How Can It Gets Better Get Better?
In the wake of major news stories regarding suicides committed by bullied homosexual teens, the It Gets Better Project has grown into a popular viral video campaign. Since early October, the campaign has motivated thousands of people to become fans of its Facebook page and to appear in videos on YouTube telling lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual and questioning teens why life is worth living. Many have shared their own personal stories. Celebrities, preachers, politicians, even Barack Obama, have appeared in official It Gets Better videos, and collectively the videos have been seen north of 10 million times. The campaign has contributed to spikes in website traffic, information requests and third-party fundraising events for The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention association targeting LGBTQ youths, and the campaign has inspired a book that will be out next year.
But now what? Where does the It Gets Better Project go from here? How can it stay fresh and relevant, and continue to make a difference?
Because the campaign's primarily driven by user-generated content, and because there has been so much content, campaign marketers will need to continually showcase new submissions and promote content through social media, says Risa Sherman, senior consultant for Cause Consulting in Boston. But beyond promoting consumer content, Bob Witeck, CEO and co-founder of Witeck-Combs Communications in Washington, a marketing agency specializing in LGBTQ cause campaigns, says marketers will need to promote more personal stories and success stories spotlighting people whose lives have been transformed by the campaign. And beyond featuring thousands of voices saying "It Gets Better," marketing will need to prove the campaign is making things better. Marketing has already begun to do so, taking credit for encouraging a school board member in Arkansas to quit after he posted homophonic language on Facebook, after It Gets Better called upon its Facebook fan base to call for his resignation.
To learn more about It Gets Better, tips for making a public service campaign take off, and ways to measure such a campaign's success, read the article "Public Service Campaigns Benefit From Social Media, Simple Messaging," appearing in this week's edition of Marketing News' e-newsletter Marketing News Exclusives, available here beginning Nov. 4. And click on the links below to watch the first It Gets Better video from project founder and Seattle-based columnist Dan Savage and his partner Terry Miller and another video from Barack Obama.
