Multimedia promotional campaignRiver Falls Area Hospital: Baby Café – Grand Opening

The project

Birth Center RN Karen Gresback, an international certified lactation consultant, founded the River Falls Baby Café in November 2013. Part of the international network of Baby Cafés, it offers weekly free access to lactation experts to pregnant and breastfeeding moms, in a relaxed, welcoming setting. In 2014, Karen and her manager, Julie McGary, decided it was time to launch in a more public way with a grand opening.

The challenge

The date of the grand opening was planned around the drop-date of Allina Health’s Healthy Communities magazine, mailed to thousands of homes in the River Falls area. Unfortunately, when a policy change in water births across the health system delayed publication of the magazine to allow references to be removed, it meant the promotion of Baby Café’s grand opening was no longer viable through this channel.

The solution

A variety of zero or low-cost platforms were used to spread the word about the Baby Café grand opening. These included:

Improving content on the Baby Café page of the website to feature the grand opening event information;

A series of Facebook posts on the River Falls Area Hospital Facebook page featuring “soundbites” from moms who attended Baby Café meetings and found them valuable;

A paid Facebook campaign to promote these posts, which linked to the website; A news release to the weekly newspaper two weeks ahead of the event, featuring interview

opportunities with two Baby Café moms and photos; Articles in the employee newsletter in the three weeks leading up to the grand opening. Flyers and Ronin screen promotion of the event in the hospital.

Although many of these tactics would have been used regardless of the Healthy Communities delay, one major feature, the paid Facebook campaign, had not previously been considered.

The results - highlights

Increase in traffic to Birth Center website of 38.65 percent over the previous month. Three Facebook Baby Café promoted posts reached 3,000-4,000 women in the target age group

within the target market over the two weeks leading up to the Grand Opening. Low cost to reach these people - $20 per post (total cost: $60). Half-page color news feature in local weekly newspaper prior to event.

Detailed overview

Online – A short URL was created to take website visitors directly to the breastfeeding page, which featured information on Baby Café. The URL allinahealth.org/RiverFallsBabyCafe was adopted and used across all collateral and platforms. Additionally, the Baby Café section was expanded to include information on the grand opening and subsequently expanded further to include copy produced as a result of the Facebook campaign. The Birth Center web page received 414 page views with 282 unique visitors for April 2014 (prior to the Baby Café Facebook campaign). The Baby Café Facebook paid promotion (including the short URL reference) ran from May 8 to May 16, and for the whole of May, the web page received 544 page views with 391 unique visitors, an increase of 38.65 % month on month.

Social media - Each of the three promoted Facebook posts ($20 per post) resulted in a reach of 3,000-4,000, which is 10 to 20 times the average reach of a post on the page. Women aged 18-44 living in River Falls, Ellsworth, Spring Valley and Hudson were targeted. The posts also got a good level of engagement, on a par with the page’s most popular unpromoted posts. An incidental bonus of the campaign was that the River Falls Area Hospital Facebook page acquired many more followers as a resulting of reaching additional users through the Baby Café campaign. The period April 1-April 30 (prior to any campaign activity) saw 22 followers added to the Facebook fan base, whereas the period May 1-May 31 (covering the campaign period) saw an additional 55 followers added. An album of photos which was posted following the event (not promoted) resulted in a reach of 288 people with 744 interactions.

Traditional media – The River Falls Journal ran a half-page news feature on Baby Café with two submitted photos the week before the event and included a plug for the grand opening.

Internal media – Three feature articles and six to eight photos were published in the weekly This Week At River Falls Area Hospital employee newsletter to promote the event during May (see below).

Grand Opening: Baby Café celebrates by throwing a party

Baby Café offers expert help, friendship, encouragement for moms

May 6, 2014

The solution to a gap in resources for new moms gave birth to a new group in western Wisconsin.

Baby Café celebrates its Grand

Opening on Tuesday, May 20, and new

moms across River Falls, Ellsworth,

Spring Valley, Hudson and beyond are

already feeling the benefit.

The group, which is facilitated by

Karen Gresback, an international board

certified lactation consultant and RN at

River Falls Area Hospital, started

bringing together pregnant and

breastfeeding moms in November 2013.

“Karen had been trying to find some

resources because so many moms were

going home and there was not sufficient

support for breastfeeding,” said Julie

McGary, nurse manager of the hospital’s

Birth Center.

