Understanding and Utilizing Social Media Analyticsto Inform Strategic Messaging and Increase Digital Reach of Psychological Health Resources

Psychological Health Promotion (PHP) Psychological Health Center of Excellence

Catherine R. Fehd, MPHHeather T. Martinez, PMP

Kelsey L. Tate, MALT Evette D. Pinder (USPHS), PhD, MPH

TSgt Bradley K. Blair (USAF), CADC

ABOUT THE REAL WARRIORS CAMPAIGNWhile many returning warriors report reintegration challenges including psychological health concerns, less than half seek psychological health care1,2. To address this gap, in 2009 the Defense Department launched a multi-media public awareness initiative known as the Real Warriors Campaign (RWC). RWC encourages positive psychological health behavior by promoting facts (such as spreading awareness about signs and symptoms) and removing barriers to seeking care. The campaign’s messaging, products and tactics are based on an adaptation of the theory of change model. This model takes elements from the Health Belief model, the Transtheoretical model, and the Theory of Reasoned Action/Planned Behavior model. This adapted theory of change model allows the campaign to better reach service members, veterans and families that fall into different stages of implementing a positive behavior change.One of RWC’s most effective channels to disseminate health information is social media, and the campaign currently reaches an average of more than one million unique users per year through the power of social sharing. Today, RWC remains as one of the most engaging Military Health brands on Facebook.

Visit realwarriors.net to access professional development opportunities, patient resources and clinical practice guideline information.

Contact Information: For more information about the Real Warriors Campaign, email us at: webmaster@realwarriors.net

OVERVIEWDigital platforms increase access to psychological health resources 24/7, especially for low health literacy audiences3. RWC uses digital platforms such as social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter and YouTube) to reach digital audiences, encourage positive behavior change, and increase traffic to the campaign’s website, realwarriors.net. The campaign relies on free analytics tools to optimize social media performance. Facebook Insights is a free built-in analytics tool that is used to improve the reach and resonance of Facebook posts. The case study analysis shows how the campaign uses Facebook Insights’ data to understand how and why their audience engages with the Facebook page, and how to use these insights to develop tailored messages, topics and imagery. The poster also describes how implementing Facebook Canvas can help offset declines in organic reach and maximize audience exposure to psychological health tools and resources.

BIBLIOGRAPHY1. Prevalence of, risk factors for, and consequences of posttraumatic stress disorder and other mental health problems in military populations deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Ramchand, R., et al., et al. 2015, Current Psychiatry Reports, pp.

26-37.

2. Mental health treatment among soldiers with current mental disorders in the Army study to assess risk and resilience in Service Members (Army STARRS). Colpe, L.J., et al. 2015, Military Medicine, pp. 1041-51.

3. Health Literacy Online. The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Health.gov. [Online] August 29, 2016. https://health.gov/healthliteracyonline/.

4. Cohen, David. Visits to Facebook Canvas Ads Average 31 Seconds. Adweek, 26 May 2016. https://www.adweek.com/digital/facebook-canvas-stats/.

THE DECLINE OF ORGANIC REACHThere is intense competition for space on Facebook’s News Feed among Facebook friends, pages, and advertisers. As more friends are accepted and pages are liked, the organic reach – or the way a user naturally views non-paid content in their newsfeed – continues to decline. Since 2013, when Facebook began evolving into a paid marketing platform, Facebook Insights has shown a continuous decline in the organic reach of the RWC page. As indicated in the graph below, there was an exception to this trend in the year 2015, when one of the campaign’s posts went viral and reached 7.6 million users.

FACEBOOK CANVAS AS A TOOL TO IMPROVE ORGANIC REACHFacebook Canvas is an expandable, full-screen mobile landing page that allows audiences to tap, scroll and swipe to engage with an organization directly on Facebook. Facebook Canvas’ value comes from its ability to contain everything you might see in an ad – such as images, text, video, slideshows, and call to action buttons – at no cost.• Canvas post reached 10 times more followers than traditional posts• Over two weeks, the campaign garnered 3,757 unique clicks to watch the campaign’s

profilee, Sgt. 1st Class David Parish, who shares his story on seeking care for an attempted suicide. Out of the 3,757 unique Facebook Canvas clicks, 1,880 Facebook users visited the campaign’s website over 2 weeks

• An average of 6 minutes was spent viewing Facebook Canvas compared to the industry average of 31 seconds4

As “pay-to-play” becomes the new norm with Facebook, the campaign discovered in 2017 that Facebook Canvas was an effective method to increase post engagement, thus increasing organic reach. The Facebook Canvas increased engagement by:

Making Psychological Health ApproachableFacebook Insights shows that RWC’s users tend to engage with posts that contain captivating videos and photos. RWC’s Facebook Canvas post was designed with relevancy, imagery and interactive content to make psychological health more approachable. Since “Suicide Prevention” can be a difficult topic to convey with images alone, Facebook Canvas provided an opportunity for the campaign to narrate the message via the campaign’s brand, tone and voice.

