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TEXT COUNSELING INITIATIVE 

Organization:  MotherToBaby

Campaign:  Use New Technology to Drive User Engagement with MotherToBaby's Free Text Counseling Service

                                       Agency:  Nicole Chavez Public Relations                                                

Duration: September 2015 - May 2016

 

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Goals

  • Expand the availability of counseling about teratogens (exposures during pregnancy that cause birth defects) through new technology, such as text messaging.

  • Dramatically increase the number of people MotherToBaby (MTB), a service of the non-profit Organization of Teratology Information Specialists, can reach, including under-served populations who have not traditionally used MTB as a resource. 

  • Meet the needs of  women who prefer to text rather than call a teratogen specialist.

Strategy

  •  Promote texting initiative through national Facebook advertising.

  • Track daily number of incoming texts before the launch of the new ads, during the advertising period and afterwards to gauge effectiveness of Facebook advertising.

​May 2016: Since the goal was to get the targeted audience to text MTB's new texting service, ads were designed to only appear on mobile devices. Using proven targeting and optimization techniques by Nicole's experienced staff, ads were massaged throughout the duration of the campaign.

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Tactics

April 2016: From production on location, to the editing booth, Nicole Chavez's team shot, wrote, and edited English and Spanish language video promos describing MotherToBaby's new texting service. Videos were short and aimed at being eye-catching, hip and fast-paced so they would appeal to a younger demographic and could be used for bilingual ad campaigns on popular social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram.

Results

INCOMING TEXTS:

April 2016: Prior to starting the ad campaign initiative:

  • 293 incoming texts, 52 of which were from first time users.

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May 2016: After ads began running

  • 1,985 incoming texts, 675 from first time users = 678% increase in total incoming texts in a one-month period.

  • 4,541 text requests were generated within a 3 month period, far surpassing program leader expectations. 

CONCLUSION:

  • A voluntary, demographics survey was built into the texting pilot project process. Answers received from texters indicated an increase in the number of texts from under-served populations, including minority populations and teenage mothers. Increases in the number of texts from these populations were as much as 425%.

  • Campaign demonstrated that Facebook ads are an economical and effective form of advertising when guided by an experienced and creative communications professional.

  • Text counseling initiative has continued and is now being promoted across North America.

 

 

PUBLISHED RESULTS: 

"The data collected in May after the Facebook marketing ads had a tremendously impressive impact on the overall numbers of women who have seen our advertisements and used the link in Facebook to reach us for counseling."

 

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SOURCE:

Wolfe, L., et al. (2016, June). Taking Teratogen Counseling from the Telephone to Texting with Today’s Technology. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Organization of Teratology Information Specialists (OTIS), San Antonio, TX

 

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