Download What is "Social Marketing"? How is social marketing applied to

What is "Social Marketing"? How is social marketing applied to public health programs?
What is your success strategy for promoting your community health program?
Social marketing is similar to commercial marketing which is defined as a set of
processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers (Mckenzie,
Neiger, & Thackaray, 2013). Social marketing is such a broad term that uses many
different methods of communicating to customers that it is truly difficult to describe. The
authors of our textbook define social marketing as a method that uses marketing
principles to design programs that facilitate voluntary behavior change for improved
personal or societal well being (McKenzie, Neiger, & Thackaray, 2013). Social media
products used to market products can include, Facebook, blogs, podcasting, websites,
Twitter, texting, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, and more.
Many people are under the false assumption that business marketing strategies and public
health has little in common and are unrelated. In fact, public health has countless of
products being provided to its customers (public) and readily available for marketing.
Marketing these products (services) could improve the professional standing in society
for public health professionals; if only the profession would embrace the reality, that our
profession needs to market itself. Immunizations, property maintenance, vector control,
communicable disease prevention, septic system management, and food safety are just a
few services local health departments provide the public. For example, many local health
departments across this country identify the dirtiest restaurants in their jurisdictions by
posting those inspection reports online or working with local media to do newspaper or
TV spots. In this case, the public only sees what is wrong with the restaurant and
associates public health and the environmental health specialists’ job with negative
stories and poor enforcement of regulations. By using social media marketing techniques,
what if public health started promoting food safety, clean operations, and the estimated
number of people who were prevented from getting an illness by the environmental
health specialists doing a good job. Media outlets can be invited to tagalong with an EH
Specialist for several inspections and then the health department can use those media
reports as part of their social marketing on Facebook, Twitter, and their webpage. Over
time, if the restaurant community begins to see the positive press some restaurants are
receiving by participating in social media marketing, it’s quite possible their behavior
will change and they will begin to keep their facility cleaner and may even request the
inspectors to bring the media into their place.
Social media strategy plays a vital role in my Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF)
reduction intervention program on San Carlos Apache Reservation. This community has
its own Facebook page that connects the residents and plays a critical role in how
information is disseminated. To increase awareness and collect survey data I will use
Facebook to push out the marketing materials (education brochures) and recruit a
volunteer (stakeholder) to maintain the RMSF part, which will be created, on their
Facebook page and be available to answer questions posted by the public. In addition, I
will also recruit an individual (younger generation) to monitor and manage Twitter feeds
and respond to residents concerns or questions. It is my personal belief that in this fastpaced technological era we live in, public health professionals need to become more
familiar with social media communication tools and learn how to better use them in our
daily work. For example, by quickly responding and answering residents questions on
Facebook or Twitter about RMSF and the program I am marketing, customer satisfaction
will be high because will feel like we care to take the time and answer their concerns
which will hopefully increase participation. My philosophy is simple: use social media to
communicate stories and be truthful and authentic which will help set the tone and
messaging of the product I am selling….dog tick collars, property pesticide treatments,
enhanced diagnosing of RMSF by medical professionals, and improved care of dogs.
As stated by the authors of our textbook, social marketing differs from commercial
marketing (p.312) in several ways, however, one particular similarity that is seen in both
of these principles is the unpredictability in which the target audience responds to
marketing strategies. Research can minimize and even predict target audiences reaction to
a marketing strategy, but if not managed properly social media can quickly turn a positive
into a negative. Caution and training is needed for using social marketing in public health
and part of my program would be to include a comprehensive training program for the
individuals and stakeholders identified to manage my social marketing component of this
intervention program.
McKenzie, J. F., Neiger, B. L., & Thackeray, R. (2013). Planning, Implementing, and
Evaluating Health Promotion Programs. Glenview: Pearson Education, Inc