This document provides an overview of using visual social media, especially Facebook, for public health purposes. It discusses making the case for social media use, relevant demographics and behaviors, best practices for creating and posting engaging content, tracking success, and examples of how other public health organizations are leveraging social media. Specific platforms covered include Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, Vine, and their potential uses for public health messaging and promotion. Case studies highlight campaigns by organizations like Boston Public Health Commission, Philadelphia Department of Public Health, and the University of Colorado Health.

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Facebook & Visual Social Media for Public Health
#SM4PH
Melissa Beaupierre, Senior Director, CDC NPIN
Michelle Samplin-Salgado, New Media Strategist, AIDS.gov
Trayce Poole, Health Communications & Digital Marketing Specialist

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Webcast Overview
• Making the case to leadership
• Demographics and behavior
• Producing and posting engaging,
integrated and shareable content
• Managing and maintaining your content
• What other public health professionals are
doing
• Tips for tracking and measuring success
#SM4PH
Join the
conversation:
#SM4PH

3. ONE BILLION PEOPLE
WORLDWIDE
67% of internet users are on Facebook.
Facebook
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4. Making the Case
• Means to an end
• Limited financial investment
• A billion people!
• Thoughtful, consistent
engagement with your audiences
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5. Your Facebook Page Can:
Help you tell your story
• Share rich content
• Amplify your impact
• Measure and optimize your
messages
• Take advantage of Page
features
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What is Facebook?
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7. Getting Started
• Start by listening
• Know your audience
• Identify your goals
• Have a plan
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8. Manage Content
• Create an editorial calendar
• Use checklists
• Learn from Facebook
analytics/Insights
• Repurpose content across platforms
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9. • Content guidelines
• Account ownership
• Rules of engagement and dealing
with inappropriate comments
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Have a Policy

10. Find Your Voice
• Speak and write in the first
person
• Build an online personality
consistent with your brand
• Share stories and photos
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11. Making Engaging Content
• Foster dialogue
• Show you are listening
• Ask questions/polls
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12. Example
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13. • Use photos & videos
• Create albums
• Tag partners as appropriate
• Celebrate milestones
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Get Visual

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Things will change.
(and it will be ok)

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17. Cool Tools
• Facebook Pages Manager App
• Facebook Home
• Chat Heads
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18. 1.Post succinct content
2.Post photos and videos
3.Post regularly
4.Try a “fill in the blank” post
5.Be timely
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5 Best Practices

19. Monitor
statistics &
audience
engagement
with
Facebook
Insights
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Tracking

20. Success Story: Disease Outbreak
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Boston Public Health
Commission
Healthy Boston
Increasing awareness and
action for 2013 flu outbreak
• Best practices for the public
about flu care & prevention
• Provide immediate alerts for
free vaccine clinics
Facilitated surge in site visits
to BPHC clinic calendar
#SM4PH

21. Success Story: Campaign Promotion
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Philadelphia Dept. of Public
Health - TakeControlPhilly!
Campaign promotion w/Facebook Ads
• Info about getting free
condoms and facts about STDs
• Updates about free health services
• Two campaigns, $3,000 and two weeks each
• Ads allowed them to target a specific
demographic and expand their reach
• FB likes, web visits and condom orders
increased substantially
#SM4PH

22. Success Story: Awareness
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AIDS.gov
Facing AIDS for World
AIDS Day
• Post images to website via
Facing AIDS app
• Posted Facing AIDS photos
and messages
• Linked people to HIV
prevention and treatment
service locator
#SM4PH

23. Success Story: Awareness
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Global TB Institute
1) Posted news stories about TB
2) Shared health alerts (e.g. recent drug
and Tubersol shortages)
3) Shared materials & resources
4) Shared photos of events (e.g. lectures, NYC
World TB Day Walk)
5) Promoted trainings and webinars
#SM4PH

24. Success Story: Awareness
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Global TB Institute
In three months:
• Increased awareness
• Increased access of
products
• Audience feels more
connected
• Increased
engagement, etc.
#SM4PH

