The Rockefeller Foundation uses social media to influence those with the power and resources to make change happen. They use Hootsuite to source and connect with those influencers, but also to champion employees and partners to become industry thought leaders themselves. This works to enhance the reach and impact of campaigns, including their three-year 100 Resilient Cities Centennial Challenge. In this case study, learn how The Rockefeller Foundation leverages social media to influence the influencers and launch one globally successful campaign after another.

1. 1CASE STUDY: THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION
CaseStudy:
TheRockefeller
Foundation
Reach is Not the Same as Influence
The Rockefeller Foundation uses social media to influence those with
the power and resources to make change happen. They use Hootsuite
to source and connect with those influencers, but also to champion
employees and partners to become industry thought leaders themselves.
This works to enhance the reach and impact of campaigns, including their
three-year 100 Resilient Cities Centennial Challenge.
The Rockefeller Foundation
For more than 100 years, The Rockefeller Foundation has made it
their mission to promote the well-being of humanity. They pursue their
mission by focusing on advancing health, revaluing ecosystems, securing
livelihoods, and transforming cities to better withstand today’s emerging
global and regional challenges such as disasters.
One Facebook message
reached 190,000 people,
mostly outside of the
foundation’s network,
and converted 500
organic Facebook likes
Sourced influencers with
major social pull and
converted them into
foundation champions
Raised thought
leadership profiles of
employees to put a face
behind the brand and
reach new audiences

2. 2CASE STUDY: THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION
What They Did
As one of the world’s leading philanthropic organizations, The
Rockefeller Foundation understands that change isn’t achieved alone,
relying on its partners, grantees, influencers, and approximately 200
employees to meet its mission.
Director of Digital, Jay Geneske, has made it one of his 2014 priorities
to leverage the potential influencer-status of their team around the
globe. The Rockefeller Foundation developed and implemented a
communications strategy that allows employees to collaborate more
effectively in the workplace. By identifying the natural social media
champions within the organization, along with key partners outside the
organization, they created a social media army to help amplify their
mission, raise awareness of campaigns, and reach new audiences.
The foundation must also easily source and connect with external
influencers to meet their mission. “There is great power in
one-to-one social media communication,” says Geneske. “Using tools
such as Twitter Direct Messages, we are able to nurture relationships
with bloggers, media, and high-profile individuals by pointing them to
articles they might find interesting, asking them for their thoughts or
input on a topic, and occasionally asking them to share something with
their network.”
For example, by sharing an organic Facebook post on the news
that Elton John would receive The Rockefeller Foundation’s Lifetime
Achievement Award for his work in the HIV/AIDS community, the
digital media team reached over 190,000 people, most outside of
their network. Using Hootsuite Analytics, they tracked an increase of
500 organic Facebook Page likes from this single post – widening their
digital community and reach because they leveraged the connectivity
power of one influencer.
How They Did It
Recognizing the need to first identify social champions within the
foundation and build from there, Geneske turned to Hootsuite’s
listening capabilities. The digital media team created Twitter lists of
all employees and key partners on social media, and used keyword
streams to listen and identify those that were naturally social. After
discovering each employee’s area of interest and expertise, a content
strategy was born.
“Reach is not the
same as influence.”
The Rockefeller Foundation
By sharing an organic Facebook post
on the news that Elton John would
receive The Rockefeller Foundation’s
Lifetime Achievement Award for his
work in the HIV/AIDS community,
the digital media team reached
over 190,000 people, most outside
of their network. They tracked an
increase of 500 organic Facebook
Page likes from this single post –
widening their digital community and
reach because they leveraged the
connectivity power of one influencer.
“With over 45,000
followers on our
main channels,
we use social
media to promote
our employee’s
content–helping
put many faces
behind the brand,
and making them
industry experts.”
Jay Geneske, Director of Digital,
The Rockefeller Foundation

3. 3CASE STUDY: THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION
These social media champions were empowered with training and
advice on who they should connect with and over which topics. The
digital media team now has a core group of social media rockstars. To
collaborate, secure, and streamline their communications, they rely on
Hootsuite Teams and Assignments. Today, The Rockefeller Foundation
confidently encourages employee contributors to share their expertise
and thought leadership content online. In return the organization has
more support to amplify content and engage with their community.
To find and source the most influential external users, such as Elton
John, Geneske’s team listens to industry conversations with lists,
keyword search streams, and streams for social profiles. Once they’ve
sourced them, the foundation can communicate directly on key
channels and track the everchanging interests of bloggers, press,
and influencers.
The Results: Leveraging Social to
Influence the Influencers
With internal teams in place to amplify campaigns, The Rockefeller
Foundation can leverage social media to further stretch their influence.
Launched in 2013, the 100 Resilient Cities three-year campaign aims
to enable 100 cities to better address today’s increasing natural and
manmade challenges. So far, they’ve selected and featured 32 resilient
cities in 20 countries across six continents.
The digital media strategy of the campaign includes a comprehensive
social component, with one core tenet revolving around the hashtags
#resilientcities and #MyCityNeeds. After five months setting up the
tools to listen, amplify, and engage with their audience, the foundation
found over 3,000 mentions of #resilientcities on Twitter, had a share
of voice of 10-20%, and tracked 7,000 measurable Twitter referrals
using Hootsuite Analytics. Adding a social aspect to this campaign
drives brand engagement and traffic, which encourages more people
to participate, and attracts more brand awareness for potential
partnerships.
While the foundation measures success based on how many people
engage with the campaign, they’re also interested in influence
score. Measuring this requires a more nuanced approach, as many
influencers who are informing policy or business decisions don’t have
a large social media following. Rockefeller’s solution is a combination of
tools including Klout, Twitter lists, and hashtag searches. For example,
after an influential mayor tweeted one of their campaign hashtags, the
foundation jumped on the opportunity and turned the policy maker
into a brand champion.
“When it comes to
measuring influence,
social media
impressions aren’t
enough,” closes
Geneske. “Because
influencers don’t
necessarily have a
large following, it’s
not the quantity of
engagement, but the
quality of those we
engage with.”
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