I recently worked with ATA — a small but mighty indigenous social media agency — to capture the impact from 12 months of their campaign, This is Aotearoa.

On the surface, the campaign shares stories from people across Aotearoa, answering questions like, “What does safety look and feel like to you?”

But really, it’s about shifting relationships.

In New Zealand, incidents of sexual and family harm are rising. When children are involved, the consequences ripple across their entire lives, and place huge demand on an already strained health system.

This is Aotearoa takes a prevention-based approach by showcasing positive, mana-enhancing relationships and creating safe online spaces for people to connect and heal.

For the 12-month report, ATA wanted to move beyond likes and views and instead speak to the real-world impact.

They brought together an incredible team, including Anna Jackson to lead survey analysis and Tim Hansen to shape the mahi into a beautiful design.

My role was to translate the data into a clear narrative about what changed for whānau, at scale.

When trying to tell a compelling story of impact, the questions I always come back to is:

So what?

What actually changed?

And why does that matter to your audience?

By combining social media engagement stats with more in-depth survey data, we were able to estimate that, because of the campaign, at least:

- 17,000 people had kōrero with whānau or friends
- 10,000 felt more confident in their identity or culture
- 9,000 sought further information about the topic, and
- 1,819 reached out to a support service

These numbers represent real people, real whānau, and real change.

We also estimated hundreds of harmful incidents prevented — creating better long-term outcomes for tamariki and whānau, and saving ACC ~$7–20 million in health costs.

This is Aotearoa shows that social media, when used with purpose, can shift mindsets, strengthen relationships, and even prevent harm.

Those are changes worth talking about.