February 22, 2018 – Author: Mary Doroshenk, MA

It’s almost March of 2018! National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, is always an exciting time as we make the most of our time in the national spotlight, but 2018 is an especially big year for us. We’ve some great plans in place, and we know you do too. We need everyone’s help promoting these events, so we can amplify our collective voice.

On Thursday, March 8th, the NCCRT will be co-hosting a live broadcast from the “Blue Carpet” in Los Angeles to celebrate the start of March. The theme this March is Colorectal Cancer Screening Coast to Coast: Driving to 80%. Streaming from the “Blue Carpet” will start at 4:00pm EST/1:00pm Pacific; our Coast to Coast Celebrity and Survivor Discussions will start at 4:30pm ET/1:30pm Pacific. We are partnering with Fight Colorectal Cancer, the American Cancer Society, the Mayo Clinic, Exact Sciences, UPS, and others to leverage the voices of celebrities, survivors, and experts to educate people about colorectal cancer and the life-saving importance of screening.

How can you be a part of CRCCoast2Coast?

• If you are in the Los Angeles area, register by February 26th to join us! Space is limited.
• Not going to be in LA? You can watch the events through Facebook Live on the American Cancer Society, NCCRT, Fight CRC or Mayo Clinic Facebook pages. Be sure to “like” the pages in advance so you get event notifications the day of. You could even plan to host a watch party! Post pictures and videos on Twitter or Instagram using #80by2018 or #CRCcoast2coast. Finally, the more you like, comment or share both the Blue Carpet stream and the Coast to Coast show on Facebook, the more they will appear on people’s feeds. We’d love your help! Visit the website to learn more and for updates.
• Those of you in the DC area can join us later in the month on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on March 20^th as Fight CRC, ACS CAN and the NCCRT map out the road to 80% screened and beyond from Capitol Hill! (Part of Fight Colorectal Cancer’s Call-on Congress.) Register to join us.

Tell Us What You Are Doing this March
We want to feature your events that are helping to advance screening or raise awareness throughout the month of March!

• Are you hosting an awareness event, gathering partners for a roundtable meeting or turning your city blue? Let us know! We’ll add you to our map below.
• Post pictures and videos from the screening events and promotions you host on social media. Post on Twitter or Instagram using #80by2018 or #CRCcoast2coast
• Share a :30 second video about your 80% by 2018 successes on YouTube. Email the link to [email protected] with “80% by 2018 Success” in the subject line. View this video from the OSU PACE program, featuring Dr. Darrell Gray as an example.

Spread Awareness through Social Media
Cast your colorectal cancer screening messages far and wide with this guidance on promoting screening via social media:

• Visit the 80% By 2018 Communications Guidebook to find tested messages and a Social Media Editorial Calendar (starting on page 41) with sample posts for Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and newsletters.
• Check out the Hispanics/Latinos and Colorectal Cancer Companion Guide and the Asian Americans and Colorectal Cancer Companion Guide to find tested messages and sample collateral in Spanish and several Asian languages.
• Browse the George Washington University Cancer Center Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month Social Media Toolkit to find best practices, tips, and tricks for maximizing your social media impact.
• Don’t have time to create your own messages? No problem! Start following and watch these and other social channels to share messages posted throughout the month: the NCCRT (Twitter and Facebook), the American Cancer Society (Twitter and Facebook), and the CDC (Twitter).

We look forward to celebrating and spreading awareness with you this March!

Mary Doroshenk, MA
Director, NCCRT
Strategic Director, Colorectal Cancer Intervention
American Cancer Society, Inc.