Associations on social networks:
La Fondation Pour l’Audition

A major societal issue, deafness is still underestimated, not always well understood, and even taboo. The Fondation Pour l’Audition, recognized as a public utility in 2015, works to inform about hearing health, to federate the forces of professionals and patients, and also to advance research. At OTTA, this cause is close to our hearts, and we support the marketing and communication team to help them raise awareness and mobilize around these issues. The objectives are multiple: to raise awareness, to popularize the progress of research, to connect and mobilize, but also to raise funds.

Lucie Lansmarie, digital communication project manager, took the time to tell us more about the foundation’s social media strategy. A concrete feedback that we hope will inspire you for your next social media campaigns.

OTTA: What are the objectives of your social media strategy?

Lucie Lansmarie: The first objective is to gain notoriety so that the Hearing Foundation is known by a larger part of the population and by our stakeholders. The foundation also needs to gain recognition in its field by positioning itself as an expert on the subjects of hearing and deafness.

Secondly, we want to create a real community and commitment: through our news and our various societal supports, by highlighting research, we want to bring together discussions, testimonies and life experiences. Social networks allow this new form of communication and exchange between our subscribers and new audiences to be conquered.

What do you expect from the collaboration with a social media consulting agency?

We expect a social media consulting agency to bring us its expertise in the field with a real support for this field in perpetual evolution. The agency must also bring us reactivity regarding hot news topics knowing well our activities to, in fine, establish the right strategy that anchors our positioning and amplifies our messages on social networks.

Social media content production

Do you have an example of a successful post to give us? Why did it work well with your audience?

We even have two Facebook posts that have done well organically that we’d like to revisit with you.

Although it’s a topic not often covered in our Facebook editorial line, the first one focuses on scientific research.

This sharing of watch on scientific research related to our field has aroused a lot of interest among our subscribers. Indeed, our fan base being composed of deaf or hard of hearing people, they are on the lookout for scientific news in therapeutic and clinical research. This publication naturally generated more than 20 shares and 17 comments while reaching only 1071 people.

An efficiency that we also find on a publication concerning the primordial theme for us of the accompaniment of the concerned persons:

We announced that we had launched two new schools for parents of deaf and hard of hearing children and again in the comments, the need was felt. The post generated 20 comments and 15 shares, and beyond the numbers, we got positive feedback from people who attended a workshop and told us they got the information via social media! A great example of effectiveness and action by our targets.

Have you noticed an evolution in the relationship with your community? Do you have an anecdote to share with us?

Yes, improvements are noticeable on our 4 social networks concerned by OTTA’s support.

We notice that organic engagements are becoming more frequent and natural. The topics selected and broadcasted speak to our audiences and concern them. It is a satisfaction for the Hearing Foundation to know that its actions are noticed and useful to people.

What is tangible and gratifying on Instagram, are for example the reactions to the stories we receive, such as “😍”, “👏”. Humanly, it feels good to feel that posts valuing our actions are appreciated by our community!

Social Ads and smart advertising

Why choose to invest in advertising on social networks? What are your objectives?

Advertising on social networks is a strategic choice for us because it allows us to do several things:
To target our persona very finely. Indeed, our sector being a niche, it is essential that our messages are addressed to the right targets.
To spread our messages more widely, especially those of prevention which concern everyone in France: we have an important public health issue.

In a global way, social networks are here an essential communication support to reach the largest number of people and to change the awareness and behaviors regarding the hearing health of the French.

Who are your targets and how do social ads help you reach them?

Our targets are multiple because the subject of hearing health and deafness concerns the whole population.

We target young people aged 13-18 who are very much consumers of social networks and, at the same time, are increasingly active in civil society in favor of prevention and changes in our society. Their ability to prescribe to their families and friends is important for a plurality of our messages. It is also important to make them understand the importance of taking care of their hearing as soon as possible, especially with their use of amplified music and listening to headphones or earphones which can damage their hearing, which is not without consequences when they are older.

Active people, because many of them may be exposed to hearing risks, to make them aware of the importance of protecting their hearing. But also because they certainly have a family and, for them too, they are prescribers and can raise awareness and spread our messages.

Deaf or hard of hearing people everywhere in France, because one of our missions is to accompany these people, or associations of people concerned by a deafness. It is necessary to let them know what we are doing or can do. But also, as shown by the example of the scientific publication on Facebook, because we want to spread the news of science, to make them exchange, dialogue about their deafness and their life experiences.

Social ads help us to reach these 3 targets because the targeting by keyword or precise criteria allows us to do so. Reaching deaf or hard of hearing people is however a difficult and sometimes perilous exercise, because we touch on criteria specific to people. It’s easier to reach and raise awareness among young and active people, social ads are very quickly effective in this case, because they are broader, and the audience here is generally more receptive.

How do you rate the performance of your social ads campaigns?

The performances are very good and allow us to amplify the diffusion of our messages easily. This can be seen in the size of our communities, which are growing steadily from month to month on all our active social networks. In video, the results are particularly satisfactory with reduced costs.

What does social media represent in your global strategy today?

In the global communication strategy of the Hearing Foundation, social media has an important place. Indeed, it is one of our main communication tools because it allows reactivity and efficiency.

Social networks are for us always a good support to relay our news but also more global communication campaigns. The social media is therefore present both daily in our strategy, and punctually and in support of specific campaigns.

It is a medium in which our team is interested because it is increasingly being taken into account in the processes and the development of projects by our employees, even those not involved in communication.

What uses and trends do you think should be followed closely in the months and years to come in your sector?

Our sector of activity is changing, on the one hand because the number of charitable organizations in France is increasing and they are working on various causes. There is an important place for our foundation, the first in France in our field, which is hearing. But there are all the developments in scientific research that need to be watched closely: these could lead to changes in the behavior of some of our targets/audiences.

Finally, in terms of pure communication, social media has uses that are constantly evolving and our positioning, although it must be distinct and sustainable over time, we keep in mind that in the coming years, our vision of the use of this communication medium will certainly change, perhaps towards other social networks that we do not yet mobilize, perhaps by changing our discourse, etc.

Is it easy to work/collaborate with an agency?

Collaborating with OTTA is very easy. Since our foundation is located in Paris and OTTA in Bordeaux, all of our exchanges, for the past year, have taken place by videoconference and email exchanges. With a small team on the agency side and on the foundation side, it is easy to collaborate and work together. Fluidity and a reduced number of interlocutors were part of our wishes when looking for a social media agency.

Would you recommend OTTA?

Absolutely!

First of all, for the professionalism of its employees, both in the editorial consulting (strategy, creative ideas, etc.) and advertising (advice and training on advertising tools, etc.), their responsiveness and their quick grasp of the subjects (knowledge of the organization, its missions, its charters and language elements, etc.).

Finally, because OTTA is a young, dynamic digital communication agency with a constant eye on the latest social networks, it is also a bearer of innovative ideas and is not afraid to challenge itself on specific requests.

Key points of the Foundation’s social media success with OTTA

Lessons learned:

– it is important to have a varied editorial line, in order to meet different objectives: glossary-type content will have a higher organic reach, while testimonials will have a better engagement rate (especially on Instagram).

– knowing your target audience well allows you to select relevant content: here, for our expert audience, slightly technical watch articles about scientific research are very well received.

– Sponsoring content is essential to amplify the scope of the actions carried out, while allowing to conquer specific targets.