Social Marketing in Public Health Promotion Essay

Social Marketing in Public Health Promotion Essay Assignment Paper

Introduction

Technological growth has led to the use of social media as a valuable marketing tool. In 2003, companies started to use LinkedIn as a marketing tool. Later, businesses began to market their brands through other social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace. Today, health organizations use social marketing to reach millions of people across the globe. The use of social marketing has not only helped the organizations to reach a broad client base but also cut down on marketing costs. Opponents of social marketing maintain that it is a waste of time and money (Bloom & Novelli 2005).

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They claim that the public hardly engages health institutions through social media platforms. Besides, they allege that many institutions abandon social marketing after they realize that it does not yield positive results. The challenges of social marketing overlook its numerous benefits. The benefits include increased visibility, better return on investment, and effective targeting. This paper will evaluate the effectiveness of social marketing in promoting behavioral change among youths and adults. The article will use numerous examples to counter the argument that social marketing is a waste of time and money.

Social marketing refers to the use of social media to “translate necessarily complex educational messages and behavior change techniques into concepts and products that will be received and acted upon by a large segment of the population” (Bloom & Novelli 2005, p. 81). Social Marketing in Public Health Promotion Essay

Combating HIV/AIDS and Obesity

Social marketing has multiple benefits for an organization if applied effectively. According to Kotler and Zaltman (2007), social marketing is relatively a novel marketing tool. It underlines the reason why some people view it as a waste of time and money. One reason why social marketing is not a waste of time and money is that it is widely visible compared to other methods of marketing. Presently, many people have access to the internet.

Additionally, a majority of citizens use social media platforms to interact and share ideas. The use of social marketing may help a health organization to reach many people. The organization only needs to create an appealing message for it to draw the attention of the target audience. Social marketing has proved to be effective in many spheres. For instance, in India, it is used in health promotion campaigns. Giordano et al. (2012) argue that India uses social marketing to run HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns. Social Marketing in Public Health Promotion Essay

The marketing strategy helps India to reach a high number of target audiences, particularly young people. Indeed, social marketing has contributed to reducing the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in India. Through social marketing, the youths have learned the different behaviors that expose them to the risk of contracting the disease.

The challenges of social marketing argue that it repels the audiences due to blatant promotion and excessive placement of information. The challengers claim that excessive placement of information on social media platforms leads to audiences doubting the authenticity of the communicated information. The challengers fail to appreciate the role of social marketing in encouraging behavioral change. According to Kotler and Zaltman (2007), social marketing encourages behavioral change by enlightening the public on how to overcome barriers to transformation. People are likely to change their behaviors if they realize that the transformation comes with some benefits.Social Marketing in Public Health Promotion Essay

Unlike other forms of promotion, social marketing helps to educate the public. Lefebvre and Flora (2001) hold that social marketing helps in the fight against obesity. Health workers use social marketing to inform the public about the dangers of certain behaviors like the use of elevators and failure to undertake physical exercise. Many people do not understand the negative impacts of being physically inactive.

Therefore, health professionals use social marketing to provide information that motivates the target audience to engage in physical activities. For instance, the professionals post images of people with obesity on social media platforms. Besides, they post pictures of people who engage in physical activities and outline the health benefits that they enjoy. Such images serve as motivation to the public, therefore prompting them to engage in physical exercise.Social Marketing in Public Health Promotion Essay

Encouraging Breastfeeding

Social marketing played a significant role in encouraging women to embrace breastfeeding in Brazil. Health care workers used social marketing to reach diverse stakeholders. According to Brennan and Binney (2010), social marketing enabled health care organizations to formulate different messages for diverse audiences. The organizations utilized social marketing to encourage the government and communities to participate in breastfeeding campaigns.

The organizations leveraged the worldwide agreement on the need to promote breastfeeding. Mothers were taught about the benefits of breastfeeding. Eventually, the campaign changed public opinion regarding breastfeeding. Previously, women could breastfeed their babies for two and a half months only. The campaign led to many women prolonging the breastfeeding period to up to ten months.

One may argue that mothers do not have to visit social media to understand the significance of breastfeeding. They can learn about the importance of breastfeeding as they continue to attend the postnatal clinic. As per Brennan and Binney (2010), men have a responsibility to encourage their wives to breastfeed. Moreover, employers have an obligation to ensure that they offer a mother-friendly working environment.Social Marketing in Public Health Promotion Essay

Unfortunately, not many men and managers accompany their wives to postnatal clinics. How can health care personnel sensitize these people without using social marketing? Evans (2008) argues that social marketing helps health care workers to educate men and organizational leaders on their role in encouraging breastfeeding in Iowa. The workers target African American fathers through videos that discuss the significance of breastfeeding and the role of parents on the same. Without social marketing, it would have been difficult for the American government to promote breastfeeding amid African American women.

In Texas, the government uses social marketing to share ideas on how mothers can overcome breastfeeding challenges. The Texas Department of State Health Services uses social marketing to encourage employers to provide a mother-friendly working environment (Evans 2008). Some people argue that the government has the authority to instruct employers to provide a friendly environment to lactating mothers.Social Marketing in Public Health Promotion Essay

Hence, it does not require using social marketing for such an undertaking. They fail to consider the numerous ramifications that may result from forcing employers to provide such an environment. For instance, the employer may reduce the wages of the breastfeeding mothers for the hours that they are out of their workstations. The government uses social marketing to enlighten employers on the importance of breastfeeding, therefore ensuring that the parents and employers agree on the working conditions to avoid such ramifications.

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