1. Using Social Media
to (Re)Engage about
Sexual Health and Build
Online Communities
Presented by:
Tony Tang, Digital Campaign Planner, ACON

2. ABOUT ACON

3. About ACON
• ACON is a health promotion organisation based in the gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities with a primary
focus on HIV prevention.
• ACON provides HIV prevention, health promotion, advocacy,
care and support services to members of our communities
including indigenous people, people who inject drugs, sex
workers and all people living with HIV.

4. OUR WORK

5. In The Last Year and ½…
• 2 main initiatives:
The Big
Picture
ENDING HIV

6. In The Last Year and ½…
The Big
Picture
ENDING HIV
STRONG FOCUS ON ONLINE PROMOTION

7. In The Last Year and ½…
The Big
Picture
ENDING HIV
SOCIAL MEDIA PLAYED A HUGE ROLE

8. Social Media in Australia

9. Facebook Users Around The World

10. Facebook Users In Australia
Facebook is huge!

11. 60 Seconds In Social Media:

12. SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY

13. Audiences
Online
Environment
Channels
Reach &
Engagement
Implementation
Goals
Social Media Strategy

14. THE BIG PICTURE
(NOV 2011 – FEB 2012)

15. OBJECTIVES
• The Big Picture campaign seeks to bring the
knowledge of gay men about the HIV epidemic in
NSW up to date.
• The campaign also aims to provide a basis for re-
initiating conversations among gay men in NSW
about the HIV epidemic.

16. Campaign primary resources
Booklet
Website
Web Banners

20. HOW WE USED SOCIAL MEDIA

21. SOCIAL MEDIA OBJECTIVES
• Inform and educate about the current situation of
HIV and NSW via social media channels
• Build and engage gay men around HIV
• Drive traffic to ‘The Big Picture’ website, as the main
hub of information

22. The Big
Picture
Website
The Big
Picture
Twitter
Account
ACON Social
Media
The Big
Picture
Facebook
Page
Facebook
Ads
SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS

24. Building the Facebook Community:

25. • A mix of content formats:
• Open Questions
• ‘Myth or Fact?’ questions: a more playful format
• Poll Questions (YES /NO): to encourage fans to participate.
• Stats + call to action: to encourage fans to make a specific action.
• Quotes from the community around HIV
• Infographics and imagery
• Updates delivered once a day
Building the Facebook Community: Content

26. Building the Facebook Community: Content

27. Building the Facebook Community: Content Schedule

28. Building the Facebook Community: Facebook Ads

29. RESULTS

30. Number of Visits
• More than double traffic than for previous websites
• Almost 50% of visitors used mobile devices to access the website
Traffic Sources
• 3rd source: FACEBOOK!
Quality of Traffic
• 3 to 4 pages visited on average
• 2 to 3 minutes per visit on average
Website Traffic:

31. 0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
Initial
Stage
Dec-11 Jan-12 Feb-12
Total Connections ('Likes')
Total Connections
('Likes')
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
Initial
Stage
Dec-11 Jan-12 Feb-12
Total Interactions on Facebook
Total Interactions
0
100,000
200,000
300,000
400,000
500,000
600,000
Initial
Stage
Dec-11 Jan-12 Feb-12
Potential Reach
Potential Reach
0
20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
100,000
120,000
Initial
Stage
Dec-11 Jan-12 Feb-12
Weekly Rearch
Weekly Rearch
Social Media Metrics

32. It’s not totally clear what the main barriers to interaction were but research
on other Facebook campaigns suggests that:
• Facebook users are typically more engaged by content that relates to them
and with which they can personally identify as opposed to factual content
(such as the Big Picture campaign).
• Facebook users also prefer the simple and clear over the unfamiliar, lengthy
and complex.
Interaction and Engagement

33. The external campaign qualitative evaluation gives very valuable insights about
the relatively low level of interaction:
• Many gay men - in particular older men - have concerns about Facebook
privacy and security.
• Those who aren’t openly gay don’t want to be outed on Facebook
• Others, even if they are totally comfortable with their sexuality, aren’t
entirely open to talking about HIV-related topics in a public space such as
Facebook.
Interaction and Engagement

34. • However…
According to the Daily Facebook Page Engagement Rate, the Facebook page
presented an excellent performance (11.73), even when compared to Facebook
pages from popular brands.
Interaction and Engagement

35. ENDING HIV
(FEB 2013 – NOW)

36. IN A NUTSHELL
• A long-term initiative to inform ending the HIV
epidemic by 2020 and how to achieve it

37. ENDING HIV – A NEW APPROACH
• ENDING HIV:
– A significant shift in the way we do health
promotion
– An opportunity to re-engage with gay men,
initiate and sustain a continuous dialogue

38. ENDING HIV – A NEW APPROACH
• ENDING HIV:
– A significant shift in the way we do health
promotion
– An opportunity to re-engage with gay men, initiate
and sustain a continuous dialogue
– A new and innovative approach in online media
was needed

39. A NEW APPROACH: CHANNELS
• Channels:
– Selection of these channels is made based on
• opportunities,
• resources, and
• capacity.
– A new approach:
• seize the opportunities from social media: incorporating and
integrating other social media channels

40. A NEW APPROACH: CHANNELS

41. Integration with Twitter and Instagram

42. And YouTube…

44. SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY: CONTENT
– Strong focus on content strategy:
• the most important element in social media
– A new approach:
• Not ACON campaign messages only
• Focus on 2 additional content types:
– User-generated content
– Curated content (external sources)
» Listening to our audience online

47. SOME RESULTS

50. 0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
The Big
Picture
Ending
HIV
Total Number of Fans
Total Number of
Fans
85,000
90,000
95,000
100,000
105,000
The Big
Picture
Ending
HIV
Highest Weekly
Reach
Highest Weekly
Reach
0
500
1000
1500
The Big
Picture
Ending
HIV
Average Weekly
Interactions
Average
Weekly
Interactions
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
The Big
Picture
Ending
HIV
Facebook Engagement
Indicator
Facebook
Engagement
Indicator

51. LESSONS LEARNT

52. 1. Traffic booster : definitely!
2. Reach and frequency: absolutely!
3. Engage conversations/discussions: new content approach has
been more effective than delivering health promotion
messages only
4. Facebook – effective channel to reach younger audiences:
confirmed but older guys too!
5. Budget & resources:
• Low cost in terms of media spent for similar traffic rates generated
• 1 to 2 days / week
Lessons Learnt

54. Acknowledgments
- Yves Calmette, Principal Planner, ACON
- Stokes Mischewski, The Big Picture Evaluation
Report, 2012
- Spina A, Whytest Evaluation Report, 2010 / Spina
A, Drama Down Under Phase 2 Evaluation Report,
2010

55. Contact
ttang@acon.org.au