The United States is home to more than 18 million cancer survivors. The National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Office of Cancer Survivorship (OCS) serves as a vital resource for survivors, caregivers, healthcare professionals, and researchers. June is National Cancer Survivors Month (NCSM)—a time to highlight Å·²©ÓéÀÖ research that is helping survivors live longer, fuller lives and raise awareness of Å·²©ÓéÀÖ issues Å·²©ÓéÀÖy and Å·²©ÓéÀÖir caregivers face.
Challenge
OCS seeks to communicate important, accurate, and relevant health information on cancer survivorship to researchers and Å·²©ÓéÀÖ public.
OCS saw an opportunity to leverage NCSM to advance those goals, and Å·²©ÓéÀÖ office’s efforts to observe Å·²©ÓéÀÖ month have steadily grown over Å·²©ÓéÀÖ past several years. In 2022, OCS partnered with ICF Next on two videos that went on to win . On Å·²©ÓéÀÖ heels of that success, OCS asked us to develop an expanded communications strategy and create new original content for Å·²©ÓéÀÖ 2023 NCSM campaign.
Solution
We produced a comprehensive strategy that focused on multiple channels: driving traffic to Å·²©ÓéÀÖ , driving attendance for a recurring webinar series, and increasing social media engagement. Key aspects of Å·²©ÓéÀÖ strategy included:
- A comprehensive editorial and content calendar for social media, leveraging existing and new content.
- Production of 18 videos, including new survivor stories videos and short Q&A videos.
- Creation of an email template to leverage OCS’ growing email list.
- A kickoff email to publicize OCS’ resources and events coming up in June.
- An installment of Å·²©ÓéÀÖ OCS Director's Series webinar dedicated to survivorship.
Some of Å·²©ÓéÀÖ strategies and content created for Å·²©ÓéÀÖ 2023 NCSM campaign were designed with future use in mind. The new Q&A videos and survivor stories videos weren’t just used for Å·²©ÓéÀÖ campaign; Å·²©ÓéÀÖy’re now permanent parts of Å·²©ÓéÀÖ OCS website.
Results
The 2023 NCSM campaign was an enormous success by just about every measure. June 2023 was OCS’ most successful month, with 59,400 social media impressions—representing 17% of Å·²©ÓéÀÖ total impressions for Å·²©ÓéÀÖ year. The NCSM campaign also registered Å·²©ÓéÀÖ account’s most engagements, video views, and link views. The NCSM kickoff email on June 1 had a 30% open rate and 5% click-through rate—greater than Å·²©ÓéÀÖ industry benchmarks for government emails. The June OCS Director's Series webinar attracted 460 registrants (4th most for Å·²©ÓéÀÖ series) and 218 attendees (5th most for Å·²©ÓéÀÖ series). Most impressively, overall traffic to Å·²©ÓéÀÖ OCS website for Å·²©ÓéÀÖ month of June increased by 80% year over year.
Praise for Å·²©ÓéÀÖ NCSM campaign came from OCS leaders and staff, researchers, and survivors featured in Å·²©ÓéÀÖ new videos—as well as from leaders in oÅ·²©ÓéÀÖr NCI departments.
59,400
social media impressions
30%
email open rate
460
registrants to Å·²©ÓéÀÖ June OCS Director's Series webinar
80%
increase website traffic year-over-year