A Daily Challenge for Health Care Social Marketers
Alexis Anderson is a senior director of communications at GroundFloor Media, a Denver-based public relations agency. In her role she focuses on the development and implementation of traditional and non-traditional media and influencer programs for health care, consumer, nonprofit, and professional services organizations.
Health care is an intensely personal issue. Yet as Scott Downes (The Colorado Trust), Tracy Faigin Boyle (LiveWell Colorado) and Kent MacLennan (Colorado Meth Project) shared as panelists during today's session, "Changing Behaviors: Translating Awareness into Engagement," many issues in health care require education so that these issues impact an individual personally, not just those around them.
No matter what the issue, social marketing can and should be a key component of educating your public(s). But a campaign cannot live in a marketing team vacuum, separate from policy, community and fundraising teams. It requires a deep level of initial and continual research to shape and reshape the strategy, messaging and tactics that have been put into place in order to be successful.
Focus groups, field tests, surveys—are all critical for shaping a social marketing campaign that includes:
-
A message that cuts through the clutter and sparks conversation, that can be uncomfortable or controversial.
-
Engagement where your audiences are already active—it may be TV and Facebook, or it may be peer groups and radio. Successful social marketers spend the time and allocate the resources to determine this ahead of time.
-
Facts and figures to challenge audiences' perspectives of what is and is not acceptable based on their core values.
-
Honest expectations for key stakeholders—what does success look like? How long will it take to get there? And, what are smaller "wins" that we can celebrate along the journey?
Social marketing in health care requires a precise blend of passion, creativity, resourcefulness and restraint—restraint to be patient during the research phase, and change directions if your original plan didn't work.
How are you approaching social marketing in your organization, and do you think the investment is worth the return? Are your audiences taking action and changing their behaviors?
Comments