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Purpose: To describe the impact of the National Cancer Institute’s promotion of its youth smoking cessation program, Smokefree Teen (SFT).Design: We provide a description of campaign strategies and outcomes as a means to engage a teen audience in cessation resources using a cost-effective approach.Setting: The campaign occurred nationally, using traditional (TV and radio), online, and social media outreach.Participants: Ads targeted adolescent smokers (aged 14-17). The baseline population was 42 586 and increased to 464 357 during the campaign.Measures: Metrics used to assess outcomes include (1) visits to SFT website from traditional and online ads, (2) cost to get an online ad clicked (cost-per-click), and (3) SmokefreeTXT program enrollments during the 8-week campaign period.Analysis: We conducted a quantitative performance review of all tactics.Results: The SFT campaign achieved an online ad click-through rate of 0.33%, exceeding industry averages of 0.15%. Overall, web traffic to teen.smokefree.govincreased by 980%, and the online cost-per-click for ads, including social media actions, was approximately $1 as compared with $107 for traditional ads. Additionally, the campaign increased the SmokefreeTXT program teen sign-ups by 1334%.Conclusion: The campaign increased engagement with evidence-informed cessation resources for teen smokers. Results show the potential of using multiple, online channels to help increase engagement with core resources.

Purpose. ABC's World News Tonight (WNT)promotion of 800-QUIT-NOW allowed for a nationwide introduction of the QUIT-NOW number; this study examined the impact on call volume.Design. Pre-postassessment.Setting. National health promotion campaign.Subjects. U.S. population (smokers).Measures. Monthly call attempts to the quitline at national and state levels.Intervention. During November 2005 ABC's WNThighlighted the National Network of Tobacco Cessation Quitlines' toll-free number, 800-QUIT-NOW, during the month-long series, “Quit to Live: Fighting Lung Cancer.”Analysis. We compared changes in call volume prepromotion, during promotion, and postpromotion by percent and regional differences, range, and average number of calls.Results. Overall call volume in the United States (49 states and the District of Columbia) increased markedly in November; 37,049 calls compared with 16,145 in October. Although there was large variability across states, there was an average of 317 calls prepromotion, 726 calls during the promotion, and 397 calls postpromotion.Conclusion. The promotion highlighted the need for capacity building in terms of both sustained promotion and ability of quitlines to provide service as the number of calls increased, as well as the importance of coordinating efforts so adjustments to individual state quitlines can be made. The series served as the first national promotion and drew attention to the potential impact on the National Network of Tobacco Cessation Quitlines.

This analysis explores the impact of modifying the Smokefree Women Facebook social media strategy, from primarily promoting resources to encouraging participation in communications about smoking cessation by posting user-generated content. Analyses were performed using data from the Smokefree Women Facebook page to assess the impact of the revised strategy on reach and engagement. Fan engagement increased 430%, and a strong and statistically significant correlation (P < .05) between the frequency of moderator posts and community engagement was observed. The reach of the page also increased by 420%. Our findings indicate that the strategy shift had a statistically significant and positive effect on the frequency of interactions on the Facebook page, providing an example of an approach that may prove useful for reaching and engaging users in online communities. Additional research is needed to assess the association between engagement in virtual communities and health behavior outcomes.