I have no problem with physicians posting pictures of themselves getting a CoVid19 vaccination.
Good for them. These photos signify hope, and I believe they act as a great visual cue for the vaccine-hesitant.
But when I see their healthcare organizations tweeting or retweeting these photos, I cringe.
Why? Because when I look at the physicians’ healthcare organizations’ social media timelines, I don’t see the same creative enthusiasm for wearing masks, social distancing, and, most recently, staying home and not traveling over Thanksgiving and Christmas as I do for these vaccination photos.
And let’s be very clear: decreasing the near-term mortality from CoVid (January-March) is more likely to be driven by improving mask-wearing than by encouraging vaccinations.
Sadly, I have an uneasy feeling the social media gatekeepers for large clinics, hospitals, and healthcare companies don’t understand this simple fact, or at least aren’t acting on it.
(I also have a sickening feeling that a lack of more aggressive mask-wearing will allow a new Covid19 virus strain—one potentially resistant to the vaccine—to develop, but I will leave that thought for another post!)
Because the reality is once a healthcare marketing department does their daily CoVid tweet (best case), they are going to move on to other, less depressing content.
And that’s where the “opportunity cost” problem comes in. I think social media marketing folks are more focused on not saturating their timeline with CoVid content—just like in the normal good ol’ days—than they are on preventing those extra few people each day from getting Covid.
But hint: times aren’t normal, and the good ol’ days may never come back, and it may be time for the healthcare marketers to think more like physicians, and physicians to think more like marketers.
So what’s my advice—at least for the healthcare organizations in which saving lives and improving health is part of their mission?
For every vaccination selfie posted or retweeted, publish ten pieces of creative content about mask-wearing, social distancing, and/or staying home.
That’s right. 10:1!
And why?
Because that’s what will save lives now.