• Posting the latest Manchester related news, interspersed with occasional fundraising/brand messages increased engagement and also allowed audiences the freedom to develop their own fundraising initiatives for Forever Manchester
• This increased the audience’s affinity with the brand and ensured Forever Manchester remained front of mind for fundraising/corporate CSR activity
• Search facilities were used to highlight and engage with anyone talking about keywords such as ‘charity’ and ‘Manchester’, allowing Forever Manchester to connect with people already interested in these areas/topics

Generating Buzz

• Forever Manchester merchandise (T-shirts and hoodies) was used as a tool to generate buzz and engagement through competitions on both Facebook and Twitter
• This has proved highly effective as a strategic tool for achieving objectives and increasing engagement
• Posting the latest content, using phrasing that provokes engagement, has increased buzz on Facebook and Twitter, which has travelled to other platforms including blogs and forums

Creativity

• In the current economic climate, a key issue in the implementation of an awareness raising campaign was a potential financial barrier to charitable giving
• In light of this, the campaign focussed on positioning Forever Manchester as a brand for anyone who loves/cares about Manchester, by posting interesting and exciting content for target audiences
• Competitions were also used as a tactic to drive engagement, posting blurred images of Mancunian celebrities and asking the audience to post comments on who they thought the celebrity was, generated an increase in fans and also boosted online buzz around Forever Manchester
• This approach secured widespread engagement and brand endorsement, which has led to many Mancunians adopting the charity as their fundraising partner

Results

In three months, Forever Manchester’s:

• Website hits have risen by 147%
• Bounce rate has decreased by 11%
• 100% increase in new visits to the website
• Online buzz increased by 690%
• Sentiment increased to 100% positive
• Twitter engagement increased by 262%
• Over 4,000 Facebook fans