#analysis activity 2

The two pages seemed to be fairly similar in the amount of activity that they are getting, one was not enormously more successful than the other one. With that being said there are differences in the ways that they post and use their Facebook pages. 

The San Diego page had fewer amount of people following their page, but was able to reach the average number of likes for Facebook pages. They do post more frequently which I believe has created the small following that pays close attention to what is going on in the city, but there are ways that they could expand this and reach more people. One they could focus on using more emotionally appealing articles and pictures, it was clear that the most popular recent post was about the adoption fees being waved for Veterans. They also need to post at better times of the day, according to the analysis site there are specific times that will receive more likes therefore more views and they are failing to post during these times. They also need to keep their posts shorter and ask more questions, keeping the posts shorter will keep people engages and asking questions will allow people to engage in more discussion on the page. They also limit access to who can post on their page, by opening it to anyone it would allow a maximum of participation. 

After examining the “This Free Life” campaign, there is a clear target audience.  The campaign states that it’s focus is with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.  The community is specific, clearly stated, and has functional meaning.  This segmentation is purely demographic.  This is clearly stated in the “about us” section of the website, and also an easy conclusion to come to after viewing a variety of their material.  There is no specific geographic segmentation for this campaign, which may be beneficial since it could be applied anywhere in the United States (or even elsewhere).  Much of the content is available on the website, making the geographic location for audience unnecessary.  However, most of their events are held in metropolis cities, so may be targeting a more urban scene (where gayborhoods are more common?)  Events in rural areas, without a sense of LGBT community would not be an effective place to hold such events, suggesting that the campaign has selected appropriate locations.  The campaign discuss tobacco use, which is a known epidemiological risk factor and large contributor to poor health.  I think overall the campaign does an excellent job addressing these issues, specifically with how cigarette smoke hurts those in this community (from appearance, to life, to affecting those through secondhand smoke).  I found it really powerful that the campaign arrives at the though that this community has done so much to move forward and progress, so why smoke and hold them back?  This thought certainly plays into some psychographic aspects of segmentation, as if to say, if you’re smoking, you’re holding this community back.  There is a huge emphasis in “pride” in this community (and individuals having pride OF their community), and I think some of the overall message is to have pride not to smoke.  I also think that this campaign did a nice job of looking at each sub-segment of the general LGBT community and has content that many different people can identify.  The website itself is very eye catching, mobile friendly, and just screams millennials.  I think that it was a very clever way to target these segments/ sub-segments.   It is also very clear that this is who the audience is supposed to be, and the messaging matches the intended audience.  

The “This Free Life” Campaign is an anti-smoking campaign aimed specifically at the LGBTQ community. It is segmented by demographics (young, most groups of the LGBTQ in terms of sexual orientation/identity, and gender) epidemiologic/health - (the site states that thousands of LGBTQ people die from tobacco use so they are identifying the community as high risk) and psychographic - (the campaign plays on pop culture trends - featuring famous drag queens from Ru Paul’s Drag Race and over all appealing to a young, fun, creative, and cool aesthetic). I can’t seem to tell if this campaign is geographically segmented - as I can’t make out clearly from the videos/Instagram whether it is rural or urban etc. Maybe they are being inclusive since their primary audience is young and might not have control over where they live yet. 

I know that a significant amount of formative research went into the development of this campaign through Joe’s lecture. Because of this, I’m sure interviews with LGBTQ people happened within the cities and suburbs they were targeting about what kinds of messages resonated with them, reasons why they smoke or don’t smoke, impressions, and things they care about in general. I am not a member of the LGBTQ community so I can’t speak with resounding confidence from a personal place on it’s effectiveness in terms of segmentation and messaging. However, I can imagine this campaign resonates with it’s wording, usage of bright colors (that typically appeal to young people), beautiful images of different genders and races and general fun and creative appeal. I really appreciated this campaign’s framing of smoking within the historical - and current - struggles of the LGBTQ community. The language they use is galvanizing and community building - helping people to feel that they are a part of a greater community. They manage to weave together the key words for movement building and historical context (hurts our community), nationalism and consumerism/capitalism (threatens our freedom), perceptions of the LGBTQ community's priorities (ruins our appearance), and the public health concern (exposes our bodies to toxic chemicals and wrecks our health). Overall I think this campaign is reaching it’s “destination” and successfully appealing to it’s target audience. 

@globalcommunicationproject

The audience being targeted in this campaign IN THE BROADER SENSE are the LGBTQ Community. To narrow it down even more, the sub-populations would be smokers, potential smokers, young adults, people of color, and a combination of those sub-segments.

 In terms of the message, their approach was to decrease tobacco use. From examples they used in their videos, they showed images of clubs, bars, and liquor stores. These destinations would be frequent places to where people would smoke, so I think a sense of relatability was added into their message. In addition, they included drag queens into the message. The clever approach to this campaign was that the sources of the message were using humor and uplifting messages to promote self-esteem rather than take on that authoritative approach of smoking is wrong.

The sources being used are four drag queens that have appeared on Ru Paul’s Drag Race and are well known to the community, well at least those that keep up with pop culture. Drag queens have very large personalities and usually bring a comical experience to the issue. In addition, their talent and personalities give them respect.

