Concept Note Social Media Campaign

Kick Ebola Out September 2014

SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLKIT This concept note is aimed to maximise the impact and effectiveness of the campaign "Kick Ebola Out" through social media. It offers some guidelines to increase the total reach of the campaign, and provides tools to achieve the objectives. This document is also intended to support communications around, and dissemination of the different resources.

Primary Contact Asad Naveed | slemsa-sierraleone@ifmsa.org President & Coordinator of the KickEbolaOut Campaign Co-Prepared by Claudel P-Desrosiers | claudel.pdesrosiers@gmail.com IFMSA VP External Affairs 2014/15 (elect)

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About the campaign The #KickEbolaOut campaign is a joint Ebola sensitisation program by Sierra Leone Medical Students' Associations (SLEMSA) and Association des étudiants en médecine de Guinée (AEM), which are both members of the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA).

Ebola virus disease is deadly and it has touched our beloved countries Sierra Leone, and Guinea. It is killing our dear ones. So far more than 1200 cases have been confirmed in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, with more than 600 deaths. Ebola virus is a severe, often fatal illness, with a case fatality rate of up to 90%. The infection is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, body fluids and tissues of infected animals or people. It can devastate families and communities, but the infection can be controlled through the use of recommended protective measures in clinics and hospitals, at community gatherings, or at home.

A large fraction of the population doesn’t even believe in the existence of Ebola. In Sierra Leone, for instance, relatives are forcefully removing patients who have been confirmed positive of Ebola from the isolation centers to manage them at home. The best method to avoid contracting Ebola is education and the Medical Students’ Association of Sierra Leone and Guinea are taking the lead by creating awareness programs in communities, schools and universities. Ebola can be and will be contained but it will require hard work, seriousness and dedication.

About IFMSA The International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA) is an independant medical students association that pursues its aims and objectives without any physical, religious, social, racial, gender or any other discrimination. IFMSA envisions a world in which all medical students unite for global health and are equipped with the knowledge, skills and values to take on health leadership roles locally and globally (www.ifmsa.org).

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Key Messages • The current Ebola Outbreak is the worst ever recorded in history. It has been devastating and

we expect the death toll to increase continually in the next months. • The Ebola virus has a fatality rate of approximately 90% and no cure or vaccines to the

disease have been found yet. • The outbreak could easily be contained through simple prevention measures (hands

sanitation) and community education. • Medical students in Sierra Leone and Guinea are taking the lead in their countries to raise

awareness about the disease, but they need your help to make the Kick Ebola Out campaign a success.

• You are also invited to organize events in your local committees to raise funds for the campaign and/or to spread awareness.

Indiegogo Indiegogo is our online fundraising tool. It serves to facilitate donations from around the globe,

and it helps to raise awareness around the #KickEbolaOut campaign. All the donations

collected will directly support SLEMSA and AEM efforts to combat the Ebola outbreak and to

prevent Ebola transmission. The money will be used for soaps and chlorine, campaign

materials (such as flyers, banners, microphones), and promotional advertisement (such as

radio programs).

The objective is to collect $5000 (USD) by November 11th 2014.

Link: http://igg.me/at/kickebolaout

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Social Media Guide Hashtags We suggest to use the following hashtags to facilitate the communication on social media and to help tie in with other conversations happening around the Ebola outbreak.

• #KickEbolaOut (main hashtag) • #EbolaOutbreak • #Ebola • #StopEbola • #ActNow

Facebook We will be posting regularly on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/KickEbolaOut. Sharing items from here would be a quick way to alert people to the latest updates. Other good techniques to keep in mind are to post pictures, images, infographics, and articles; along with a short explanation or quote, and a link. Ask your team members and volunteers to share post via this Facebook page, as to increase the web traffic and numbers of views. To increase the number of likes, one can post the link to the Facebook Page on Facebook groups. IFMSA has several groups that are open to everyone such as the ones from the standing committees: SCOPH, SCOME, SCORA, SCORP. Many national members organisations also have Facebook group on which you can post the link to your Facebook page. One other idea would be to ask the NMOs to post the link to the campaign on their national Facebook page. The same can be asked from IFMSA. Facebook posts can be longer than the tweets, and should include a more complete explanation for the intended outcomes. We also have a Facebook Group, which can be use to quickly spread the information within the KickEbolaOut Working Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/334811726695156/?fref=ts. This group will also be used to update you on the work on the different sub-groups (graphic and video designs, for instance).

