Transcript Don’t RUSH the BRUSH!
Healthy Teeth & Kids:
Profiling 3 Existing Digital Strategies to Engage Children in Oral Health
Larisa Naderiani, HBSc, DDS.
Tufts University School of Medicine
Significance Tooth decay (a cavity) is the #1 chronic disease in both children and adults, even though it is largely preventable.
Rationale Childhood is when many behavioral habits are developed: nose picking, nail biting, and especially tooth brushing!
Organizations Profiled
•
The Nova Scotia Dental Association's
Healthy Teeth
•
Delta Dental's
My Smile Kids
•
The American Dental Association's
Mouth Healthy Kids
Healthy Teeth
NSDA Healthy Teeth A non-profit joint initiative of the State School Board & State Dentists’ Association. © 2014 NSDA Mission: To serve the needs of the State’s >500 dentist members Healthy Teeth Initiative’s Goal: An oral education database to teach children directly and/or indirectly (i.e., via lessons taught by elementary school teachers or parents) Target Audience: Elementary school aged children, grades 3 to 6
Online Presence:
: Web
Blog Twitter
@theNSDA • • 1 post Not maintained • • • 128 followers 216 tweets (avg 2-3/wk) Inconsistent audience vs. content
Instagram Facebook
• • 0 posts Never activated • • • 21 likes 10 posts (avg 1-3/mo) Mainly link-based posts
: SWOT Analysis
STRENGTHS
-Site design concept is kid-friendly -Color & graphics theme maintained from site through social media, easily identifiable & consistent branding -Site navigation is user-friendly, simple -Navigation links are cyclical & repetitive -Content is interesting and multi-modal -Target audience will have access to media via school computers if not at home
OPPORTUNITIES
-Given partnership with local school board & dentists, can be a platform to advertise initiative to gain popularity -Parents & teachers tab can be expanded
WEAKNESSES
- Nothing is bilingual -Dead links (Instagram) -Failure to update frequently (Instagram, FB) -Email & Twitter handle not catchy or easy to remember, naming inconsistency may result in loss of followers -Content & literacy level questionable for target audience -Few social media followers
THREATS
-Not keeping up with quick pace of social media will cause loss of followers -Difficult for NPO to compete for audience attention vs. big corporate brand names with more resources (Colgate, Crest, Oral B, Sesame Street)
: Recommendations
• • • • • •
Simple/Low Resource
Social media accounts updated more frequently (i.e., daily) If too labor intensive, should streamline social media (<< scope, >> depth) Twitter account re-vamped to be audience appropriate & include more RT (<< burden of composing original content, can piggyback brand name tweets) Encourage local dentists to set healthyteeth.org as their screensavers on tech devices used in office waiting areas & link from own office web sites Increase Facebook ‘likes’ with page contests where n-th ‘like’ receives a prize Use of original & catchy social media hashtags may go viral (#flossisboss) • •
Challenging/Resource Intensive
Employ a site and social media maintenance team Employ a team to devise a strategy to better integrate social media with site
My Smile Kids
Delta Dental My Smile Kids America’s largest dental insurance carrier, spans 50 states. A non-profit organization with for-profit affiliates (dentist members & corporate members both). © 2001-2014 Delta Dental Mission: The advancement of oral health care to customers, partners & consumers through the dental benefits programs and philanthropic efforts My Smile Kids Initiative’s Goal: To improve oral health & hygiene by emphasizing preventative care in children Target Audience: “Children”, presumably elementary school aged
Online Presence:
: Web
@DeltaDentalins
• • • 3,927 followers 1,813 tweets (avg 1-2 daily) Inconsistent audience vs. content • • • 4,281 likes Weekly posts (avg 4-5/wk) Inconsistent audience vs. content
: SWOT Analysis
STRENGTHS
-Site available in Spanish -Scroll over audio for all nav tabs and links (child’s voice, audience can self-identify) -Navigation tabs all multi-modal: text, visual, and audio. -All main page content ‘above the fold’ -Site navigation is user-friendly, simple -Site design concept & content is kid-friendly -Printable downloads exist for low/limited access to tech subgroup in audience
OPPORTUNITIES
-National insurance carrier so can make use of mailers or banner ads in patient gateways to increase visibility of initiative & site traffic -Corporate partnership likely given Delta Dental’s far reach and potential for profit -Parents & teachers tab can be expanded
WEAKNESSES
-Twitter & FB links open in existing tab/page -Twitter & FB accounts are for Delta Dental in general, not for My Smile Kids and so content is both inappropriate and irrelevant for target audience -Site color theme is bland, not vibrant -Branding and site theme standalone, do not carry over to social media -Navigation is not cyclical on every page, can only link to home page from some open tabs
