Social Advertising Effectiveness in Driving Action: A Study of Positive, Negative and Coactive Appeals on Social Media

Advertising appeals effectiveness: a systematic literature review

Positive, negative and coactive appeals are used in advertising. The evidence base indicates mixed results making practitioner guidance on optimal advertising appeals difficult. This study aims to identify the most effective advertising appeals and it seeks to synthesize relevant literature up to August 2019. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses framework a total of 31 studies were identified and analyzed. Emotional appeals, theory utilization, materials, results and quality were examined. Across multiple contexts, results from this review found that positive appeals were more often effective than coactive and negative appeals. Most studies examined fear and humour appeals, reflecting a literature skew towards the two emotional appeals. The Effective Public Health Practice Project framework was applied to assess the quality of the studies and identified that there remains opportunity for improvement in research design of advertising studies. Only one-third of studies utilized theory, signalling the need for more theory testing and application in future research. Scholars should look at increasing methodological strength by drawing more representative samples, establishing strong study designs and valid data collection methods. In the meantime, advertisers are encouraged to employ and test more positive and coactive advertising appeals.

Non-monetary narratives motivate businesses to engage with climate change

The dominant narrative to motivate business actors to take climate actions emphasizes opportunities to increase monetary gains, linking sustainability to the financial goals of these organizations. The prevalence of monetary motivations in sustainability communication among businesses, consultancies, academics and international organizations has made this narrative a truism in the private sector. We conducted an online, real-world, large-n experiment to evaluate the comparative effectiveness of different motivations using narrative communication. We show that non-monetary narratives highlighting prosocial or achievement motivations are 55% more effective in creating responses from businesses than narratives emphasizing monetary gains. These findings are robust across most narrative and audience characteristics, including age and language. Our findings suggest that communication towards business leaders around sustainability can be multi-pronged and should incorporate prosocial and achievement motivations aside from articulating potential financial benefits.

Orthopaedic Program Reputation and Association With Social Media Utilization and Engagement

BACKGROUND

The associations of orthopaedic social media metrics with US News & World Report (USNWR) scores have not been well defined and are the focus of this study.

METHODS

Orthopaedic surgery departments and residency programs were matched to the USNWR overall orthopaedic score and professional opinion subscore. Corresponding Instagram and Twitter accounts were evaluated for the number of followers, number following, and posts. Correlations between these metrics and rank/reputation were assessed. Pearson correlations and Student t tests were used with significance set at P < 0.05.

RESULTS

Of the 192 departments associated with residency programs, there were social media accounts for 150 (78.1%) and USNWR rankings for 186 (96.9%), with an overlap of 147 (76.6%). Instagram accounts were identified for 138 (93.9%) and Twitter accounts for 85 (57.8%). Correlations were highest for the opinion subscore and number of followers (Instagram department R = 0.894, Instagram residency R = 0.338, Twitter department R = 0.808, and Twitter residency R = 0.878, P < 0.001 for each), less for the number of posts (Instagram department R = 0.590, Twitter department R = 0.521, and Twitter residency R = 0.696, P < 0.001 for each).

CONCLUSION

Social media metrics correlated with USNWR scores. Focusing on such social media platforms may help further the reputation, audience engagement, and ranking of orthopaedic departments and residencies.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words: Sentiment and Topic Analysis of COVID-19 Vaccination on Twitter and Vaccine Uptake

Background

The lack of trust in vaccines is a major contributor to vaccine hesitancy. To overcome vaccine hesitancy for the COVID-19 vaccine, the Australian government launched multiple public health campaigns to encourage vaccine uptake. This sentiment analysis examines the effect of public health campaigns and COVID-19–related events on sentiment and vaccine uptake.

Objective

This study aims to examine the relationship between sentiment and COVID-19 vaccine uptake and government actions that impacted public sentiment about the vaccine.

Methods

Using machine learning methods, we collected 137,523 publicly available English language tweets published in Australia between February and October 2021 that contained COVID-19 vaccine–related keywords. Machine learning methods were used to extract topics and sentiments relating to COVID-19 vaccination. The relationship between public vaccination sentiment on Twitter and vaccine uptake was examined.

Results

The majority of collected tweets expressed negative (n=91,052, 66%) rather than positive (n=21,686, 16%) or neutral (n=24,785, 18%) sentiments. Topics discussed within the study time frame included the role of the government in the vaccination rollout, availability and accessibility of the vaccine, and vaccine efficacy. There was a significant positive correlation between negative sentiment and the number of vaccine doses administered daily (r267=.15, P<.05), with positive sentiment showing the inverse effect. Public health campaigns, lockdowns, and antivaccination protests were associated with increased negative sentiment, while vaccination mandates had no significant effect on sentiment.

Conclusions

The study findings demonstrate that negative sentiment was more prevalent on Twitter during the Australian vaccination rollout but vaccine uptake remained high. Australians expressed anger at the slow rollout and limited availability of the vaccine during the study period. Public health campaigns, lockdowns, and antivaccination rallies increased negative sentiment. In contrast, news of increased vaccine availability for the public and government acquisition of more doses were key government actions that reduced negative sentiment. These findings can be used to inform government communication planning.