Marketing: Drug Social Media Campaign

Campaign Document

This document provides an overview of a plan specially developed to address the problem of drug abuse. Due to integration of social media tools into health communication campaigns, it is possible to enhance social activity and participation of community members in various projects, which affect health decision making. According to Korda & Itani (2013), “rapid and innovative advances in participative Internet communications, referred to as “social media,” offer opportunities for modifying health behaviour” (p. 15). There is a need for developing all the elements of a 4-week social media campaign in order to present an effective plan to the client for implementation. This plan can be viewed as a step-by-step guide which is aimed at leading the client through each week of the social media campaign. 

Part A

Campaign Overview

This social media campaign is aimed at attracting attention of people of different ages, races and  nationalities to resolve the problem of drug abuse in a comprehensive manner. Today social media can be viewed as an effective and useful strategy for health promotion and education. The use of social media for health promotion guarantees positive outcomes because of the increased impact on the target audience. There are various types of health risk behaviours, such the “use of tobacco, alcohol, and drugs, heart disease risk factors, sex-related behaviours, road safety, cancer screening and prevention, child survival, and organ or blood donation” (Wakefield at al., 2014, p. 1261). Drug using is one of the acute problems faced by our society. Researchers state that Oxycodone (OXC) use leads to “toxicity associated with multiple drug-drug interactions” (Cone et al., 2004, p. 616). Thus, the proposed social media campaign can help to increase public awareness of the needs for preventing drug abuse. This process will help to reduce the development of problems associated with using such drugs as marijuana, heroin/opium, cocaine and other illicit drugs. Drug prevention efforts will be focused not only on individuals, but also on their surroundings because of the use of a popular social media platform.

            Target Audience

The target audience includes adolescents, young people and adults. This social media campaign is developed to prevent the use of drugs, namely Oxycodone abuse, which have negative effects on human health. Actually, those people, who are known as drug addicts, have one or more accompanying medical problems, which include lung or cardiovascular disease, stroke, cancer, and mental health disorders. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “Imaging scans, chest X-rays, and blood tests show the damaging effects of long-term drug abuse throughout the body” (NIH, Addiction and Health, 2018). This fact means that the target audience will be represented by all people who have direct relation to drugs, including not only drug abusers, but also the ones who used drugs only once in their lives and never again, as well as the ones who have never tried drugs.

            Statistics related to drug abuse

The statistical data on prevalence of drug use in the United States shows that in 2016, “28.6 million people aged 12 or older used an illicit drug in the past 30 days, which corresponds to about 1 in 10 Americans overall (10.6 percent) but ranges as high as 1 in 4 for young adults aged 18 to 25” (Drug War Facts, 2018). Researchers found that the illicit drug use is driven by two drugs- marijuana abuse and the misuse of prescription pain relievers, such as Oxycodone. Adolescents aged 12 and over, young people and adults engaged in marijuana abuse are approximately 24.0 million people, while the number of misusers of prescription pain relievers is 3.3 million people. Statistical data shows that “smaller numbers of drug users are identified as the users of cocaine, hallucinogens, Methamphetamine, inhalants, heroin, prescription tranquillizers, stimulants, or sedatives” (Drug War Facts, 2018). Oxycodone is a legal prescription drug that can be found in any medicine cabinet. Adolescents and young people have easy access to this drug. They consider that it is harmless. However, many of them become addicted as long term Oxycodone consumption leads to drug abuse.

            Impact statement

Drug abuse has a negative social impact because of the negative consequences it generates. Using illicit drugs leads to poor interpersonal relationships, family problems, domestic violence, crime, unemployment, homelessness and even suicide. There is a need for recognizing the impact of drug abuse on society, economy and environment in order to implement the proper strategy and increase public awareness of the negative impact of drug abuse. Thus, it is clear that the problem of drug abuse should be addressed by our society to avoid ongoing negative consequences. The US government spends much money on drug prevention programs, but there are still many people in the United States who continue to take illicit drugs and who ignore the warnings of health providers.