Reaching Mobile AudiencesThe campaign’s audience predominately uses mobile devices to visit the campaign’s website and social media platforms. Facebook Canvas is a mobile-only type of post and reached about 10 times more Facebook users than a traditional campaign Facebook post. Since Facebook Canvas loads fast and holds an audience’s attention with a full-screen story, Facebook Canvas also increased mobile website traffic. RWC found that more than 50% of the users who interacted with the Facebook Canvas post visited the campaign’s website after viewing the Facebook Canvas. In seeing which Facebook users engaged with the Facebook Canvas through Facebook Insights, the campaign is now able to add the user to a “custom audience” to promote additional messages and calls to action.

SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYTICS: Aligning Metrics to a Behavior Change Model

The campaign uses Facebook Insights and Twitter Analytics results to understand who is seeing posts or tweets (reach), and how users interact with the posts or

tweets (resonance). Aligning these metrics to the campaign’s adapted theory of change model helps the campaign to better understand the stage in which the audience falls in the behavior change spectrum. See graphic below for explanation of selected stages:

Real Warriors Campaign Facebook Page(as of 09/25/18)

Total Impressions 99.8M

Total Reach 30.1M users

Total Page Likes 129K

Total Interactions 2.6M

Poster presented at AMSUS in November 2018. For more information, please contact webmaster@realwarriors.net. The views expressed in this presentation are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official policy or position of the Psychological Health Center of Excellence, Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, or any other US government agency. UNCLASSIFIEDPsychological Health Center of Excellence – Real Warriors Campaign – 1335 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910https://realwarriors.net

Successful Lighthearted Post“One father, five children, all soldiers!”

Unsuccessful Lighthearted Post“Where is your favofite place you’ve ever deployed?”

ORGANIC REACH DECLINE

*The spike in 2015 was due to a viral post that reached 7.6M users

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CASE STUDY: Analysis of Social Media Metrics to InformContent CreationAUDIENCE TARGETING: Interactions and Post Reach provide insight into audience make up and ensure the fan base grows in line with the desired target audience. For RWC, many post Interactions represent ages 18-35, which is the campaign’s target audience age. Interactions and Post Reach also help RWC understand how often to post. For example, RWC typically posts content on Facebook two times a day; because when the campaign posts more than or less than that, there is usually a decline in impressions, reach, and interactions.MESSAGING: RWC uses Impressions, Page Likes, Post Reach and Interactions to understand how messages resonate. For example, the two lighthearted posts below represent short, compelling captions with imagery and messages that foster camaraderie and perform well. Lighthearted posts encourage followers to engage with the campaign, thus increasing access to psychological health resources. To measure the effectiveness of the posts, the campaign ran multiple instances. Based on the results gathered from these a/b tests, the campaign adjusts messages accordingly.

• The “One father, five children, all soldiers!” post consistently performed well, including going viral, by gaining significant interactions, impressions and reach.

• The “What is your favorite place you have ever deployed?” post received low engagement and negative feedback with responses like, “I hated all the places I deployed.”

The table below depicts Facebook’s core metrics (Page Likes, Impressions, Reach and Interactions), and how they compare to Twitter’s core metrics (Followers, Impressions, Reach and Interactions). These metrics are aligned to RWC’s adaptation of the theory of change model stages which are listed in the left column.

Social Media Metrics Comparison Chart:Top 4 Key Metrics: Facebook Insights and Twitter Analytics

RWC Theory of Change Stage FACEBOOK TWITTER

Pre-Contemplation POST IMPRESSIONS

Number of times a post from your Page is displayed in Facebook’s News Feed (friends or non-friends)

TWEET IMPRESSIONS

Number of times a tweet from your Page is displayed in Twitter’s Timeline (followers or non-followers)

Learn

POST REACHNumber of unique fans who saw your post on their News Feed

TWEET REACHNumber of unique followers who saw your tweet on their Timeline

PAGE LIKES

Number of unique individuals who “like” your Page. Your page content will appear on their newsfeed

FOLLOWERS

Number of unique individuals who “follow” your Page. Your content will appear on their timeline

Prepare INTERACTIONS

Number of “reactions” (unique individuals who like, love, laugh, etc. on your post)Comments (comment on your Facebook post from a fan)

INTERACTIONS

Number of likes (unique individuals who “like” your tweet)Replies (Comments on your tweet from a follower)

Advocate INTERACTIONS

Facebook Shares (share of your post to another user’s friends)Mentions

INTERACTIONS

Retweets/Mentions (share of your tweet or mention of your profile to another user’s followers)

LEARN (CONTEMPLATION)

• Seeking information and becoming aware•Social Media Equivalent: People who see content in their feeds

PREPARE• Actively participating and getting ready to make a change•Social Media Equivalent: People who interact with posts and tweets (commenting and reacting)

ADVOCATE• Fully accepting the change and helping others to make a change•Social Media Equivalent: People who share, re-tweet or mention the content

• 35,124 impressions• 11,539 interactions• 22,164 reach

• 935 impressions• 24 interactions• 703 reach