Missions to Movements
Missions to Movements is the nonprofit marketing and fundraising podcast that helps you grow recurring donors, scale monthly giving programs, and build digital campaigns that convert.
Hosted by Dana Snyder—speaker, strategist, and founder of Positive Equation—this show is packed with actionable nonprofit growth strategies, social media tips, and fundraising best practices.
Each week, you’ll hear how organizations are increasing donor retention, building thought leadership, and using digital fundraising to drive real impact. If you want to learn how to attract monthly donors, master nonprofit marketing, and transform your mission into a movement, this podcast is for you.
Missions to Movements
How Upstate Caring Partners Attracted 2,000 Applications Using A Digital Campaign with Francesca Orsomarso
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Francesca Orsomarso’s arsenal of digital strategies flips the script on traditional recruitment.
In today’s case study, we’re breaking down exactly how Upstate Cerebral Palsy attracted 2,000 qualified applicants within a few months of launching a campaign with FMN Creative.
Francesca shares their brilliant one page funnel strategy (and how it was a MAGNET for attracting job seekers), plus the targeted ad approach that resonated with potential recruits and generated awareness.
Listen closely as we also reveal how integrating CRM systems with Zapier can create a personal touch, leading to staggering open rates.
Hiring great talent is something that every nonprofit has a need for. If you’re ready to amplify your current recruitment efforts and connect with your audience on social media, don’t miss this conversation!
Resources & Links
Learn more about FMN Creative on their website, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
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This episode is presented by The Monthly Giving Builder.
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Recruitment Success Through Strategic Social Media
Speaker 1Within the span of a few months of launching this campaign , we really were able to get them an incredible amount of applications because we changed the way that people apply . What we found when we did an audit was that people were actually dropping off in the process . So it was a funnel problem . The funnel was not built out and it wasn't targeting and keeping people in the funnel . They were getting discouraged because it was a lengthy recruitment process . So we found a way to change the recruitment process , improve it and they received over 2,000 applications .
Speaker 2Hey there , you're listening to the Missions to Movements podcast and I'm your host , dana Snyder , digital strategist for nonprofits and founder and CEO of Positive Equations . This show highlights the digital strategies of organizations making a positive impact in the world . Ready to learn the latest trends , actionable tips and the real stories from behind the feed ? Let's transform your mission into a movement . Hello , drum roll , please . Happy Wednesday . If you're listening to this live , it is another Missions to Movement episode and I'm bringing on another female entrepreneur onto the show today who specializes in social media to make a social impact , and I am so excited for you all to meet good friend of mine , francesca Orso-Marso . Welcome to the show .
Speaker 1Thank you so much , Dana , for having me . I love the intro and everything .
Speaker 2Of course . So I want to jump right into conversation . You decided to start your own social media agency and you do so much more than social media FMN Creative . What made you decide to start your own company ?
Speaker 1Oh my gosh , it was honestly just a series of fortunate events . I literally I thought I was going to go into music my whole life , my whole career , and I thought I was going to be a songwriter . Wow , I know , I don't even know if I ever told you that in the time . No , but it was so funny because every music opportunity I had I did the marketing for and my senior year of college I ended up having to transfer home . I was going to school right outside of Nashville for songwriting and music business and basically came home my senior year of college and they were like hey , we can't give you a degree in music and songwriting , but your whole career you've studied marketing and entrepreneurship . Do you want to like focus on this and then go into music ? Sure , why not ? So I basically you know all my career ambitions kind of flipped when I was a senior in college and when I got out I thought I was going to move to Nashville and had an internship and basically they asked me towards the end of my internship they're like so you need to pick what side of the desk you want to sit on . What do you mean ? They're like do you want to be a creative or do you want to be an executive ? Because people here you can't be both and I just have this Oprah aha boohoo moment I need to figure out .
