Social Marketing and Healthcare

The past decade has seen an enormous surge in social marketing to convey various messages. Social marketing has also been established as an essential health communications tool to promote health initiatives. Social marketing should not be the only tool to communicate information to the general public, but to complement the existing practices in place.

You analyzed the article titled "Building a Bridge to Somewhere Better: Linking Health Care Research and Health Policy" by Davis, Gross, and Clancy (2012) to identify successful partnerships with major stakeholders in the US healthcare industry. In Week 2, you recommended the trainings necessary for physicians shifting from hospital-based care to community care.

You demonstrated how evidence-based research contributes to health policies. You will examine the use of social marketing as a communication channel in healthcare.

Review the following Web site:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). Gateway to health communication & social marketing practice. 

Justify why social marketing is needed in today's society to promote health initiatives. List the numerous communication channels that are used in developing a health campaign. Describe the process used to identify the population segment that can benefit from a specific health behavior. Explain how you will evaluate the effectiveness of your communications campaign. Provide a specific example of how social marketing was used in a health campaign. In addition, include a minimum of five scholarly references in your support of your statements. Be sure to support your statements with appropriate examples.