HPV Social Marketing Campaigns: Novel Applications for Social Media Use

Social media is contributing to the decline of traditional media such as newspapers, television, and radio. Public health organizations often conduct awareness campaigns through the media to reach the public with health messages. While many campaigns use social media, few have been formally evaluated and many established best practices are out of date due to the rapidly evolving nature of social media. Despite presenting public health organizations with an opportunity to reach and engage a large population, social media also poses a significant risk of loss of message control. Using a recent, innovative social marketing campaign, this capstone will employ a mixed methods approach to weigh the potential risks and benefits, evaluate three policy options, and recommend promising practices for using social media in HPV-related social marketing campaigns.