Translating On-Ground Environmental Action into Digital Youth Advocacy: Social Media Campaign Report of the No Plastic Mũi Né Project by The Viet Environeers 

Reported by Lê Đoàn Ngọc Hân, Lê Đỗ Thanh Tú 

Key Takeaways 

1. Strong Organic Reach and Youth Audience Alignment: Across all major activities, the campaign achieved high levels of organic visibility, with multiple phases recording over 98% non-paid discovery and strong penetration among the 18–34 age group. Concentrated reach in key Vietnamese educational and urban centers confirms effective alignment with students and young professionals—the project’s primary target audience.  

2. Platform-Specific Roles Enhanced Overall Impact: Facebook functioned as a central platform for structured updates and community information, while Instagram effectively reached youth and international audiences through Stories and Reels. TikTok emerged as the primary growth and discovery driver, generating viral reach, high non-follower exposure, and strong engagement through short, creative video formats, particularly during event-based campaigns. 

3. On-Ground Activities Successfully Converted into Digital Engagement: Real-time content during clean-ups, booth activities, and school events—combined with participant interviews, user-generated content, and incentive-based engagement—significantly increased page views, interactions, and shares. This demonstrates the campaign’s effectiveness in translating physical environmental action into sustained online awareness, community advocacy, and youth-led storytelling. 

Main Highlights 

1. Campaign period: September – December 2025 
2. Platform used: Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok 
3. Number of followers: 
   • Facebook: 1,100 followers 
   • Instagram: 145 followers 
   • TikTok: 160 followers 
4. Total Facebook content: 64 posts 
5. Performance on each platform: 
   • Facebook (Primary Information Hub) 
     • 66,867 views generated organically 
     • Peak-performing post (“About Us”) reached 14,063 accounts, with strong organic sharing 
     • Booth Day campaign recorded a 177% increase in page views compared to baseline 
     • Typical event posts achieved 1,100–1,700 views per post with high interaction rates 
     • Closing Ceremony campaign: 
       • 6,318 views 
       • 2,696 accounts reached 
       • 242 total interactions 
   • TikTok (Primary Growth & Discovery Driver) 
     • Cleanup Activity #2 campaign: 
       • 7,523 views (82.5% of total campaign views) 
       • 98% non-follower discovery rate 
       • 6,000+ unique new viewers 
       • 61 shares, indicating strong community advocacy 
     • Booth Day period (Dec 1–9): 
       • 40,000 video views 
       • 1,200 profile views 
       • 789 likes, 102 comments, 443 shares 
     • Closing Ceremony & Competition phase: 
       • 10,588 views from 8 videos 
       • 353 likes, 21 comments 
       • 3 videos independently produced by local youth team 
   • Instagram (Youth & International Reach) 
     • 11,329 total views 
     • 66.6% non-follower reach, indicating effective organic expansion 
     • Primary audience: 18–24 age group 
     • Cleanup Activity #2 reel: 
       • 176 views 
       • 9 minutes 30 seconds total watch time 

Activities Implemented 

As part of the No Plastic Mũi Né Project, a multi-phase social media campaign was implemented to amplify environmental activities, engage youth audiences, and document on-ground actions across key project milestones, including beach clean-ups, school-based activations, and the closing ceremony. Leveraging Facebook as the primary information hub while expanding outreach through Instagram and TikTok, the campaign combined real-time storytelling, short-form video content, and participant-driven narratives. This integrated communication approach enabled the project to extend its reach beyond physical events, strengthen youth participation, and reinforce environmental awareness through sustained digital engagement. 

Facebook: Building Awareness and Anchoring the Community Narrative 

Facebook served as the primary communication hub throughout the No Plastic Mũi Né Project, playing a central role in delivering structured updates, documenting activities, and maintaining engagement with the wider community. From the early stages of the campaign, Facebook content focused on introducing the project’s mission, objectives, and upcoming activities, helping establish a clear narrative and shared understanding among followers. 

During the pre-event and webinar phase, Facebook posts generated strong organic traction, contributing to a total of more than 67,800 views across platforms, with over 98% of views achieved organically. Audience insights confirmed that the content resonated strongly with the intended demographic—youth aged 18–34, particularly students and young professionals in major Vietnamese cities such as Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Phan Thiet. The “About Us” post emerged as a peak-performing piece, achieving over 14,000 reach, demonstrating that foundational, mission-driven content played a critical role in mobilizing interest and community sharing. 

Facebook’s role became especially prominent during on-ground activities. During Booth Day at Bùi Thị Xuân – Mũi Né High School, the page recorded a 177% increase in views compared to baseline. The communications team maintained a steady flow of real-time updates, sharing behind-the-scenes preparations, participant interactions, and highlight moments. Most event-related posts consistently reached between 1,100 and 1,700 views, indicating sustained attention and interaction throughout the activity period. 

