Soon this generation will be the largest consumer base and workforce, 70 million people in the US alone were born between 1997 and 2012. And yet health messages are missing them.
Health communications started in the doctor’s office (4). The privacy and specificity of provider-patient conversations gave context to health messages and informed health decisions. But since the 1980s, the field of health communications has matured into its own practice (4). Experts brought in new perspectives about when, where, and how health messages should reach people.
With changes in healthcare practices, media environments, and technology, it’s become critical to move health messages beyond a sterile (or even privileged) environment. Impacting health means meeting the public where they are.
Gen Z is the most critical slice of the public pie. The health decisions that Gen Z makes now will impact each prior and successive generation. In the workforce, they will be the ones supporting Boomers, Gen X, and Millennials. In consumer choices, they will drive market priorities. Is Gen Z’s approach to health up to the challenge?
Today, Gen Z thinks of health as primarily physical activity. Health is equated to exercise routines, toned physiques, or glamorous slow-mo. The dots between mental health, cardiovascular care, nutritious diet, or consumer choices are not connecting. To correct their fractured perceptions, it might seem advisable to involve parents and authority figures (like government agencies). But across the public, “health communication is no longer a top-down fashion commanding the public to listen and act. We need to consider the enabling environment that would influence the decision-making process, attitude, and health behavior of an individual. (4)”
The biggest opportunity to reach Gen Z is cultivating conversation. They want to be heard, not just talked at. Even more so in special populations, there’s an overall mistrust of authorities. But approaching health topics from within their cultural values could transform how they perceive risk and empower positive health choices at the individual level.
So where can we reach Gen Z? Gen Z spends more time every day on social media than Boomers, Gen X, or Millennials: 3 hours and 7 minutes (3). Social has dominated the communication channels. 64% of Gen Z are on Instagram every day, 30% on TikTok (3). These two platforms are especially essential pillars for reaching 9 – 14 year olds, when they are filling free time before education or work activities crowd their schedules.
Social media platforms are a unique combination of individual and mass communication styles. They offer powerful tools for specificity and privacy that echo the doctors’ offices where health communications began. Advertising or promoting posts to key psychographics can help health communicators understand and influence behavior changes. Over 24% of users have clicked on a promoted post / ad on Instagram in the past month (3). Even one platform campaign can provide insights that exceed previous health communications contexts. The average American visits their doctor 4 times a year (5). They’re in the traditional health messaging space only once every 3 months. [Amelia Burke quote]
Targeting a niche seems cliche, but on social media platforms, health messages can be broken down to reach each intended audience. After friends and family and people they know (47%), the largest categories of following accounts are entertainment, memes, and parodies (39%) and actors, comedians, or other performers (39%) (3). When there is a direct connection between the message and individual, then change can happen. Health messaging coming from trusted voices woven into natural daily activity—that’s where influencers can partner with their followers to help them make impactful choices for better health (rather than presenting an unrealistic ideal). [Shavonne Reed quote]
More than 30% of Gen Z uses social media for finding content; finding inspiration; seeing what’s trending; and reading news stories (3). Younger consumers may feel pressure on social media, but they’re also more hopeful about the positive impact of online communities (3). The negative impact of changing technologies on attention spans or self-esteem seems to be common knowledge. But the uncommon (and data-driven) idea that social media health communications can help Gen Z claim a bright, healthy future just might make life better for all generations.
