Educating the public — AAD’s Skin Cancer Awareness Month positions dermatologists as the undisputed experts

Every May, during national Skin Cancer Awareness Month, we leverage media relations, social media, and other innovative tools to position you as the experts in diagnosis and treatment of skin cancer, and to educate the public about skin cancer prevention and detection.

Last May, we landed more than 2,300 stories that positioned board-certified dermatologists as the experts on detection tools such as the ABCDEs of melanoma, and prevention methods such as seeking shade, wearing sun protective clothing, and wearing sunscreen on areas not covered by clothing. These news stories were seen by the public 2.3 billion times beginning in May and continuing throughout the year.

All roads lead to PracticeSafeSun.org

Whether it was a key message during your colleague’s broadcast interview, or a graphic we posted on @AADskin social media channels, we reminded the public to visit PracticeSafeSun.org. This hub gives the public direct access to your expert recommendations on sun safety and offers infographic content that reinforces prevention and detection tips. Additionally, our Skin Cancer Resource Center garnered 1.5 million pageviews, offering the public additional guidance that can be used year-round.

Skin Cancer PSA campaign and #PracticeSafeSun social media takeover

This year, we launched a PSA campaign in tandem with our Skin Cancer Awareness Campaign, which helped drive almost 24,000 visits to PracticeSafeSun.org. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, the PSA campaign was seen 50 million times, including 2.2 million organic social media views. The #PracticeSafeSun hashtag was used more than 1,700 times by AAD members and the public.