GOING VIRAL: CDC's Zombie Apocalypse

GOING VIRAL:CDC’s Zombie ApocalypseMaggie Silver, MPH, CHESHealth Communication Specialist, CDCTransComm 2012Monday, October 1, 2012Office of the DirectorOffice of Public Health Preparedness and Response

Zombie Preparedness:A CASE STUDY

Campaign Objectives Raise awareness about emergency preparednessAttract new audiencesUse pre-existing content and channels to keepcosts low

Why Zombies? @CDCEmergency: “What are you prepared for?”zombies!hurricanes!zombies!

Public Health Matters Blog“If you’re prepared for azombie apocalypse,you’re prepared for anyemergency.”

Getting the Word Out TwitterGovDeliveryWebsite (flash banner)1.2 million followers FacebookRSS feedMainstream media7,000 fans

Social Media push; Marketed via Twitter,Facebook, Widget, Badges, Content Syndication,CDC Homepage News item, CDC HomepageFeature. Heavy media attention began andcontinued though May 20.Blog Posted; Marketed via EmailUpdates, RSS, EmergencyhomepageMost mainstream mediacoverage beginsTraffic increases from 80 pageviews/hour to 30,000. Blog serverscrash.Light media attentionbeginsTraffic exceeds 60,000views per hour

Twitter 2 worldwide trends (top tweet terms): “CDC” “Zombie Apocalypse1 tweet70,426 clicks34,714unique tweets1,164,057 views

Facebook Approx. 867 interactions* by 5/22 Majority are positive responses Conversations between users about preparedness More than 7,000 fans in 3 weeks

WebCDC Emergency website Page views 140,000 (5/16-6/7) 1,143% increase over traffic in 2010 Blog Over 800k page views in one day(more than peak day of anyemergency other than H1N1) Typical post 1k – 3k per month Badges/Widget 36,578 clicks to badges 56 website hosting (widget) interaction over Japan Response

Analysis of CommentsOt h erZo m b ieCam p aig n Ob ject ives0Kn o w led g e100Beh avio r200300400New Au d ien ce500600Zo m b ie*Based on qualitative analysis of 1085 comments, categories are non-exclusive700Ot h er

Media Over 3,000 articles andnews broadcastspublished within firstweek Reached an estimated 3.6billion viewers Marketing value 3.4 million Cost 87

More Zombies PostersT-shirtsGraphic novellaVideo contestPartnerships

Why Did it Work? Listening to the audienceCombined relevanceSense of humorBrand identityTiming“Absolutely brilliant approach! Humorwith an important preparedness messageinside. Plays against the notion that agovernment agency can't display humor.Really well done.”- Dr. Richard Besser, ABC News“That was quite possibly the only wayyou could have gotten me to visit theCDC website and actually read anemergency preparedness blog!”- Blog comment“I have already forwarded it to several friends and willdo so to several more! I think this was an excellent ideaand a way to make people listen to the things you needduring any emergency (not just zombies). “- Blog Comment

Your turn WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Engage Your Audience Create a social media presence Two-way communication Find out what your audience is interested in Identify influencers Partners Media Communities Be innovative Don’t be afraid to take chances Create content people want to share Have a sense of humor, but be consistent in your message

Be StickyTim e s Sh ar e d on Tw it t e rTim e s Re com m e n d e d on FBt r ad it io n al p o st sNo n -t r ad it io n al p o st sAv g ClicksAv g Vie w s01000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000* Data gathered through Adobe Cite Catalyst, go.usa.gov, Twitter and Facebook

Examples Look at campaigns you like Federal Reserve Valentines tweets#SpotTheShuttlePlanned Parenthood VampiresAPHA LOLcats

For more information please contact Maggie Silver at : msilver@cdc.govThe findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention.Office of the DirectorOffice of Public Health Preparedness and Response

CDC's Zombie Apocalypse Maggie Silver, MPH, CHES Health Communication Specialist, CDC TransComm 2012 Monday, October 1, 2012 Office of the Director Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response . A CASE STUDY Zombie Preparedness: