social marketing

An Israel university student is using the popular social networking service, Twitter, to help people Tweet God.

Alon Nir, a resident of Tel Aviv, takes the prayers which are sent via direct link on Nir’s Twitter site, prints them out and drives to Jerusalem to put them into the crevices of the Western Wall. The Western Wall is a Jewish holy site that faithful believe provides a direct line to the Almighty.

Nir promises to deliver the prayers — each no longer than a tweet’s maximum 140 characters — on a regular basis.

Tagged as: Digital Activism, social marketing, social media, social networks, twitter

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Speed monitoring signs are very effective psychological speed bumps, but the Elm Grove Police took that a step further. Not only do the signs warn you of exceeding the posted speed limit, they also collate that speed to the consequences of that choice.

Tagged as: behavior change, cause creative, healthy people, Healthy Places, public health, social marketing

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Do Good
This awesome ipod/iphone app unites millions of users to do one random act of kindness a day.

The application is appropriately called “DoGood”. Each day the application displays the same “DoGood” to every user on a particular day. Once you’ve completed the DoGood, simply press done.

Social Media Integration
Facebook and Twitter integration allows you to easily tell your friends about each day’s DoGood. You can leave a story on each DoGood, or read the stories of others.

Tracking Social Change
DoGood collects statistics from the group anonymously, and presents them on a graphical dashboard allowing you to easily track each day’s activity. Moreover, you can view past DoGoods and their respective stories.

Join the movement:
http://mobil33t.com/dogood

Tagged as: behavior change, cause, cause creative, Digital Activism, Facebook, healthy people, Healthy Places, public health, social marketing, social media, social networks, twitter

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When I first saw the article about the World’s Happiest Places, I was certain that I was going to be able to map a result back to the World’s Healthiest Places. Not so easy – but there was some crossover. The criteria that Forbes uses to define happiness and health are somewhat subjective, but none the less, it is a GREAT topic for consideration when looking at potential motivators and influences on health. What could this mean for social marketers?

When looking at the “happiest” nations, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Canada, Switzerland, New Zealand and Belgium were listed in the top ten. Forbes focused on “life satisfaction” factors that contributed to happiness such as economic health, work-life balance and unemployment rates but also included questions about pride, respect and learning.

Now, how does that compare to the “healthiest” nations? Iceland, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, Denmark, Canada, Austria, and the Netherlands ranked at the top. Measures included national health care systems, air pollution, infant mortality rates, safe drinking water/sanitation, density of physicians, life expectancies and prevalence of tuberculosis. (Note that this is not self reported data like the other study and as a public health professional, this criterion for health seems a bit archaic.)

But, if we cross compare, it looks like its time to travel to Denmark, Canada, Switzerland and the Netherlands to get some answers. More to come as I dive a little more into the social marketing efforts that come from some of these healthy places.

Tagged as: healthy people, Healthy Places, influences, motivators, social marketing

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On June 19th, Tonya Peters and I will be presenting at the Social Marketing in Public Health conference in Florida. We will be combining our areas of expertise (behavior change, social media) to discuss How Social Networking Sites Impact Behavior.

Abstract

Influence. Persuade. Convince. Countless words have been written about the art of deliberately and directly influencing people to change their behavior, but what are we overlooking that can help us get our job done? Social networks are not new to those seeking to mobilize resources and impact change but in an evolving era of online interaction, social networking sites also have significant implications for social marketers and how they can inadvertently impact the way people act.

Learner objectives

At the conclusion of this session, the learner will be able to:

1. Describe how social networking sites serve as a tool for social marketers and can enhance social marketing campaigns.
2. Understand how behaviors are influenced by social norms within a social networking site.
3. Identify and leverage the right social networking site elements to help meet behavior change and programmatic objectives.

Significance and Implications for Social Marketing

Social networking by its very nature segments audiences into groups with similar preferences and interests. Social marketers can leverage these networks to position and promote their message, engage dialogue and model behavior change in both implicit and explicit means. Trust and reputation are strong influencers in an individual’s decision-making process and are key factors in reducing the perceived or real costs to a specific behavior. By participating in a social networking site, individuals may find themselves unwittingly modifying their behavior to both model and adhere to the societal norms established within their social circle.