25. Benefits of Visual Sharing
Visuals are
processed
60,000x faster
than text
Content with
images attracts
94% more total
views on average
than content
without images Videos are shared
12 times more
often than links
and text posts
combined
brands if they post
pictures
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26. What is Pinterest & Who’s Using It?
It allows users
to collect and
organize
images and
videos they
find online.
• 15% of online users
visit Pinterest
• Equally popular with
both 18-29 and 30-49
year olds
• 28% of users
make more than
$100k
• Women are five times
more likely to use
Pinterest than men
• 50% of users have kids
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27. Pinterest for Public Health
• “Pin” photos and videos
• Create “Pinterest
Boards”
• Share “pins”
• Drive traffic to your site
• Share messaging
creatively
• Contests, Tips,
Teasers, Fast Facts
• Monitor and evaluate
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28. Pinterest Case Study
Mayo Clinic:
Uses Pinterest to post healthy recipes,
fitness tips as well as safety and health
awareness messaging.
• The hospital also saw that they already had an audience there
that was starting to get some traction so it was beneficial for them
to create a board that promoted a lot of their initiatives and
messaging.
• Now Mayo Clinic has more than 4,000 followers.
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29. What is Instagram & Who’s Using It?
• Free photo sharing app
currently available on
Apple and Android
mobile devices.
• Most appealing to
African-Americans,
Hispanics, urban
residents, 18-29 year
olds, and women
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30. Instagram for Public Health
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• Post an image from a
blog post or an article to
drive traffic to your
content.
• Use it as a channel for
promoting archived
content to a fresh
audience by linking it to
hash tags like
#cancerawareness.

31. Instagram Case Study
The Red Pump Project
To raise awareness about the
impact of HIV/AIDS among
women and girls through various photos of their events
and upcoming awareness days.
• various chapters of the Red Pump Project upload photos to the
Red Pump Project’s Instagram site to showcase the series of
events throughout the U.S.
• The organization has more than 800 followers.
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32. What is Tumblr?
Tumblr
microblogging
platform and social
networking website,
allows users to post
multimedia and
other content to a
short-form blog.
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33. Tumblr Demographics
More than 5,000
unique visitors each
day
Most popular with
18-24 year olds
Tumblr users are
typically college
graduates
63% of the audience
is White
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34. Tumblr for Public Health
• Expand reach
• Follow other public health organizations on
Tumblr
• Find top influencers, potential advocates
for your cause or research
• Promote events and initiatives
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35. Tumblr Case Study
Ottawa Public Health‘s
Healthy Ottawa Campaign
In 2012, the organization began using Tumblr for their
Healthy Ottawa blog as a complement to their website.
• Throughout the year, Ottawa Public Health posted a variety of
topics to promote health among the residents.
• By the end of 2012, Ottawa Public Health had over 10,800
followers, and their growth continues.
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36. What is Vine & What’s its’ role in
Public Health?
• Mobile app for capturing and sharing
short looping videos of six seconds or
less
• Use to preview or tease other
communications
• Engage users with quick tips, fast
facts, brief messaging
• Challenge target audiences to create
Vine videos that help spread public
health messages 36

37. Vine Case Study
University of Colorado Health
The University of Colorado uses Vine to engage
patients with messages to improve their health.
• Created 11 videos about the benefits of drinking tea, heart
health awareness, and nutrition tips. The videos are shared on
Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and YouTube.
• According to TweetReach, in the three hours following the Vine
posts, tweets and retweets about the videos reached nearly
9,800 people.
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38. Which is the Right Tool?
Benefits
• New form of
engagement
• Promotes creativity
• Expands audience
• Drives traffic to
organization’s page
Challenges
• Copyright issues
• Ownership of images
• Analytics
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39. Acknowledgements
Presenters
Melissa Beaupierre & Tracye Poole
Special Guest
Michelle Samplin-Salgado, AIDS.gov
Executive Producers
Harry Young and Melissa Beaupierre
Technical Producer/Director
James Bethea
Social Media Coordinator
Carlos Chapman II
Health Communications Support Team
Jennifer Smith, Tyra McKinney, Katie Mooney,
Tiffany Spencer, Cynthia Newcomer & Valerie Watkins
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Thank You -
Facebook & Visual Social Media for Public Health
@CDCNPIN
www.cdcnpin.org
#SM4PH