Speaker 1I guess just the way I've always been wired was creativity , but in the structure of business . So I always thought , you know music connection audience . So I always just went into , just naturally went into social media , just every pathway . I kind of got stuck with that role and when I got out of college it was so crazy . So I had this point in the road of I got hired in an agency to basically do what I do now and they never grew in that direction , they stayed more traditional . And at the same time I had family friends calling me saying , hey , can you figure out this thing called Facebook for us ? Can you figure out this thing called Facebook for us ? And she just so happened to run a nonprofit and trusted me little old , 22 year old me to figure out how to use social media for all these organizations that she and programs that she was starting .
Speaker 2So I got in at a time where it was just a magical thing to start I think we both were entering our careers around the same time , because that was a very similar like social story to what happened to me too , and since then . So explain within your agency , what do you do now , like what is most of your work encompass ?
Speaker 1Yeah , when I first started , like my early days , it was all copywriting and social media management and at the time Facebook and Twitter could move the needle . And I got in when it really became pay to play . So I literally was learning ads as these ad products were being developed and became really specialized in how do you turn a click into a customer or for a nonprofit , how do I get a click and turn it into a donor . So I really fortunately , developed skill sets that were more than just how do I get an ad in a newsfeed . It was once you actually click through , where does that go ? What is that experience like ? So there was quite a lot that happened .
Speaker 1But right now , today , I could say that here at FMN Creative , we're a full-service social media agency , because it's social media , advertising management , strategy and training , but it's everything that comes beyond that and through the years , I personally fell in love with nonprofits . So , needless to say , I made everybody who's worked with me fall in love with nonprofits and when I really look back at what we've done , it's actually eight years this month I know we're recording this a little bit ahead of time , thank you . So it's eight years that we've fully been out there in business , in the marketplace , and we've grown Our needs really shift based on what our client needs , because we don't want to just stop at a newsfeed . It's everything that comes behind the feed .
Speaker 2Yes , which is so powerful and so important , and that's a big part of what we're going to talk about today with your case study with upstate cerebral palsy , and this is such a big case study that you worked on with incredible results , and I just want to like flip it to the end real quick for where you guys got to , and then I want to break down how it all happened , if we can . What happened , what was the challenge and then what was the result , and then I want to go through everything that you did to make that happen .
Speaker 1Absolutely . Well , let's start by saying COVID happened . It was like the little campaign that could , but initially the client came to us to say , hey , we need to like talk to the community , we really want to invest in hiring and brand awareness and recruitment , but can you help us Really ? It was just a very broad ask and it's so funny because literally , the contract got signed like a day before New York State went on the massive shutdown . Oh , geez , yeah .
Speaker 1If anybody's familiar with January and February 2020 , you know that things hit the fan . By March , new York State went on a spending freeze . So we're actually a certified woman-owned business and certified with New York State and the federal government , so a lot of our income is reliant on these contracts . Come to find out , when New York state went on a spending freeze , those contracts were not able to be executed that we had signed on , so everything was frozen and I was like , okay , god , this is funny , this was fun , maybe I'll go into music Like I had these crazy thoughts that this was just the end of my road and I committed to you know , upstate cerebral palsy to do this and because of COVID , you know they're going to probably have to go a different direction .
Speaker 1But what actually happened was they are a human services organization , nonprofit , and because of COVID , their recruitment needs just kind of really hit ceiling and they're like , well , what we thought we had to do , we kind of have to 10X that , so help us . But now your main mission is to help us recruit for these positions , because they actually needed to staff full-fledged homes that had COVID sick patients . They had to change the way that they were teaching . Teaching became online and so we really had to recruit for these high-level positions , such as a special education teacher , a BCBA specialist very niche positions .
Speaker 2So it turned into a career recruitment campaign . So it turned into a career recruitment campaign .
Speaker 1Extravaganza , everything , all things like , and they wanted to not only just recruit to the central New York area . They wanted us to go for certain job titles like nationwide , the best of the best .
Speaker 2Amazing . Okay , so that was a challenge . And then , where did you end up ? What ended up happening ?
