Social Media & the Mental Health Epidemic — UNBXD

2019 has been a diverse year for social media platforms. People are waking up to not only the good, but the bad aspects of spending too much time browsing Social networks and how it makes them feel.

In my role as a Digital Marketeer I advise clients on a daily basis on how to communicate & impact-fully with their audiences. This ensures that I consider not only the effectiveness of the campaigns, but also the impact the messages we put out have on our clients, staff, customers and audiences.

Every brand relies on consumers; seeking to build lasting relationships with them so they purchase, review glowingly and return. To build that relationship, that trust, they have to consider how they make consumers feel.

The effect of social media on teenagers is particularly stark, but with brands wanting to reach audiences faster, more effectively and at less cost, the pressure builds for digital agencies and marketeers to tread with due care and attention.

Our clients respect the UNBXD decision never to create fear-based or FOMO (fear of missing out) campaigns, demonstrated by the tone of voice in our content and imagery.

Some of the best social media campaigns have worked as part of a coordinated marketing effort to impart information or reinforce a particular sentiment, focused (and measurable) at influencing users to feel or act in a certain way.

Dove ‘Real Beauty’ Campaign

Dove pioneered #realbeauty with their self-esteem campaign, encouraging followers via Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to be proud and show off their inner beauty. With 70% of women admitting to feeling under-represented by advertising, Dove made a pledge to promote positive change. With videos published to Cartoon Network’s channel receiving more than 2 million views, 103,000 likes and 9,500 comments, AdAge judged it one of the top 100 campaigns of the 21st century so far.

Instagram #HereForYou campaign

Earlier this year, Instagram launched its #HereForYou campaign, a hashtag already in use, supported by a one-minute video featuring users admitting to their own personal struggles with mental health. The hashtag was promoted to encourage the Instagram community to support one another, giving them a forum to spread the message and find appropriate help. Enabling individuals to connect and empathise with one another, they ultimately grew the community and the network of help.

RFS Technology | Click to view case study

RFS Technology | Smart Home Specialist

One of our clients is a smart home specialist, working with everyone from architects, designers, electricians to home owners to integrate smart home technologies into their home. When creating advertising campaigns for this client we looked at the effects certain language would have on potential customers. If we used language that was aimed to worry people ‘Are you scared people are going to break in, you need smart home cameras’, this created a negative connotation from the outset. By changing the wording to be factual and informative we found this to have a much better response and engagement - e.g. ‘Not sure who is at your door? With a connected smart home camera you can check from anywhere in the world, and even accept deliveries!’.

Changing the language surrounding this campaign grew our leads by over 1500% within the first month.

(View case study - unbxd.co.uk/rfs-technology)

Check out Oaktree on Instagram: instagram.com/oaktreegardencentre — Check out Oaktree on Instagram: *instagram.com/oaktreegardencentre*

For one of our long time clients, Oaktree Garden Centre, we have created a positive and friendly ‘Hub’ across social channels where Gardners can enjoy free tips and tricks and connect with other like minded people. We quickly realised that by creating a safe place away from constant advisements and negative imagery people would connect to the brand and now visit Oaktree in-store and online when they need anything for their garden. When we started with this client we only had 200 followers on Instagram, by creating this safe place that network has grown to more than 2200 since March this year.

(View case study - unbxd.co.uk/oaktree-garden-centre)

In summary, as Digital Marketers, we’re in a position to create noise and a positive impact for our clients audiences and consumers.

Thanks for reading!