CASE STUDY: NMCIR - Elevating Immigrant Advocacy Through Strategic Communications
OVERVIEW
The Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights (NMCIR) is a grassroots organization based in New York City, dedicated to providing legal, educational, and advocacy services to immigrants. Despite over 35 years of service, NMCIR faced challenges in engaging a younger audience, particularly individuals aged 18–35, due to a lack of cohesive communication strategies and minimal digital presence.
CHALLENGES
Upon engagement, NMCIR was confronted with several key challenges:
- Lack of a Unified Communications Strategy: The organization had no cohesive approach to content distribution across platforms.
- Underutilized Digital Channels: Social media and email newsletters were infrequently updated, leading to low audience engagement.
- Brand Awareness Deficit: Despite its longstanding presence, NMCIR struggled to reach and resonate with a younger demographic.
- Fundraising Limitations: Stakeholders felt they weren’t leveraging digital platforms effectively to support fundraising and broader engagement goals.
STRATEGY & TACTICS
To address these challenges, I implemented a comprehensive communications strategy that included:
- Developing a Cohesive Content Strategy: Created and implemented a unified content plan across Facebook, the website, and MailChimp.
- Re-segmenting Mailing Lists: Migrated from Constant Contact to MailChimp, streamlining audience segmentation for targeted communication.
- Expanding Audience Reach: Focused efforts on engaging a more diverse millennial audience, particularly DACA recipients, as both clients and donors.
- Monitoring Engagement Metrics: Actively tracked social media channels to assess engagement, conversions, and brand mentions.
- Establishing Brand Guidelines: Developed consistent brand guidelines, including color palette, typography, and a refreshed logo design.
- Leveraging Email Campaigns: Utilized email campaigns and social media platforms to support fundraising initiatives.
- Centralizing Analytics Tracking: Created a centralized system to monitor analytics across all communications platforms.
- Maintaining Content Flow: Collected and shared updates, announcements, and photos from various departments to ensure a steady stream of content.
SOCIAL MEDIA RESULTS
Prior to the strategy implementation, NMCIR's social media presence was minimal, with infrequent posts and low audience engagement. Post-implementation:
FACEBOOK COMMUNITY GROWTH
Increased Facebook community from 821 to 2047 likes.
FOLLOWER INCREASE
Increased followers from 795 to 2189.
ENHANCED POST REACH
Increased post reach from 147 to an average of 5685.
NEWSLETTER RESULTS
NMCIR's email newsletters were previously outdated and had low open rates. After eliminating unnecessary expenses by removing inactive subscribers and transitioning to Mailchimp:
OPEN RATE IMPROVEMENT
Increased email open rate from 10% to 22% by increasing emails to once weekly.
INCREASED FUNDRAISING CAPACITY
Raised in a single online campaign I wrote and designed.
RECOGNITION
Was recognized by the New Americans Campaign for innovative newsletters in 2018.
GRAPHIC DESIGN & COMMUNITY IMPACT
After updating the organization's logo and branding, I also designed flyers and infographics that significantly increased brand visibility. A "Know Your Rights" flyer I created and translated was picked up and distributed by major New York City consulates. Additionally, an info sheet I designed on changes to Temporary Protected Status (TPS) caught the attention of the Governor, leading to the organization being invited to conduct a statewide training on TPS—helping to establish them as recognized experts in the field across New York State.
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