Overview
Public health authorities have a duty to share health information with the population so that people can adopt adequate behaviours to protect their health and the health of others. However, in our modern information ecosystem this objective can be challenged by the overflow of information of varying quality that surges across digital and physical environments during acute public health event. Social marketing and message testing concepts and methods can help public health authorities to build their health or emergency programmes and response. This course introduces the learners to social marketing concepts and methods, how they help developing effective messages and how to pre-test and post-test these messages.
Certificates
A certificate of achievement will be available to participants who score at least 80% of the total points available in the final assessment. Participants who receive a Certificate of Achievement can also download an Open Badge for this course.
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Introduction to the course
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Module 1: Social marketing and effective messages:
By the end of this module, you will be able to describe how the “default” settings of social marketing favour supply side and rational thinking; understand the important difference between product features and the user experience; and why the design thinking approach is optimal when developing a campaign; apply social marketing concepts to develop effective public health messages as part of a campaign that responds to an audience’s preferences and values.
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Module 2: Conducting pre-testing and post-testing:
By the end of this module, you will be able to identify different methods for message pre-testing and why this information is actionable and tactical; understand the benefits and limitations of post-testing and how, or if, your messages influence knowledge and behaviour; adopt a lighter, informal approach to pre- and post-testing when your operating environment has limitations; utilize metrics and evaluation to track the performance of your campaigns.
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Final assessment