HOW THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA- LINCOLN ACHIEVED ITS LGBTQ+ YOUTH STUDY ENROLLMENT GOAL
DR. KATIE EDWARDS
Director of the Interpersonal Violence Research Laboratory
at University of Nebraska-Lincoln
SITUATION
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln consistently ranks in the top tier of national research universities. That’s where Dr. Katie Edwards is an associate professor and the director of the Interpersonal Violence Research Laboratory, which is part of the university’s Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools.
The laboratory uses community-based participatory action research to determine how to prevent sexual and related forms of violence and support survivors in the aftermath of violent victimization. Supported by grants, much of the laboratory’s work focuses on minoritized populations, specifically Native American/Indigenous youth and families, as well as LGBTQ+ youth.
When attempting to enroll three hundred LGBTQ+ youth in one of their studies, Dr. Edwards and her team were inundated with fraudulent responses to their social media advertisements.
“The situation was extremely frustrating. Not only were we being spammed by online bots, but there were also real people submitting fake responses because they opposed our work,” said Dr. Edwards. “On top of that, platforms rejected some of our social media ads due to claims that our ads were discriminatory because we targeted LGBTQ+ youth.”
Dr. Edwards needed a reliable solution for enrolling youth in her study. That’s when she found COMMANDO.
WHY GO COMMANDO?
COMMANDO WORKS WITH EVERY CONCEIVABLE TYPE OF ADVERTISER AND LEVERAGES NEW
TECHNOLOGY TO GIVE ADVERTISERS ACCESS TO THE LARGEST LGBTQ+ AUDIENCE IN THE WORLD.
SOLUTION
COMMANDO specializes in targeted marketing that reaches the LGBTQ+ audience on the most relevant social, web, and dating platforms with compelling ads that speak directly to them. This was precisely the type of assistance Dr. Edwards was looking for.
“The COMMANDO team met with us to understand our goals, budget, and schedule,” said Dr. Edwards. “We sent them our copy and creative, and they took the lead in redesigning everything for us to better communicate to our target audience. Within a week, they launched our campaign. Our ads were live, and we were in inboxes on Grindr.”
According to Dr. Edwards, working with the COMMANDO team was a pleasure. “I don’t know how they did it, but they helped us achieve our enrollment goal,” she said. “And not only did they manage to fit their services within our tight budget, but they also met our challenging timeline.”
Dr. Edwards was so satisfied with the work performed by the COMMANDO team that she is planning to continue to work with them on future projects. “It’s nice to bring someone in that I trust to get it all done for me,” she said.
RESULTS + BENEFITS
“It was so much easier for us to reach our target
market with the help of the COMMANDO team,” said
Dr. Edwards. “They did everything for us. It was so
great working with them.”
ENROLLMENT GOAL
“Even though it took us a couple of attempts, we
ultimately reached our enrollment goal. That’s
something we probably would not have been able to
say without COMMANDO’s help,” said Dr. Edwards.
