Case Study
SMASH x Audiense
Leveraging valuable followers to reach a larger audience
Here's the tl;dr
We’re taking a closer look at how SMASH was able to spread the word about its cause and reach key influencers, in an effort to raise $500,000 to provide students of color with access to college and career resources. This case study highlights how Audiense helped SMASH to utilize X data to reach the most relevant audiences for this cause.
Situation
Following a wave of social justice activism in the summer of 2020, SMASH – a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping provide students of color access to college and career readiness resources – saw the opportunity to ramp up fundraising and spread the word about its cause.
SMASH created #SMASHmatch, a six-week campaign during June - July 2020 with the goal to raise $500,000 through a 1:1 match from a SMASH donor.
The goals of the organization’s social media push and #SMASHmatch campaign were two-fold:
1. Build greater awareness of SMASH and how the organization is looking to develop the next generation of socially conscious STEM leaders, providing corporate donors a meaningful cause to support in the fight against systemic racism.
2. Raise money from new and existing SMASH donors.
With such a large goal, SMASH acknowledged that they’d need to take a direct approach to outreach.
SMASH turned to Audiense, whose X Marketing product specializes in delivering impactful X campaigns thanks to its powerful audience targeting, to determine who their best outreach candidates were and how many potential donors were fair game based on their existing X followers.
Rather than SMASH combing through their follower list by hand, Audiense did the heavy lifting. Their platform made it easy to sort X followers based on their reach, follower count, and other parameters relevant to the campaign.
Solution
SMASH took a three-point approach to raise funds and build awareness:
1. Use X to promote the campaign and reach out to specific influencers for donations.
2. Promote the $500,000 donor match to inspire existing donors to renew their gift.
3. Motivate corporate donors to partner with SMASH to double their impact throughout the campaign.
Below are the steps SMASH took and how they used Audiense’s analytics platform to build their fundraising campaign.
1. Identify their engaged, verified social media influencers
Thanks to Audiense, SMASH streamlined its campaign by knowing exactly who its most engaged followers were and which ones had the most reach via X verification. These would become prime outreach candidates not only for securing donations but also for spreading the word through Retweets.
2. Engage with their target audience directly and track results
With Audiense’s data, SMASH was able to confidently approach its outreach candidates through Direct Tweets that requested donations and Retweets.
They managed to secure a $10,000 donation during the first day and received a staggering $500,000 donation to meet their original funder goal by day three. The campaign continued to rack up donations and Retweets with no signs of slowing down.
3. Keep the momentum going by identifying new donors to target
Using Audiense, the organization managed to explore relevant outreach candidates beyond their own followers and immediate network. The fresh outreach resulted in more verified Retweets and support for the campaign which came from athletes, actors, entertainers, political commentators, and other celebrities.
Impact
SMASH and Audiense’s efforts resulted in achievements far beyond their initial goals:
The campaign raised more than $1M during its six-week run.
SMASH garnered over 20 million X impressions and 1,100 new followers (including some of the verified influencers that interacted with the campaign.
Interactions with over 1,000 influencers.
Shout-outs and Retweets from NFL and NBA players including Ezekiel Elliott, Alshon Jeffery, Baron Davis, and Isaiah Thomas.
When done effectively, audience targeting on X can help companies reach people – and goals – they otherwise thought wouldn’t be possible.
