Challenge
The YMCA of Greater Boston and its 13 branches were the first to be established by the YMCA in 1852. Since its first day of operations, the Y of Greater Boston has remained a driving force for positive growth for both the national YMCA and the Greater Boston Community. While historically known as a welcoming atmosphere for physical activity, the YGB had made tremendous strides in expanding its focus to improving the holistic health of mind, body, and spirit of its members, donors, employees, and the greater community.
COVID-19 threatened the YGB (as it did to many organizations), but the stakes were higher than revenues and profit margins; futures within the greater Boston community had become uncertain. But the exceptional pool of talent at the YGB demonstrated admirable resolve to fulfill its mission, despite social distancing, mask mandates, and rising economic uncertainty. The YGB enlisted an external partner to augment their communication, marketing, and business teams to ensure their corporate mission and promise to Boston residents could continue to be fulfilled – no matter how the pandemic impacted the area.
Strategy
Zozimus partnered across the YGB’s communication, marketing, and business teams to outsmart and outmaneuver the pandemic and other establishments so that the individuals who live in and around Boston, and the community at large, continued to benefit from the incredible suite of programs, services, and funds that support healthier minds, bodies, and spirits.
Solution
Zozimus leveraged its suite of services, from PR to digital performance, to social, to creative, to account management, to strategy, to work with and across the entire YGB to drive business results and keep the greater Boston community and residents moving forward during an unprecedented time.
Earned Media & Link Acquisition
The Zozimus PR team provided strategic counsel on all media relations, working in tandem with the YGB’s internal communications team to secure coverage in publications that delivered both audience reach and link equity.
Over the engagement period, the team secured 574 media placements, generating an estimated 451 million media impressions and $3.4 million in estimated publicity value. Critically, many of these placements came from high-authority domains that now contribute to the YGB’s backlink profile.
Social Media & Content Amplification
Zozimus’ social strategists consulted with the YGB’s internal teams, ensuring that earned media wins were amplified across social channels, driving additional referral traffic and social signals that reinforced the link-building program. Over two years, the social program delivered 22.1 million impressions, 816K video views, and grew the total audience by 65% to 32K followers.
Paid Media & Lead Generation
Zozimus’ Paid Media team ran campaigns across Google and Facebook that generated 21,000+ leads from 2021–2022. This paid traffic reinforced organic authority by increasing branded search volume and on-site engagement signals
Campaign Results
Public Relations ’20-’22
The Zozimus PR team provided strategic counsel on all activities pertaining to YGB’s media relations, working conjointly with the internal communications team to raise brand awareness, promote executive leadership, and inform and engage its target audience.
- 574 media placements secured
- 451M media impressions
- $3.4M estimated publicity value
Social Media: Strategic Consultation ’20-’22
Zozimus’ social strategists consulted YGB’s internal social, comms, development, and creative teams, providing recommendations and reporting. This enabled YGB’s multidisciplinary team to execute across social channels and work toward corporate goals.
- 22.1M impressions (+47% compared to the previous two years)
- 344K engagements (+87%)
- 106K post clicks (+135%)
- 816K video views (+1,361%)
- Total audience grew by 65% to 32K
Annual Donation ’20-’22
Creative platform ideation and execution for YGB’s annual Season of Giving campaign. Zozimus was responsible for the platform idea, which YGB then executed across digital and traditional channels to drive donations and cement the broader organization as a leader in the Boston community.
Member Acquisition ’20-’22
Zozimus’ Paid Media team provided paid media strategy, planning, and execution across Brand Awareness and Direct Response to facilitate lead generation and achieve annual member acquisition goals. Our efforts, combined with the support and drive of the YGB’s comms, creative, development, and social teams, results in:
- 21,000+ paid media leads across Google and Facebook from 2021-2022, which accounted for a significant portion of new members
- Responsible for 14% of new site users
- Responsible for 45% of all site conversions
- 23,600 organic keywords ranked
- 192 keywords in Top 3 position
- 11,509 live backlinks
$3.4M
publicity value
22.1M
social media impressions
21K+
paid media leads