This social media campaign is aimed at achieving the following three goals:

  1. to increase public awareness of the need for preventing drug abuse: Oxycidone abuse
  2. to allow the target audience assess the negative effects of drug abuse on family relations, work and social life;
  3. to increase motivation of the target audience to participate in various projects aimed at reducing the rate of drug abuse across the world.

            Rationale for the recommended approach

It is recommended to use social media campaign as an effective drug prevention strategy based on the advertising of Oxycodone. According to Evans and colleagues (2017), “new technologies, including the Internet, social media, and mobile phones, offer tremendous potential to expand the reach and effectiveness of public health programs” (p. 24). There are many prevention programs and initiatives that are based on the use of social media tools as the best option for delivery of important information. These delivery channels are effective in creation of a strong social community through information sharing, decision making and problem solving. Thus, Facebook, Twitter and other social medial platforms can be used to enhance sharing messages regarding the avoidance of drug use. Researchers suggest that youth should be trained to create drug prevention messages with the goal of disseminating them via social media platforms (Evans et al., 2017). This activity contributes to engagement of people of all ages in their social networks, with the intention of improving social interaction around the issue of drug abuse prevention.

The social media platform chosen for this campaign is Facebook. It is a popular social networking site that is presented in the form of online community where people are involved in social interaction with their friends and relatives, colleagues and other people who share similar interests with them (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Office of the Associate Director for Communication, 2011). Facebook is an appropriate social media platform because it provides different ways for social interaction, including chat, messaging, e-mails, video and voice chart, sharing files and pictures, blogging and discussion groups. In fact, Facebook is considered to be the most popular social networking site as it has over 750 million users from different parts of the world (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Office of the Associate Director for Communication, 2011). There is a need for considering the importance of global coverage of this social media platform in order to succeed in delivery the key message of the proposed drug prevention social media campaign.

Besides, it becomes clear that optimising the selected social media marketing effort, it is critical to have a good understanding of the target audience of Facebook. People of all ages, races and nationalities prefer to spend their time on Facebook. This fact means that Facebook can help to connect  with the target audience on social media. Hence, the proposed drug prevention social media campaign should be launched with the goals of changing  health behaviour and improving health outcomes. Due to Facebook adoption, this social media campaign will enter a highly competitive media environment and and deliver important messages regarding drug prevention. It is possible to succeed in capturing public attention due to popularity of Facebook and its leading position in the competitive social media environment. The target audience will be motivated to change health behaviours which involve drug using.

As a matter of fact, there are several strategies that can be used to succeed in achievement of the established goals of the proposed social media campaign. These strategies include posting pictures, sharing stories, inviting friends, and using the services of social media influencers. This drug prevention strategies should be widely used on Facebook to deliver valuable information about the negative impact of drug abuse of society, economy and environment. Exposure to drug prevention messages should be presented in a passive form. It is obvious that the outcomes of this social media campaign in the context of the health-risk behaviour as drug use should be measured effectively.  Besides, it is necessary to conclude that this social media campaign can be useful in production of  positive changes in society because many people, both young and adult people, will be able to recognize the need for drug abuse prevention. In other words, the use of Facebook is essential in preventing negative changes in health-related behaviours across the target populations. According to researchers, it is necessary to identify the factors that can facilitate the process of information sharing via the selected social medial platform, namely Facebook (Wakefield et al., 2014). These factors are “concurrent availability of required services and products, availability of community-based programmes, and policies that support behaviour change” (Wakefield et al., 2014, p. 1261). Thus, Facebook can be used to attain adequate population exposure to the messages regarding drug abuse prevention.

Part B

Weekly Guide

            This weekly guide provides an outline of the major actions steps and content distribution that should be taken during each week. The focus of each week will be different in order to reveal the truth about the negative effects of drug abuse, namely Oxycodone abuse, on human health, society, economy and environment. This social media campaign is aimed at creating more followers, likes and shares due to the increased awareness of people regarding their health status.