Karen knew many moms were aware

of the widely publicized benefits of breast feeding – for example, increased immunity and lower

rates of asthma, obesity, lower respiratory infections and type 2 diabetes – but sometimes that

knowledge alone was not sufficient once the new mother arrived home.

“Moms can go home so overwhelmed and exhausted and emotional,” said Karen. “The first

couple of weeks are such a difficult time. Baby Café is a comfortable place for moms to come to

get that support and advice.”

She and two additional RN/lactation counselors, Ellen Johnson and Sally Ward, offer

assistance to mothers who may have difficulty getting their baby to latch, who aren’t sure

Pregnant and breastfeeding moms and their babies meet weekly

at United Methodist Church in River Falls. There's no charge for

the group, which offers free access to certified lactation experts.

Baby Café mom Alison Gresback with her daughter Lucy.

whether their babies are getting enough to eat or are looking for tips before their baby’s arrival

on how to get the best start to breastfeeding.

In addition to the professional advice from Karen, Ellen and Sally, the moms offer

encouragement and tips to one another.

For more on Baby Café, visit allinahealth.org/RiverFallsBabyCafe.

Moms welcome new Baby Café breastfeeding group

Grand Opening next week - everyone invited!

May 13, 2014

Since its launch last November, Baby Café

has already won some dedicated supporters.

New moms have found its combination of

access to River Falls Area Hospital certified

lactation consultants and the support and

encouragement of the other moms in the

group invaluable.

Second grade teacher Michele Johnson

attended the inaugural meeting of Baby

Café. She’d given birth to her baby girl,

Margaret, two months earlier, and was

already thankful for the breastfeeding

support she’d found from Birth Center RN

and certified lactation consultant Karen

Gresback.

“Breastfeeding was the hardest thing I’ve

done in my life,” said Michele. “Now, it’s

fantastic and it’s easy, and I attribute that

mostly to Karen Gresback and Baby Café.”

First time mother Kensey Schultz made

the trip to Baby Café as her first proper

outing once she arrived home after giving

birth to her daughter Tenley two months ago.

“I have met other moms who share

similar experiences, and that’s a really neat piece of it,” she said. “Breastfeeding takes

practice, persistence and patience. The Baby Café group has encouraged me to work

through my own challenges. I feel fortunate, especially as I know breastfeeding does not work

for everyone."

She added: “What works for one mom doesn’t necessarily work for another mom. Baby Café

is a safe place to ask questions and I really enjoy it.”

Second grade teacher Michele Johnson attended Baby

Café from its inaugural meeting. She thought the support

she received while breastfeeding baby Margaret, now eight

months, was “fantastic.”

First time mother Kensey Schultz, who made the trip to

Baby Café her first official outing with baby Tenley, now two

months.

River Falls Baby Café is held Tuesdays from 10 a.m.-noon at United Methodist Church,

127 South Second Street, River Falls. The Grand Opening will be held in the same location on

May 20, from 4:30-6:30 p.m. For more information, call 715-307-6319 or visit

allinahealth.org/RiverFallsBabyCafe.

Baby Café makes official debut with cupcakes, balloons and braceletsMay 20, 2014

A steady stream of moms, babies and

moms-to-be came through the doors at the

United Methodist Church Tuesday evening.

River Falls Baby Café celebrated its

Grand Opening after its first six months of

offering free access to breast feeding advice

and support from the international certified

lactation consultants and counselors at River

Falls Area Hospital Birth Center.

Regular Baby Café members and moms-

to-be were offered 10-minute chair

massages, while balloons and cupcakes

added to the party atmosphere.

Eight-year-old Ellie Lopez set up a

bracelet-making table, showing guests how

to craft their own bracelets.

Attendee Michele Johnson won the

drawing for a Baby Café gift basket, stuffed

full of baby goodies.

River Falls Baby Café is held

Tuesdays from 10 a.m.-noon at United

Methodist Church, 127 South Second

Street, River Falls. For more information, call 715-307-6319 or visit

allinahealth.org/RiverFallsBabyCafe.

The team behind the Baby Café Grand Opening event at

the United Methodist Church

Birth Center manager Julie McGary gets instruction on

bracelet making from Ellie Lopez, 8, who set up a craft

table at the Grand Opening