Manitoba Suicide Line: Social Media for Life

Spreading a message of hope & a reason to live through documentary viral video storytelling, a print campaign and a social media marketing strategy for the Manitoba Suicide Line.

Spreading a message of hope & a reason to live through documentary viral video storytelling, a print campaign and a social media marketing strategy for the Manitoba Suicide Line (MSL).

It’s not often you can say that your work helped saved a life, but just a week after launching the Reason to Live website for The Manitoba Suicide Line, Tactica received this touching feedback from our client:

“Monday night one of our counsellors took a call on the Manitoba Suicide Line. The caller had been feeling highly suicidal over the past few weeks, but read the article in the Free Press featuring a picture and story about Pearl Smith, one of the participants in the interactive project. She stated that it was because of the ‘Reason To Live’ website that she did not kill herself that day. Instead, she chose to pick up the phone and call our line. She and the counsellor really connected and she agreed to a follow-up call and on-going support as needed.”

This feedback reminds everyone at Tactica how truly important our work can be. With clients like MSL, we have the opportunity and social responsibility to reach out to people around us and make the world a better place through our craft.

Project Goals

By developing a social media strategy and compelling, interactive content, Tactica helped MSL:

  • Increase calls from youth and other individuals thinking about suicide or dealing with a suicide loss
  • Increase traffic to the MSL website in support of the “Reason to Live” campaign
  • Build online equity and exposure for future initiatives including online counseling
  • Spark conversation and encourage website users to share the “Reason to Live” message with their online and offline network

Word-of-Mouth – The Most Trusted Form of Advertising

The challenge with this project was that it needed to have a social component, but there was no content to share. Tactica determined the most compelling aspect of MSL’s work, which was the personal experiences of people who have dealt with suicide. Tactica produced a series of emotive, intentionally low-fi videos, which are the most direct and easily shareable method of storytelling.

Features and Technology

Tactica created and implemented a comprehensive online marketing strategy for the MSL involving:

  • A campaign re-brand with the new name, “Reason to Live” giving a more hopeful tone
  • A complete website design
  • Social media tools to encourage sharing and viral marketing via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, mobile text message, email, and offline marketing materials
  • Videography and video editing services
  • Facebook advertising
  • Content seeding on relevant websites, blogs and message boards
  • Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization to reach a larger audience
  • Radio ads that re-purpose the website audio
  • Offline print materials such as postcards, advertisements, help cards, stickers and posters