Abstract
Objective:The use of media campaigns in health promotion has become more common in recent years. #HoldthatSmile is a British Orthodontic Society life-long retention awareness campaign aimed at the general public and dental profession launched in 2017. This study investigated #HoldthatSmile exposure on social media platforms over a 12-month period following campaign launch.Design:A cross-sectional content analysis.Setting:Public-facing, English-language posts tagged #HoldthatSmile on the Facebook, Instagram and Twitter social media platforms.Methods:Data were collected relating to a 12-month period, from September 2017 immediately following campaign launch, to the end of September 2018. The primary outcome was exposure to the #HoldthatSmile campaign on the different platforms through analysis of posts, measurement of audience reached and engagement. Secondary outcomes included demographics of user-types and content analysis of reactive comments on posts.Results:A total of 205 relevant posts with #HoldthatSmile were identified on Twitter (n=90, 43.9%), Facebook (n=64, 31.2%) and Instagram (n=51, 24.9%) with an overall calculated audience reach of 108,807 individuals. There were 1849 reactions across the three platforms. The percentage of reactions that generated comments was low at 3%, 6.1% and 5.7% for Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, respectively. Just over three-quarters of users were either Dental Surgeries (53%) or Professional Dental Bodies (28%) and the vast majority were from the United Kingdom. Overall, most comments were positive (46%, n=36) or neutral (44%, n=35) with only 10% (n=8) negative. The overriding theme was a person’s name, with the user commonly typing a friend’s name in order to bring their attention to the post.Conclusion:There were a relatively low number of posts relevant to #HoldthatSmile on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram over the campaign’s first 12 months. However, the majority of these did convey positive or neutral messages.
Highlights
Orthodontic retention is a subject as old as the specialty of orthodontics (Reitan, 1969; Rody Jr and Wheeler, 2017; Webster, 1948) with an evidence base demonstrating that the permanency of any orthodontic treatment can only be guaranteed through the strategy of long-term retention (Littlewood et al, 2016)
A total of 205 relevant posts with #HoldthatSmile were identified on Twitter (n=90, 43.9%), Facebook (n=64, 31.2%) and Instagram (n=51, 24.9%) with an overall calculated audience reach of 108,807 individuals
Just over three-quarters of users were either Dental Surgeries (53%) or Professional Dental Bodies (28%) and the vast majority were from the United Kingdom
Summary
Orthodontic retention is a subject as old as the specialty of orthodontics (Reitan, 1969; Rody Jr and Wheeler, 2017; Webster, 1948) with an evidence base demonstrating that the permanency of any orthodontic treatment can only be guaranteed through the strategy of long-term retention (Littlewood et al, 2016). The British Orthodontic Society (BOS) is the sole national representative body for orthodontists in the United Kingdom (UK) and a registered charity, promoting the study and practice of orthodontics through research and education, improving professional standards and educating the public about orthodontics and orthodontic treatment As part of this remit, the BOS launched #HoldthatSmile in September 2017 (BOS, 2017a). This national awareness campaign was aimed at the general public and dental profession and highlighted the importance of wearing retainers as a means of reducing relapse after orthodontic treatment, while promoting the need for life-long retention. The campaign published targeted press releases to the national and dental press and used a number of social media platforms (SMPs) to promote the messages and distribute the videos, which included Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn, under the hashtag #HoldthatSmile
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