Presented by Anthony Roberts Jr., MS, & Meico Whitlock, MS, on March 12, 2015 at the fifth Center for Health Literacy Conference: Plain Talk in Complex Times.

1. ì
Using
Twitter
Town
Halls
as
a
Tool
to
Reach
and
Engage
Key
Populations
Anthony
Roberts
Jr.,
MS
@arobjr
anthony@arobertsjr.com
Digital
Marke8ng
Director
ARJR,
LLC
Meico
Whitlock,
@MeicoWhitlock
mwhitlock@NASTAD.org
Senior
Manager,
Communica8ons
Na8onal
Alliance
of
State
and
Territorial
AIDS
Directors
(NASTAD),
@NASTAD

2. Agenda
ì Introduc8ons:
Who’s
in
the
room?
ì What
is
TwiLer
and
why
use
it?
ì What
is
a
TwiLer
town
hall?
ì Planning
and
execu8on
ì Making
your
own
plan
ì Q&A

3. Introductions
ì Who
are
you
in
140
characters
or
less?
ì What’s
one
thing
you
want
to
learn
today?

4. ìLet’s
get
started
with
the
basics!

5. What’s
Twitter?
ì Online
social
networking
service
that
enables
users
to
send
and
read
short
140-­‐character
messages
called
"tweets"
ì Allows
users
to
share
ideas
and
informa8on
instantly
and
engage
in
real-­‐8me
conversa8ons
ì Registered
users
can
read
and
post
tweets,
but
unregistered
users
can
only
read
them

6. Why
Twitter
for
Health
Promotion?
ì Top
10
most
popular
website
worldwide
ì Accessible
any8me,
anywhere
on
any
Internet-­‐enabled
device
ì Popular
among
key
popula8ons
ì 27%
of
TwiLer
users
are
Black
ì 25%
are
La8no
ì 37%
are
between
the
ages
18-­‐29

8. What’s
a
Twitter
Town
Hall?
ì Online
event
where
a
group
of
people
all
tweet
about
the
same
topic
using
a
specific
tag
(#)
called
a
hashtag
that
allows
it
to
be
followed
on
TwiLer
ì The
town
halls
are
at
a
specific
8me
and
usually
have
a
theme
and
a
moderator
ì Also
known
as
TwiLer
chats
or
conversa8ons
or
Tweetups

10. Planning
a
Twitter
Event

11. Start
with
a
Plan
What
do
you
want
to
achieve
and
how
will
you
measure
success?

12. Case
Study
ì NASTAD
TwiLer
Town
Hall
on
HIV-­‐related
S8gma
and
Gender
Performance
ì Goal:
Engage
young
Black
gay
men
18-­‐29
in
the
U.S.
in
a
conversa8on
about
gender
iden8ty
and
performance
and
s8gma
ì Objec;ve:
ì Engage
S8gma
Summit
par8cipants
(in-­‐person
and
virtual)
via
TwiLer
and
video
livestream

13. Case
Study
ì 2012
Young
Black
Gay
Men’s
Leadership
Ini8a8ve
(YBGLI)
Town
Hall
on
Connec8ng
Community
to
End
the
HIV/AIDS
Epidemic
ì Goal:
To
increase
dialogue
among
YBMSM
represen8ng
diverse
backgrounds
and
varied
experiences
and
to
educate
and
increase
awareness
of
health
policy
issues
affec8ng
YBMSM
ì Objec;ves:
ì To
develop
best
prac8ces
and
new
strategies
for
reaching
YBMSM
ì To
mobilize
Black
gay
men
to
prevent
new
infec8ons
and
end
the
epidemic

14. ìKnow
Your
Audience
Who
do
you
want
to
reach
and
what
do
you
want
them
to
do?

15. ì
Engage
Participants

16. Case
Study
ì PrEP
TwiLer
Aler
Dark
Discussion
with
the
hashtag
#SexPrEPLove
ì Goals:
To
inform
and
educate
YBMSM
on
PrEP
what
it
is
and
to
encourage
a
dialogue
around
its
use
ì Objec;ves:
ì Held
at
night
8me
to
engage
individuals
in8mately,
and
when
they’re
most
likely
to
actually
be
on
TwiLer
ì Increase
knowledge
and
awareness
of
PrEP
with
the
assistance
of
community
partners
and
organiza8ons

17. Key
Questions
to
Ask
ì What’s
your
budget?
ì How
much
people
power
and
experience
do
you
have?
ì Who
are
your
partners?
ì What
type
of
event
is
it?
ì Online
only?
ì Online
with
a
live
audience?

