Everyone knows that health communication and marketing can raise awareness about health issues and promote prevention behaviors. But did you know that health communication and social media marketing plays a critical role in responding to outbreaks? Right now, CDC is participating in a unique, interagency collaboration with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to use interactive and social media to enhance the response to the recent Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak and its associated recall of peanut butter and peanut-containing products. Many of my colleagues in the National Center for Health Marketing are working closely with scientists and communicators in the National Center for Zoonotic, Vector-Borne, and Enteric Diseases (NCZVED), including people in NCHM’s Division of eHealth Marketing and the Emergency Risk Communication Branch in the Division of Health Communication and Marketing.
Even as CDC is using well-established, traditional public health channels to disseminate critical information about the outbreak to health departments and the news media, we also are launching cutting-edge, audience-centered tools to reach the public directly. Some products created for this response include podcasts for adults and children, widgets for web pages and social network profiles, mobile-accessible content at m.cdc.gov, Twitter messaging, promotion through social networks, and outreach to bloggers. CDC’s messages also encourage people without internet access to contact CDC-INFO (at 1-800-CDC-INFO or 1-800-232-4636) for information in both English and Spanish.
The products featured here are being promoted to our partners and the public. Please share this critical health information with your colleagues and constituents by participating in the following activities:
Listen to the Podcasts
Salmonella Serotype Typhimurium Outbreak in Peanut Butter and Peanut Butter-Containing Products (English, 3:41) Listen To This Podcast…
This podcast discusses the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak in peanut butter and peanut-containing products. (Created and released 1/21/2009 by NCZVED.)
Brotes infecciosos causados por Salmonella typhimurium en la mantequilla de maní y otros productos que la contienen (Spanish, 3:48) Listen To This Podcast…
Este podcast habla sobre los brotes infecciosos causados por Salmonella typhimurium en la mantequilla de maní y otros productos que la contienen. (Created 1/21/2009 and released 1/23/2009 by NCZVED.)
What Kids Need to Know About Peanut Butter and Salmonella (English, 2:49) Listen To This Podcast…
This podcast explains to children the recent Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak in peanut butter and peanut-containing products. (Created and released 1/26/2009 by NCZVED.)
Embed Widgets on Your Websites and Social Media Pages
Two widgets are available at http://www.cdc.gov/widgets.
- FDA Peanut-Containing Product Recall. This widget allows users to browse the FDA database of recalled peanut butter and peanut-containing products.
- The Salmonella Typhimurium Outbreak Map. This widget displays the number of people by state who have been infected with Salmonella Typhimurium.
Visit and Share the FDA Product Database
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutterrecall/index.cfm
This database includes human and pet foods recalled by Peanut Corporation of America since January 2009.
Visit the Social Media Collaboration Page
http://www.cdc.gov/socialmedia
This web page is a collection of Salmonella Typhimurium-related products for consumers and partners to use, including blogs, podcasts, websites, etc.
Visit the FDA XML Database
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutterrecall/PeanutButterProducts2009.xml
This web page includes FDA-provided data about product recalls in Excel, PDF, and XML. The XML format, created specifically for use on other websites, allows other users to incorporate FDA data into their own products and mashups.
Follow on Twitter
Two feeds are available.
- FDA Recalls (http://www.twitter.com/fdarecalls). This feed provides the FDA’s recalls, market withdrawals, and safety alerts.
- CDC Emergency (http://twitter.com/CDCemergency). This feed provides updates from CDC Emergency Preparedness and Response about increasing the nation’s ability to prepare for and respond to public health emergencies.
Visit and Share the HHS Blog
http://pbrecallblog.hhs.gov
This blog brings together resources from HHS, CDC, and FDA and includes information about ingredient-driven recalls, outbreak dos and don’ts, and updates about recalled foods.
Please share these tools and their critical messages broadly. In addition, let us know your thoughts about the health communication and social media marketing tools that we are using to provide critical health information to key affected audiences, also any feedback on how we can continue to improve our strategies.
Thank you.
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Public Comments
Comments listed below are posted by individuals not associated with CDC, unless otherwise stated. These comments do not represent the official views of CDC, and CDC does not guarantee that any information posted by individuals on this blog is correct, and disclaims any liability for any loss or damage resulting from reliance on any such information. Read more about our comment policy ».
February 5, 2009 at 12:07 pm ET - Janet Johnson
Jay,
This is a great first step. As consumers increasingly go online for health information, it’s wonderful to see both the CDC and FDA endeavor to deliver information through social (as well as traditional) channels. Our company, Academic Network, a Stericycle Company, works with food and pharma clients and have been listening to social media for potential product and drug issues for years.
As an important next-step, though, we hope further direction from the FDA will be provide better guidelines for communicating to consumers online when their products are being discussed – so we can provide consumers accurate, timely information and have a transparent environment. While many companies monitor the social web, the hesitation to engage does not allow for open communication and early identification of product issues. We would like to discuss our work with you in creating the opportunity to deliver important facts about the things we consume for health – especially when questions are forced by product recalls.
Sincerely, Janet Johnson - Online Strategist
Academic Network
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February 10, 2009 at 7:58 pm ET - Kimberly Calvert
Jay,
There seem to be no working links for consumers to determine whether specific products on their shelves have any peanut butter contamination. I am extremely frustrated by the inability to find this data on the cdc.gov website. I am technically savvy and know how to find things everywhere else. Very sad state of affairs. Very frustrating!
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutterrecall/index.cfm
The above link is broken and I do not want to install a widget on my computer in order to get the info. Can’t there just be a simple list where I can do a CTRL F and see if the product in question has been recalled?
