Polio Digital Message Guide: A Practical Resource for Responding to Trending Narratives, Crafting Effective Polio Messaging and Encouraging Vaccine Uptake

"Polio misinformation is now spreading across more social media platforms with fewer restrictions than ever before."

This guide is designed to be a practical resource for using digital communication to boost vaccine confidence and counter misinformation around polio. It offers step-by-step strategies, templates, and tools to help practitioners working in polio immunisation programmes create digital messages that resonate with communities and inspire action, "prebunk" and "debunk" misinformation, and incorporate social listening data to tailor messages more effectively.

The guide was created by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Digital Community Engagement (DCE) team in collaboration with The Public Good Projects (PGP). DCE supports social and behaviour change (SBC) initiatives by integrating best practices in digital health communications with on-the-ground strategies to engage communities, share information, and promote positive health behaviours to increase vaccine acceptance. The DCE team characterises the ability of digital media to reach large audiences quickly and effectively as an essential component of SBC strategies. The team collaborates with country offices in polio-endemic and outbreak-affected regions, providing tools and support to identify and address challenges in polio health communication. These tools include timely social listening insights, resources, and training to address false claims and emerging narratives. This guide builds on the collective experience of this work across DCE countries.  

Intended for communication and marketing specialists, social media managers, behaviour and social change specialists, and on-the-ground health teams working on polio immunisation programmes, the specific objectives of the guide are to help these practitioners:
 

• Understand the polio information ecosystem, leverage social listening tools, and identify common themes in polio conversations;
• Respond to trending polio narratives by assessing risk and using communication strategies like prebunking and debunking; and
• Reach and engage audiences by using trusted messengers, turning social listening insights into content, and following best practices for polio communication.

The contents are as follows:  

Introduction

Part 1. Understanding the Polio Information Ecosystem
 

• The digital revolution
• The rise of misinformation
• Social listening: An opportunity
• Identifying themes
• Resources to help with social listening

Part 2. Responding to Trending Polio Conversations
 

• Why it's important to respond to trending conversations
• How to assess a narrative's risk
• How to respond to narratives

Part 3. Reaching and Engaging Your Audience
 

• Trusted messengers
• How to turn social listening into content
• What social listening can inform
• 6 tips for messaging about polio online
• Engaging with your audience

Conclusion

The appendix includes a glossary, guidance on how to use Google Trends and Google Alerts for basic social listening, a decision matrix template (to assign risk levels to false information based on an organisation's role and priorities), and a "fact sandwich" template (a debunking approach that addresses a false claim while highlighting the accurate information).