How Do You Address Misinformation That May Arise on Social Media Regarding Blood Donation?
In an era where information spreads like wildfire on social media, addressing concerns and combating misinformation regarding blood donation is highly important. As blood centers strive to foster trust and encourage more people to donate, it's crucial to navigate the dynamic landscape of these platforms effectively. In this blog post, we'll explore strategies on how to address issues related to blood donation misinformation or concerns that may arise and are shared on social media.
Post Informative, Easily Consumable Content
Sharing content that addresses common blood donation concerns on social media is an easy way to share accurate information with people. Below, we share a few posts from blood centers to show how they addressed sharing the correct information to ensure people were presented with the facts.
VITALANT
During the height of COVID-19, people were very skeptical about donating blood and misinformation was spreading quickly about who could and couldn’t donate. As the vaccine was rolling out, Vitalant stayed on top of potential misinformation spread by regularly sharing that those that received the vaccine were still able to donate blood.
AMERICAN RED CROSS
In May of 2022, The FDA lifted the travel deferral for those who traveled or lived in Europe and were potentially exposed to the Mad Cow disease. The American Red Cross did a great job on social media creating regular posts to ensure those affected received the message that they could now donate blood. With the amount of content regularly shared online, it’s imperative that blood centers share a key message several times to increase the likelihood that their target donors see their message.
NEW YORK BLOOD CENTER
In May 2023, the FDA updated the screening process to expand donor eligibility and eliminate questions based on sexual orientation. With this change impacting a large portion of potential donors, New York Blood Center published information about this change. They even made a related image for their banner image to get the word out to anyone that landed on their page.
Respond To Concerns
The key to success on social media is to be social, right? That’s how it goes with addressing misinformation too! The spread of misinformation about donating blood can unfortunately lead to increased hesitancy. Our blog on this topic dives into how to transparently communicate with your audience to create a positive and receptive community of blood donors.
We see this mistake often - businesses put out content and don’t follow up with responding to comments. We highly recommend having someone on your social media team respond to all comments from your blood center’s account regularly. Take the extra steps to search for any posts being shared by people in your community and engage with those too - this is a great way to share helpful information from the industry to prevent misinformation from continuing to be spread.
Influencer Campaign
We’ve written several blogs about the importance of utilizing influencers for blood donation awareness and it’s relevant here too! People are more likely to consider information from people they feel they can trust rather than a random face on the internet. However, if you’re planning on partnering with influencers to combat misinformation, there should be a bit of strategy behind that. You likely won’t have the same impact with someone that isn’t known for their involvement in the medical community.
We recommend partnering with leaders that are widely trusted in the healthcare space. This could also include celebrities and influencers who have become known for their work or passion in the healthcare space. Creating videos helps convey sensitive messages better since the viewer can hear tone, so we’d suggest getting creative and making the message easy and entertaining to watch.
Stay Informed on The Latest Misinformation Being Spread
Last, but certainly not least, is staying in the loop on the misinformation that is going around about donating blood. While it’s best to be proactive and create content before an issue arises, sometimes it’s just not possible to know what people will say. We recommend someone on your team, whether that be marketing, PR, etc. routinely sweep the internet and social media for negative comments about blood donor recruitment to respond as soon as possible.
Ensure Legal Compliance
When addressing concerns about donating blood, always make sure that the information your blood center shares complies with legal and ethical standards. It’s important to avoid making exaggerated claims or promises that cannot be substantiated.
In today's era of mass information spread on social media, countering misinformation and addressing concerns about blood donation is crucial for fostering trust and encouraging donor participation. We hope that by using this blog as your guide, you’re able to nip the next misinformation spread in your community in the bud.