1. Using Social Media to Reach College Students Holly A. Foster Alcohol, Tobacco & Other Drug Education Coordinator The Gordie Center for Substance Abuse Prevention The University of Virginia
27. On average, it takes nearly 3 hours for most people to eliminate the alcohol in 2 drinks.
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Notas do Editor
Three years as graduate assistant/doc intern, recently hired as ATOD Ed Coordinator; dissertation is on substance abuse prevention in higher education, specifically with social norms marketing and curriculum infusion.
Stats: People spend an average of 55 minutes per day on fb How-to-videos are fastest growing vertical market 80% of google traffic goes to the top 5 sites 374 million people have smart phones and that number is expected to top 800 million by the end of 2012 35 hours of Youtube videos are uploaded every MINUTE
Before considering social media as a tool for reaching college students, it is important to understand social norms marketing (as the information we are promoting via social media). So as a quick overview: SNMarketing was founded (Perkins and Berkowitz) on the belief that individuals incorrectly perceive that the attitudes or behaviors of others are different from their own, when in reality they are similar (a.k.a. pluralistic ignorance). This occurs largely because the extreme behavior tends to be most noticed and talked about, while typical behavior is less gossip worthy. Looking forward, social media is a new trend that gets information to students in a format they are comfortable with. If we incorporate social norms into social media, we increase visibility of norms (that visibility is very important as it creates that dialogue and potentially sustains it). Perhaps get the conversations moving away from the negative to the positive. What we currently do!
We hang these posters (SSJ) in all first year bathrooms as well as some other central buildings around Grounds. They are generally very well-received and not something we will move away from anytime soon. In fact we are looking at doubling the SSJ (so two at a time in alternating stalls). So social media not always replacing current forms of marketing, but perhaps supplementing what works.
Now this is a more common standard social norms approach campaign – poster form around Grounds. We are finding that students are really moving away from paying attention to these types of campaigns and more towards electronic communciation/social media. This is the type of communication we are moving away from.
So thinking about Social Norms Marketing – next is Social Media (as second element). How are we using it?
Overview In 2004 Facebook (then known as TheFacebook) was launched as an online social network service that focused on building and reflecting social relations among students at Harvard University. **We saw Social Network so we know the story. But what is important now is knowing there are more than 500 million active users (70 percent outside the United States) and 50 percent of active users log on to Facebook in any given day. Other popular social media technologies include Twitter, a real-time information network; YouTube, a site to watch and share originally created videos; and LinkedIn, a professional development site. Most social network services provide means for users to interact over the Internet, such as e-mail and instant messaging.
When it comes to using social media technology for alcohol, drug abuse, and violence prevention, Thomas Workman, at Baylor College of Medicine, points out that social media is interactive. “ That means we communicate in a very different way, which poses a challenge for people in the college prevention field who have relied on one-way social marketing or substance interaction to communicate prevention messages. Social media is fundamentally interactive, which means that I am entering a conversation rather than a declaration, and I’ll get responses that may contradict my message. But how that conversation goes has great preventative power even though there is no message control. One of the most important ways to use social media is as a listening and engagement tool. It took us a little longer than the students, but we are definitely getting there. For example, in the early days of Facebook at the University of Nebraska, there were over 500 Facebook groups that involved some form of college drinking and partying. That has changed dramatically. Now an Internet search on the topic ‘college drinking’ brings up as many prevention entries as the blatant party drinking posts. We have learned that when we seed conversations across various social media groups, our seeds have as much influence as every other comment. By being in the conversation, we change the conversation.”
While no research has specifically evaluated the effects of facebook/social media on substance abuse prevention in higher education, there is plenty out there that demonstrates the connection between fb use and social capital and that as fb users continues to grow it makes them a target for maximizing the reach and impact of health communication and eHealth interventions. A listening tool to really understand what the campus community is saying/thinking. A dialogue tool – not only to begin the dialogue, but to engage and sustain the dialogue. And as a communication tool – a way for peer educators to really broaden their reach (beyond posters and FOA presentations, but into news feeds and updates). Additionally: on a survey at U.Va. on undergradutes and social media, we found that 95% of undergraduate students have a facebook profile and 63% would “like” a FAN page and 53% would be open to communication from programs/professionals.
FB Shifting because people want peer recommendations (fb falls in line with TV as source). Word-of-mouth is key and best form of advertising; in fact the ultimate marketing goal is to increase word-of-mouth. Dimensions of credibility: E xperts Trust (people, site, information): In order to gain trust you must be reliable, current, new 1+2 = influentials: influentials is the goal (build trust and prove expertise). Large participatory events drive social currency; social media doesn’t drive people, it is a tool for them to do what they want. Simple Contagion = 1 message is enough = widespread reach Complex Contagion = multiple exposures = multiple sources = saturation (depends on how much resistance there is to the message – if low resistance then simple msg is enough; if high resistence then complex is needed. Purpose is key: for example, Newcomb Hall Construction uses Twitter because they want to provide constant, real-time updates to what is happening and what rooms are open/closed. But for Prevention Messages (these are not time sensitive on such a minute level, so facebook is better because the message remains for longer and it is more likely the user will see it several times).
We also use it because it fits what students said they want: fun, non-authortarian, quick & easy It has a broad reach Part of our current thought process is to plan fb campaigns in much the same way we do regular campaigns --- plan and test all the messaging ahead of time, then stream it into fb on regular intervals through the semester.
