Truth & Dare Campaign
In 2014, I had been working as a digital and social media designer for UFCWC, the University of Florida Counseling and Wellness Center. They actively use social media to reach out to students. During my time there, I noticed that, contrary to popular belief, students responded better to posts that actually stated facts, sometimes with a lot of text. The belief is to reduce the text as much as possible, but that was not working with the UF students. Students did not respond to short, catchy phrases. I realized that content is king and three things seemed to work: 1) unique information offering valid facts, 2) paired with a visual element — preferably a cartoon or animal image, and 3) high-quality links. The Outreach Director came up with the Truth & Dare destress campaign, and together with the Digital Outreach Committee, we identified facts that we wanted to highlight. It was my task to design the posts and upload them to Facebook. A truly collaborative effort.

The campaign was a success. Likes increased by the same amount they increased in an entire year, average likes more than doubling. Reach also increased (exponentially at times) as our posts were being shared by students and other UF departments.

• 2016 Showcase Presentation, Spicing up the Digital Presence and Expanding Our Reach, with Gizem Toska, PhD, at the 9th Annual National Outreach Conference, AUCCCO (Association for University and College Counseling Center Outreach), Ohio State University.

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