Speaker 1What ended up happening , which is , knock on wood , all went very well Within the span of a few months of launching this campaign . We really were able to get them an incredible amount of applications , because we changed the way that people apply . What we found when we did an audit was that people were actually dropping off in the process , so it was a funnel problem . The funnel was not built out and it wasn't targeting and keeping people in the funnel . They were getting discouraged because it was a lengthy recruitment process . So we found a way to change the recruitment process , improve it , and they received over 2,000 applications , wow , in a short time span . Yeah , so we were very pleased , but , with that said , like tons of KPIs to dive into . I don't know kind of where you want me to start , because I can go deep with this client .
Speaker 2Yeah , so you had 2000 applications . Did they end up filling the roles that they needed to like ? Were they qualified applicants ?
Speaker 1Absolutely . I think that , honestly , it's such a large organization , we only know so much . But from what I understood , we were told when certain positions were closed and certain positions were evergreen . They're like we're growing , so keep them coming . As long as the leads and the quality is good , keep them coming . But we'd get calls to be like , hey , the quality is good , keep them coming . But we'd get calls to be like , hey , we're great , I'm this position , turn it off , we're done . So we really had a very two-sided strategy . One was to build awareness and put the brand out there , get the community involved , knowing what they're up to . The other side was strategically market for these individual positions . Got it Okay . It flipped a lot on its head with what we all know about social media advertising , because we really had to lean into targeting and platform-specific strategies for this in particular .
Speaker 2And this is a hiring and doing hiring recruitment . I talked to another organization recently that had a similar struggle of trying to find qualified applicants , so I think this can be applicable to so many people . What did they have in place ? You talked about changing their funnel . What did it look like before ?
Speaker 1Absolutely so the transformation I would say . We started by auditing everything . My approach when I do marketing for anyone is show me what it looks like to your audience currently and where are your pain points . Literally , one of our questions is what keeps your audience up at night and what keeps you up at night , what is broken ? So we get into some Barbara Walters very deep intrinsic conversations just for marketing . But it works . And what we found was that they were using a tool called AltyPro . I don't know if you're familiar with that . It's very commonly used in large organizations to do recruitment Phenomenal tool for HR staff . But for marketing purposes it's discouraging because you can't put trackers , you can't put pixels . If somebody drops off in the middle of their application , there was no way to know .
Speaker 1And again , I'm going back four years . Now three , four years . So no offense to Altipro , it could still be great these days , but back then we couldn't do what we needed to do to track where people died off in the process .
Speaker 2That's so important .
Speaker 1Exactly , and I think nowadays how many people are using their phones to apply for jobs ? Yep , so you can't go into something with the mindset of I'm going to design a beautiful website that only works on a desktop when you have 20 minutes to set aside and upload your resume . You really need to do something that's quick , that turns over and that can be done when somebody drops their kid off at school and they're sitting in the parking lot or something . Yes , so we just needed to find a way to make this accessible and make it very marketable . How can we get an ad and turn a click into an application ?
Speaker 2essentially , what were the things that you were able to change on the back end of the funnel ? And then I want to get into the awareness part , which is the digital strategy that drove people there in the first place . You have to fix where you're leading people to . What were you able to adjust in that process to make that better ?
Speaker 1So we started by doing like a light version of the application , because we're like okay , you have to date someone before you marry
Enterprise Recruitment Marketing Strategy
Speaker 1them . How can you guys allow yourself to date these applicants ? Let them get warmed up , let them understand the culture , then kind of move them on forward if their skillset aligns . So what we did is we actually built them a custom website that was actually separate . They had some internal things that they didn't like about their current web structure . So they're like can we just separate this out Totally ? We want a whole different web structure and we'll put a link on the website , but we want a specific URL that you guys can use for the campaign .
Speaker 1So really it was like a marketer's dream . They kind of opened the gates for us to run with . So really it was like a marketer's dream . They kind of opened the gates for us to run with and we built a funnel . We built a one page , what you and I would equate to like a sales page . But picture if the sales page was selling job positions and basically it walked the applicant through like what is life like at this organization ? What is the impact you're going to make ? And then what we were selling was like an array of job titles so in descriptions , and these little job cards that we created on the back end .
