How to Communicate Health Messages to Young People in Social Media

Learn about the framework:

This framework was co-designed with young people and professional health communicators with the help of 3 youth co-researchers.

For more detail on the framework, read below:

Young people like content created by other young people.

Feature “regular” young people that they can relate to and involve them behind the scenes in the content creation process.

Try:

  • Collaborate with young content creators

  • Content creation competitions with prizes for young people

  • Internships for high school and university students

  • Regular focus groups with young people to develop content and ideas

A youth approved example >>

Consider young people’s social contexts and health literacy needs when creating content.

Messages need to be simple, relevant and include easy calls to action that young people can do.

Try:

  • Simplify the call to action into small, recognisable steps

  • Consider young people’s health experience and pre-emptively answer questions

  • Sense check with a young person before sharing content

  • Check language complexity using online readability tools

  • Research cultural events popular with young people (e.g. concerts) and align messages to these

  • Limit serious messages at times of stress for young people (e.g. school exams)

A youth approved example below:

Young people only spend a few seconds on a post before moving on. 

Use a hook and strong visual to capture attention fast, before delivering the message elsewhere in the post.

Try:

  • Use eye-catching images and bright colours

  • Limit text in the visual

  • Use succinct captions

  • Use storytelling to evoke emotions (e.g. funny, fear)

  • Provide ways to find out more elsewhere (e.g. via a link)

A youth approved example >>

Young people expect engaging and trending content on social media, even from public health agencies.

Collaborate with influencers, use humour, memes and trends that young people use.

Ensure the content is created by someone young or very familiar with the trend to avoid coming across as cringeworthy.

Try:

  • Start with safe and easy trends (e.g. timeless references, animals)

  • Collaborate with influencers to execute trends

  • Share diverse content tailored to platform

  • Research trends, online youth cultures and platform norms

  • Maintain relationships with previous collaborators

  • Develop a registry of youth approved, vetted influencers

  • Carve out budget to pay for collaborators and talent

  • Develop a culture of trust and streamlined approvals in the team

A youth approved example below:

Young people want to see public health agencies engage with the public on social media.

They want two-way conversations rather than impersonal one-way messaging from a faceless entity.

Try:

  • Respond to comments and direct messages

  • Carve out more time for community management

  • Allow opportunities for public submissions on the platform (e.g. polls, Q&As)

  • Combine online and offline engagement (e.g. street interviews/vox pop shared on social media)

  • Develop a diverse list of preapproved responses to common health questions

  • Involve health professionals in community management to answer the health-related questions

A youth approved example below: