Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
S
Reaching Housing
Providers
Through Social Media
Ashley Ashbee – Marketing and Communications Consultant
Who am I?
S Health and Society BA from York University – Passionate
about health equity, social determinants of health
S Had asthma since age 3 (nearly 30 years)
S Involved in health advocacy via social media for 8 years:
first blogging and then Twitter
S Was active participant in Toronto social media
communities: #HCSMCA #HCLDR, now #HealthTO
Why Social Media?
S Get a pulse on how smoking affects lives of individual
tenants in Toronto
S Also get a pulse on what stories, key messages and data to
which these decision makers may be more receptive
Human
Element
+
Evidence
Why Social Media?
S Grow your engagement with the community and increase
and target awareness about the benefits of smoke-free
housing
S Generate sub-communities. Ie) A community of health-
conscious property managers. You can open the doors.
Why Social Media?
S Find “hot spots” in the city where you are likely to find
advocates (with lived experience, for example) who can help
you amplify, target and engage people in your message
S This includes “influencers.” While these may not be
decision makers, they may support your cause/carry sway
in policy, research or advocacy
Sources
S By social media platform, using its search engine
S Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Meetup
S Blogs to engage with and you can also write your own
Methods
Research
Storytelling
Community Engagement
Analysis & Reporting
Research
S Keywords around smoking hazards, filtered by region
S Property management companies, landlords
S Health trends: See if you can find out where there are
particularly high rates of asthma and other related issues;
Or is it spread out evenly? Identifying trends via social
media/private messages can help direct your advocacy
Storytelling
S Social media research can also help you determine what
your story is and how to tell it.
S Ex) If you are doing outreach in a university town with a
social studies program, you may want to discuss things with
them in more of an academic tone with data
S If your outreach is in an area of low socioeconomic status,
you may want to focus to social determinants messaging:
improving your family’s health individual stories
Community Engagement
S This is how you make your story and message discoverable
to your target audience
S The goal is to find/discover, then reach and then engage
S Think of it as making your case and doing so in a way that
will empower people if they come on board
S Always provide a call-to-action, so people know what to do
with what they’ve learned from you.
Analysis/Reporting
S You can use Google Analytics, heatmapping tools and each
platform’s analytics to assess the effectiveness of your
outreach: see if you’re targeting the right age group, region,
views, etc.
S You can also see if your social media efforts are
“converting” people into “doers” for your cause.
S If not, go back to drawing board
Benefits to Each Platform
S Allows you to easily search for text in Tweets, especially
conversations
S Health advocacy is big on Twitter; there are many activists
and social change advocates; also people tend to vent there
S Most public personal brands and business brands have a
Twitter account
Benefits
S LinkedIn – Business platform, so users more open to
hearing proposed changes that could improve their business
from profit to publicity and optimized (or improved)
relationships with the neighbourhood
S You are offering them an opportunity to ask about their
concerns, challenges and questions
S Also offering a safe space for their voice to be heard
S Increase in reach when Likes, comments and shares get into
other users’ feeds
Benefits
FacebookS Facebook – Very easy to message users you want to get in touch
with and to engage with their public content, including your
engagements with their comments on posts, for example
S Huge advocacy, exposure and awareness potential if
communication results in user-generated content, comments,
shares
S Most small businesses have a Facebook Page and you can engage
with other commenters, related Pages
Benefits
Meetup
S You can find Meetup Groups that have events coming up
soon. Chances are that the users who sign up for the events
did so recently and the issues are timely for them
S You can see who is regularly attending certain Meetups and
discover where else they are on Meetup
S Leads for communities to research
Benefits
Blogging
S A form of knowledge translation to lay people
S Larger brands/voices are accessible to you
S Very easy for anyone to share and read; you don’t need to be on a specific platform to do that
S When you leave thoughtful, relevant comments on related blogs, you can leave your URL in the designated field. Maybe use the URL to an impactful you have published on the subject?
S A better option to engage with people who mainly avoid social media
Keyword Ideas
“Smoke free” Tenant health Toronto landlord
Smoking advocate
Toronto property manager (or select
Toronto as location)
Advanced Search
Meetup
Blogs/Blog CommentsYou can look up commenters of interest on LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. to
message them or respond to their comments here
Key Messages
S Second-hand smoke is a carcinogen and poses health risks such as asthma and death.
S There is no safe exposure.
S Demand for smoke-free housing is rising, yet there are limited options
S Non-smoking renters see that they don’t need to tolerate it and that their voice can make a difference
S An opportunity for decision-makers to fulfill a need in the market
Blogging Ideas
S A great way to engage a community is by writing a blog post
or blog in general
S You don’t have to have your own blog necessarily; it may be
more effective to write a guest post for someone else’s blog.
S Curate guest posts from multiple smoking stakeholders into
one blog. You can then ask them to share it with their
networks. One post could be by a tenant about how smoke
seeps into her room, for example.
S Having multiple voices in one blog can act as a kind of
petition as you’re demonstrating the breadth of the issue
Best Practices
S When you message someone privately, it is always best to address them by name and tailor your case to that particular person’s apparent needs and situation, while never presuming anything.
S A good tip is to write about something that just happened. Being timely can create credibility and interest.
S Keep your message brief and have a clear and polite call-to-action. What do you want your prospect to do? Provide references and your contact info.
More Best Practices
S Include health data and information in your message where
relevant. You can create urgency instead of apathy. Focus
on the outcome of change.
S For example, if you mention asthma, discuss how breathing
will improve instead of negative reinforcement (If you don’t
do this, X will happen)
S Share examples of the outcome of change to make it clear
that it is possible. You want your prospect to feel
empowered and motivated
Best Practice Recap
Urgency instead of apathy
Upbeat and optimistic instead of negative
Engagement instead of broadcasting
Advocacy instead of finger wagging
Remember: you can have fun with content. Be
creative!
WhimsyHard hitting Facts
Thank you for your advocacy!
