When I first went to college, I had big ideas for myself. In high school, I was always a shy chick: I was never 100% sure of my abilities or strengths, but one thing I was definitely sure of was that I had no idea how to vocalize my interests. College was going to be my opportunity to re-brand myself (I know, such an original mental pathway). I can guarantee you that 18-year-old Brittney would not have pictured the late 20’s version of herself as the person responsible for telling college students that today is a great day to protect their genitals. But, alas, here we are.
I’ve been working in the field of college health education for the past four and a half years. I manage a successful model peer health education program. The coolest part about my job is I’ve figured out a way to talk to a challenging audience (i.e. college students; see: if you were a college student or a teenager once, you know precisely what I am talking about) about things they don’t really want to listen to but are probably mandated to hear. Here’s what I did to reach the generation that I’m 95% sure most people are secretly scared of (okay, they’re kind of scary sometimes, so no judgement here):
I learned my audience. Learning your audience is so essential to developing any kind of campaign to reach humans. In my case, I come from a different background than a majority of my audience, so it was imperative I picked up what they were puttin’ down. I followed the people who were following us on social media (Instagram ratio, be damned!). I regularly checked their feeds to see what they were posting and took note of any patterns among all of the users who were viewing our content. I checked analytics every day before posting (yes, I’m up at 7 a.m. but if the person I’m trying to deliver content to went out last night….noon might be a better posting strategy. Bonus points if it’s a post on responsible consumption!)
I learned what my audience likes. I made the discover section my best friend. I flipped to the “following” notification setting on Instagram. I READ CAPTIONS BEFORE I LIKED THE PHOTO. What I learned is that students will do anything for the ‘gram, and they like people who will also do anything for the ‘gram. Therefore, everything I created, posted, scheduled, staged, etc. started with one question: would someone want to take a picture of this? If the answer was no, then back to the drawing board. Social media is such a great tool, but it makes literally no sense to post for the sake of posting. We have so many mini-advertisers around us. It is ESSENTIAL to capture their attention, whether that is with a witty button or giant gold balloon letters that say “Stay Woke”; the option is yours.
I sucked up as much inspiration as I could. The search history on my computer is very questionable. I’m trying to get college students to relate to topics that can be super serious, so I’ll search things on Pinterest like “drug humor”. OBVIOUSLY, drug use is extremely serious, potentially illegal (depending on state and federal laws), damages the health of the user/abuser and is in no way funny. However, I use this strategy to see what people are posting about health topics, so I can flip it around and direct the content to a more productive approach. I like to think of it as my own “sting” operation except for the fact that it is in no way the same thing. Tools like Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram are a SAVING GRACE for inspiration. I also follow accounts on Instagram that spark my creativity or that I find to be hilariously relatable, like Emily McDowell (Emily, if you see this, please be my friend, I’m sort of funny, but I make bomb enchiladas and that’s the real selling point). Additionally, I used inspiration within my own life. My friends are HILARIOUS and say hilarious things. And I’m not saying they are the “you had to be there” kind of funny, they are objectively and conventionally hysterical. Their quotes have definitely made an appearance on our Twitter. Plot twist: our audience loves it. Don’t knock down what you think is funny or awesome. It could be potential content.
I give presentations at conferences regularly on how we do what we do. The truth is, anyone can drive their content the way that we have. It just takes getting out of the bubble, taking a couple trial and error risks, and challenging the norms for innovation. Grab a cup of coffee, your favorite friend to banter with, and make it happen.
-BV