In an attempt to save young people in DC, Metro TeenAIDS has initiated an incredible campaign that empowers and informs youth to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS in Washington DC – it’s called REALtalkDC.

REALtalkDC is a social marketing campaign that empowers young people to Get Tested, Get Educated, and Use Condoms by using social media to combat HIV/AIDS. These multimedia components include:

• A text messaging campaign: “Text ‘REALtalk’ to 61827” – gives information to DC youth about where to access free HIV/STI testing and free condoms.
• A website (realtalkdc.org) provides comprehensive sexual health info.
• Social networking sites: Facebook and MySpace actively push out the message of youth getting tested and knowing their status.
• City-wide ads displayed on buses, the subway, schools and local businesses direct youth to text the campaign and use the website as resources.
• Peer educators are on the streets and on-line reaching more than 1,000 youth per month with sexual health information. They incorporate blogs, video and street outreach to promote the campaign, HIV/STI testing centers and condom use. They are a reflection of the target demographic we want to reach and bring innovative ideas to the campaign, keeping the campaign fresh and current with what is relevant.
• Video is a powerful way to reach youth through YouTube and the REALtalkDC website. The campaign has become more successful because it has tapped into the importance of user-generated content such as videos.

REALtalkDC Campaign Success

After 3 years of executing the REALtalkDC campaign, we know that these elements are effective. During the evaluation of the REALtalkDC campaign in 2009, we found the following:

• 78.8% of tested youth who saw campaign reported being motivated to get tested;
• 57.6% of youth who got tested and texted REALtalk reported that texting motivated their decision to get tested;
• 59.3% of tested youth who went to the website report that the website motivated their decision to get tested.

Just in 2010, the REALtalkDC campaign has accomplished the following:

• Website: 1353 visits to the website in this quarter with 820 of them in the month of June. The 820 visits is five times more than the number of visits in June 2009! The number of pages per visit has also increased. The revamped REALtalkDC website and associated materials stress STI testing and HIV testing as well as condom use and emphasizes the power of video to attract youth to the website.
• Bus Ad: Nearly 500 bus ads are currently within the WMATA system on buses that frequent Wards 5,6,7 and 8. These bus ads will generate over 2 million media impressions each month of the campaign run.
• Text Campaign: 1,875 text messages total this quarter. In June, there were 1,235 messages sent to “REALtalk,” which is over 6 times what was received in the month of May. The majority of the text messages went to the quiz, which remains to be the most popular part of the text messaging because people like to test their knowledge.

The Facebook page is proving to be a very successful way for the REALtalkDC campaign to promote its events and spread information. There are more visitors and loyal fans of the Facebook page while the REALtalkDC website is gaining much ground on its popularity.

REALtalkDC information was added to MTA’s outreach cards. When our peer educators conduct street outreach, they give a tear off to the person that filled out the card. This tear-off sheet explains that the recipient is eligible to win a $25 gift card if they go to MTA’s Freestyle Youth Center to get tested. REALtalkDC’s texting information is on the card.