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How can you help on your personal Facebook page? We suggest you below a few posts that you can use and adapt to promote the campaign. • The #KickEbolaOut Team needs your help to combat the outbreak. We have set up an online

fundraising platform, and we want you to share it with your friends and colleagues. Together, through prevention and knowledge sharing, we can #KickEbolaOut: http://igg.me/at/kickebolaout

• Medical students from Sierra Leone & Guinea are doing a terrific job on the ground to raise awareness about the #EbolaOutbreak. Now, they need your help to save the lives of their friends and families. Find out more about their amazing campaign here: http://igg.me/at/kickebolaout

• Are you terrified as I am regarding the deadly #EbolaOutbreak? My friends and medical students in Sierra Leone and Guinea are doing everything they can to contain the outbreak through promotion and education. Support their efforts and help the #KickEbolaOut campaign: http://igg.me/at/kickebolaout

Twitter We will be twitting regularly from @KickEbolaOut Twitter account. This Twitter account aims to connect with other stakeholders, and to disseminate our efforts in stopping the Ebola Outbreak. If you are on twitter, we also suggest you to follow these accounts: • @UmaruFofana : Sierra Leone journalist, writing for BBC and Reuters • @McKenzieCNN: CNN Reporter in West Africa • @DrSanjayGupta: CNN Chief Medical Correspondent • @BCCAfrica: African News from BBC • @MSF_Press: MSF is one of the only few organisations directly treating Ebola Patients • @WHO: World Health Organisation • @IFMSA: The International Federation of Medical Students Associations • @as_naveedo: Asad Naveed, KickEbolaOut campaign coordinator • @c_pdesrosiers: Claudel P-Desrosiers, KickEbolaOut Visibility Coordinator How can I contribute on Twitter? Again we suggest you a few tweets you can use. Feel free to adapt them! • We, medical students of #SierraLeone & #Guinea, unite to #KickEbolaOut: support our relief

efforts by donating online here: http://igg.me/at/kickebolaout

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• Can we #KickEbolaOut? Help us spread awareness in #SierraLeone & #Guinea by giving generously online: http://igg.me/at/kickebolaout

• #Ebola is threatening the lives of thousands of people around the world. Spread awareness and help us #KickEbolaOut: https://www.facebook.com/KickEbolaOut

• Medical student leaders want you to help #kickebolaout. Contribute online: http://igg.me/at/kickebolaout

• #KickEbolaOut: a campaign by medical students leading the change. Find out more here: http://igg.me/at/kickebolaout

• I am a medical student and I am worried about the #EbolaOutbreak. This is why I support the @kickebolaout campaign: http://igg.me/at/kickebolaout

• The #EbolaOutbreak could be contained more easily through prevention & education. Support our efforts on the ground: http://igg.me/at/kickebolaout

Don’t hesitate to “tag” stakeholders and global health actors in your tweets. Ask them for a retweet and/or for a donation; the more people we are able to reach the more money we are most likely to fundraise! You can also tweet the flyers and posters our graphic design teams have been working one, as well as the video made for the campaign.

Youtube The official Youtube account is https://www.youtube.com/user/KickEbolaOut. You will find a video song made by our friend Daniel, especially for the KickEbolaOut campaign. Please share it! If you want to produce a video to show your support to the campaign, we recommend you send us directly the video so that we can upload it on the account.

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Images Images might be particularly effective on Facebook, as posts that include photos tend to get a lot more likes and shares. Our graphic designs team is working on some new banners – they will soon be available on the Facebook Group. Meanwhile, here are two samples that have been previously used.

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Templates We are currently working on longer messages templates, which you will be able to use to spread the information about the campaign via newsletters, blogs entries, etc.

Additional Resources If you want to know more about the Ebola outbreak, we suggest you the following resources: WHO Ebola Outbreak Updates: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/en/ WHO Outbreak Toolkit:

http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/75170/1/WHO_HSE_GCR_2012.13_eng.pdf?ua=1 MSF Ebola Resources: http://www.msf.org/diseases/ebola UNICEF: http://www.unicef.org/french/media/media_75900.html What we are afraid to say about Ebola:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/12/opinion/what-were-afraid-to-say-about-ebola.html?_r=1

Foreign Policy Article: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/09/16/can_the_us_army_degrade_and_destroy_ebola?utm_content=buffer68cd4&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/whats-missing-in-the-ebola-fight-in-west-africa/2014/08/31/19d6dafc-2fb4-11e4-9b98-848790384093_story.html

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT ! Don’t hesitate to contact us for any questions. Together, we can #KickEbolaOut.