dr. jay bernhardt

Health Marketing and Social Media at the CDC

Jay M. Bernhardt, PhD, MPH

National Center for Health Marketing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

UGA Public Relations & Social Media Conference

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

• Department of Health and Human Services

• Vision: “Healthy People in a Healthy World through Prevention”

• 14 National Centersand Offices

• Approx. 15,000 staff

• Approx. $9 billion/year

National Center for Health Marketing

• Vision: A world where all people actively use accessible, accurate, relevant, and timely health information and interventions to protect and promote their health and the health of their families and communities.

• Mission: To protect and promote public health through collaborative and innovative health marketing programs, products, and services that are customer-centered, science-based, and high-impact.

What is Health Marketing?

An organizational function and a set of scientific processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that protect and promote the health of diverse populations.1

A multi-disciplinary area of practice.

1. Adapted from the American Marketing Association.

Health Marketing & Public Relations

• Similarities:– Multidisciplinary approach

– Audience segmentation

– Information translation

– Understanding attitudes and values

– Influencing behavior or policy change

– Relationship management

• Primary Difference:– PR = advancing client interests;

– Health Marketing = advancing public health

Commercial Marketing

Products

Brands

Products

BrandsCustomersCustomers

Sales ForceDistributors

Retailers

Sales ForceDistributors

Retailers

Market research, Audience segmentation,Sales and marketing metrics

Product development, Packaging, Placement, Promotion (B2B/DTC)

Health Marketing

Products:CDC’s

Research,Science,

Evidence-based- advice

Products:CDC’s

Research,Science,

Evidence-based- advice

Customers:“The Public”

IndividualsInstitutions

CommunitiesUS pops

Global pops

Customers:“The Public”

IndividualsInstitutions

CommunitiesUS pops

Global pops

Customers:Health profs

Partners

Customers:Health profs

Partners

Audience research, Formative research, Public engagement, Partner engagement

Translating research to practice (B2B),Health communication and marketing (DTC)

What is Health?

“The condition of being sound in body, mind, or spirit; …freedom from physical disease or pain; the general condition of the body…

- Webster’s Dictionary, 2007

“ …a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmary and the ability to lead a socially and economically productive life.”

- WHO, 2006

What Influences Health?

Genes Environment

Opportunities Behaviors

What Influences Health?

Genes Environment

Opportunities Behaviors

Decisions and Health

• “Tyranny of Small Decisions” – Big economic changes occur as an accretion of

steps that are often unpredicted and unintended (Kahn, 1966).

• Health is at least partially the outcome of small decisions, good and bad, accumulated over a lifetime.

• Health behaviors are hard to change!

Can Social Media affect Health?revolutionize

Traditional vs. Social MediaTraditional Media• Television/Radio• Newspapers &

Magazines• Print media• “Expert” Websites

Social Media• Telephones• Newsgroups/Boards/ Chat• Sharing Services

– Video, Audio, Photos, News, Games, Links

• Blogs/Video Logs• Instant Messaging• Mobile Messaging• Wikis • Social Networks• Mash ups

Vertical/Horizontal Nexus• “People like me”=most

trusted– Edelman Trust Barometer ’07

• Aim for the “Sweet Spot”

Social Media & Decision Support

• Tyranny of Small (Health) Decisions– People have the power to pursue their own

self-interests, while we only have the power to accommodate their interests (Rothschild, 2002)

• Social Media can increase the impact of information to inform healthy decisions through messages that are relevant and ubiquitous

Social Media Musts

• The Three P’s– Personalized– Participatory– Presentation

• The Three E’s– Engaging– Emotional– Entertaining

• The Two D’s: Digital Divide!

What is CDC doing with Social Media to improve Health?

Welcome to CDC 2.0

CDC 2.0: CDC.Gov

From June 2006 - August 2007  

9,006 Total Page Views

5523 subscribers thru Email Updates

CDC 2.0: Health Marketing Blog

CDC 2.0 : Webinar for Bloggers

CDC 2.0: Social Networking

Virtual Worlds

• Second Life– More than 8,670,153 residents– 1,646,830 logged in last 60 days– In the last 24 hours, US users spent

$1,302,907.– SecondLife.com, August 2007

• Whyville– More than 1.7 million registered.– Each month, more than 2 million visits

are made to Whyville.– About 60,000 new boys and girls register

as citizens every month.– Whyville.net, August 2007

Excerpt from www.gamingandtech.com blog:

10,000+ Whyvillians vaccinated during the first week

CDC 2.0: Whyville

CDC 2.0: Second Life

Hygeia, the muse of health, becomes Hygeia Philo, CDC avatar

CDC 2.0: Second Life

Recently purchased island – new buildings under development Established off-network access to fully develop the Second Life space.

Developing in-world activities so users can “do” something

CDC 2.0: Podcasts

CDC averages about 1000 - 1500 downloads per day

Use of facemasks and respirators during an influenza pandemic

Climate change: Science, health, and the environment

MMWR Reports

• More Americans Have Cell Phones than PCs

Source – From: http://www.marketingcharts.com/direct/survey-growing-opportunities-for-mobile-advertising-790/ (study conducted between March 29 and April 2, 2007 among 4,123 adults (aged 18 and over). Pew Internet and American Life Project Survey February to March, 2007

Mobile ApplicationsMobile Applications

• 4+ out of 5 U.S. adults (85%) own a mobile phone

• 7 out of 10 (71%) have a landline or home phone.

• Disease management• Risk communication • Persuasive messaging &

reminders• Health promotion • Emergency preparedness• Personal safety

• Current Pilot Studies

CDC 2.0: Mobile Health

http://www.flickr.com/photos/markkelley/1022720488/

Background:

• CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention created a short videocast for coping with stress after a traumatic event.

• NCHM disseminated the podcasts and links to related CDC.gov eHealth information through multiple new media channels.

CDC 2.0 Case Study: Virginia Tech

Disseminated to bloggers and posted

as comments on 9 relevant blogs:• CNN.com • The Chronicle of Higher Education• Teacher’s Magazine Blogboard• NY Times• Time.com

CDC 2.0 Case Study: Virginia Tech

It is estimated this profile has more than 850 friends, the actual list is kept private at the request of the profile owner

Resources were disseminated to two social network profiles. This profile posted the information in a blog to its network of friends.

MySpace

CDC 2.0 Case Study: Virginia Tech

Health Marketing & Social Media

• Health-related social media will grow– Health information divide to grow

– Mobile media may help bridge the gap

– Aim to be 2 years behind the curve

• Information credibility harder to judge– Leverage the horizontal/vertical nexus

– Health information must be ubiquitous

– Inform the big and the small decisions

Thank you from the CDC.

www.cdc.gov/healthmarketing

jbernhardt@cdc.gov