THREATS
-Lack of appropriate social media presence -Credibility/intentions of this public service can be questioned as base organization is a dental insurance provider -Given national platform, graphics do not adequately address diversity of audience
: Recommendations
•
Simple/Low Resource
Ensure navigation is cyclical: a) set the left nav tab to be permanent and thus appear in the exact same spot and style regardless of tab/page content, and b) divide pages into content specific groups and link within the groups via “suggested” pages/tabs • •
Challenging/Resource Intensive
Devise a social media strategy specific to the target audience (kids) with separate accounts which integrate kids content with the main site (direct traffic back and forth through incentives, contests, ‘clicks’) Establish reciprocal business relationships with major dental provider clinical chains, dental materials, and hygiene brands to link site from their main sites
: Mouth Healthy Kids
ADA Mouth Healthy Mouth Healthy Kids The American Dental Association (ADA) is the largest national non-profit organization representing dentist members. © 2013 ADA Mission: To serve the needs of >157k dentist members in the US Mouth Healthy Mission: To be the premier source for public dental health information and a leading advocate for oral health in the US Mouth Healthy Kids Initiative’s Goal: To accomplish this mission with kids Target Audience: Elementary school aged children & pre-teens (“tweens”)
Online Presence:
: Web
: Mobile Site
STRENGTHS
-Site available in Spanish -Site available in 3 text sizes (helps early readers in target audience) -Mobile site available, no loss of content from full site, & easy to use (mobile access is key for pre-teen audience) -Given national platform, site is culturally diverse in content and graphics/photos -Top nav bar is easy to use and permanent
OPPORTUNITIES
-Social media can be added (free!) & integrated, especially given pre-teen audience group (YouTube, Twitter, FB) -Given ADA’s own vast national reach with dentists and patients as well as their umbrella of sites/media access, advertising for this initiative can be easily integrated into other pre-existing projects
: SWOT Analysis
WEAKNESSES
-Complete lack of social media presence (tech dinosaur!) -Lack of density and variety in content -Failure to update content regularly -Bi-modal, uni-dimensional digital strategy -Not very inviting for younger end of target audience (school aged kids), loss of specificity with broadened scope of audience age groups
THREATS
-ADA umbrella is vast, mouthhealthy.org umbrella is again vast, mouthhealthykids.org could get lost in the matrix or marginalized (ADA has potential to confuse and over saturate own market, i.e., act as own threat) -Again due to large scope of ADA, labor & monetary resources exclusive to this initiative may be difficult to secure
: Recommendations
•
Simple/Low Resource
Create a YouTube or Vimeo channel (as most site content is video based, these social media outlets would make the most sense). Pre-teens (‘tweens’) can share expression & personal experiences, which is a popular means of communication for this audience. • • •
Challenging/Resource Intensive
Create more original content going forward as site is currently heavily reliant on brand name pre-existing content (e.g., Sesame Street) Invest in a social media strategy which will engage pre-teens Invest in a professional web/social media based ad campaign
So, How Do They Compare?
Target
-Kids, grades 3 to 6 -Kids (elementary) -Parents & Teachers
Site Content Social Media
-Education (videos, text, info-graphics, virtual tour) -Interaction (games, experiments, activities, quiz, contests) -Blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram -Education (text, stories, news, info-graphics) -Interaction (games, printed activities, quiz) -Self-diagnostic/referral element -Twitter, Facebook
Digital Presence
-Concept/theme vibrant & engaging experience -Very kid specific -Concept is fun but visuals are bland -Tri-modal engagement: video, audio, text -Bilingual -Kids (elementary) -Pre-teens -Educators -Some education (videos, text), most education is in ‘Educators’ tab -Mostly interaction (games, printed activities, quiz) -Nil -Concept not very kid specific, also mature -Bilingual -Diversity
In Summary
Small scale, specific, well planned Poor maintenance, TLC required Large scale, excellent maintenance Inappropriate social media use Large scale, well planned, non-specific Multiple social media missed opportunities
Resources
•
The Nova Scotia Dental Association's Healthy Teeth
http://healthyteeth.org/
•
Delta Dental's My Smile Kids
http://www.mysmilekids.com/index.html
•
American Dental Association’s Mouth Healthy Kids
http://www.mouthhealthykids.org/en/
•
General Dental Statistics & Information
http://www.nidcr.nih.gov/