Recovery Month's New Media Newsletter for July

	Can't read this? Click to view on the web. July Share this Newsletter on: Facebook Twitter Share Your Place:  A cross-platform campaign from the Consumer Healthcare Products Association Last month, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association’s (CHPA) Up and Away campaign launched a cross-platform photo-sharing campaign called Share Your Place. The Share Your Place program asks parents to share a photo of the place they store medicines and vitamins at home to keep them out of reach of young children. Users and brands have begun to recognize the power of sharing photos across platforms.  On average, Facebook users upload more than 300 million photos each day, and the advent of mobile applications and photo-sharing platforms, such as Instagram, have made it easier than ever for people to upload and share photos to many different platforms at the same time. For its Share Your Place program, CHPA wanted to capitalize on the growing trends of young parents beginning to experiement with different social media platforms for photo sharing.  By encouraging parents of young children to “share their place” on whichever platform(s) were most convient for them, CHPA was able to spark conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and provide its audiences with concrete visual examples of how to store medicines and vitamins safely in their own homes. CHPA asked its network to take photos of safe storage places, tag the photos with the unique #MedsUpAway hashtag, and post to Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram.  CHPA also provided its partners with sample promotional posts, so those organizations could help spread the word about the program. In the first week, the Share Your Place program generated 7 blog posts, 33 photos, 109 mentions of the #MedsUpAway hashtag, and more than 500,000 impressions, or potential views of posts with this hashtag.  As social media evolves and new platforms gain traction, it is important to consider the ways organizations can engage their audiences across platforms, just as CHPA has done with Share Your Place.  People use various platforms in their daily lives, and if organizations are flexible, they have the opportunity to increase awareness and engagement, and reduce barriers for user participation.  The recent roll-out of hashtag functionality on Facebook, highlighted in the tips section below, is an example of how social media platforms are making it easier for people to post across platforms, as well. To learn more about the Share Your Place program, please visit the CHPA’s OTC safety website.
	TIPS OF THE MONTH Hashtags, common on Twitter and Instagram, are a tagging functionality that allows users to tag their updates, search for tagged posts by others, and connect to larger conversation around one topic.  In June, Facebook introduced hashtags to its platform, so users can now click on a hashtag, such as #substanceuse or #mentalillness, in a status update and see how others are talking about these topics.  Below, you will find tips on how organizations can take advantage of this new Facebook functionality.  For more information, read the full blog post on Hubspot. Incorporate industry or branded keywords.  Tap into relevant conversations by tagging industry-specific words in posts.  Use hashtags to monitor and participate in the conversation and make your organization visible to new and larger audiences.  For example, when you tag a post with #mentalhealth your update will appear in the search results when other users, who may not be connected to your organization, search for that hashtag. Use original hashtags.  To start your own conversation when hosting a chat or recapping an event create a unique hashtag.  Enter that hashtag in the search bar on Facebook to ensure others aren’t using it for a different conversation. Be sure posts with hashtags are public.  Hashtags are designed to allow users to learn public opinions on a specific topic and study how other Facebook users are conversing about the same topic, so be sure your posts are open for others to read.  Facebook pages are defaulted to display publicly; however, if you are using a personal account, you can adjust privacy settings for each post at the bottom right-hand corner of each post immediately before posting. Use hashtags in Facebook ads.  The hashtag functionality is being rolled out to Facebook advertising, as well.   The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is the agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that leads public health efforts to advance the behavioral health of the nation. SAMHSA's mission is to reduce the impact of substance abuse and mental illness on America's communities. You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website or signed up at a Recovery Month event or training. If you or someone you know has a substance use or mental disorder, please call 1-800-662-HELP (4357).