Social marketing resources

Don’t use up your precious time trying to find that handy social marketing resource. We are building up a collection so that you can quickly access what you are looking for. If there are other resources you’d like to see on the site or you have one other people might find useful – let us know.

• Social marketing websites
Here you’ll find a handy list of recommended international social marketing websites. Each site listed has a brief description so you know where you’re headed before you go.

• Social marketing blogs
A blog (short for weblog) is an Internet diary. Blogs usually include information, opinions and news – often on a particular subject – that a person wishes to share widely. Blogs are generally updated regularly so they can be a handy way to find out what’s going on.

• Templates
Have to write an agency brief and not sure where to start? Feel free to download our handy template. There are also templates for other documents social marketers are called on to prepare. And we’ll be adding to them (& improving them) over time.

• Recommended reading
Learning about social marketing can be difficult. In most places there are no courses available. There is however some very good books which provide an introduction to social marketing. We asked some practicing social marketers to tell us which social marketing book they would recommend and why.
Each review includes:
• a brief overview
• what the reviewer found most valuable
• who they think would find the book most useful
• where you can get it and how much you can expect to pay

If you’ve found a particular book helpful (and you aren’t the author or publisher!) let us know. We can look at adding it to our recommended reading list.






Social marketing websites

The Institute for Social Marketing
The Institute was established in 2004-5 at the University of Stirling, Scotland under a joint venture with the Open University. Professor Gerard Hastings is the Director of the Institute. He has been a keynote speaker at the last two Social Marketing Downunder conferences.

On the website you will find useful information about social marketing including a synopsis of social marketing. There is also a quick questionnaire to help you check out whether what you are doing is social marketing or not. Six principles of social marketing are identified in this downloadable document.


The National Social Marketing Centre
The National Social Marketing Centre was officially launched in December 2006. Based in London its role is to develop capacity and skills in social marketing, and help embed social marketing into health improvement policy and programmes.

From the website you can download the independent review report 'It's our health!’  The report sets out a number of findings, as well as strategic and operational recommendations on how social marketing can be applied to improve the impact and effectiveness of health promotion in England, at national and local levels. These recommendations will provide a framework for the first National Social Marketing Strategy for Health in England.

Also on the site are a range of resources and tools to support social marketing activity. These include a number of simple guides and practical tools to help people integrate social marketing into existing work practices.


Weinreich Communications
This company assists public, private and non-profit organisations in developing effective social marketing programmes aimed at improving the health and well-being of the populations they serve. The library section of the website contains some very practical and accessible papers on doing social marketing. The site also has an extensive links section and a brief description is provided for each link. A handy place to go if you are doing a scout around the social marketing world. Nedra Kline Weinreich, the author of Hands-On Social Marketing is the person behind Weinreich Communications. The company is based in California.


The Social Marketing Institute
An American organisation set up to advance the science and practice of social marketing. It aims to learn, develop and facilitate the application of the very best social marketing practices in a wide range of settings all over the world. SMI is run by Alan Andreasen –well-known in social marketing circles. SMI also runs a computer Listserve. To join the SMI Listserve, send an email to listproc@listproc.georgetown.edu and type subscribe soc-mktg <your name> in the message body (i.e., subscribe soc-mktg John Smith).

The Social Marketing Network
This is a Health Canada site and so has a health focus. It contains useful information about social marketing including a tutorial on developing a marketing plan. Their Links/Listservs & Resources page is worth exploring.

The Centres for Disease Control
The social marketing section is part of the health communications section of the CDC site. If you are interested in seeing what is happening in the USA in the area of health communication the Campaigns-at-a-glance chart is worth a visit.

http://www.turningpointprogram.org/Pages/socialmkt.html
This section on social marketing is part of the Turning Point Social Marketing National Excellence Collaborative. Turning Point is committed to transforming and strengthening the public health system in the United States by making it more community-based and collaborative. The social marketing page includes a very readable document on the basics of social marketing (PDF) as well as some handy lessons from the field (PDF). The site has a public health focus.






Social marketing blogs
There aren’t many social marketing-specific blogs at present but two are worth a look.

http://radio.weblogs.com/0144797/
In March 2005 R. Craig Lefebvre’s started a Social Marketing blog to provide news and commentary on social marketing, health communications and social/political change enterprises. The blog features a weekly series entitled “Social Marketing in the News.” The “News” provides excerpts from, and links to, articles in the general print and electronic media that mention social marketing and social marketing programs.

http://socialmarketing.blogs.com
Also written by R. Craig Lefebvre this blog uses a different style and format to bring daily features from news postings, blogs, conferences and other sources. It aims to inform social marketers about topics, trends and issues that may influence the practice of marketing and social change. You can also find recommended music and books to feed your head and senses.

About the Blogger






Templates/guides

Creative brief download Word.htm 19.5kB

Research brief download Word.htm 7.6kB

Social marketing strategy download Word.htm 12.7kB

Communication strategy download Word.htm 56.4kB




Recommended reading

Title: Marketing Social Change: Changing behavior to promote health, social development and the environment
Author: Alan R. Andreasen
Reviewed by: Sarah Yallop
download Word.htm 8.7kB


Title: Social Marketing: Principles and Practice
Author: Rob Donovan and Nadine Henley
Reviewed by: Tane Cassidy
download Word.htm 12.7kB


Title: Hands-On Social Marketing: a Step-by-Step Guide
Author: Nedra Kline Weinreich
Reviewed by: Steve Menzies
download Word.htm 4.9kB

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