Social Media Plan for Health Education on Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity among American Adolescents

This social media plan aims to educate American adolescents on nutrition, physical activity, and obesity. It discusses the target audience, ways to reach them, content for each social media outlet, and pros and cons of social media platforms.

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Social Media Plan
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The Target Audience

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Various health issues affect populations. Nutrition, physical activity, and obesity is the
most prevalent health issue among adolescents in the United States. Childhood obesity is
becoming increasingly common in contemporary society (Sim & McKee, 2011). Nutrition,
Physical Activity, and Obesity is a common health issue among adolescents. The target
audience for the health issue education, in this case, is the America adolescents (Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, 2016).
Most American adolescents do not exercise healthful habits of eating and are low levels
of physical activity. Adults in the United States take fruits approximately 1.1 times a day, and
vegetables around 1.6 times a day. However, adolescents have shown even a lower intake than
adults. Furthermore, about 82% of Adolescents in America do not practice the adequate amount
of physical activity as recommended (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016).
The behaviors in nutrition and physical activity result in increased cases of obesity
among American adolescents. Today, the United States faces obesity at the rates of 34%, 16%
and 50% in adults, children, and Adolescents respectively. Consequentially, the adolescents are
at an increased risk of contracting obesity-related problems such as stroke, type 2 diabetes and
heart diseases (Sim & McKee, 2011).
Three Ways in Which Social Media Helps Reach the Target Audience
Social media is a common way of interacting with adolescents and other audience
targets. It provides a simple means of exchanging information in virtual networks and
communities such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, telegram and Instagram, among others.
There are several ways in which social media can help reach the target audience
(Parvanta, 2010).

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For instance, Facebook groups can be used in the creation of virtual communities
including the targeted adolescents as the members. According to Wymer (2015), Facebook
groups would help assemble the targeted audience for secure communication. Also, Instagram
can be used to reach the Millennium generation as it is the platform of social media with the
fastest growth. Furthermore, Social Crawlytics can help in reaching adolescents by providing a
way to publish valuable health content in social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter
(Haydon, Dunay & Krueger, 2012).
The Content of Each of the Three Social Media Outlets
Each of the three social media outlets will contain various but related contents. For
instance, Facebook groups can be used to provide useful information on the healthful nutritional
and eating habits that adolescents can use for healthy living (Haydon, Dunay & Krueger, 2012).
Instagram, since it is fast-growing, can be used to educate adolescents on the importance of
physical activity and ways they can achieve the recommended levels of activity. Finally, Social
Crawlytics would encompass the causes of obesity and its health effects, as well as ways to
avoid the health issue (Parvanta, 2010).
Pros and Cons of Social Media Platforms
Social media has various pros and cons. One of the main advantages of using social
media to reach the target audience is its efficiency and speed. Social media outlets allow people
to communicate fast and effectively (Wymer, 2015). However, social media has some
limitations. For instance, it lacks emotional connection, reduces the skills of face-to-face
communication and leads to the conveyance of inauthentic expression of feelings
(Parvanta, 2010).

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References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2016). Social Media Toolkit. Retrieved from
http://www.cdc.gov/socialmedia/tools/guidelines/pdf/socialmediatoolkit_bm.pdf
Haydon, J., Dunay, P., & Krueger, R. (2012). Facebook Marketing for Dummies. Hoboken, NJ:
John Wiley & Sons.
Parvanta, C. (2010). Essentials of Public Health Communication. Burlington, MA: Jones &
Bartlett Learning.
Sim, F., & McKee, M. (2011). Issues in Public Health. Milton Keynes, United Kingdom:
McGraw-Hill Education (UK).
Wymer, W. (2015). Innovations in Social Marketing and Public Health Communication:
Improving the Quality of Life for Individuals and Communities. Basingstoke, England:
Springer.