Building Community Through Storytelling 

Combating Anti-Semitism and Reaching 1.9M on Social Media

 

Home to the largest U.S. population of Jewish residents per capita, Rockland County, NY, encountered a unique set of circumstances, which threatened the cohesion of the Jewish community. Extensive negative press resulted in anti-Semitic sentiments and caused some Jewish residents to question their decision to live in this bucolic suburb of Manhattan. A group of Rabbis — supported by the Jewish Federation and Foundation of Rockland County — came to us for help. As everyone knows, you can’t say no to a Rabbi…

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We conducted an extensive site visit and several interviews so we could study the problem and make recommendations to build bridges with the general population and significantly reduce skepticism in the mainstream Jewish community. Realizing that their similarities were stronger than their differences, we recommended a project that would reveal their collective humanity through personal stories. Then, we created a social media campaign on Facebook called “RocklAND Jewish” (R&J) that encouraged the county’s Jewish and non-Jewish members to share their stories about experiences with and in the Rockland Jewish community. 

 

Our team of writers, videographers, photographers, and social media specialists managed the development and marketing of the core content for three years. We also oversaw the Facebook promotions and boosts of the posts and provided analyzed viewership metrics to the client. Our click-through rate was consistently 12.5% (average CTR’s in the industry are 0.9%).

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Results

• RocklAND Jewish content reached more than 1.9 million users, and engaged more than 72,000 users

• Increased numbers of inquiries about joining synagogues and community activities

• Received weekly volunteers to tell their stories on the Facebook page

• Energy and interest in weekly Shabbat posts — including one during Chanukah that reached over 250,000 and was shared by more than 1,000.

• In a survey conducted after year three, 52% of respondents indicated a positive change in their perceptions of the Rockland Jewish community and felt more connected to it.

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The campaign helped create — and disseminate — a more accurate picture of Rockland’s dynamic Jewish community, resulting in a strengthened sense of pride, both as Jews and as county residents. There is nothing like a good story to capture people’s attention!

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Because of the success of the social media campaign, the Jewish Federation adopted “RocklAND Jewish” as their brand.

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Click here to view the video stories...

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“Love Rockland and Jewish and reading about all the different people and their connection to the Jewish community in our county. I’m feeling proud to be Jewish once again and find myself actively standing up against anti-semitism and hatred in our community.”

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—survey respondent 

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“Beth Singer Design team consistently pushed our boundaries with creativity. They helped us think differently about what we wanted to accomplish, and led us to a much better product.”

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—Gary Siepser, CEO, Jewish Federation & Foundation of Rockland County