Herding Cats to Create An Integrated Tobacco Website

Background:  This oral presentation will highlight how the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) developed and launched a comprehensive website BeTobaccoFree.gov that combines the best and most up-to-date tobacco-related information from across its agencies into a single online location. Tobacco use continues to be the leading preventable cause of premature deaths in the United States and worldwide.  Tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke leads to heart and lung disease, cancer, and other illnesses, and causes more than 440,000 deaths in the United States each year. Over the past several years HHS has accelerated efforts to reduce tobacco use by taking a coordinated approach to provide Americans access to cessation and education tools.

Program background:  In the summer and fall of 2012 HHS developed and launched, BeTobaccoFree.gov.  For the first time HHS coordinated efforts among its offices and agencies including: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Office of the Surgeon General, Centers for Disease Control, Food and Drug Administration and National Institutes of Health to provide American’s with a comprehensive “one-stop-shop” for tobacco information. This resource includes the most current information on tobacco, federal and state laws and policies, health statistics, and evidence-based methods on how to quit. 

Evaluation Methods and Results: 

Information on BeTobaccoFree.gov is presented in a range of formats, including text, video, audio, and infographics.  The website was built using responsive design, which makes information accessible anywhere, anytime on any platform, from smart phone to tablet to desktop. The website’s unique social media dashboard, “Say It - Share it,” constantly updates the latest tobacco social media. BeTobaccoFree.gov was launched within the time constraints of an 180-day development, testing, and production timeline after reviewing an existing inventory of 1,000 plus pages of federal tobacco-related web pages. BeTobaccoFree.gov is also fully compliant with the American with Disabilities Act requirements.  

Conclusions:  But just because you build it, doesn’t mean they will come. Our next step for BeTobacooFree.gov involved developing a strategic communications plan that would allow us to position the website as the comprehensive resource for all federal tobacco information.  We worked with stakeholders in advance of the launch to ensure their support and provided them with a social media toolkit to assist them in spreading the word. We were also able to drive media traffic and create public interest in BeTobaccoFree.gov by launching the site on Nov. 15th as part of the Great American Smokeout. This built in news hook ensured that both the media and public would be focused on tobacco.  When the site launched preliminary analytics data showed over 17,000 visits within the first month.

Implications for research and/or practice: Since the launch of BeTobaccoFree.gov, HHS has utilized every opportunity cross promote the website with other HHS tobacco activities and engage non-government stakeholders to demonstrate the HHS commitment to ending the tobacco epidemic.  As communications professionals know, the launch of a website is a marathon not a sprint, HHS is constantly looking for innovative ways to keep the content fresh and users engaged with BeTobaccoFree.gov.