Speaker 1But what we did was , yeah , so once you started to apply , we would get your you know an opt-in . You'd get your name , you'd get your email address , phone number and maybe the position that you were interested in that would automatically go to a recruiter and then , on the back end , you'd get a video sales letter . You'd get a thank you from the recruiter . Oh my gosh , I love this . We had fun . I mean , thank God that this organization trusted me to really have fun .
Speaker 1But it really put into play all the little things that you and I have come to know of what works on social but applying it for an enterprise level , nonprofit . So it was interesting . But it was fun because we had to like not only do all these things , but we had to execute the strategy that we were creating . So I had to pull in a videography team , mid COVID . So we went from planning these formal shoots . We have this great idea of building a mosaic , having each employee in that position . We were spotlighting , talking about these impact moments that they had during their career , and then taking a little piece of an image and then putting it on a board and , over the course of the story , it would form the logo on the board .
Speaker 2Yeah , I know exactly what you're talking about .
Speaker 1Yeah , like it's not like the most original thing that's out there , but it's fun to do . Well , with COVID it was impossible . We couldn't do it because of COVID restrictions , so we had to find a way to actually film these people outdoors . We were wearing masks and gloves and cleaning , and at safe distances . I mean , new York State was on hold . Everything about this project shouldn't have been , but we were able to kind of bend , you know like play within the rules and stay outside . And then it made it interesting to actually tell the stories of the positions . Like , for example , we were recruiting for special education teachers and we were like , how are you actually teaching ? How we're recording this podcast is how we had to record teachers on Zoom teaching their students .
Speaker 2Yeah , because our job that we're being hired for was going to be tremendously different because of the situation of the world at the time . Correct , how were you and I know that social ads were a part of this too , and that you utilized Facebook and Instagram and LinkedIn . Is that right ?
Speaker 1Correct . We used Facebook , so all the meta products Facebook , instagram , linkedin . We even did a little bit on YouTube , so we used some Google ads as well , just to kind of generate awareness . Yeah , but it's very interesting over which platforms perform best , because it's honestly based on the job titles that we were recruiting for .
Speaker 2Interesting Because I would have thought , just because of the nature of LinkedIn and careers , that that would do really well , did you ? I would love to learn , like , what was the breakdown ? Like where did you see success and what was was the cost per applicant , I guess , was that your end conversion goal with applications ?
Speaker 1Our end goal was definitely applications , but because they varied , it's totally counterintuitive from what I preach . But we had a set budget from the client of hey , this is what we would have went to our local TV station to buy ads with . What can you do for us on digital ? So my whole thing with my agency is we focus on marketing . Who can measure ? So we want to take that X amount of dollars that you have put aside and we want to actually show you the results Because different platforms I don't know I probably have a cost per lead for you somewhere .
Speaker 1I don't have it currently in the application broken down in our case study , but what I can tell you is that we focused on impressions . We focused on applications that were received from those impressions and cost per click . So that varied , but I would say entry-level positions . Facebook was golden . We were great . It was just pushing it out to the masses . Facebook was mostly meant for within a certain radius of their locations , so within New York State , specifically going around those locations . Linkedin was meant more for flipping it on its head . Targeting based on job titles , seniority levels , education , really the targeting that isn't possible on .
Speaker 2Facebook . Yeah , LinkedIn's gem for that .
Speaker 1Incredible , incredible tool , and we even got into using LinkedIn recruiter because , from our perspective , we can use lead forms , we can get people into our email sequence , we can do all these fun , fancy things , but at the end of the day , we need that human to human connection . So what we recommended to the client was to actually sign up for LinkedIn Recruiter and , once we found the applicants , to use LinkedIn to communicate with them and to start reaching out to the people that we were doing this for .
