College Behavioral and Emotional Health Institute
Learning Media Specialist
2015 - 2017
Project Description
Dr. Danielle Dick, a Psychology professor and researcher at VCU, needed help translating her mental health and substance use research into engaging public health content targeted at students, community members, and fellow researchers
The Goals
Maintain complete scientific accuracy while creating engaging content about substance use, mental health, and other relevant topics based on research by Dr. Dick and her colleagues
Encourage VCU undergrads to enroll in courses offered by COBE researchers and invite academics to do research using Spit4Science data (COBE’s main longitudinal research project)
Increase awareness of and attendance at COBE events including monthly COBE Connect lunches and yearly From Research to Recovery town hall and appeal to potential event sponsors in the local community
Strategy and Creative Process
Creating Partnerships: I partnered with existing COBE researchers, student volunteers, and community partners to create unique, compelling content translating their work into blog posts, videos, and podcast episodes, which were then shared with COBE and the partner’s respective social networks to broaden and diversify our reach (I completed all aspects of content creation including brainstorming, pre-production, photography, videography, writing, audio recording, editing, mixing, etc. and no additional budget was spent on boosting)
Targeted Content: In addition to partnering with members of various communities, I adapted content to different mediums favored by students (short videos, carousel posts on social media, infographics), people in recovery (recovery-focused videos and Why Science episodes), and fellow researchers (blog posts, Spit4Science-focused videos and Why Science episodes) to maximize engagement with the core public health information (as measured by watch/listen time and number of watches/listens)
Organic Social Media Campaigns: I partnered with VCU orgs like the Wellness Resource Center, Rams in Recovery, and VCU Rec Sports and off-campus partners like Caritas to launch outreach campaigns like #MindfulFinals promoting mindfulness content to students around finals time and #FromResearchToRecovery promoting previously-captured content from speakers at the then upcoming town hall event (I used Hootsuite to schedule posts across multiple platforms and measure engagement)
Achievements
These content marketing efforts…
Exceeded expectations for course enrollment every semester (each course had a long waitlist) and collaborator research (3+ new spin-off projects from Spit4Science each semester)
Established brand awareness nationwide and helped introduce our work to new research collaborators, event sponsors, and recovery influencers in the Richmond area and across the country (anecdotal feedback after talking to new collaborators who said their first exposure to us was through our town hall event videos or the Why Science podcast)
Increased attendance of COBE’s monthly events by 10% and increased attendance between the first and second year of the town hall by 15% (based on attendance records)
Blog Posts
Videos
Why Science Podcast