Week 1

There are several activities that should be implemented during Week 1. The Drug prevention social media campaign is based on the use of Facebook as a key tool in promotion information about the negative effects of drug abuse. There is a need for posting pictures about drug abuse. These pictures  can be used to improve understanding of the key factors that contribute to drug abuse. It is known that the use of drugs increases chances to develop addiction. Everyone should remember that uncontrolled use of drugs can lead to changes in brains. Thus, preventing drug abuse at the early stage is a good chance to avoid serious health problems in the future. The use of pictures about drug abuse can help to draw relevant conclusions about the sufferings of drug abusers. It is possible to demonstrate before and after pictures of faces of drug addicts. The reality of drug addiction should be presented visually to allow the target audience assess the effects of long term drug abuse. These pictures can help to prevent adolescents and young people from experimenting with drugs. Hence, this strategy can help to prevent drug addiction.

During Week 1, it is necessary to use 7 different themes, including the causes of drug abuse, the effects of drug abuse and the ways to prevent drug abuse.

Theme 1

Genetics as a Cause of Drug Abuse

Theme 2

Co-Occurring Conditions as Drug Abuse Causes

Theme 3

Environmental Causes of Drug Abuse

Theme 4

Combination of Causes of Drug Abuse: Oxycodone abuse

Theme 5

Effects of Drug Abuse on Family Relations

Theme 6

Effects of Drug Abuse on Work

Theme 7

Ways to Prevent Drug Abuse

Actually, these themes should be presented to the target audience with the goal of increasing awareness about the need for prevention of drug abuse. Each theme provides an opportunity to develop the proper skills to address the problem of drug abuse at the early stage.

Actual Posts for Week 1

  • sample tweets

Tweet 1

I believe that drug abuse should be resolved by our government. Young people are unprepared for decision making because they have no life experience. 

Tweet 2

Drug addicts are poor things. They need our help. Let’s assist them to become healthy again.  Recommend everyone to join our discussion group and share ideas about how to unite drugs addicts and help them to recover.

Tweet 3

My loved one passed the inpatient drug treatment program I recommended him. Now he feels much better. I hope that everyone will follow my experience.

Tweet 4

I think that it is not easy to choose the appropriate treatment program because some programs are ineffective. We need to consider the factors like the advantages of the proposed treatment options,  insurance and financial issues, and professional competence of local specialists.

Tweet 5

Today many people trust health care professionals because they are educated and experienced in dealing with drug addiction. However, we need to select the proper medication to assist drug addicts. I believe that statistical data should be used to identify the best option.

  • status updates
  • pictures
  • music
  • interviews

There are several interviews that should be included in Week 1 activities. These interviews are necessary to provide factual information about drug abuse that should be presented as evidence to increase public awareness of the need for prevention of drug abuse.

Interview 1

This interview was conducted on April 10, 2018. The interviewee is a girl aged 17 years old, a drug addict.

Interviewee: My name is Jane. I am 17. I live in New York City.

Interviewer: Hello, Jane. How old were you when you began to use drugs?

Interviewee: I was 14.

Interviewer: How were you involved in drug using?

Interviewee: I was very communicative girl at school. I attended parties and shows. I loved music and dances. My involvement in the wrong company made me a drug abuser.

Interviewer: When did you started taking drugs. Do you remember this day?

Interviewee: No, I do not remember this day.

Interviewer: What was the first drug you used?

Interviewee: It was marijuana.

Interviewer: What other drugs did you try?

Interviewee: I used opium and coke, as well as club drugs.

Interviewer: Would you agree that drug abuse is a serious problem for youth?

Interviewee: Yes, It is necessary to keep kids away from drugs. I am suffering much because of my problem.

Interviewer: What would you recommend to other drug addicts?

