[JUDGING] Sx Sláinte
Section: Instagram SME
Organisation Name: Sx Sláinte
Instagram Questions
Name Of Brandclient
Sx Sláinte
Personpeople Who Leads This Account
Olivia Teahan (Sex Educator; Communications Professional) and Lauren Foley (Digital Communications Specialist)
Link To The Web Version Of Your Instagram Account
https://www.instagram.com/sxslainte
Do You Use Alt Text In Your Images And Caption Your Videos
Subtitled Captions; Text within captions; Colour-contrast for visually impaired.
Outline Your Instastrategy - Why Is Instagram For You
Instagram was the birthplace of Sx Sláinte in 2023. Before I had ever hosted a workshop or therapy session, I was using the Sx Sláinte blog and Instagram to share sexual health advocacy. Instagram has remained central to the work ever since.
In 2026, Lauren started working with me and we began building a more intentional strategy around education, courageous sharing and starting conversations. We turn research, public health information and my own perspectives into accessible content on topics including anatomy, communication, pleasure, consent, confidence, body-image, contraception and health.
A big part of our aim is to challenge shame and misinformation, while making evidence-based sexual health information approachable and relevant to an Irish audience. We use Reels, carousels, Stories and more personal behind-the-scenes content, with a focus on starting conversations rather than simply broadcasting information.
Instagram has also been important in building trust in Sx Sláinte. It gives people a chance to understand who I am, what I stand for and the expertise behind the business before they ever book a workshop or therapy session. It has become a bridge between our advocacy and the business itself.
We use analytics and audience responses to see what resonates and shape what we do next.
How Can You Measure Impact To The Bizorg
We measure via reach, engagement and business outcomes.
Reach: Lauren tracks views, accounts reached, follower growth and the proportion of content reaching non-followers. It helps us see whether we are successfully bringing sexual health information to people beyond the existing followers.
Engagement: Saves are particularly important for Sx Sláinte because a lot of people are hesitant to publicly show their interest in sexual health. We monitor saves, likes, comments, story interactions and shares as indicators that content is useful enough for people to return to, pass on or discuss. We also look at which topics and formats generate the strongest response and use this to shape future content.
Tangible business outcomes: enquiries, workshop bookings, therapy enquiries, collaborations, media opportunities and traffic to the website and other resources. I ask new clients and collaborators how they found Sx Sláinte, allowing me to identify Instagram as a direct source of business.
Our strongest evidence of impact is the way individual pieces of content can move far beyond our existing audience.
Link To An Example Of A Great Update Include The Stats Business Accounts Have Metrics For This Update Tell Us The Purpose Of This Update
https://www.instagram.com/p/DYP3WtUiCkh/?img_index=1
I wanted to challenge stigma around female pubic hair and ask why natural, adult female anatomy is still so difficult to find online. The post came from a simple experiment: Lauren searched a common open-source image site for images of real female pubic hair and couldn’t find any.
The post reached 18,531 views, with 87.3% coming from non-followers. It generated 1,749 engaged accounts, 1,641 likes, 89 saves, 60 comments, 184 profile visits and 86 new followers.
For me, this is what good sexual health education on Instagram should look like: taking something ordinary that is ignored in media or public discourse, asking why that is, and creating space for people to question the shame and assumptions surrounding our bodies. It is clear to me from my work that body-image is a significant issue for Irish women and girls. The NWCI’s Looking Glass Survey found 41% of Irish women were unhappy or very unhappy with how they looked. Social media was identified as the strongest negative influence on body image for young women. Pubic hair is normal, yet we are constantly shown edited, hairless, sexualised versions of female bodies. Challenging that absence and normalising 'ordinary' bodies can help people feel judgemental or question unrealistic expectations, and feel more comfortable in their own skin and in intimate relationships.
Link To A 2nd Example Of A Great Update Include The Stats Business Accounts Have Metrics For This Update Tell Us The Purpose Of This Update
https://www.instagram.com/p/Dbp7bnBEwaG/?img_index=1
This post was created in response to a live public conversation, which glorified the personal values of a late Irish musician, and which simultaneously ignored the longstanding stories about his lack of boundaries with teenage girls. I wanted to bring a health and safeguarding perspective to a conversation that was largely taking place through the lens of idolatry and celebrity. This is an example of how I use Sx Sláinte to bring a trauma-informed, nuanced lens to issues that are publicly presented in a more black-and-white way. This is particularly important in public issues that are related to consent, boundaries, power and the experiences of young people. Simply writing and posting this update gave words to people who had not yet found a way to describe their emotional response to the public narrative in this case.
It reached 43,098 views, with 91.8% coming from non-followers, and generated 1,492 interactions, 83.5% of which came from non-followers. It received 907 likes, 147 saves and 113 comments. It linked to 842 profile visits, 191 follows, and 1,162 accounts engaged.
Link To A 3rd Example Of A Great Update Include The Stats Business Accounts Have Metrics For This Update Tell Us The Purpose Of This Update
https://www.instagram.com/p/DZSgVlJiITx/?img_index=1
The purpose is education and culture change: using an existing public conversation as a springboard to encourage people to think differently about sexual violence prevention, and highlight the responsibility that adults have to young people.
This post builds on a quote from researcher Katriona O’Sullivan: “If we genuinely want to reduce sexual violence, then we need to stop pretending this is only about ‘bad men’. It is about the world we build around boys and girls.” I used the quote as the starting point for a wider commentary on the culture and expectations that shape boys’ and girls’ understanding of gender, relationships, respect and sexual violence.
The post reached 5,143 views, with 84.7% coming from non-followers. It generated 65 interactions, including 48 likes, 7 saves with 54 accounts engaged. It resulted in 12 profile visits and 2 new followers.
While other posts on the account have had higher numbers of engagement, for me, the strength of the update is in taking the complex intertwining of patriarchy, men’s health, sexual violence and gender equality, and presenting constructive, nuanced solutions in accessible language. It moves beyond an individual “bad man” narrative and towards prevention, asking what we can do to create healthier attitudes and relationships from an earlier age.
