Combating healthcare misinformation
Misinformation is becoming an ever increasing concern, and never more so than in the critical area of healthcare.
As social media video becomes more and more popular, one of the unfortunate consequences is the creation of clickbait content. From posts promoting new diets, food supplements and skincare products, to self-care medications and healthcare advice, the trend is clear for us all to see.
Recent surveys indicate that GenZ is increasingly turning away from Google towards ‘social search’. They are finding answers to their day-to-day questions through TikTok and Instagram, bypassing traditional search engines and the recommendations of healthcare providers for those of influencers.
Providing patients, carers and the public with easy access to accurate, evidence-based healthcare information from trusted sources, in a format that they find easy to access and view, is becoming ever more important.
Evidence-based healthcare information that cuts through the noise
Healthcare providers, charities and medical bodies must move with the times in order to tackle this concerning trend, and ensure that the trustworthy healthcare information reaches the people that need it.
To do so, they must grab attention and engage the public across digital platforms. Traditional paper leaflets and PDF downloads just won’t cut it anymore. Something more dynamic, eye-catching and ‘sticky’ is needed.
At Senate Media we are pleased to be helping healthcare providers communicate their essential information with animations that are compelling and easily digestible for all. Here we share our tips for cutting through the noise.
Our top tips
Keep messaging simple, clear and concise – streamlining messaging, using jargon-free phrasing and avoiding niche terminology all help to make information clear and less daunting for the viewer.
Use both audio and visual information delivery – a friendly and welcoming voice over brings humanity to the delivery of key information. And coupling your audio with visuals that are clear and intuitive, will help improve understanding and memorability.
Make characters diverse and relatable – depending on your audience and subject matter you may choose to have realistic characters or abstract characters, but whichever you choose, keep them relatable for your audience and diverse, so that everyone can see themselves, and feel that ‘this is for me’.
Create materials that are colourful – competing across social platforms means standing out and being seen, and colourful graphics that ‘pop’ off the screen work wonders.
Make the most of all delivery tools available – look at other options beyond sharing your healthcare videos on your website and across your social channels. Providing QR codes in clinics and after appointment letters work especially well to direct patients to your videos.
We hope these tips are helpful. We think this is such an important area that we have even created a ‘free to all’ ebook that goes into more depth, with guidance on the whole animation production process. You can download it here.
