Guidelines
Objectives
The following outline the key objectives for maintaining FDI’s social media presence:
Position FDI as a strong online source of information in oral health matters.
Promote the organization’s projects, partnerships, activities and events.
Raise awareness of oral health news, mainstream facts and figures, and increase advocacy for the oral health profession.
Develop campaign strategies that create momentum and high visibility for specific events (i.e. World Oral Health Day, congress, etc.).
Encourage interaction with the audience for individual engagement and collective action.
Strengthen relationship with member associations by promoting their work.
Foster collaboration with other health organizations to establish a wider network for distribution of key messages.
Grow audiences on all platforms.
Target audiences
Organizational pages on social media are, by definition, open to the public. Yet, some platforms can serve as a means to communicate to internal audiences. For example, a LinkedIn company page is an adequate platform to communicate organizational news rather than oral health promotion messages, due to its business-oriented approach. Messages on social media should therefore be tailored to the most suitable platform, depending on the target audience.
External
General public
Patients suffering from oral-related diseases
Oral health professionals
Dental students
Health organizations
Dental industry
Internal
National Dental Associations
National Liaison Officers
staff members
volunteers
FDI leadership
Council
Standing Committees
Key messages
Oral health and general health are closely related and should be considered holistically.
The high burden of oral diseases represents a widely underestimated public health challenge.
Tooth decay is the most common chronic disease and periodontal disease is among the most common diseases worldwide.
Prevention is key through good oral hygiene and professional oral care, along with a healthy lifestyle which avoids common risk factors such as high sugar consumption, tobacco use and alcohol consumption.
Governments and policy makers should respond to the global oral health crisis and act to reduce the burden of oral diseases, through the implementation of evidence-based policies and strategies.
Activities and events for promotion
FDI News i.e. projects, partnerships, participation at external events (photos, stories)
World Dental Congress News (key dates, links, photos)
World Oral Health Day
International Dental Journal open access articles
NDA’s activities (stories, photos) • International Days relevant to FDI’s work
General oral health related news
Hashtags
Hashtags are encouraged for the following items, to ensure consistency and boost them in the hashtag ranking.
Event
#OralHealth
#ToothDecay
#DentalCaries
#GumDisease
#SugarTax
#WorldDentalCongress
#WorldOralHealthDay
#WOHD use year at the end (17, 18, etc.) if applicable
#dental
#dentist
#tooth
#teeth
#NCDs
#sugar
#tobacco
#diabetes
#obesity
Platform specifics
What works for one platform doesn’t necessarily work for another. Therefore, content needs to be adapted for each platform. Below is an outline of key points for each platform: what should be posted, who the main audience is, how users interact with the content, and how to measure impact.
For example, when posting a news story, the approach should be:
Facebook
Post frequency: once a day.
Main audience:
general public
patients
dental practitioners
Post language: colloquial, everyday conversational language.
Engagement: use calls to action, invite users to “discover”, “download”, etc. instead of simply stating that a publication exists, find creative hook instead of just stating the facts, and create a connection with the platform’s audience.
Use cover photo to promote WOHD and upcoming events, as well as to promote FDI. Change frequency: every other month.
Create photo albums of events generating interest amongst the audience. Avoid solo photo posts (Twitter style), and prefer posting content oriented to the general public.
Post organizational information as a news story to take the user to the FDI website – generating traffic and creating the possibility for the user to explore other sections of the website. • Post all news stories published on the website.
Use materials from WOHD and other publications (such as the Oral Health Atlas) to create social media specific assets highlighting key messages, such as postcards with statistics, quotes, etc., to generate high levels of engagement and sharing.
Search for oral health news from credible sources of interest to the audience: dentist-related, oral healthcare, oral diseases, sugar tax, how to’s, etc.
Share relevant posts from member associations to promote their activities.
Use hashtags (where appropriate and less frequently than Twitter) to facilitate connectivity and searchability.
Mention organizations (@NameOfOrganization) within the text of the post to facilitate connectivity and searchability.
Twitter
Post frequency: multiple times per day – FDI is focused more on disseminating information than engagement.
