If you’ve worked in public health for a while, you’ve heard of social marketing. But if you’re like many health communicators, you may not know exactly what it is or how it’s different than an ordinary public health campaign. You may even secretly wonder if it has something to do with Facebook or Twitter. Or perhaps you’re looking for a way to describe it to your coworkers or your leadership team.
Today’s episode is everything you’ve always wanted to know about social marketing but were afraid to ask! What it is, when it works, and what the social marketing process includes. If you work in public health communication, social marketing is one of the most powerful tools you can use, and this episode will help you make the case.
Resources:
Evidence for social marketing
Ross Gordon, Laura McDermott, Martine Stead, Kathryn Angus. The effectiveness of social marketing interventions for health improvement: What's the evidence? Public Health, Volume 120, Issue 12, 2006, Pages 1133-1139, ISSN 0033-3506,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2006.10.008.
Rebecca Firestone, Cassandra J Rowe, Shilpa N Modi, Dana Sievers, The effectiveness of social marketing in global health: a systematic review, Health Policy and Planning, Volume 32, Issue 1, February 2017, Pages 110–124, https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czw088.
Examples of social marketing
Pérez-Escamilla R. Breastfeeding social marketing: lessons learned from USDA's “Loving Support” campaign. Breastfeed Med. 2012 Oct;7(5):358-63. doi: 10.1089/bfm.2012.0063. Epub 2012 Sep 4. PMID: 22946886. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22946886/
Wong F, Huhman M, Heitzler C, Asbury L, Bretthauer-Mueller R, McCarthy S, Londe P. VERB – a social marketing campaign to increase physical activity among youth. Prev Chronic Dis. 2004 Jul;1(3):A10. Epub 2004 Jun 15. PMID: 15670431; PMCID: PMC1253475. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1253475/
Truth campaign: https://www.thensmc.com/resources/showcase/truth%C2%AE
Dumb Ways to Die: https://www.adweek.com/creativity/5-years-later-dumb-ways-to-die-remains-advertisings-most-delightfully-horrible-creation/ and https://www.dumbwaystodie.com/psa
Best Bones Forever campaign: https://www.girlshealth.gov/about/best-bones/best-bones.html
Lots more great examples here:
https://www.npaihb.org/social-marketing-campaigns/#
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