Mental health problems become an increasingly acute public health issue. Telephone helplines diversify how people with mental disorders access healthcare (Middleton et al., 2016). Moreover, they prove to be indispensable for alleviating crisis situations. Telephone counseling is viewed as one of the fundamental elements in suicide prevention (Chan et al., 2018). The HopeLine is an organization that serves a similar purpose. Its mission is to provide support through confidential conversations and referrals to community resources for those who find themselves in different types of emergencies; the HopeLine’s specialization is crisis and suicide prevention. The organization uses extensively social platforms and its website to engage with external environment, promoting its services.
The HopeLine’s website is rather minimalistic, which helps to direct attention to its main purpose – informing and inspiring. This focus and dedication to the principal mission is the most impactful element of the website which makes it appealing for potential employees. Although the site does not have a separate page as for a prospective employee, there is page named “Write for Us” which offers to share personal experience with mental health or crisis situations. The homepage reflects the organization’s mission and contains information on an array of subjects such as abuse and addiction recovery with which a prospective client may struggle. Furthermore, the organization’s site aims to instruct individuals regarding problematic topics. For example, how to recognize abusive relationships and break the cycle of suffering. For someone who wants to dedicate their professional life to crisis situation and suicide prevention, the site communicates commitment and the possibility to exercise this vocation.
The HopeLine has active accounts on social media platforms among which are Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter. The organization’s social media and the site contain a body of knowledge that might be also informative or important to revise for the current employees, for instance types and signs of abuse. Prospective clients might also find the platforms valuable – they can discover instructional videos on the HopeLine’s Instagram and YouTube as well as live prayers. These video materials could have an uplifting and motivating effect. For current clients, the website and social media accounts can serve as a convenient method to stay aware of forthcoming events, which help them to socialize and connect with people who underwent similar experiences. On the other hand, there seems to be no information for prospective or current funders, which might complicate the collaboration or discourage them from it entirely.
Diversity and difference appear to be prioritized in the way the HopeLine manages its social media platforms and website. This conclusion is based on how stakeholders are depicted primarily on its site and Instagram account. As an example, women and individuals of various ethnic groups constitute majority of people visually represented, which is effective considering the role of social media in promoting diversity. It is stated that social media present “an opportunity for individuals to connect with people of all different backgrounds – to find commonalities, to share experiences, and to solve problems in new ways” (Thirlwall, 2019). Additionally, there is a version of the site available in Spanish. Overall, the HopeLine appears to accentuate diversity on its social media.
Social media engagement reflects the impact and interest that an organization provokes in its target audience. A study performed by Xu and Saxton (2018) regarding the role of social media engagement demonstrates that ” strategic effort in content and relationship development pays off” (p. 17). Diversity possibly influences not only the degree of followers’ involvement, but also the type of followers who engage. The fact that the HopeLine incorporates a considerable number of images of women and specificity of its services might indicate that the organizations views them as a target group. The primary implication is that this approach possibly helps the HopeLine reach the people, for whom its services are directed. Additionally, the inclusion of Spanish version of the website potentially facilitates attracting Mexican-American adults.
Knowing the audience appears to be the most essential factor in increasing engagement. This factor influences type of content and on what platforms to post it. More personalized posts that have an enhanced value for the audience could be an effective way to increase the number of likes, shares, and comments. Improving the visual content by using photo editors and dedicating more time to take a photo also seems useful. Scheduling the time to post when followers are the most active and creating social media content calendar are seemingly instrumental to obtain the maximal reaction and stay consistent. Therefore, more stable high-quality content directed at a specific demographic could be recommended.
Conclusively, the HopeLine uses a wide variety of social media tools to reach and inform their target group about the provided services, that is, confidential conversations for people in critical situations. The organization’s website effectively communicates its mission and provides a substantial body of information that current and prospective clients can find valuable. The social media usage is extensive, as the HopeLine is present on multiple platforms. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of its approach to social media management is questionable, since customer engagement seems rather low.
References
Chan, C.-H., Wong, H.-K., & Yip, P. S.-F. (2018). Exploring the use of telephone helpline pertaining to older adult suicide prevention: A Hong Kong experience. Journal of Affective Disorders, 236, 75–79.
Middleton, A., Gunn, J., Bassilios, B., & Pirkis, J. (2016). The experiences of frequent users of crisis helplines: A qualitative interview study. Patient Education and Counseling, 99(11), 1901–1906.
Thirlwall, T. (2019). Social media as a means to diversity.Sfmagazine. Web.
Xu, W. (Wayne), & Saxton, G. D. (2018). Does stakeholder engagement pay off on social media? A social capital perspective. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 17–22.