We are limited to a half-hour time slot, which will obviously not be sufficient to share all our insights on this topic. We will continue to elaborate on this topic on this blog as time goes on.

Tagged as: behavior change, conference, social marketing, social media, speaking

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In Online Spin, Joe Marchese offered some good and pretty straughtforward advice about what kind of advertising gets results in online social media.

Marchese advises that social media advertising should include:

Interaction — meaning REAL interaction, not just a link to a landing page. Something that really involves the audience.
Customization — let “them” (the audience) put their stamp on your brand;
Socialization —Marchese states: “Advertising can start conversations, not always between the brand and a consumer, but between two consumers… People want to have a reason to talk to each other; … if your advertising creative induces two people to start a dialogue … users will love you for it.”

I think Marchese is right, and has simplified a formula that works for all online media and has been being used for social marketing campaigns all around the world. Because what we all work to do is create behavior change through inspired conversations, engaging messages and allowing people to put their touch on your message by using the information we give them to make a change in their lives or others.

So, as a unique form of marketing, advertising and communications, would our advice to social media advertisers be different? What can we teach the advertising world?

Tagged as: advertising, best practices, cause creative, social marketing, social media

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I love what ASAE & The Center have to say about Associations, “Groups of people who find strength in numbers while sharing common interests in industries, professions, charities, hobbies, or philanthropic action … Associations (or Organizations, Coalitions, Alliances, Networks, etc.) are founded upon the principles of democracy, volunteerism, and common interest that are the heart of the American experience.” Social Marketers are demonstrating that heart right now – rallying to add credibility to a discipline that can dramatically accelerate creating healthy people and healthy places. 

As a public health professional working in government, I decided I wanted to “do public health more efficiently” and launched into the world of Social Marketing over 6 years ago.  What I found was a group of smart, passionate and creative people that can make change happen.  Recently, Craig Lefebvre sent a message to the Social Marketing List Serve, The Future of Social Marketing: A Call for Collective Engagement for the Creation of a Global Organization, requesting petition signatures to support a plan of action that will help advance the discipline of Social Marketing.  I encourage each person that cares about positive social change – to sign up to support the effort.  I am very excited about what the future of Social Marketing has in store for all of us!

Tagged as: democracy, healthy people, Healthy Places, peer groups, social marketing, social media, volunteerism

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I recently learned of an interesting ringtone campaign to promote condom use in India. Created by The BBC World Service Trust (and funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) “Condom Acapella” hopes to break down walls and shatter taboos about condoms which have lived in Indian culture for decades.
Listen to “Condom Acapella.”

So, can ringtone social campaigns REALLY create healthy behavior change? Well, according to statistics, they sure have the capability to – if done the right way.

Ethan Zuckerman, author of “Why Cell Phones May Be the Most Important Technical Innovation of the Decade” points out that mobile phone penetration “vastly exceeds internet usage.”
According to him, in China – in 2005, there were 350 million mobile phone users, and 100 million internet users and by 2010 there will be an estimated 3.3 billion mobile phone users worldwide.

Think about it, in many parts of the world, the mobile phone isn’t simply replacing landlines, it is allowing people to have a personal communications channel for the first time in their lives. I guess that mobile phone sitting in my purse is whole heck of a lot more powerful than I ever imagined.

Tagged as: cellphone, Digital Activism, mobile phone, Ringtones, social change, social marketing, technology and power

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Don’t get me wrong, I’ll support a shovel-ready road and bridge project if it puts a few folks back to work and does something for the neighborhood. On the other hand, I’ll really take the side of social marketing as about-the-most shovel-ready investment this nation can make in improving health, health care and the social good that comes with healthier people and healthier places.
Take health disparity. Not only does it inflict unconscionable trauma on individuals and families, it robs many communities of their vital human resources and their wealth. Or, take unintended pregnancy, childhood obesity or HIV/AIDS. The list goes on.
Each has consequences that affect us all. And each can be reversed through social marketing. Social marketing is theoretically grounded, evidenced based and field proven. Social marketing programs save lives, livelihoods and create new opportunities for people and communities to grow healthier. There are thousands of shovel-ready social marketing projects across America waiting for their piece of the stimulus package. One may just be the bridge back to a healthier nation, or the road to a better health system.

Tagged as: health disparity, social marketing, stimulus

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