The evolving health care industry demands new approaches to both the existing and anticipated health needs of the public. As this happens, health promotion and preventive efforts will quickly become more and more important. Meeting the new needs will require innovative thinking and new channels of delivery.
Digital health promotion, or the use of digital tools and channels to enable people to increase control over their health and its determinants, will be one piece of that transformation. Websites, social media, mobile apps and email are all places (using the 4Ps marketing mix framework) that you promote your organization, your brand and healthy habits.
When it comes to digital channels, four of them – websites, email, social media, and mobile apps – are the most common and effective. I believe it is important to understand each of them, how they relate to one another, and common approaches for each.
Websites
Your website is the foundation of your digital presence and where most people will land when they search for you online. An engaging and modern website can help you give your audience valuable and timely information, share population health data, and build your brand. Your website can and should do this in a variety of ways.
On your primary website, you can showcase health and wellness events in your area, as well as allow visitors to sign up for your email newsletter or view recent social media posts. You can also start a blog to house your content marketing efforts.
There are a number of ways to take advantage of other websites as well. Writing guest posts for related blogs that your target audience might frequently visit is an effective and proven strategy. So are microsites, or branded content sites that live outside of a company homepage. Health promotion microsites often focus on a specific campaign, topic, event, or local health coalition.
All of these approaches help you build trust and credibility with your audience when you provide information that they can benefit from.
Social Media
Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are an effective channel to deliver information, nurture engagement, and disseminate health messages, thereby spreading key messages and influencing health decision making. By tapping into personal and professional networks, your messages become more credible and effective in many ways.
The concise format of most social media helps you refine and sharpen your message. Messages can be shared so you rely not only on the people you target but on the people they know. The structure of social media facilitates reaching people who you may not otherwise be in contact.
The most important things to remember about social media are to choose the right platform for your target audience and to stay active.
Email is an often overlooked channel for promoting health – and for digital marketing in general. Because of its versatility and simplicity, email marketing can deepen relationships at a fraction of the cost of traditional media. With email you can efficiently craft precise and personalized messages targeted to specific recipients.
Email also allows you to reach out to your audience rather than waiting for them to come to you. It is also easy for recipients to share email messages. They need only click a forward button to send along messages to colleagues, friends, and others potentially interested in its content.
Lastly—and perhaps most importantly—you can easily track emails every step of the way. With email, you can monitor delivery rates, open rates, click-to-deliver rates, and subscriber retention rates, all of which provides you with useful information about how your messages are received and how much interest they generate.
Mobile Apps and Messaging
Mobile apps are another excellent way to engage your audience. According to the Pew Internet Project’s research, 90% of American adults own a cell phone. Text messaging is nearly ubiquitous in all mobile phones to deliver tips, alerts, and other short messages.
Mobile apps and messaging solutions meet the public’s need for immediate, relevant, and accessible health information. Users of mobile health apps track nutrition and fitness activity and search health resources. Developers often build in behavioral economics and gamification principles to facilitate behavior change.
One size does not fit all here, so those developing programs need to carefully consider which approach may best reach the most people in your target population, given budgetary, staffing, or technical constraints.
Digital Advertising
Health promotion professionals using digital tools should also be aware of how search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), and thoughtfully placed display ads can complement their efforts. While these are not necessarily channels themselves, all three approaches can drive traffic and attention to your campaign.