Healthy Teeth & Kids: Profiling 3 Existing Digital Strategies to Engage Children in Oral Health...
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Healthy Teeth & Kids: Profiling 3 Existing Digital Strategies to Engage Children in Oral Health Larisa Naderiani, HBSc, DDS. Tufts University School of
Healthy Teeth & Kids: Profiling 3 Existing Digital
Strategies to Engage Children in Oral Health Larisa Naderiani,
HBSc, DDS. Tufts University School of Medicine
Slide 2
Significance Tooth decay (a cavity) is the #1 chronic disease
in both children and adults, even though it is largely
preventable.
Slide 3
Rationale Childhood is when many behavioral habits are
developed: nose picking, nail biting, and especially tooth
brushing!
Slide 4
Organizations Profiled The Nova Scotia Dental Association's
Healthy Teeth Delta Dental's My Smile Kids The American Dental
Association's Mouth Healthy Kids
Slide 5
Healthy Teeth NSDA Healthy Teeth A non-profit joint initiative
of the State School Board & State Dentists Association. 2014
NSDA Mission: To serve the needs of the States >500 dentist
members Healthy Teeth Initiatives Goal: An oral education database
to teach children directly and/or indirectly (i.e., via lessons
taught by elementary school teachers or parents) Target Audience:
Elementary school aged children, grades 3 to 6 Online
Presence:
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: Web
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Blog 1 post Not maintained Twitter @theNSDA 128 followers 216
tweets (avg 2-3/wk) Inconsistent audience vs. content
: SWOT Analysis STRENGTHS -Site design concept is kid-friendly
-Color & graphics theme maintained from site through social
media, easily identifiable & consistent branding -Site
navigation is user-friendly, simple -Navigation links are cyclical
& repetitive -Content is interesting and multi-modal -Target
audience will have access to media via school computers if not at
home WEAKNESSES - Nothing is bilingual -Dead links (Instagram)
-Failure to update frequently (Instagram, FB) -Email & Twitter
handle not catchy or easy to remember, naming inconsistency may
result in loss of followers -Content & literacy level
questionable for target audience -Few social media followers
OPPORTUNITIES -Given partnership with local school board &
dentists, can be a platform to advertise initiative to gain
popularity -Parents & teachers tab can be expanded THREATS -Not
keeping up with quick pace of social media will cause loss of
followers -Difficult for NPO to compete for audience attention vs.
big corporate brand names with more resources (Colgate, Crest, Oral
B, Sesame Street)
Slide 10
: Recommendations Simple/Low Resource Social media accounts
updated more frequently (i.e., daily) If too labor intensive,
should streamline social media ( > depth) Twitter account
re-vamped to be audience appropriate & include more RT (
: Mouth Healthy Kids ADA Mouth Healthy Mouth Healthy Kids The
American Dental Association (ADA) is the largest national
non-profit organization representing dentist members. 2013 ADA
Mission: To serve the needs of >157k dentist members in the US
Mouth Healthy Mission: To be the premier source for public dental
health information and a leading advocate for oral health in the US
Mouth Healthy Kids Initiatives Goal: To accomplish this mission
with kids Target Audience: Elementary school aged children &
pre-teens (tweens) Online Presence:
Slide 17
: Web
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: Mobile Site
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: SWOT Analysis STRENGTHS -Site available in Spanish -Site
available in 3 text sizes (helps early readers in target audience)
-Mobile site available, no loss of content from full site, &
easy to use (mobile access is key for pre-teen audience) -Given
national platform, site is culturally diverse in content and
graphics/photos -Top nav bar is easy to use and permanent
WEAKNESSES -Complete lack of social media presence (tech dinosaur!)
-Lack of density and variety in content -Failure to update content
regularly -Bi-modal, uni-dimensional digital strategy -Not very
inviting for younger end of target audience (school aged kids),
loss of specificity with broadened scope of audience age groups
OPPORTUNITIES -Social media can be added (free!) & integrated,
especially given pre-teen audience group (YouTube, Twitter, FB)
-Given ADAs own vast national reach with dentists and patients as
well as their umbrella of sites/media access, advertising for this
initiative can be easily integrated into other pre-existing
projects THREATS -ADA umbrella is vast, mouthhealthy.org umbrella
is again vast, mouthhealthykids.org could get lost in the matrix or
marginalized (ADA has potential to confuse and over saturate own
market, i.e., act as own threat) -Again due to large scope of ADA,
labor & monetary resources exclusive to this initiative may be
difficult to secure
Slide 20
: Recommendations Simple/Low Resource Create a YouTube or Vimeo
channel (as most site content is video based, these social media
outlets would make the most sense). Pre-teens (tweens) can share
expression & personal experiences, which is a popular means of
communication for this audience. Challenging/Resource Intensive
Create more original content going forward as site is currently
heavily reliant on brand name pre-existing content (e.g., Sesame
Street) Invest in a social media strategy which will engage
pre-teens Invest in a professional web/social media based ad
campaign
Slide 21
So, How Do They Compare? Target-Kids, grades 3 to 6-Kids
(elementary) -Parents & Teachers -Kids (elementary) -Pre-teens
-Educators Site Content -Education (videos, text, info-graphics,
virtual tour) -Interaction (games, experiments, activities, quiz,
contests) -Education (text, stories, news, info-graphics)
-Interaction (games, printed activities, quiz)
-Self-diagnostic/referral element -Some education (videos, text),
most education is in Educators tab -Mostly interaction (games,
printed activities, quiz) Social Media -Blog, Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram -Twitter, Facebook-Nil Digital Presence -Concept/theme
vibrant & engaging experience -Very kid specific -Concept is
fun but visuals are bland -Tri-modal engagement: video, audio, text
-Bilingual -Concept not very kid specific, also mature -Bilingual
-Diversity
Slide 22
In Summary Small scale, specific, well planned Poor
maintenance, TLC required Large scale, excellent maintenance
Inappropriate social media use Large scale, well planned,
non-specific Multiple social media missed opportunities
Slide 23
Resources The Nova Scotia Dental Association's Healthy Teeth
http://healthyteeth.org/ http://healthyteeth.org/ Delta Dental's My
Smile Kids http://www.mysmilekids.com/index.html
http://www.mysmilekids.com/index.html American Dental Associations
Mouth Healthy Kids http://www.mouthhealthykids.org/en/
http://www.mouthhealthykids.org/en/ General Dental Statistics &
Information http://www.nidcr.nih.gov/
http://www.nidcr.nih.gov/