Kimberly
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AUTHOR COMMENT February 23, 2009 at 3:00 pm ET - Jay Bernhardt
Dear Kimberly:
First of all, thank you for reading and being engaged in Health Marketing Musings. I am so sorry you were not able to find the resources you needed. The link to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration “Peanut Butter and other Peanut Containing Products Recall List” at http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutterrecall/index.cfm appears to be working. Because FDA is the government agency responsible for ensuring that foods are “safe, wholesome and sanitary” (http://www.fda.gov/comments/regs.html), their database (linked above) will provide the most accurate and up-to-date recall information. The database is searchable by brand name, UPC, product description, or any combination of these.
As HHS, CDC, and FDA collaborate to bring credible health information to the public, we have worked to make Salmonella and recall information accessible in a variety of ways (including the widget you mentioned and other social media tools). You can also visit http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/typhimurium/ for information about the Salmonella outbreak and links to additional resources (such as the FDA database). Consumers may also contact CDC-INFO, the CDC contact center (800-CDC-INFO (800-232-4636) TTY: (888) 232-6348, 24 Hours/Every Day or cdcinfo@cdc.gov), to connect with a Customer Service Representative who can answer questions about Salmonella and even help you identify which products have been recalled.
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March 9, 2009 at 2:16 pm ET - Karl Milhon
Jay,
In looking at the information, one thing I am noting are marketing elements targeting the populace as a whole. It is in effect from public health OUT, kind of like a shotgun. I once was involved in a targeted marketing effort toward a specific sub-segment of the provider community that had to report HIV disease.
Disease reporting is a problematic effort as there is nothing perceived to be in it for the provider except “valuable” work/time. Our marketing effort then was oriented toward getting physicians/facilities to report by correlating formula based funding with their patients, noting how much each case report was worth in services. This is a gross oversimplification of the strategy, but that was one of the core messages. It was highly successful. It was presented at a national surveillance conference in 1998 and some items out of it became standard approaches across the country for HIV Reporting.
Very often, public health NEEDS sub-segments of the provider networks to do certain things. Another example might be trying to get private providers to participate in an immunization registry. We are having success in Kansas around this presently as that program is consciously using marketing approaches. We are using web hit/download data as one of the quantifiable measurable indicators of success along with core program data.
So, don’t forget other ways public health can utilize the concepts other than communicating with the populace as a whole.
Karl V. Milhon, Director
Policy and Planning
Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention
Kansas Department of Health and Environment
http://www.kdheks.gov/bdcp/index.html
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AUTHOR COMMENT March 13, 2009 at 5:00 pm ET - Jay Bernhardt
Dear Karl:
Thank you for sharing you thoughts and suggestions. We appreciate hearing how others are using health marketing and hope this blog can be a forum for some of those discussions. I agree that providers and public health professionals are important audiences and should not be forgotten. The social media activities conducted for the peanut butter and peanut-containing product recalls targeted both consumers and partners, and the activities were conducted in coordination with other traditional media efforts in collaboration with the FDA and HHS. Several of the activities we did in the collaboration targeted specific audiences, including moms, food writers, and providers. We utilized specific social media channels to reach target audiences based on demographic research for the specific channel, please see our eHealth Data Briefs for more information.
CDC has used new media to reach providers in several campaigns; in fact one of our most popular eCards targets medical professionals to get flu vaccinations. Currently, CDC is exploring other innovative ways to reach providers by partnering with QuantiaMD, Mayo Clinic, Sermo and others.
Please share the results of your immunization registry program and other interesting projects that utilize health marketing. One of our goals is to share best practices, lessons learned and innovative health marketing solutions. In the next couple of weeks, we will release a more formal case study of using social media tools for the peanut butter and peanut-containing product recalls which will include some fairly impressive metrics. We look forward to hearing more suggestions and discussions about innovative and effective ways health marketing can be used in public health.
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May 9, 2009 at 1:28 am ET - Aaron
Jay,
Great post and excellent examples of how our government is leveraging technology to improve awareness, transparency and to engage with the public. We have talked about the benefits of Twitter marketing for all types of organizations of all sizes. More and more government agencies and non-profits are using Twitter. Great to see.
That said, we do have to offer a couple pieces of feedback.
First, while it’s great that you mentioned the Peanut Product Recall Blog and Twitter feed, it’s a bit disappointing to find a post titled “We’d like your feedback” where the commenting has been closed. http://pbrecallblog.hhs.gov/2009/02/wed-like-your-feedback.html
The only other comment is about getting the word out. It’s great to have a link to your Twitter feed in the blog sidebar, but why not include it in the header for your main site, in press releases, etc.? Encourage your Twitter followers to re-tweet (RT) your tweets will also help to spread your message and increase your number of followers. It’s the ‘good’ kind of viral.
Will definitely follow and we’re working on an article about government use of Twitter article for http://tweamr.com and will be sure to mention you. Certainly heading the right direction. Amazing how much progress in a short time. Thank you!
Best regards,
Aaron
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AUTHOR COMMENT May 28, 2009 at 11:46 am ET - Jay Bernhardt
Dear Aaron,
Thank you for commenting on this blog post and following us on Twitter. I appreciate your suggestions on Twitter and the Issue blog. We will consider your suggestions for promoting Twitter and extending the comment period on any future retired blogs.
We continue to apply lessons learned from the social media response to the peanut butter and peanut-containing product recalls to other efforts, such as novel H1N1 flu. Please take a look at our social media tools page at http://www.cdc.gov/socialmedia/ which currently includes a list of tools utilized for the novel H1N1 flu response and provides links to the peanut butter and peanut-containing product recalls social media activities and other resources. This page will be updated to reflect future social media efforts at CDC, so please sign up for email updates or follow us on CDC eHealth Twitter profile to learn of future activities.
Thanks again for sharing your thoughts and suggestions.
Best Wishes,
Jay
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