Speaker 2So I just want to back up a second . So you had this website that you were driving people to where you had , like a simple , easy starting application which was limited , right , it was name like contact information . Basically , is that right ? Yes , yep , absolutely Okay . And then would you utilize then LinkedIn recruiter ? Then you have that information those people are going into . They're being contacted by a recruiter , correct , okay . And then how is the LinkedIn aspect , linkedin recruiter , connected ? Was it with those people that were filling out the forms or were they being sent emails , or both ? Both Okay .
Speaker 1We did this in stages so I apologize . I'll back up a little bit . So our first goal was how do we drive traffic to this ? Where do we see , you know , in terms of landing page performance , is there a certain section that nobody's even reading ? Is there buttons that people are clicking that don't work , or something ? So we did a lot of A-B testing so we got it down to a science in terms of the traffic is flowing . And then from traffic we look at conversions Is the landing page converting ?
Speaker 1When both of those aligned and thankfully they did pretty quickly somebody would do that kind of pre-application
Recruitment Strategy Using CRM and Zapier
Speaker 1. They'd get that thank you email which included a whole video from a recruiter like thank you , please continue your application , we welcome talking with you . Blah , blah , blah . So then from there , that's when we made the connection to their hr software that they could break away from . So that was the connection to hey , now that you have 20 to 30 minutes to fill out the full application , please go ahead and do that . So they would go on complete that application . But in the meantime their recruitment staff could look up those people , they could call them , they would have the tools to start working that applicant before they completed that lengthy process to go through .
Speaker 2Smart , very smart . Okay , got it . That little extra step of that personalized touch of that email is gold . Do you have like the conversion numbers of people who went from first time applicant like all the way through the process ?
Speaker 1We have email rates because obviously we didn't have access to the HR software Right . Totally , yep , it's . All I know is that we had a 73.8% open rate for that initial email . So that's quite high . I mean average .
Speaker 2Yeah , that's very high .
Speaker 1We would have been happy with like 20% , but you know 73 , we're celebrating . And then the click-through rate from that email with that personalized message from the head of HR essentially that was 37.2% , so quite a high go-through rate , so meaning that people liked what they saw .
Speaker 1They wanted to complete that full application and those who didn't , but maybe the first line hr staff that saw they were kind of good . They could then go on linkedin , do that , reach out , etc . But as this campaign progressed , we launched different types of ads . We're like we know the traffic ads are working , but why can't we just go ? And I'll back up a little bit here .
Speaker 1When we filmed content , we created a content bank for this organization to use for like years to come . So we in depth , like interviewed you know a special education teacher , tell us about your job , tell us about this . So what we ended up with were actually three separate campaigns . We had one that was like the main overview who the organization is , who do they serve , how do they help . The second campaign was actually very specific for positions . So it would be like this organization is recruiting for . And then it'd be like hi , my name is Sarah and I am a special education teacher . And then we had like the COVID response thing .
Speaker 1We had just buckets of content that we would pull from , which allowed us as marketers to go crazy with ads , to really , if we knew that end point of that funnel , the only thing that would change is the entry point . What is the first ad has to make them get through and speak to them . So we said , okay , if we have this content , let's take like one specifically for a special education teacher . Let's go on LinkedIn target special education teachers based on experience level , skill set level . We went through the gamut of the backend of LinkedIn and if we show them that video , do we necessarily have to get them to the website or can we start the application process right natively on LinkedIn ?
Speaker 1Oh yeah , so we did that . And then we used a little tool that I love called Zapier , to jump ahead of the line and basically said what if we just ran a test and push these people ahead and then made that connection between the lead quote unquote to the recruiter ? And it worked . So for the very , if you kind of consider a recruitment campaign like a high ticket item , how do you skip the line ? How do you jump in ? At the end of the day it's a human connection , person selling . So we just try to handhold them and make that connection . Before they dropped off , we wanted to eliminate the number of clicks they had to get through before they made the connection .
