Get ready for UHC Day 2024! Step 4: Choose your channels
In the lead up to UHC Day 2024, we’re sharing steps and tips to help you prepare your campaign. This is the fourth issue in the series. See below for links to the first three issues:
Step 4: Choose your channels
Your campaign is taking shape; you have now worked out what you want to say, who needs to hear it and who will help you deliver the message. The next step is to decide on which channels you will use to get the message out there and when to use those channels.
Most advocacy campaigns use a range of different channels at different moments leading up to and during the campaign. Focusing on the most useful ones to mobilize your audience can be the key to a successful campaign.
The delivery of messages can take many different forms, from direct lobbying, to canvassing, organizing public protests, and using traditional and social media channels.
Direct lobbying can be very effective in building bonds with those in positions of power to make change. You can do so by using the advocacy letter template to write to your decision makers and government officials. You can also make phone calls and attend face-to-face meetings with elected officials. This direct approach can be very effective, particularly in the lead up to elections, to encourage leaders to make your topic a political priority or a key component of their campaign platform.
You might also consider canvassing, that is to say, encouraging people to use their votes to push for universal health coverage (UHC) and financial protection for health. You can do so by informing, engaging and educating them through calls, texts, surveys and in-person visits.
Another way to make an impact is through public protests or marches. Mobilising people to get out on the streets and show their leaders that they are committed to a cause can be very effective at swaying the opinion of policy makers and the public. Often, the more highly-publicized these events, the more impact they have.
But you don’t need to be near someone to influence them. There is a vast array of channels which can allow you to reach a broad and diverse audience from your computer. Working with traditional media channels such as newspapers, radio, television and online publishers can be very effective at influencing public opinion on issues such as UHC. Traditional media can go a long way in informing and educating people and humanising issues. Choose outlets that are aligned with or receptive to your messaging, and that have a level of influence with your target audience. Then develop a media contact list to increase impact and ensure continuity.
Social media is also crucial in most advocacy campaigns today. Work out which channels your target audience uses, then keep track of your posts to determine which times of day or moments of the week are attracting the most engagement. Facts and data can be useful for grabbing attention on social media and encouraging sharing, but storytelling can also inspire action in your audience. Authenticity is the key!
Regardless of which channel you choose, identifying the best opportunities to advocate is a crucial step in the process. The right time to advocate to one audience might not be the right time to advocate to another. For example, introducing UHC to political conversation in the lead up to and during national elections allows constituents to apply the greatest amount of pressure on their representatives. However, if you are appealing to decision makers such as ministers of finance, it’s best to engage them at key points in the budget process, when they are able to take your inputs into consideration.
Having a clear plan for when to share campaign messages, and through which channels, will help ensure your messages stick and inspire action.
Social media assets
Show your support for universal health coverage and financial protection on your social media platforms! Use the #UHCDay hashtag and our range of frames and banners to transform your pages for UHC Day 2024.
While you’re there, check out the rest of the toolkit for graphics, suggested posts and other advocacy tools to add to your social media schedule this year.