reachout.com uses social to deliver life saving services

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Post on 28-Jan-2015

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Tragically, the leading cause of death among young Australians (14-25) is suicide. To tackle this issue the Inspire Foundation provides services through their flagship service, ReachOut.com, that aim to improve young people’s mental health and wellbeing, and let them know that they don’t have to go through tough times alone. To better understand how young people are talking about mental health issues, the challenges they are facing, and how they cope with issues like bullying, drug and alcohol abuse, and stress, Swainston and the team turned to social media. Read on for the inspiring results.

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Page 1: ReachOut.com Uses Social to Deliver Life Saving Services

www.radian6.com 1 888 6RADIAN (1 888 672-3426) Copyright © 2012 Salesforce Radian6

Case Study / ReachOut.com

The Challenge

Tragically, the leading cause of death among young Australians (14-25) is suicide. To tackle this issue the Inspire Foundation provides services that aim to improve young people’s mental health and wellbeing, and let them know that they don’t have to go through tough times alone. Inspire delivers its flagship service, ReachOut.com, online because it offers young people anonymity, help and support 24 hours a day, and is accessible to young Australians in remote regions. This allows them to help thousands at any one time. While ReachOut.com has been around since 1998, the context in which young people are growing up has changed dramatically in the last decade. With this in mind, the Inspire team found a need to adapt the way ReachOut.com was being delivered, and to actively try and reach young people through social channels. In order to do so effectively and appropriately, it was critical to gain an understanding of the conversations that young people were having on a range of topics, and gain insight into their needs.

The Approach

Nathalie Swainston (Brand and Marketing Manager) and the ReachOut.com team saw an

opportunity to ensure that the new version of ReachOut.com was reaching those who needed the services, not just through the new site, but through a broader multi-channel approach. To better understand how young people are talking about mental health issues, the challenges they are facing, and how they cope with issues like bullying, drug and alcohol abuse, and stress, Swainston and the team turned to social media. Using Salesforce Radian6 to find thousands of conversations online, they were able to gain valuable insight into the language that was used to discuss these topics, as well as understand what obstacles are preventing young people from getting the help they need. They were also able to target those young people that were very active and influential in conversations around mental health and related topics.

“Social media has proven to be an amazing research channel for us. We are able to learn first-hand how young people are discussing mental health issues, and take this information and adjust the language and messaging of our site,” explains Swainston. “Not only this, but by delivering the service through social channels, we’re bringing important conversations to them, in appropriate ways, in the spaces where they already are.”

ReachOut.com uses social media to connect young people with mental health support and services, and engage them in conversations around mental health and wellbeing.

Page 2: ReachOut.com Uses Social to Deliver Life Saving Services

www.radian6.com 1 888 6RADIAN (1 888 672-3426) Copyright © 2012 Salesforce Radian6

Case Study / ReachOut.com

The Results

Using Radian6 has helped shape the content and language that ReachOut.com uses on their newly launched site and on social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter. They were able to use this research to supplement the input hundreds of young people provided through a number of participatory design workshops, helping to build a solution that is for young people, created with input and direction from young people. Radian6 has not only given the team a chance to perform cost effective research and understand their target

audience better, it has also helped them to track media efforts and special projects. It has allowed them to share valuable insight with their supporters and donors, such as the fact that this past year there’s been a 27% increase in the number of young people getting help from ReachOut.com, and that the most engaged of those users are coming from ReachOut.com’s social channels.

Visit the new ReachOut.com to see the results of all their hard work.