Towards the end of October 2021, as part of NAM's overall communication strategy, NAM posted its first videos on tiktok . Though many of the videos are an extension of the prevention education taught at area schools, anyone of any age can find something new to learn from the content - and NAM plans to deliver messaging and information for all of its programs and services on TikTok in the months to come. The page is starting to gain growth - as of January 2022, one viral video has now gained over 4000 views. 

“If our goal is to reach young people so that we can talk to them in their own language about what healthy & unhealthy relationships look like, and how to take steps on those relationships - so tiktok is the perfect forum,” says Sheryl Johnson, Director of NAM’s Family Violence Center. 

With the continuous evolution of social media trends, the NAM Family Violence Center prevention education program knew they needed to find a different way to reach out to young people, so that NAM’s message can be seen and heard in a way that youth and teens will listen to. It is estimated that a third of Tiktok users are under the age of 14, with the highest percentage of tiktok users between the ages of 10 - 19 years of ages. 

“The absolute goal of any of our outreach efforts - including education - is to help prevent domestic violence or teen dating violence in the future,” says Sheryl. “We have found as a society and in our field of work that social media is reaching more people that some of our traditional activities and events, especially during this time of covid.” 

With global downloads now at 850 billion, tiktok is now the fastest growing social media platform, so NAM joining the conversation in this digital space has become of critical importance. It presents another platform for NAM to deliver important program service information to the community.

“While there are some domestic violence programs across the state that are using similar methods on other social media platforms, very few of them are actually on TikTok , so it's exciting to be one of the first few that are trying it,” says Sheryl.  "And by taking our prevention education - which we know works - and putting it on that platform where they are already spending so much time , then hopefully we can reach them in a way that we didn’t before."

“Its a way for us at NAM to reach them beyond the classroom, and in a more relatable way. And they all seem to be on TikTok,” says Marina, a Violence Prevention Educator and NAM staff who headlines videos for prevention education on NAM’s tiktok page. “I think its also a method to continue the conversation outside the classroom - because prevention work takes continuous effort, so its a way to reinforce the ideas that we talk about, but in a fun & informative way. ”

NAM will also use tiktok to present messages from our Behavioral Health Department, Veteran Services and other client service programs.

Follow NAM on tiktok or any social media platform to stay in touch with NAM.

Find us - or invite the young people in your life - to follow us on tiktok. Our handle is @namprevents.