- "Social marketing is a marketing approach which focuses on influencing behavior with the primary goal of achieving 'common good.'"
Using marketing principles to promote behavior change and adoption of healthy behaviors.
Social Marketing: An introduction to the concept of Social Marketing, which involves promoting behavioral change with the aim of benefitting society, rather than just promoting a product.
Health Communication: The use of communication strategies to promote health behavior change among individuals, communities and/or populations.
Audience Analysis: Understanding the preferences, attitudes and beliefs of the target audience to create customized communication strategies.
Message Development: Creation of messages that appeal to the target audience and motivate them to take desired health actions.
Channels of Communication: Identification of different channels of communication that can be used to reach the audience (e.g. social media platforms, newsletters, brochures, etc.).
Behavioral Theories: Understanding how people's behaviors are influenced by various factors, and how to apply this knowledge to health communication interventions.
Branding: The use of branding techniques to create a positive image of the health message, and increase the level of trust and credibility among the audience.
Evaluation and Implementation: Developing a systematic plan for program evaluation and making changes where necessary to ensure the success of the intervention.
Ethics: Ensuring that health information communicated is ethically sound, accurate, and reliable.
Cultural Competency: Understanding and being responsive to cultural differences among diverse groups to tailor communication to their specific needs and values.
Advocacy: Understanding the role of advocacy in social marketing, including how to use advocacy to raise awareness and achieve policy change on health issues.
Media Relations: Leveraging relations with media outlets to increase visibility of health messages.
Social listening: Understanding how to listen to the audience’s sentiment and public discussion, and how to use it to improve communication.
Crisis Management: Understanding how to handle unexpected situations, and how to use communication tools effectively during a crisis.
Metrics: Understanding the importance of measuring and reporting the impact of the intervention, including how to analyze metrics and data.
Social media marketing: Using social media platforms to promote health messages and initiatives, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
Cause marketing: Working with a company or organization to promote a health-related cause, such as breast cancer awareness or mental health.
Public service announcements (PSAs): Short messages designed to promote a specific health message or behavior, such as wearing a seatbelt or getting vaccinated.
Community-based marketing: Tailoring health messages and initiatives to specific communities or demographic groups, such as low-income neighborhoods or immigrant populations.
Mobile marketing: Using mobile devices to deliver health messages and interventions, such as text message reminders to take medication or track exercise.
Influencer marketing: Partnering with social media influencers to promote health messages and campaigns.
Grassroots marketing: Promoting health messages and initiatives through community organizing and advocacy efforts.
Buzz marketing: Creating a “buzz” around a health message or behavior through creative and attention-grabbing marketing techniques, such as flash mobs or viral campaigns.
Entertainment education: Embedding health messages and behaviors within entertainment programming, such as soap operas or reality TV shows.
Point-of-sale marketing: Using in-store or on-premise marketing techniques to promote healthy products or behaviors, such as displaying healthy food options at a grocery store checkout.
- "However, to see social marketing as only the use of standard commercial marketing practices to achieve non-commercial goals is an oversimplified view."
- "Social marketing has existed for some time, but has only started becoming a common term in recent decades." - "It was originally done using newspapers and billboards and has adapted to the modern world in many of the same ways commercial marketing has."
- "The most common use of social marketing in today's society is through social media."
- "Traditional commercial marketing aims are primarily financial, though they can have positive social effects as well."
- "Social marketing in the context of public health would promote general health, raise awareness, and induce changes in behavior."
- "Social marketing is described as having 'two parents.' The 'social parent' uses social science and social policy approaches. The 'marketing parent' uses commercial and public sector marketing approaches."
- "Social marketing has started to encompass a broader range of focus in recent years and now goes beyond influencing individual behavior." - "It promotes socio-cultural and structural change relevant to social issues."
- "Social marketing scholars are beginning to advocate for a broader definition of social marketing: 'social marketing is the application of marketing principles to enable individual and collective ideas and actions in the pursuit of effective, efficient, equitable, fair and sustained social transformation'."
- "The new emphasis gives equal weight to the effects (efficiency and effectiveness) and the process (equity, fairness and sustainability) of social marketing programs."
- "There is also an argument that 'a systems approach is needed if social marketing is to address the increasingly complex and dynamic social issues facing contemporary societies'."