How To Develop A Custom Social Media Strategy For Your Health Agency

Theoretical Background and research questions/hypothesis:

Studies show that nearly 60 percent of Texas public schools use an abstinence-only sexual education curriculum while another 25 percent teach no sex education at all. 15 to 24 year olds account for 50 percent of new STIs and Texas has the country’s fifth highest teen pregnancy rate, yet most Texas students are not learning about STIs, contraceptives or healthy sexual decision making.

It is imperative that health agencies and organizations provide this missing education through alternative outlets. 77 percent of Americans use social media on a daily basis, making platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter a powerful tool for informing the public.

Young adults, MSMs and minorities are most at-risk for STIs. Therefore, we must formulate a social media strategy that not only grows numbers but specifically provides this audience with the information they lack. This information will then trickle down through the rest of the affected communities.

Methods and Results (informing the conceptual analysis):

After identifying our target audience, we needed to build a following. To “get our foot in the door” with our target audience, we leveraged our already active in-school education programs, community events and LGBTQ+ forums. We asked our students and event attendees to follow us on their preferred social media platforms. This built a social media following through which we could consistently spread our messages.

But followers are just the foundation. Content creation is the key to ensuring that they are engaged, attentive, and primed to spread our messages. At Bee Busy, we break content down into three main mediums: photos, video, and graphics. We use these on a daily basis to expose our target audience to health information, services reminders (free HIV and syphilis testing) and branding to build familiarity and trust with our agency.

Since implementing this strategy, our follower and engagement numbers have been steadily climbing, indicating that the audience is receptive to our methods and messages.

Conclusions:

Agencies often make the mistake of keeping social media just on social media. But as an agency that also serves the community face-to-face, we have determined that it is imperative to connect the two worlds. In-person contact and social media should actually be used together as part of the same overall strategy to effectively spread public health messages and encourage healthy behaviors in our communities.

Implications for research and/or practice:

Any public health organization that struggles to reach social media savvy audiences can increase their reach by following our model for creating an effective social media strategy.

The organization must identify:

1. The underserved target audience to be reached
2. What existing resources and services the organization can leverage to build a following
3. How to convey the agency’s messages in an engaging way to maintain and grow the following information the agency is able to provide

The organization will then be able to implement a social media strategy specific to their needs which will help them to reach a greater audience.