This was an individual project for one of the modules (CS4262 Social Media and Digital Campaign Management) in my course of study at WKKSCI. We were able to choose any topic for social good and was given a budget of $45 to promote our posts to our target audience. I decided to go with the topic of mental health, collaborating with Community Health Assessment Team (CHAT) to encourage distressed youths with mental health issues to start sharing their stories through unique avatars and to eventually reach out to CHAT for a mental health check.
There are 2 pillars in this campaign - the main one being #TalkmunityWithUs, which are the sharings from the youths and the other one #SelfCareWithTalkmunity, where I share light-hearted self-care tips and actually doing it myself on the social media pages.
There is a strong stigma against people who have mental health issues, which made them feel like no one around them can understand them, resulting in them keeping these problems they face to themselves. Hence, my solution was for them to make their first step in sharing with Talkmunity anonymously, before they muster the courage to talk to their close ones or seek professional help about it. And what they would get in return from sharing, is to have their customised avatar posted up online.
For them to share anonymously, I created Google Forms for the target audience to fill up their preferences on how they want their avatar to look: https://goo.gl/forms/7zJMZRqsaI2UmLXk2. I will then create the visual of their avatar, post it up and reply to their story. They are able to reply to me again via tinyurl.com/replytalkmunity.
Within the $45 budget, Talkmunity received 17 sharings and 1 actually sought for professional help with CHAT.
I always knew that mental health issues are prevalent, but this project made me realise that there are so much more about others that we cannot see - we should never judge a book by its cover. The people around us could actually be facing some mental health problems but are not speaking up about it.
This campaign was extremely meaningful to me because they were actual engagements and I know I did make an impact on those who shared, one way or another. I would love to make this my personal passion project if time permits. Perhaps after I graduate?
Link to social media accounts:
