Beyond Pink How Susan G. Komen Greater NYC Used Social Listening to Manage Brand Reputation and Uncover Fundraising Opportunities TALKWALKER.COM
BEYOND PINK 03 Susan G. Komen, Inc. 04 Challenge - Past political controversies continue to resurface 05 Talkwalker Solution and Result 06 Challenge - Inadvertent support of a political figure causes furor among supporters 07 Talkwalker Solution and Result 08 Challenge - Local fundraising dollars often don t make it to the local Komen affiliate 09 Talkwalker Solution and Result 2
Susan G. Komen, Inc. was started with one woman s promise to her dying sister to save lives and end breast cancer forever. That promise turned into a movement, funding $956 million in research and $2.1 billion in local grants. This translates to mammograms, meals, transportation to treatment, and more. Susan G. Komen is one organization with 79 local affiliates. Each local affiliate operates independently to serve the individual needs of their community. Each affiliate has different CEOs, development, finance, missions, and marketing teams. Susan G. Komen Greater NYC utilizes Talkwalker s social listening and analytics platform to monitor the health of their brand, seek feedback from their supporters, and to fundraise for the organization. 3
CHALLENGE Past political controversies continue to resurface In June 2017, the most expensive Congressional race in United States history took place in Georgia, where Republican Karen Handel ran against Democrat Jon Ossoff. Handel was the Senior Vice-President of Public Policy for Susan G. Komen in 2012, when the foundation made a controversial decision to eliminate grant funding to Planned Parenthood. When that decision was reversed by Komen, Handel resigned and pursued political office. The resulting crisis in 2012 was widely discussed and criticized online and in the press, and Komen s reputation took a hit. When Handel ran for Congress, the controversy surfaced again. As public discourse becomes more ideologically charged, many brands, including Komen, have been caught in the crossfire. Komen NYC needed a way to monitor social media for sensitive conversations to see if they were being associated with their brand, how that might be affecting their reputation. Komen foundation s old Planned Parenthood flap haunts candidate in costly U.S. House race - Dallas News 4
TALKWALKER SOLUTION Komen NYC utilized Talkwalker to closely monitor the social conversation around Karen Handel and her past with Komen. Their marketing team realized that despite the election taking place in Georgia, mentions of Karen Handel went up 400% in New York. The partisan conversation was a national one - and the controversial Planned Parenthood conversation kept coming up online. They set up a Talkwalker query to help them understand the mentions of Handel in connection with Komen versus independently, and closely monitored how it might be affecting their ongoing campaigns. RESULT Using Talkwalker to listen to the conversation across social platforms and online news informed Komen NYC s communications strategy. The purpose of social listening isn t always to help you find every mention in real time in order to respond, but actually helps evaluate that which you have to interact with in the first place. This can include setting benchmarks for these kinds of crisis situations, and alerts for when there s a spike in conversation you have to address. In this case, for Komen NYC, they chose to stay silent. Their social listening uncovered the fact that their supporters were very vocal in their support of the organization. Komen NYC monitored the situation closely and saw that their supporters relayed their message effectively on social media. 5
CHALLENGE Inadvertent support of a political figure causes furor among supporters When Washington Post reporter David Farenthold tweeted a photo listing all the nonprofit organizations slated to hold fundraising events at the Trump-owned Mar-a-Lago Resort in Florida, Susan G. Komen was among them. Once the story was picked up, it went viral, and Komen supporters were troubled. Even though the event wasn t affiliated with Komen NYC, the affiliate still received tweets imploring them to pull out of funding anything associated with Trump-- or risk losing future donations. 6
TALKWALKER SOLUTION By monitoring the conversation on social media, Komen Greater NYC understood the unfolding crisis around the brand. Talkwalker empowered the Greater NYC affiliate with tools to compile a complete picture of the ongoing social conversation, as a whole and specifically within their own social media community. The Talkwalker data enabled the NYC affiliate to forcefully share their concerns, backed up by actionable data, regarding the escalating blowback. The speed and completeness of the Talkwalker data supported Komen HQ's capacity to respond in a timely manner and make organizational changes to reflect the wishes of the organization s donors and supporters. RESULT The event at Mar-a-Lago was relocated by Komen HQ. Komen Greater NYC was able to turn this developing negative story into an opportunity to thank their supporters, let them know that their voices had been heard, and that the event had been relocated. Ultimately, Talkwalker enabled the organization to remain focused on their mission and gave them the business intelligence needed for proactive measures needed to avoid becoming embroiled in a prolonged distraction fought from a defensive position. You never think it s going to be your brand caught in a social media storm, but thankfully we were prepared for it and could react immediately. Social listening helped us stay calm, interact with our concerned supporters, and make the case to Headquarters. 7
CHALLENGE Local fundraising dollars often don t make it to the local Komen affiliate Often Komen supporters don t understand the difference between donating to an affiliate versus the national headquarters. Komen NYC was worried that individuals or companies eager to fundraise for local impact might not realize the difference between the local affiliate and the national headquarters. Using social listening, they were eager to uncover new donors and establish partnerships with local businesses to ensure that donor dollars were directed as the donor wished. 1 ORGANIZATION 79 LOCAL AFFILIATES 8
TALKWALKER SOLUTION Komen NYC used Talkwalker to monitor two key topics: breast cancer awareness and Susan G. Komen in New York City, using a locationbased filter. They uncovered various companies or brands, particularly during October s National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, that were using pink or fundraising for Susan G. Komen. RESULT In March 2018, they found via Talkwalker a donor who had fundraised $35,000 in New York. Without Talkwalker, Komen NYC would never have seen this post and proactively contact the the potential donor about directing funds toward the affiliate. Their ability to respond quickly changed the destination of those funds, and established a year-long partnership with that donor. This realized a significantly positive ROI for their yearly Talkwalker subscription on that one interaction alone. They continue to receive alerts and utilize them to identify potential donors. Without Talkwalker, partnerships like this would slip through the cracks. Komen s social listening strategy, powered by Talkwalker, can help start or nurture strategic relationships, based on conversations that may already be happening. 9
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