For The Trevor Project, the largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ youth, social media is an invaluable tool in the pursuit of reaching the more than 1.8M LGBTQ youth estimated to seriously consider suicide each year. With the knowledge that much of Trevor’s core audience – LGBTQ youth under the age of 25 – spends a lot of time online, Trevor’s social media team works intentionally to elevate the organization’s online presence year-round and spread messages of love, support, and affirmation.
Trevor’s social team consists of Rory Gory, Digital Marketing Manager, and Sam Gold, Talent Engagement Manager. Together, they spearhead all of Trevor’s social media efforts, including the CARE campaign for National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month (NSPAM); Bisexual Awareness Week featuring Trevor’s Bi Guide and a social campaign for Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV). Through their combined efforts, Sam and Rory have gained new followers for Trevor’s channels, increased social media engagement across all accounts, and driven awareness and education around important topics like suicide prevention, gender expression and LGBTQ-inclusivity.
For NSPAM in September, Sam and Rory created a campaign to educate young people on how they can CARE (Connect, Ask, Respond, Empower) for their friends and family. The campaign included a video from celebrities Ben Platt and Cynthia Erivo and was featured in major outlets such as Billboard, Playbill, and Broadway.com. Their efforts helped Trevor gain 32,981 new followers, garner 636,465 engagements, and achieve 23,693,738 impressions in September alone.
During Bisexual Awareness week, the duo implemented a week-long campaign to support young people with multisexual identities. Led by Rory, the campaign’s centerpiece was Trevor’s first-ever guide on how to support bisexual youth. The guide included illustrations by a bi artist, and was shared across social media by talent supporters such as Rebecca Sugar, Jazz Jennings, and more. In addition, the guide was posted in Them, The Body, and Reuters. In just two weeks, Sam and Rory helped Trevor gain 16,252 new followers, garner 364,508 engagements, and achieve 12,769,509 impressions.
Additionally, on TDOV, Sam and Rory hosted an Instagram Live featuring drag performer & celebrity make-up artist Gottmik and launched an Instagram Reels campaign featuring Ts Madison and Moore Kismet. The creators shared what visibility meant to them, and highlighted Trevor’s meaningful work to their combined nearly 2M Instagram followers. Other celebrities including Mark Ruffalo, Ariana Grande, Shawn Mendes, and RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants also supported the campaign on their personal channels reaching an estimated 340M combined followers. Through this successful campaign, Trevor gained 11,363 new followers, garnered 231,548 engagements, and achieved 6,766,108 impressions.
Sam and Rory’s impact extends well beyond these examples, but through these campaigns alone, they’ve helped Trevor gain 60k new followers, garner over 1.2M engagements and receive 43 million impressions. Their crucial work informs LGBTQ youth about Trevor’s life-saving resources and educates the general public about the importance of creating safe, affirming spaces for LGBTQ youth.
