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
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Targets 12 to 20 year olds and their influencers
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Seeks to encourage respectful relationships and bring
about change to attitudes and behaviours which support
violence
–
Uses media and language young people relate to
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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)
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Primary Prevention approach
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Part of a broader strategy across the nation
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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?
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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
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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?
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Heavy digital and online focus
•
Social media
•
Website advertising
•
Search engine optimisation
–
Central website – www.theline.gov.au
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Magazines – advertising and integration activities
–
Radio – advertising and integration activities
Digital and online focus - The Line Website
•
www.theline.gov.au
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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
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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 – Webisodes
Party Girl
We will insert the video for Party Girl in here – it
Digital and online focus - Webisodes
will run straight through all three response options
in order without stopping.
What’s been achieved so far?
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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
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2011-12
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New competitions and music
–
The “zine”
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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
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Open to the public
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Champions, detractors, graffiti, privacy,
vulnerabilities
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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
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Online risk mitigation advice
•
Community management approach
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Intervention v/s self-moderation
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Maximising moderation hours within
budget
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Appropriate support for vulnerable users
Other online technologies
Making social media work for you
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Social media can be resource intensive
•
Great tool for engaging, especially with
young people
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Costs proportionate to what, how much
and acceptable risk
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Find and use what’s already out there
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Join the conversation!
Fiona Smart
Branch Manager
Safety Taskforce Branch
Office for Women
Department of Families, Housing,
Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
fiona.smart@fahcisa.gov.au
Thank you.
Any questions?