Social media audit & strategy gives JRF renewed confidence in power of social media to drive impact

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) works to speed up and support the transition to a future free from poverty, in which people and the planet can flourish.

Founded in 1904 by the philanthropist Joseph Rowntree, the foundation funds research, development projects, and policy advocacy to address the root causes of poverty and social injustice. JRF works closely with communities, policymakers, and other stakeholders to influence national policies, aiming to create lasting change for those experiencing poverty, and prove that it is not inevitable.

For JRF, ending poverty in the UK is a moral cause: to ensure dignity and respect for everyone, and to address exclusion and powerlessness.

Having felt unsure about how best to maximise their impact on social media and better integrate it into their strategic media channel mix, JRF asked Empower to develop a comprehensive, tailored social media strategy, based on an audit of JRF’s own data and an analysis of the competitor and current digital landscape.

The overall aim was to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of JRF’s social media presence and ensure that their social media content sat in alignment with the organisation’s evolving strategic priorities.

With many of the JRF team having extensive experience in press office settings, the challenge was to seamlessly blend social media ways of working into their organisational day-to-day, making it an effective campaigning tool by capitalising on insights and best practices provided by the social media strategy.

Empower delivered a bespoke social media strategy, followed by a package of consultancy and support for JRF to roll out the strategy internally.

The nine month project encompassed audience research, social listening, an in-depth social media audit, mapping out new organisational processes, weekly consultancy for live social media campaigns and supporting JRF’s internal resourcing requirements (and more).

The foundation of this work was the social media audit, which assessed in depth whether JRF’s digital presence effectively communicated its diverse work and resonated with its intended and varying target audiences.

Together, we then took an insight-led approach to the social media strategy, to empower the JRF team with data-driven recommendations that they could share internally, and to ensure future social media activity is maximised for impact.

Once the social media strategy was complete, Empower began working closely with JRF on bringing the strategy to life, working as an extension of their team as we supported them to implement social media best practice and transform their internal processes. This support included:

• Consulting on campaign plans, creative approaches, and resourcing

• Providing surge capacity around key campaign moments.

• Attending internal status calls with wider teams, acting as advisors and advocates for the importance of social media.

• Supporting JRF to hire new social team members, through reviewing role descriptions and attending interview panels.

• Providing bespoke 1:1 training for key members of the JRF team, aligned to the new strategy.

This multi-faceted project required a close working relationship with the JRF team, with bi-weekly calls and an always-on Slack channel to discuss, refine and pre-empt opportunities and challenges to bring the social media strategy to life.

Through this comprehensive approach, Empower aimed to align JRF’s social media presence with its evolving strategic priorities, optimise content and audience engagement, and provide ongoing support and guidance for effective social media management.