Interviewee: I would ask them to be strong enough to prevent the use of drugs. We need social support in order to address our problem. Moreover, we need to act jointly. I mean drug abusers should communicate with one another to make collaborative efforts in prevention of drug abuse.

Interviewer: What medication is dangerous and leads to abuse?

Interviewee: Oxycodone. Initially, Oxycodone helped me to relieve severe pain. I used Oxycodone in the form of tablets and capsules. However, its overdose is dangerous.

Interview 2

This interview was conducted on April 11, 2018. The interviewee is an Addiction Specialist, John Adams.

Interviewer: Hello, John. What is your specialization? Tell us about your duties and how you help drug addicts.

Interviewee: I am an Addiction Specialist. In other words, I serve both as Addiction Medicine Physician and Psychiatrist to resolve the problems of drug addicts. I hold certification in addiction medicine from the American Board of Preventive Medicine. My duty is to provide prevention, screening, intervention, and treatment for drug abuse and drug addiction. Besides, I can treat the psychiatric and physical complications of drug addiction.

Interviewer: How many clients do you have?

Interviewee: I have many clients, about 20. Among them are adolescents aged 12-14 and young people aged 19-23. The number of clients is increasing. Last month I had 11 clients.

Interviewer: Do you agree that drug abuse is a serious problem faced by our society?

Interviewee: Yeas, I agree with you here. Drug abuse lead to violence and stresses. People cannot control their feelings and emotions because of the negative effects of drugs on their nervous system.  As drug abuse is a serious public health problem, we need to identify drug abusers and help them to survive. We need to prevent the negative impact of drug abuse on communities and families. 

Interviewer: What medication leads to drug abuse?

Interviewee: Oxycodone extended-release tablets and extended-release capsules are effective. This medication can help people who are tolerant to opioid medications. Oxycodone is classified as opiate (narcotic) analgesic. It functions by changing the response of the brain to pain. However, it is a dangerous drug as its overdose leads to death.

Interview 3

This interview was conducted on April 12, 2018. The interviewee is a mother of drug addict, Jessica Mancy.

Interviewer: Hello, Jessica. We know that you son is a drug addict. What can you say about your problem?

Interviewee: I am upset because my son is a drug addict and he suffers too much. He is 16 now. He started to use drugs at the age of 14. I lost him. It was my fault because I paid no attention to his friends. They made him dependent on drugs. When I saw his sufferings for the first time, I though he had a panic attack. He cried and I could not help him.

Interviewer: What are your plans? How can you help your son?

Interviewee: I know that he needs professional assistance. Drug addicts are treated in hospitals. Thus, I found a hospital that provides easy-to-reach assistance for drug addicts like my son. I hope that my son will feel much better in the nearest future. The treatment program they offer includes  detoxification and medically managed withdrawal. I hope that the medications administered by my son’s physician will be effective to manage withdrawal.

Interviewer: What medication did your son used ?

Interviewee: He used Oxycodone tables. The dose was high and led to abuse.

Week 2

This week requires using the services of health care professional specialized in drug abuse prevention. They will provide valuable information about drug abuse, considering the identified 7 themes (each theme for each day of the week) and discuss Oxycodone abuse.

Week 3

This week requires assistance of family members of drug addicts. They will share their views about drug abuse and Oxycodone abuse.

Week 4

This week requires assistance of law enforcement personnel to address the issues relevant to drug abuse from their point of view. 

Thus, the focus of each week is different. The content of each week is built on the what was posted the previous week. In general, each week fits into the overall strategy because the identified themes are relevant to drug abuse. The social media campaign is developed to attract attention of the target audience and increase social response to the problem of drug abuse, namely Oxycodone abuse.