Speaker 2That's awesome . Okay , I love that , and I want to go back to a couple of things . One Zapier , zapier I don't even technically know what the right way to say it is , but it's a if this , then that tool . So it connects literally most platforms online to one another . So an example with ads might be if they fill out a LinkedIn ad , then they get this email from somebody , or it makes a note in this CRM , or blank whatever that is . So in this case , you're saying a specific ad on LinkedIn that was targeted to a certain job title Correct , somebody . Were they filling out a form on LinkedIn or an application ?
Speaker 1Yeah , we're trying to move the mini app to the form , to the ad itself rather .
Speaker 2Okay , yep , okay . So the ad itself was like filling out a mini application on LinkedIn . Correct , okay , and then . That would then create a zap too .
Speaker 1And then what was the end ? Zap connecting them to the person . Oh my gosh , it was insane what we did . A Google Sheet was automatically filled out . That Google Sheet was then sent with a notification to the recruiter , so then they can look at that sheet and do their thing . Then it was also put into the email marketing system , which at the time , we were using MailChimp .
Speaker 1Nowadays , if we had to do this again , I would look at different email softwares , like we talked about earlier , to see if , like a more of a CRM component within an email software . But obviously , being a nonprofit , they'd want to invest in all these fancy tools . So we tried to do this as basic and accessible as possible . Maybe you can work wonders . That's exactly what we did . And then that recruiter would get an email notification to say hi , there , you have a new applicant to take a look at . Please take a look at this . And it auto-filled everything from the form . And then , on the back end , on my end , they would join a certain sequence from an intro to a recruiter . And then the second email was learn more about our open positions , learn more about our organization . Did you already complete a full application ? Click here . Do you want to schedule a call one-on-one with a recruiter , click here . So it really tried to make it a very cohesive , easy user experience to join a wonderful organization really .
Speaker 2So cool . I love it . I don't think we have not had a recruiting career recruiting digital case study on the show before , but hiring great talent is something that everyone has a need for and so I love . Thank you so much for breaking this down and you did it with the challenge I don't know challenge and I mean also probably immense need at the time , right during During COVID for them , but what an incredible project in case city Francesca . Thank you so much for sharing that with us .
Speaker 1Happy to do so . Thank you for having me .
Speaker 2Absolutely . And before we wrap , I want to ask you to ask and receive questions . One is what is one thing that you would like to ask for help or support on ?
Speaker 1Oh gosh . I'll make this like two things . The first one is being that we want to connect with you . Know so many nonprofits having these certifications as a woman owned business . There's organizations out there that have to fulfill this need . They have to use their grant money on woman owned small businesses . One would be like help us connect with these people . Who are you guys out there in the universe ? Introduce yourselves , let us know what types of content . How can we help you ? Essentially , that's my first ask . The second one would be we ourselves are on the hunt for a great CRM tool and we're geeking out over certain tech that's out there in the marketplace . But it's funny because some of the tools that we actually use for our nonprofit clients we wish we could use for us . I know there's such great software out there and I'm like guys , if you just change the use a little bit , I know . So we're really on the hunt currently ourselves as an agency , for a great CRM to use .
Speaker 2I love it . Ditto Ditto on that . Contact both of us . Let us know who you are . And then Francesca . Lastly , where can listeners connect with you ?
Speaker 1Absolutely so . Take a look at our website . It's wwwfmncreativecom . Connect with us on Facebook , linkedin and Instagram and feel free to get in touch . I'll give you my email , dana . Feel free to put it out in your show notes Amazing .
Speaker 2Thank you so much for all that you do . Yeah , I just love seeing all the new stuff that you come out with and can't wait to collaborate more Thanks so much .
Speaker 1We are bound to work together . One day we will make it happen .
Speaker 2Yes , we will Awesome . Thank you everybody . Thanks for listening . Can you tell I love talking all things digital To make this show better . I'd be so grateful for your feedback . Leave a review , take a screenshot of this episode , share it on Instagram stories and tag positive equation with one E so I can reshare and connect with you .
