The Trevor Project: Growth of A Movement?

The Trevor Project was founded over two decades ago to address a growing mental health concern among LGBTQ youth. LGBTQ youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide, and suicide is still the second leading cause of death among all young people in the United States. Its mission is to end suicide among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning young people. To do this, they have enacted five programs: crisis services, peer support, research, public education, and advocacy. Recent news reports that the organization is taking the necessary steps to broaden the reach of its brand and resources. They recently hired a new Executive Director to lead The Trevor Project México. They plan to launch their digital crisis services in Mexico by the end of 2022, making it the first time the 24-year-old organization has offered its life-saving crisis services outside of the United States.

Battle of the Titans

I was initially interested in seeing how their social media supporters responded to their expansion news; however, the organization has not utilized its social media presence to bring awareness to the initiative. This is a huge missed opportunity. With the globalization of the world being led by social media, the social media team could be capitalizing on such a monumental moment. I chose instead to focus on the conversations surrounding the brand. The Trevor Project’s most significant social media following is on Facebook, with approximately 1.1 million followers. Are large gap is present in the number of followers the organization has on Instagram, its second most prominent social media platform. Instagram only has 664K followers, but the levels of engagement are far higher than that of Facebook.

The Stats Are In

I searched using #theTrevorProject on both platforms using a systematic random sample of every 5th post of each platform’s top posts to conduct my social media monitoring report. I surveyed 50 posts for each platform and purposefully omitted content shared by the brand. This was done to focus on the conversation surrounding the brand and not necessarily the "core following" subjective views. On average, Instagram’s posts had 1567 likes and 36 comments, while Facebook’s posts had 208 likes and 19 comments. Visibly the Instagram posts see a 157% increase in engagement regarding likes and a 62% increase in engagement regarding comments compared to Facebook. The data is not necessarily groundbreaking. Spout social points out that Instagram's most crucial metric over Facebook is engagement. According to a social media engagement study, brands see a median engagement rate of 0.09% per Facebook post, compared to a 1.60% median engagement rate per Instagram post. This data shows a significant difference between the two networks for campaign benchmarking. Overall the Trevor Project has done a great job in solidifying its stance as a necessary resource for LGBTQ youth. Their posts are always bright, uplifting, and educational. The posts about the brand mirror that and show the community's support of its mission. Most of the content being shared surrounding the brand involved expressions of support or mentions of donations. Others were testimonials and "coming out" stories, showing how the Trevor Project has succeeded in creating a community.

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Recommendations

I have two key takeaways for the Trevor Project team:

1. Although most of what I found was overwhelmingly positive regarding the conversation surrounding the brand, the social media team should practice engaging with its followers. Responding to posts with gratitude, clarifying service details, or simply addressing concerns shows that a brand is actively surveying the scene. More proactive social media habits will make consumers feel closer to the brand.

2. Capitalize on the following the brand has during transitional periods. Expanding a brand’s presence beyond international waters is a huge deal. While I appreciate creating new social media to segment each market, using your current following could be beneficial in the beginning stages to promote and gain insights. Social media is an excellent tool for marketing, and using the following that has already been acquired makes the process of expanding more seamless.