Engaging with young people through social media

A case study of The Line campaign

Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services & Indigenous Affairs

The Line Social Marketing Campaign

• What is it?

– 4 year social marketing campaign – launched June 2010

– Targets 12 to 20 year olds and their influencers

– Seeks to encourage respectful relationships and bring

about change to attitudes and behaviours which support

violence

– Uses media and language young people relate to

– It encourages young people to discuss and debate

relationship behaviours and issues

The Line Social Marketing Campaign

• Campaign background

– National Plan to Reduce Violence against

Women and their Children (2010-2022)

– Primary Prevention approach

– Part of a broader strategy across the nation

– Positive & respectful attitudes support freedom

from violence

An informed approach

• Developmental research determined who would benefit most from the campaign and how

• Qualitative Research – July 2009, 42 ‘mainstream’ focus groups, 12 CALD

focus groups, and 18 Indigenous focus groups

• Quantitative Research– September 2009 2,800 online surveys – Age group: 12-65 year olds

• Benchmarking and Tracking Research – Every 6 months

An informed approach

• Who do we want to reach?

– Primary audience = boys and girls aged 12-20 years

– Secondary audience = Parents, teachers, people who work with young people aged 12-20 years

• How do we reach them?

– Non-authoritarian and non-traditional approach

– Debate and discussion through social media

An informed approach

What are the campaign’s key messages?

– Australia has zero tolerance towards violence against women and children - violence and disrespectful behaviour is not acceptable

– Respect is the basis of all good relationships

– Verbal abuse, sexual bullying, controlling behaviour and harassment are all forms of disrespect and violence, and

– Help is available if you experience violence, or if you need help to stop being violent.

An informed approach

• What should our engagement approach aim to achieve?

– Encourage young people to realise they may personally experience unacceptable relationship behaviours

– Demonstrate benefits associated with positive behaviour

– Deliver personally relevant messages to encourage, motivate and support the primary target groups to reconsider the importance of respectful relationships

– Encourage young people to assess their own relationship behaviour

– Encourage young people to change their own behaviours where necessary

– Encourage discussion on relationship grey areas

An informed approach

• Which channels have we used?

– Heavy digital and online focus

• Social media

• Website advertising

• Search engine optimisation

– Central website – www.theline.gov.au

– Magazines – advertising and integration activities

– Radio – advertising and integration activities

Digital and online focus - The Line Website• www.theline.gov.au

• Share the Line (blog)

• Draw your own line

• FAQ (commonly faced issues)

• Separate Indigenous and CALD pages

• Have your say (polls)

• Webisodes

• Music and more

Digital and online focus - The Line Facebook page• www.facebook.com/theline

• Status updates

• Cross link to website FAQs and polls

• Discussions tab

Digital and online focus - Webisodes

• Webisodes

– Short animations that depict a group of characters in a range of situations that could develop in to ‘crossing the line’

– Mechanism to engage young audiences in the scenarios and encourage them to think about what their own responses in the situations would be

– Provide content that can be easily shared while encouraging key behaviours and actions

– Underwent concept testing and recommendations from this research were incorporated into the scripts

Digital and online focus - WebisodesWe will insert the video for Party Girl in here – it will run straight through all three response options in order without stopping.

Digital and online focus – Webisodes

Party Girl

What’s been achieved so far?

• Over 65,000 Facebook fans

• Average of 5000 votes each week

• 39% of people recognise the campaign

• Increased recognition by males

• 77% done something positive

• 76% intend to do something positive

• Learned that around half of 12-24 year olds have been bullied in last 6 months

• Long term vision

What’s next

• 2011-12– New competitions and music

– The “zine”

– New ambassadors in the music industry

– Weekly online discussions

– “Talk the Line”

– Identified topics

– Linking to other players in the field

What we have learnt about using social media

• Open to the public

• Champions, detractors, graffiti, privacy, vulnerabilities

• Moderation is necessary and expensive

• Risks – reputation, responding to crises, lack of engagement

• Approach & hours of coverage to manage risk

What we have learnt about using social media

• Online risk mitigation advice

• Community management approach

• Intervention v/s self-moderation

• Maximising moderation hours within budget

• Appropriate support for vulnerable users

Other online technologies

Making social media work for you

• Social media can be resource intensive

• Great tool for engaging, especially with young people

• Costs proportionate to what, how much and acceptable risk

• Find and use what’s already out there

• Join the conversation!

Thank you.Any

questions?

Fiona SmartBranch ManagerSafety Taskforce BranchOffice for WomenDepartment of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairsfiona.smart@fahcisa.gov.au