Social media in a crisis
SUSAN BAILEY Head of Communications, ABMU
Company
LOGO
Agenda
1. Measles background
2. Campaign strategy
3. Social media reach
4. Outcomes
Background
 Major measles outbreak: 1,170+
 1990s media campaign/rogue
research
 95% MMR 2-dose needed for ‘herd
immunity’
 But in 2012 our MMR rate was just
83%
 3 measles cases in November 2012
 By February 2013 – jumped to 190
Campaign objectives
 Help end measles outbreak through urgent
uptake of MMR jabs
 Increase MMR coverage closer to 95%
herd immunity levels
Strategy – three strands
1) Traditional press/media
 Encourage journalists to
MMR drop in clinics
 Provide interview
opportunities – clinical
staff and families
 Promote role model
families
 ‘Normalise’ vaccination
behaviour through
images/TV filming
2) Social Media
 Platform for ‘real time
debate’
 Offer safety reassurance
 Support informed decisions
 Link to information and
updates
 Publicise drop-in clinics
 Directly reach teenagers
(lost MMR generation)
Strategy – three strands
3) Engaging schools and
parents
 40+ individual school web pages
on ABMU website
 Information and personalised
messages
 Links to pages embedded in texts
sent to parents
All three strands of
strategy interlinked
Press
Social
Media
Schools
Social media - Facebook
Post shares
4,000+
Post
comments
1,000+
‘Likes’ 1,300
Facebook posts
109
540,000
total reach
Teen ‘reach’
via £40 advert
13,000+
Social media – Twitter/web
Schools’
pages, 9,000
hits
35 schools
text
systems
Twitter:
85 Tweets,
500 re-tweets
Debates on
SWEP news
website
ABMU
measles
Web page
16,000+ hits
Web visits–
25,000+
Social media – highlights
 ‘Real time’ Facebook debates - up to 11pm
 Facebook post about first MMR clinic went
viral – 133,000 views - first indication of
how busy we would be
 Feedback from parents modified campaign
on the go
 Correct inaccuracies
 Parents talking to parents
Images
Feedback
Positive feedback
Doctors
Head
teachers
Parents
LEAs
Outcomes
 Over 30,000 non-routine MMR jabs given
 University of Warwick modelling: potential
measles cases decreased 20-fold and
outbreak duration by 10 weeks
 95.64% of youngsters had at least one
MMR – first time milestone
 89.1% had two MMR – over 4% increase
Questions?
Happy to answer any questions
Picture: Parents queuing at first MMR
clinic at Morriston Hospital, April 2013