The Journal of Community Health Management 2023;10(4):137–140 Content available at: https://www.ipinnovative.com/open-access-journals The Journal of Community Health Management Journal homepage: https://www.jchm.in/ Original Research Article Effectiveness of 2 different campaigning methods in reaching the public: Conventional pamphlet campaign vs social media campaign - A pilot study E Sharmila 1 *, V Ramesh 2 , R Jayaprakash 1 , S Karthika 1 , P Shankar 3 1 Dept. of Community Health Management, Tagore Dental College and Hospital, Rathinamangalam, Tamil Nadu, India 2 Dept. of Community Health Management, Sri Venkateshwaraa Dental College, Ariyur, Puducherry, India 3 Dept. of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, SRM Dental College and Hospital, Kattankulathur, Tamil Nadu, India ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 15-09-2023 Accepted 18-10-2023 Available online 09-01-2024 Keywords: Awareness program Early childhood caries (ECC) Conventional Pamphlet Campaign Social Media Campaign ABSTRACT Background: Cost effective campaigning method to attract people to an awareness program need to be identified. Conventional Pamphlet Campaign remain popular despite the expanding range of Social Media Campaign that have potential to reach large number of people at low cost. Materials and Methods: Two different methods of awareness campaigns were used to attract people to an awareness program. The Conventional Pamphlet was distributed manually and Social Media Campaign was done in Facebook as a paid promoted post. The budget was fixed to Rs.1200/-for each group. People with interest are invited to scan the provided QR code which directs to an Electronic form (e- form). The number of sign up were estimated in each method. Results: A total of 17 people signed up to participate in awareness program. Of which Conventional Pamphlets Campaign showed 6 sign up and Social Media Campaign showed 11 sign up. The cost per sign up for Conventional Pamphlet Campaign and Social Media Campaign are Rs.200/- and Rs. 109.09 respectively. The Social Media Campaign was the cost effective method and reached larger number of sign ups when compared to Conventional Pamphlet Campaign. Conclusions: Overall, our results demonstrate that Social Media Campaigning is the cost-effective method in attracting people than Conventional Pamphlets Campaigning. This is an Open Access (OA) journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms. For reprints contact: reprint@ipinnovative.com 1. Introduction Early childhood caries (ECC) remains a major public health problem in children. 1 ECC has been defined as “the presence of one or more decayed (non-cavitated or cavitated lesions), missing (due to caries), or filled tooth surfaces” in any primary tooth in a child under the age of 6 years. 2 The etiology of ECC is multifactorial and is mainly a time-specific interaction of microorganisms with sugars on a tooth surface. 3 Diet and feeding practices also play an important role in acquisition of the infection and development of caries. 4,5 * Corresponding author. E-mail address: sharmila26elumalai@gmail.com (E. Sharmila). The prevalence of ECC is determined by a complex interaction between sociodemographic and behavioural factors. 1 ECC can be prevented or controlled if treated appropriately. 6,7 It is not only the responsibility of the dental profession but also that of society as a whole. 1 Low parental knowledge could be one of the reasons for more prevalence of ECC which can be prevented by creating awareness among people. 8,9 This can be done by conducting awareness programs. These programs can produce positive changes or prevent negative changes in health-related behaviours among large population group. 10 There are different campaigning methods to recruit people to join the awareness program. Traditional https://doi.org/10.18231/j.jchm.2023.031 2394-272X/© 2023 Author(s), Published by Innovative Publication. 137