20 Facebook Posts

  1. Drug abuse is a serious problem. I know that many drug abusers are poor people. They are dependent on drugs. The causes of drug abuse are still unknown because some people say that  he cause genetic predisposition is one of the leading causes, while other people believe that co-occurring conditions may affect drug abuse. I know that environmental circumstances can be viewed as the cause of drug abuse.
  2. The fact that many pre-adolescents and adolescents are under the threat of drug abuse means that we need to respond to this problem effectively. Our teachers and school administartoirs should be more attentive to the problem of drug abuse. I know many teachers who control their students’ behaviour both in school settings and outside schools. They are responsible people. However, parents should be attentive to their kids too. I believe that drug abuse should be prevented by parents.
  3. I know that many people use drugs and only a small percentage of people are drug abusers. Mass media sources inform us about the negative effects of drugs on human health. I have many friends who do not use drugs because they are aware of the negative consequences of drug abuse.  I agree with drug prevention specialists that excessive drug using often rans in family contexts. It is clear that genetic may be regarded as one of the major causes of drug abuse.
  4. My personal experience shows that if  parents abuse drugs, their children are put at risk of drug abuse. It is possible for their children to grow up without any problems linked to excessive drug using. I know many families which are healthy, but their children are drug abusers. I can conclude that genetics alone cannot be regarded as the major cause of drug abuse. Other factors are peers influence and anti-social behaviour.
  5. I am against drugs. I think that drug abuse often occurs in the families which lack mutual understanding. Other conditions, which may lead to drug abuse are mental illness and alcohol dependence. I agree with my colleagues who state that  mental illness itself cannot be regarded as the major cause of drug abuse. What we need is to conduct research to identify the connection between different conductions that lead to drug abuse.
  6.  I think that drug abuse is unavoidable. There are many people who do not like to comply with the established rules and regulations. My neighbour is a drug abuser. In his situation, the major cause of drug abuse is the attempt to manage the symptoms of his mental illness. He has severe depression. So, he uses drugs repeatedly, every day and every week. He wants to escape depressive mood and uses drugs to do it effectively.
  7. As for me, I hate drug abusers. I consider they are weak people. From my point of view, they use drugs because they are unable to make right decisions. These people need external assistance because of the poor adaptability to changing life circumstances. They need family support because family members can help them to become self-confident. They can control their behaviour in order to prevent repeated actions that lead to uncontrolled drug using.
  8. I think that there are certain life circumstances, which may affect the growth of drug abusers among young people. For example, I know that many adolescents aged 12-13 are neglected by their parents. Thus, they face serious psychological problems that may become the direct cause of drug abuse. I know that parental abuse and neglect are the key factors that affect young people’s intention to use drugs. Many adolescents and pre-adolescent are trying to gain attention from their parents because they need their support or advice.
  9. I agree that inattentive parents have adverse impact on their children’s behaviour. Any drug user, a child or an adolescent, is a victim of parental neglect. I known that the presence of drugs in the home contributes to inadequate decisions which lead to drug abuse among young people. Because of poor communication with parents and conflicts in family, children become alienated. They start to use drugs.
  10. I assume that the key factor that lead to drug abuse is unstable family relations. Parents should be focused on creating the proper conditions for prevention of drug abuse. They should be aware of the fact if their kids’ friends or peers use drugs. It is necessary to prevent permissive attitude of parents towards their own drug use. Poor parenting creates freedom in activities of children and adolescents. They have no boundaries; therefore, they start using drugs.
  11. I think that young people should be aware of the negative effects of drug abuse. Because of poor achievement in school and serious behavioural problems, adolescents start to use drugs repeatedly. Schools should not approve drug use. Teachers should identify adverse peer group influence which leads to involvement of children in drug abuse. Undoubtedly, our community is responsible for addressing the problem of drug abuse at the local level.