Twitter is FAST! Twitter is great for real time updates (use NHL Renovations examples). But not great for us.
YouTube: Be sure to brand your channel (ie., logo, tagline, website, something that is consistent across all of your videos that identifies your brand). This works in much the same way as business cards or letterhead in the past. It really helps establish you as an influential.
Peer Educators can use social norms and social media to extend their reach in terms of programs. But there has to be some training that must occur prior to peer educators using social media. While the students very likely know more than I do in terms of actually using the social media outlets, we want to focus on educating them on the broader knowledge of social media and how to interact as a paraprofessional. The first step uses LEAP: How can we use social media to reach students with social norms marketing information? Our peer educators are a great resource for not only creating program pages, but also updating statuses and for commenting on center statuses as away to increasing visibility of center posts. So what do we need to teach peer educators in terms of being able to actively use social media in a responsible and meaningful way? Creating a presence and learning when and how to respond. They first determine their desired outcomes then work backwards from there to determine what is the best method of reachin students and what the messages should look like.
So the focus for peer educators is on when and where and how to use social media and social norms for their mission. First is listen and learn: Adapted from: Workman, Thomas. (2010). Employing Social Media for Coalition-based Prevention. HEC Webinar.
What we are listening for: We need to listen, NOT react. Rather listen to learn. What we can learn about students is important. Using Google alert to see what the trends are….give yourself search codes and you get updates. Ie., bath salts and you will get all sources that come up with that phrase (and it searches everything – blogs, news, etc.). Advantage is that students understand students. If I were presenting this to professionals, I would include topics such as “understanding language,” but students are already at the point where they understand. So they will be trained to focus more on the bigger picture of what is happening. Next is understanding when/where and how to engage. Also, spend time thinking about where and how to engage – determine when to join, when in inquire, when to ask. Remember that sometimes responding to other posts/information is correct and sometimes it is not. Sometimes you have to watch for a while before joining in the conversation, other times not. Most of tend to be lurkers (90%) and few engage (10%).
Once you decide to move forward and use social media, making a social media plan is key!!! Determine: Who is our target? Who are we after? Not just who serving, but also the community as a whole (parents, bar staff, other people who affect our students). Representation? Like when peer educators are representing themselves as peer educators and when as something else. Do those need to be defined?
And because we love evaluation in higher education, we must remember to evaluate the value of Social Media (because this is difficult): Free (but not very useful) are: Wildfire, Social Mention, Monitor This, Tweet Deck Low Cost: UberVu, Buzz Stream Expensive: Radian6, Lithium, Sysomos, Atterian Key: EASE. Remember to use buttons as a way of simplifying your links. Long hyperlinks can appear complex to people. Shorter, simpler is always important. We know that social media is the way to reach people (and its proven effective at reaching people), but it is not a proven way of changing behavior. We are still working on that – importantly because behavior change is not something we can measure in mouse clicks. Things to consider: Plan ahead! Be directed in your messaging. There needs to be some democratization – train them and trust them to do it (there is not time for multiple levels of approvals and vetting to occur).
Remember that timing is everything! It can’t be a slow process and those who are process oriented have to be organized in a way that allows quick decisions (be fast and efficient). At the very least institute a small subgroup to do this. IDEALS: Imagine Design Engage Act Learn (what worked, evaluate) Sustain Remember there are no longer “peak” times of usage. Because of smart phones and the way that millenials in particular are using them, they are online all the time (not just during specific hours). Twitter is FAST and if you are not capable of keeping up, it is better not to use it (use fb instead – it has more reach and allows for a steadier pace).
Move from promotion to engagement – this is very important for our peer educators to be aware of. Students are not used to (or expect) any type of failure, so understanding the pitfalls and dangers is critical to the overall success of the program. For social media they might be: 1). If maintaining an online presence it is important to be responsible for what you write. 2). The interactive media component – it is a challenge when others post contradicting messages to our messages. 3). Move from invited to uninvited – These are public forums, so can be unexpected participants in the conversation. Just be sure to monitor all comments to determine if there is value in it or just needs to be deleted. BUT VERY IMPORTANT TO DISCUSS THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING NON-JUDGEMENTAL. 4). Diversity, real-time, alter-ego – we should learn from these; understand there are levels of understanding. Also remember that higher expectations exist. If having a strong presence, updates need to happen regularly, and that can be time consuming. 5). But have fun – enjoy the engagement that comes from the students and see where the messages go.
Message being, look around and see what’s out there and then decide what aspects you can use and what you will have to develop on your own, for your specific audience. Decide which social media outlets will work best for you. For some facebook might be the best, for others it might be Youtube, and others Twitter, etc. Takes an evaluation of your needs. Lessons Learned From Colleges and Universities Michigan State University’s social norms campaign has a Facebook page that is driven by a group of people who are online peers. It has a large friend collection. But not all the interactions are alcohol-based social norms. People are “friending” the page to see posts on their wall that may have nothing to do with alcohol. The Illinois Higher Education Center for Alcohol, Other Drug and Violence Prevention’s mission is to “ reduce negative health & safety consequences to Illinois college students related to alcohol, other drugs & violence & to increase college & community environmental factors that support healthy and safe norms.” Its Facebook page lets people know about upcoming training events, provides discussions on topics, and displays photos from activities.
Thinking about what we put out there. This is a great photo! And it shows as a photo on our page for a selling point.
We regularly put out this type of message. Doesn’t have to be fast, real time, can be calculated and planned.