Trust in public health is declining, and health falsehoods often spread faster than evidence-based information online. At the same time, trust in higher education is dropping, and leading universities are increasingly expected not only to generate knowledge, but to translate it into clear public value.
The Yale School of Public Health set out to increase understanding of the field and its impact by showing public health as human, relevant, useful, and even aesthetic. Our goal was to meet people where they already spend time — on social media (more than half of Americans who tried new health tactics in the past year said that social media posts were the source of those strategies) — and deliver accurate information in a format designed for how people actually scroll, share, and learn.
To do this, we created “Ask your besties,” a series of short, humorous, visually engaging posts that helped audiences recognize themselves in public health topics (from childhood immunizations to public health policies and fields of study) and sparked curiosity, conversation, and deeper learning.
Our objectives were to: (1) increase understanding of what public health is and does, (2) improve reach and sharing through an accessible creative approach, (3) guide audiences to accurate information and deeper evidence-based resources when needed, (4) help people see themselves as part of public health, and (5) grow our community to amplify additional public health messages throughout the year.
We designed “Ask your besties” as a creative communications strategy rooted in data and behavioral insights: people share content that is quick to understand, identity-based, and emotionally resonant. We began by reviewing prior years’ social media analytics to identify formats that reliably drove reach and shares. A single earlier post using a similar “besties” framework performed strongly, suggesting a repeatable concept. We refreshed the creative for 2025 — updating design and messaging — and the first post, on childhood vaccinations, exceeded expectations, reaching more than 9 million views and 400,000 shares on Instagram alone. We then expanded it into a multi-post campaign.
The campaign uses relatability and humor to make complex public health ideas feel familiar. Each post pairs an “Ask your besties” prompt with aesthetic examples that map to real public health disciplines, policies, and behaviors, as well as social archetypes viewers may see themselves in. For example, in our “Ask your besties which public health advancement you are” post, if you relate to the goth vibe we created for one slide, the post says you are unleaded gas (and a viewer may therefore consider looking more into public health’s role in eliminating leaded gasoline). And based on our “Ask your besties which public health area of study you are” post, if you are really into Wallace and Gromit, you may want to study maternal and child health.
The tone is warm, human, and scannable, which helps lower the barrier to engaging with a topic that can feel politicized or intimidating — while still based in and pointing back to credible information.
After the initial breakout post, we developed a content roadmap that balanced broad “What is public health?” education and timely reactivations (e.g., an STI prevention methods post for STI Awareness Month).
Because the format is intentionally concise, the key challenge was communicating accurate health information within limited text. We addressed this by designing posts to spark curiosity (“That’s me — what does that mean?”) and pairing select posts with supplemental resources.
For the childhood vaccination post, we promoted a more in-depth information sheet we created to answer our audience’s top routine immunization questions. Instead of relying on a traditional link-in-bio, we used Instagram DM automation to deliver the resource directly to the inboxes of people who commented — reducing friction and making it easy to take the next step while interest was high, while at the same time increasing engagement and reach.
The campaign was a joint effort between communications staff and students, combining strategic oversight, creative production, and audience insights. This collaboration enabled students to gain first-hand health science communications experience and allowed rapid iteration and timely publishing — turning a single high-performing post into a sustained, scalable, educational, and shareable public health communications campaign.
“Ask your besties” met and exceeded our objectives by expanding reach, increasing meaningful engagement, and helping audiences see public health as relatable and impactful.
Across channels (mainly Instagram and TikTok), the campaign's public health content earned 16.7 million impressions and 1 million interactions, including 593,000 shares, a strong indicator that audiences found the content valuable enough to pass along to their own communities. The campaign led to 10,000+ new Instagram followers (a 30% increase), which expanded our ability to amplify additional public health messages throughout the year and beyond. Overall, we saw a nearly 300% increase in impressions and 1,300% increase in shares on Yale School of Public Health social media in 2025 compared to 2024.
Impact also extended beyond our own channels. We observed other organizations and creators, large and small, adopting and adapting the format to communicate their own health information. Several tagged us as their inspiration.
Engagement with our content came from a wide range of accounts, from well-known brands (including PBS’s Arthur) to state health departments and public figures. Off-line, our staff heard from everyone from conference attendees to casual acquaintances who had seen and remembered the campaign, even almost a year after the original post.
Finally, the campaign successfully moved audiences from awareness to action. For the childhood vaccination post, 150+ people commented specifically asking to receive the information sheet, were sent the information sheet via DM, and clicked through, showing that the creative format can serve as an effective gateway to deeper, evidence-based resources.