18. Advantages
of
Online
Only
Events
ì Ability
to
host
small-­‐scale
event
ì Engage
with
audience
members
worldwide
ì Low
overhead
cost
ì Modera8on
can
be
conducted
via
TwiLer,
Hootsuite
or
similar
plamorm

19. Disadvantages
of
Online
Only
Event
ì Limits
audience
par8cipa8on
to
text
only
ì Cannot
control
audience
par8cipa8on
ì Number
of
audience
members
aLending
is
unknown
unless
there’s
registra8on
ì Par8cipa8on
is
limited
to
those
who
know
of
the
event
except
when
using
a
popular
hashtag

20. Advantages
of
Live
Event
+
Online
Participation
ì Audience
is
both
virtual
and
physical
ì Ability
to
gauge
audience
par8cipa8on
and
frame
ques8ons
to
enhance
discussion
ì Audience
can
directly
interact
with
each
other
(online
and
offline)
ì Audience
can
fuel
par8cipa8on/awareness
for
event
by
par8cipa8ng
online/offline

21. Disadvantages
of
Live
Event
+
Online
Participation
ì Must
have
a
dedicated
moderator
to
work
room/online
ac8vity
ì Technology
failures
ì Set-­‐up/take
down

22. Things
to
Consider
ì Who
will
moderate
your
event?
ì How
will
you
manage
Q&A?
ì Who
will
promote
the
event?
ì Who
who
will
manage
the
technical
equipment?

23. Equipment
You
May
Need
ì Computer
or
mobile
device
ì Internet
access
ì Video
streaming
solware
ì Video
camera
ì Audio
equipments
(e.g.
speakers,
microphones,
etc.)
ì Someone
who
knows
how
to
use
the
equipment!

24. Tools
ì TwiLerfall
ì Tweetdeck
ì Hootsuite
ì Storehouse
ì Storify
ì TwiLerCount
ì Tweetreach

25. Promoting
Your
Event
ì Suggested
to
promote
event
at
least
2-­‐3
weeks
in
advance
ì Central
loca8on
on
blog
or
website
with
event
informa8on
ì Crea8on
of
a
flyer
to
circulate
online
and
share
ì Use
of
a
popular
and
dedicated
hashtag
used
by
all
to
follow
conversa8ons
via
TwiLer
ì Providing
panelists,
organizers
and
moderators
with
sample
to
help
cross-­‐
promote

26. Promotion
Examples

27. The
Big
Event
ì Research,
research,
research!
ì No
subs8tute
for
planning
ì Have
con8ngency,
right
equipment
and
back-­‐up
plans
ì Do
a
run
through
ì Who’s
doing
what,
when,
where,
why,
and
how?
ì Have
minute-­‐by-­‐minute
script
ì Predict
ques8ons/prescript,
if
appropriate

28. ìNot
so
fast!
It’s
not
over
yet!
POST
EVENT

29. Post
Event
Monitoring/Evalua;on/Reports
ì Hootsuite
keyword
tabs
for
men8ons
ì bit.ly
or
similar
plamorm
to
measure
reach
of
links
shared
ì Survey
aLendees
to
gauge
sen8ment
about
event
and
feedback
for
improvement

30. Post
Event
Follow-­‐up
ì Compile
all
ques8ons
raised
by
par8cipants
ì Answer
unanswered
ques8ons
received
during
event
via
email

31. Post
Event
Lessons/Learned
and
Best
Prac;ces
ì Compile
and
share
lessons
learned/best
prac8ces
from
all
who
organized
event
ì What
went
well?
What
could
have
been
improved?
ì Host
mee8ng
dedicated
to
discussing
analy8cs
and
feedback
from
aLendees/panelists/organizers

32. Exercise:
Planning
Your
Event
1. Who
is
your
audience?
2. What
are
your
goals
and
objec8ves?
3. Which
event
type
will
you
have?
4. What
is
the
topic
of
the
conversa8on?
5. When
will
the
event
be
held?
6. How
will
you
plan
and
execute
the
event?
What
resources
and
people
will
you
need?
7. How
will
you
measure
success?

33. Q&A

34. Resources
ì hLps://www.aids.gov/using-­‐new-­‐media/
ì hLp://www.pewinternet.org

35. Contact
Us
Anthony
Roberts
Jr.,
MS
@arobjr
anthony@arobertsjr.com
Digital
Marke8ng
Director
ARJR,
LLC
Meico
Whitlock,
@MeicoWhitlock
mwhitlock@NASTAD.org
Senior
Manager,
Communica8ons
Na8onal
Alliance
of
State
and
Territorial
AIDS
Directors
(NASTAD),
@NASTAD