 IF THE DESTINATION WERE YOUNG, CLUB-GOING SMOKERS, then the audience segmentation in this campaign was done effectively.

 HOWEVER, After taking a closer look at the videos and images of the campaign, I was really bothered by how misleading the approach was. The message takes on the approach of being inclusive (and I use that term loosely), but in reality, it is targeted towards a young, lean-muscular, and in gay terms “twink” population, for males. For females, there was an adequate job on being more inclusive of different shapes and sizes. And thankfully, they added a few transgender individuals.

 Body image issues are a big concern in the community, and unfortunately, this campaign fell into the trap of targeting only individuals who fell into the heteronormative, lean-concerned, club-going image. Not all tobacco users look like these “models”. There was a lack of representation of all LGBT individuals and they failed to include more people who identified of other sexual orientations (non-binary, pansexual, asexual, etc…).  The campaign was very stereotypical to what people think LGBT is, and therefore, I was turned off by the approach.

The broad segment that “This Free Life” targets is the young LGBTQ or queer community. Although those within the community have much in common, there are a lot of differences among LGBTQ persons depending on one’s sexual, gender, and ethnic identity. This is important to understand when developing a campaign such as this. Sub-segments within the community need to be identified as the queer experience is non-uniform and varies tremendously. 

One obvious sub-segment targeted by the campaign are LGBTQ folks who identify with and/or enjoy experiencing drag performances. Namely, folks who may frequent watching Rupaul’s Drag Race or attending nightclubs that have drag performances. This can also include those who see “flawlessness” as part of their identity.

Another sub-segment includes individuals who have recently came-out at LGBTQ or are thinking about coming out. The stories captured in the campaigns’ YouTube videos highlight this experience and show it to be act of bravery (rightfully so). This can be tactful in showing that if you have the courage to come out and if you cane come so far to do so, you can say no tobacco because it is not worth it.

Also, couples are also highlighted in many images, videos and emojis of the campaign which suggests that it is also targeting LGBTQ persons in a relationship. This can also be effective in showing the choice to be tobacco-free as one protects not oneself, but also one’s partner.

Lastly, the campaign also reaches LGBTQ individuals who socialize at nightclubs. This is common as these venues tend to provide a safe space for those in the community and a way to meet others. However, “social smoking” is often seen at these venues so reaching this audience is crucial.

I really think that the This Free Life campaign is a fun and creative spin on reducing smoking in the LGBT population. The obvious audience is the greater LGBT community, which we learned has one of the highest rates of smoking in the United States. But the campaign also targets each of the sub-segments of the community through the use of images and videos of people from across a multitude of spectra. Whether you are female, male, gender fluid, gay, bisexual, lesbian, transgender, Black, White, or Asian, any member of the LGBT community can find someone to identify with, or find a story that resonates with them, in the numerous images and links on the website.

The design and implementation of the campaign is so very phenomenal. What we so often see are anti-smoking campaigns that seek to induce feelings of fear and death among their target audiences. We’ve become so numb these advertisements and campaigns that non-smokers tune them out. The smokers themselves aren’t likely to quit from seeing these fear based campaigns- more often than not, they are already well aware of the negative health consequences of smoking. What this campaign does is take a more positive spin on a health topic that is so relevant to the priority population. The campaign title itself “This Free Life” capitalizes on recent gains that the LGBT community has made in its quest for equal rights, and it does this quite well. This campaign is about embracing one’s life and empowering individuals to make healthy decisions, not just for others around them, but for themselves.

The channel through which this campaign has been launched makes sense. The internet and other social media sites is an appropriate venue to reach members of the priority population, as many, if not most, of them have access to the internet. 

The source of the message is probably the best part of the campaign (and my personal favorite). Using drag queens (and popular drag queens at that!) is probably as effective a source as any for an anti-smoking campaign targeting the LGBT community. Drag is an up-and-coming form of expression that has become increasingly popular in recent years, so much so that almost every individual, regardless of whether they are gay, straight, or someone in between,  knows about it. Awareness of drag queens is probably even higher in the LGBT community, especially given the increased popularity of a drag-based reality show called RuPaul’s Drag Race. Using popular drag queens from the show, who have name recognition all over the country, is a way more effective means of communicating a health message to the LGBT community than any government official or health officer would be. 

The This Free Life campaign targets the general LGBT community, regardless of geographic location; they target men, women, and everything in between. This campaign is not created simply based on how this group identifies themselves, but is based on the best methods to get a message across to this specific population. In terms of audience segmentation dimensions, This Free Life takes a look at demographics, epidemiological/health (in the sense that this population may have more strongly opinionated image perceptions which could lead to more tobacco use and thus more illnesses), and psychographic (using famous drag queens like Shangela to get messages across to the population). I also definitely notice from the main page that the target audience in terms of age are young individuals -- perhaps those who do not have a solid grasp on their identity and are more prone to picking up a cigarette. 

I believe that through formative research, the creators of This Free Life must have honed down on the realization that the LGBT community was in dire need of a tobacco-free related health campaign and I believe that they did just that. They make the campaign fun with stories, videos, quizzes, and much more. They utilize many different types of social media platforms because they recognize that the LGBT community can best be reached using a variety of platforms. I really do believe that they arrived at these specific audience segments quite effectively.