Main audience:
dental practitioners
scientists
advocates
media
Post language: colloquial, everyday conversational language.
Engagement: straight to the point, no need to try and engage.
Events coverage: inform that there will be live tweeting 24 hours before attending an event, then tweet as much as possible during the event. Try to connect to the speaker using their Twitter handle (@) if they have one. If not, use their organization’s handle.
Use cover photo to promote WOHD and upcoming events, as well as to promote FDI. Change frequency: every other month.
Use appropriate hashtags, trying to gather as many impressions as possible – see examples below.
Use relevant Twitter handles for organizations and individuals, trying to gather as many impressions as possible.
Always use the bit.ly URL shortning tool configured to http://fdi.ngo (log in using Twitter credentials) to track how many clicks a particular story gets and avoid the Twitter URL shortner.
Tweet short news bites that don’t merit a full story.
Re-tweet from relevant organizations on issues concerning FDI’s areas of work.
Use poll function to generate interest and create engagement.
Develop campaign sample tweets for internal audiences and share via internal channels.
LinkedIn
Post frequency: every month for FDI News and when there are organizational news published – platform focuses more on disseminating information than engagement.
Main audience:
dental practitioners
scientists
advocates
Post language: institutional language for posts, colloquial language for blog posts.
Cover photo: to promote FDI campaigns and events.
Platform value: this is really kind of a B2B social platform, so information should be restricted to FDI organizational news and promotion.
An FDI World Dental Federation unlisted group also exists (5,026 members) managed by Carole Ballanfat (ex-FDI staff and owner) and Claudia Marquina. There is no clear purpose for the group, but we cannot close it as we are not the owners.
Instagram
Consider using platform in the future to promote oral health when FDI’s social media has been well established across all existing platforms.
Take advantage of FDI-created material and push.
Consider creating a hashtag for #HealthySmiles – can repost other’s photos weekly/daily.YouTube
YouTube
Keep content organized in playlists.
Update channel main video every time a new video is uploaded.
Only upload FDI original content, unless it is a PSA-style video from a partner.
Use clever and appropriate titles to engage possible viewers.
Use appropriate tags to maximize searchability.
Vimeo
There has been no activity since 2014.
The account will be kept for internal use, but will remove public access – best quality streaming service, therefore good for embedding videos that don’t need to be shared.
Pinterest
Consider using platform in the future when FDI’s social media has been well established across all existing platforms.
Create pin boards for various topics such as oral health, healthy smiles, top teeth tips, etc.
Restrictions
Absolutely no product promotion on all social media platforms
Avoid barters with companies where FDI promotes meetings/congresses/conferences/events that FDI is not a partner of (use of FDI logo)
Promotional tools
FDI’s social media platforms are prominently displayed on the FDI website with an invitation to ‘Connect with us’ at the bottom of the homepage. A Twitter feed is also available in the same section.
Platforms should also gain more visibility outside of the digital realm, as part of:
intermission slides at events, meetings, workshops and congresses
‘thank you’ slide in presentations
branding at WDC (backdrops, posters, roll-ups)
booth branding at external congresses and other events
print publications
stationary
In addition to the promotion of FDI’s social media platforms on the FDI website, member associations should have their main social media accounts (Facebook and/or Twitter) made visible in the members’ section.
Evaluation
FDI uses Brand24 to monitor social media activity. Although this is a great tool, there are some limitations. For major campaigns, however, it is beneficial to subscribe to a more robust monitoring system for better results. FDI uses Sysomos to monitor social media activity for WOHD.
At the beginning of each month, a report is produced in Excel with all the key metrics for each platform (some of which are incorporated into the monthly general media report). The Excel report includes the following:
YouTube
• Total likes
• New likes
• Page views
• Posts
• Post reach
• Post engagement
• Video views
• Total followers
• Page views
• Unique visitors
• Impressions
• Engagement average
• Total followers
• New followers
• Profile visits
• Tweets
• Tweet impressions
• Engagement
• Mentions
• Video views
• Total subscribers
• New subscribers
• Views
• Watch time
• Average watch time
• Likes
• Comments
• Shares
• Videos in playlists
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