Connecting the region through infographics and social media in tobacco control campaigns

Background and challenges to implementation Over 300 million people are active social media users in South East Asia 1 . Social media offers civil society and non-government organizations (NGOs) a chance to move from a one-way to a two-way type of communication that is interactive and engaging. It is an important and instinctive tool that NGOs can use in different advocacies to inform, educate and get people to act on a particular issue. Social media is an extremely efficient and affordable tool that should be part of every organization's communications strategy. Because people are flooded with so many information in social media, infographics can really grab your audience's attention. 1 Digital in Southeast Asia in 2017 https://wearesocial.com/sg/blog/2017/02/digital-southeast-asia-2017 Intervention or response During the 2017 World No Tobacco Day, the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) launched a 7-day social media campaign on Facebook and Twitter. With the theme: "Tobacco - A Threat to Development", SEATCA developed materials in the form of infographics that showed how tobacco poses a threat to the sustainable development of all countries and how these threats can be addressed by different tobacco control measures 1 . We encouraged partners from different parts of the region to localize the materials based on their country data and experience. 1 SEATCA Infographics for World No Tobacco Day 2017: http://bit.ly/2tPgSQX http://bit.ly/2uxdIit http://bit.ly/2uR0bl4 Results and lessons learnt Studies also show that materials with visual elements like compelling images or graphics can generate more views than text only messages. Infographics can also be a truly effective way to increase awareness on your organization. Conclusions and key recommendations Combining your infographics with a well-written message is a powerful way to help your content cut through the information jungle. It is also important that messages in your social media materials are relatable to your followers