  12. I think that because of the availability of drugs from friends and peers, drug abuse has become a serious problem in schools. Nevertheless, I believe that genetic factors and psychiatric disorders may be combined with environmental causes of drug abuse. This fact means that we need to consider the effect of the combination of risk factors to prevent the growth rate of drug abusers in our communities.
  13.  It is true truly that the cause of drug abuse should be identified by our governmental agencies because the problem has already become a public health problem.  We need to assess the benefits of drug prevention programs launched by the government in order to achieve success in drug prevention. Undoubtedly, we need to consider the impact of genetic predisposition to drug abuse. Anyway, we nee to work collaboratively to resolve the problem effectively.
  14.  I know many parents who abused drugs in the past. They passed treatment and achieved positive outcomes. Currently, they take care of their kids because they do not want then to become drug abusers.  They try to avoid creation of an unstable home life. They try to prevent the growth of emotional or psychological problems. As a result, they kids are aware of the need for avoiding excessive drug using.
  15. I know that many people who become addicted to drugs are party goers. They use recreational drugs such as cocaine, marijuana, and heroin and others. Many of them began to use drugs on an experimental basis.  They wanted to know more about the feelings and emotion produced as a result of drug using. We need to prevent experiments with recreational drugs. Teenagers should be controlled by their parents and teachers.
  16.  I think that during teenage years, parents need to strengthen their control of their kids’ activities, interests and interactions. They should ask their kids about their academic achievement and about their friends’ interests. If young people start to experiment with drugs, they may become addicted. In many cases, recreational use of drugs does not lead to drug abuse. However, the major reasons of experimenting with drugs should be identified. 
  17. My personal experience shows that young people want to fit in with their peers; therefore, they start using drugs. I do not think that they use drugs to increase their energy. As a rule, they are interested in relaxation. Those young people who want to  improve their athletic performance, do not use drugs. They eat vitamins, minerals and proteins. They go in for sport. Thus, I think that sport activities can help to prevent youth from using drugs.
  18. I know a boy who began to use drugs at the age of 13. He had a traumatic experience during his childhood which led to his involvement tin drug abuse. Many people want to use drugs to avoid sufferings caused by other people or life events. We need to support these people because social support guarantees positive outcomes in prevention of drug abuse. Due to volunteering, it is possible to address the problem collaboratively.
  19. My brother is a drug abuser. I know that he is a poor man. He is 23. He needs increased doses of drugs. He is aggressive and event emotionally unstable, especially when the drug he needs is unavailable. We asked for help and now we are going to place him to a hospital which provides drug prevention program. Hope that everything will be Ok. Our community offers assistance in dealing with local issues, such as medications and insurance. 
  20. I have never tried drugs, but I know that continuous cravings for drugs is the major problem faced by drug abusers. What we need is to prevent drug abuse through collaborative efforts. I agree that special community programs and projects should be developed to united people who use drugs repeatedly. We need to help drug abusers abandon the activities that cause them pleasure. We can helps them to overcome depression and lead a healthy lifestyle.

References

Cone, E. J., Fant, R., Rohay, J. et. al. (2004). “Oxycodone Involvement in Drug Abuse Deaths. II. Evidence for Toxic Multiple Drug-Drug Interactions,” Journal of Analytical Toxicology, 28(7): 612-624.

Drug War Facts. (2018). Drug Use Estimates. http://www.drugwarfacts.org/chapter/prevalence

Evans, W., Andrade, E., Goldmeer, S., Smith, M., Snider, J. & Girardo, G. (2017). “The Living the Example Social Media Substance Use Prevention Program: A Pilot Evaluation,” JMIR Mental Health, 4(2): 24.

Korda, H. & Itani, Z. (2013). “Harnessing Social Media for Health Promotion and Behaviour Change,” Health Promotion Practice, 14(1): 15-23.

NIH. Addiction and health. (2018). Drugs, Brains and Behaviour: The Science of Addiction. https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugs-brains-behavior-science-addiction/addiction-health

Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Office of the Associate Director for Communication. (2011). The Health Communicator’s Social Media Tooklit.

Wakefield, M. A., Loken, B., Hornik, R. C. (2014). “Use of mass media campaigns to change health behaviour,” Lancet, 376(9748): 1261-1271.

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