Outspoken Case Study

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Gay Men of African Descent IPP Social Networking Campaign


GMAD is working to improve quality of life within the New York City black gay community by effectively fighting the triple threat of AIDS, homophobia and racism through education, advocacy, health and wellness and social support.


GMAD provides mental health programs via the Intensive Prevention Program (IPP). IPP offers individuals and couples treatment; coordinates and facilitates group programs; and helps foster and develop outreach and advocacy


GMAD Service Goals • Provide outreach and advocacy to the Gay, Bi, Trans, Queer, and Men who have Sex with Men community including mobile and in-office confidential HIV testing; anti-stigma and prevention education, and mental health services through individual and group therapy sessions. • Provide targeted services in the form of drop-in groups, age and need appropriate activities and counseling. • Drop-in center for seniors, YMSM’s, health and wellness counseling, prevention education, street outreach and HIV testing


Challenges IPP, as a program of GMAD, was not actively engaging in efforts to create new relationships with clients for their mental and physical wellness services and programs. The majority of clients served by the IPP program were past clients or referrals from a select number of outside case management programs. IPP needed to identify outlets to reach new clients in order to continue providing valuable life services, as well as identify methods to reach the larger GBTQMSM community to provide health and wellness information. Observations There has been an overall decline of community visibility and ability to attract new clients to GMAD’s services, such as IPP. As an organization, GMAD was not fully utilizing social media to raise awareness of programs, services, and health and wellness information to the larger GBTQMSM community. Within the African-American GBTQMSM community there is also a great stigma towards seeking services such as mental health counseling, and in order to more broadly reach clientele GMAD would need to look towards ways to directly interact with clients in a manner that avoided this stigma.


Strategic Direction Concentrate on utilizing marketing and brand strategy to address observations and increase exposure to IPP services, as well as provide community members with pertinent information, including mental and physical health and well-being. Implementation • Develop a social media campaign including a blog that allows users to readily access information that can be constantly updated; by utilizing a blog it allows for dissemination of information in a manner that protects the identity of the viewer • Create an identity to promote the blog, including naming and branding, as well as the overall visual presentation of the blog and the information included; create exposure for the blog by developing collateral including print materials, online advertising, and identify external advertising resources,


mad resources overview [ Analysis of GMAD services and objectives ]

fu n d rai si n g

Incr eas e G M a D ’ s v IsIb Ilt y an D s er v I c es

“face of g mad”

m arke t i n g

c ampai g n

inter net

pri n t

webs ite

blog / forum

a dv e rt i si n g

tw itt er

facebook


[ Discovery Phase: Online Resource Analysis ]



Discovery Phase Findings • Quality of information available varied greatly • Information was disorganized and spread across a number of sites; navigating sites was difficult • Sites that provided mental health information were often targeted more towards professionals in the field and difficult for the general reader to discern • Physical health information was lacking from sites that targeted the most at-risk individuals (ie: “hookup” or sex sites) • Very few sites were directed specifically towards the African-American GBTQMSM community • An analysis of one site, BGC Lounge, a chat room/ message board was utilized as a metric because of its demographic — primarily targeted towards AfricanAmerican GBTQMSM users • It was found that postings under the topic Health and Education were very minimal compared to other more culturally-driven topics (see table at right for an abbreviated analysis of findings)


[ BGC Site Analysis ]

SUBJECT

UNIQUE POSTS

General discussions Transgender discussions Fantasy stories First time stories Transgender stories Miscellaneous stories Music Celebrities Sports TV & movies Cell Phones

322,358 9,460,801 12,452 365,791 379 6,409 3,172 45,592 423 3,171 3,860 45,101 61,427 2,003,957 4,174 104,537 837 13,761 1,978 39,309 183 3,101

RESPONSES

Cars 60 1,196 Video Games 450 6,904 Ballroom Scene 729 11,866 Fine art 186 3,222 Books 358 5,223 A poet has spoken 4,237 14,808 Fashion 610 10,920 Health and education 1,011 18,190 Politics 3,493 91,256 Religion 1,485 33,829 Clubs & places 464 2,240 Events 725 8,895 Hook ups: Good ones 964 29,874 Hook ups: Bad ones 528 12,657


Online Direction • Create a blog specifically directed towards the AfricanAmerican GBTQMSM community that concentrates on the following issues: • Health and wellness (mental and physical) • Scientific advances in research (HIV/AIDS, and other health areas) • Community resources (including social services) • Community events • History (African-American and GBTQMSM culture) • Politics (directed towards advocacy and issues relevant to the community) • Entertainment: film, books, etc. (focused towards GBTQMSM issues) • Identify content sources, including journals, news articles, opinion pieces, video, and other resources


Campaign Visuals: Blog Naming and Identity Meet Outspoken.




Campaign Visuals: Concept Presentation 1


Concept 1: “Just the Facts” • Visual solution using typography and color • “Friendlier” and “safer” solution • Promotional materials can be distributed in areas throughout the general community • Blog can be advertised on any site


[ Print Materials ]

your thoughts. your life.

culture relationships history health wellness beoutspoken.org


[ Advertising ]


Campaign Visuals: Concept Presentation 2


Concept 2: “Sex Sells” • Highly visual solution using provocative imagery • Promotional materials distributed in social environments directed towards GBTQ individuals (bars, clubs, parties, etc.), or agencies providing social services to GBTQMSM individuals • Advertising placement aimed towards sites more sex directive, including online cruising sites, as well as GBTQMSM issues-based sites


[ Print Materials ]

Curious?

BeOutspoken.org


[ Advertising ]


Campaign Visuals: Outspoken Blog



Results and Findings • 200+ posts were made to the blog within a three month period • 4,000+ unique visitors to the site three months after publication (without advertising or promotion) • Main traffic source: Google search • Most popular topics include culture and health


Sustainability and Growth • In order to maintain Outspoken and visibility of the services that GMAD and IPP provide, a plan would need to be implemented and followed by the organization, including exploring opportunities such as: • Building ad revenue • Identifying and applying for grants to produce materials and pay for advertising on other sites • Development of original content and outreach to contributors including experts on issues, as well as increasing mental health issues focus • Increase in international community and visibility • Identifying partnership with agencies to crossreference sites • Determine key staff to manage the blog, potentially a volunteer position that could lead to employment


Be Outspoken.

Š Michael Gray/hellomichaelgray@gmail.com/michaelgraydesign.tumblr.com


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