For Cleanup Activity #2 and the Closing Ceremony, Facebook functioned as a space for reflective storytelling. Photo albums and recap posts detailing waste collection results, student participation, and award moments generated strong interaction rates, reinforcing transparency and impact reporting. Across five posts related to the closing ceremony and recycling competition alone, Facebook content accumulated more than 6,300 views and 240 interactions. Overall, Facebook anchored the campaign’s narrative, ensuring continuity, accessibility of information, and long-term community engagement. 

Instagram: Connecting with Youth and International Audiences 

Instagram complemented Facebook by targeting a more youth-oriented and internationally connected audience, including AJYELN Fellows and environmental organizations beyond the local community. Content on Instagram was primarily delivered in concise English formats, using Stories and Reels to align with contemporary consumption patterns among younger users. 

Although Instagram generated lower total view counts compared to Facebook, its performance indicators revealed high strategic value. The account recorded over 11,000 views, with approximately two-thirds of the reach coming from non-followers. This demonstrates that Instagram content successfully extended beyond the existing audience base through organic discovery mechanisms such as the Explore page and peer sharing. 

Throughout the campaign, Instagram content focused on speaker introductions, webinar highlights, and short visual summaries of activities. These posts confirmed that audiences valued expert perspectives and event-related storytelling. During Cleanup Activity #2, Instagram content effectively reached the 18–24 age group, reinforcing the platform’s role in engaging Gen Z audiences who are often highly responsive to environmental messaging. 

Instagram’s strength lay not in volume, but in precision. By prioritizing visually engaging, short-form content, the platform ensured that key project messages reached youth audiences who may not engage with longer updates, thereby extending the project’s visibility within digitally active environmental communities. 

TikTok: Driving Discovery, Creativity, and Viral Reach 

TikTok emerged as the campaign’s primary driver of discovery and viral engagement, particularly among Gen Z audiences. From the outset, the platform was used to experiment with creative storytelling formats, allowing both the Mũi Né communications team and the Saigon-based team to produce short, dynamic videos that captured the energy of the project. 

During Booth Day activities, TikTok performance surged significantly. Within just nine days, Booth Day–related videos generated approximately 40,000 views, alongside high levels of interaction, including likes, comments, and shares. This period demonstrated TikTok’s effectiveness in translating on-ground excitement into widespread digital visibility, especially through community-focused and participant-driven content. 

Clean-up 02 further highlighted TikTok’s role as the main growth engine. Two videos alone accounted for more than 80% of the campaign’s total views, reaching over 6,000 unique new viewers with a 98% non-follower discovery rate. One short recap video achieved particularly strong performance through the “For You” algorithm, while a longer interview-style video accumulated nearly two hours of total watch time, indicating deeper engagement among viewers interested in participant reflections. 

During the closing ceremony and competition phase, TikTok continued to perform strongly, with eight videos generating over 10,500 views. Notably, several of these videos were independently produced by the Mũi Né Organizing Committee, demonstrating growing digital communication capacity and confidence among local youth. TikTok thus functioned not only as a dissemination tool, but also as a capacity-building platform, empowering young organizers to act as content creators and storytellers for their own environmental initiatives. 

Outcome 

The integrated social media campaign significantly strengthened the visibility, reach, and youth engagement of the No Plastic Mũi Né Project by effectively translating on-ground environmental action into sustained digital awareness. Through a coordinated use of Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, the project established a continuous communication flow that connected early awareness-building, live activity coverage, and post-event reflection into a single, coherent narrative. 

Across all phases, the campaign achieved strong organic performance, demonstrating that the project’s messaging resonated authentically with its intended audience. High levels of non-paid discovery and consistent engagement among youth aged 18–34 confirm that the content successfully reached students and young people who are both digitally active and environmentally conscious. The campaign also expanded beyond existing audiences, particularly through short-form video content that reached new viewers and encouraged sharing and peer-to-peer dissemination. 

Each platform contributed distinct but complementary outcomes. Facebook ensured transparency, continuity, and community anchoring by serving as the main information hub and documentation space. Instagram extended the project’s reach to youth and international networks through concise, visually driven storytelling. TikTok emerged as the primary engine for discovery and creativity, generating viral reach while simultaneously building the digital communication capacity of the local youth organizing team. 

Overall, the campaign demonstrates how structured yet flexible digital communication can enhance youth-led environmental initiatives. By combining real-time storytelling, participant voices, and platform-specific strategies, the No Plastic Mũi Né Project not only amplified its activities online but also reinforced youth leadership, community participation, and long-term awareness of plastic pollution and environmental responsibility.