The public has rewritten the rules of public engagement in health. In the report we just published, based on the findings of the Edelman Health Engagement Barometer, we set forth New Rules of Health Engagement (also shown below). Over the next couple of weeks, Edelman's health bloggers from multiple countries and specialties will give their take. And I'd love to know what you think of these new rules, how you're already seeing them in action, what advice you have for companies, organizations and brands as they face this Brave New Health World.

The New Rules of Health Engagement

Public engagement has changed the way health influence happens. To engage effectively, particularly with the Health Info-entials, follow the new rules of health engagement:

1 Provide deep content. People want to know the whole story—complete information that helps them understand the benefits and the risks of products, services and issues. Filtering information can be perceived as paternalistic.

2 Be transparent. People will dismiss or reject an attempt at health engagement that seems one-sided, vague or evasive. They want organizations and brands in health to proactively convey important information and respond authentically to their concerns.

3 Inform in real time. Organizations and brands involved in health need to become more nimble in disseminating information. In the digital era, people expect organizations to provide information rapidly, and they view any delay with skepticism.

4 Join the conversations, online and off. Information about your organization or brand is now freely gathered, shared and validated across multiple channels, both online and offline, and inside and outside the specific topic area. Participate actively in conversations across multiple channels so that you don’t cede to others how you and your business are defined.

5 Engage in prevention, chronic health problems and access to health care. These are priorities for personal and public health, and they are the “price of entry” to engagement—they are the top issues that people expect organizations and brands to address before engaging on other issues. Your engagement on these priority issues should be aligned with your business and content expertise.

6 Take a holistic approach to health and well-being. Health and well-being encompass physical, mental, emotional and even financial health; personal appearance; and social connectivity. Remember that people who have a disease or health condition can still feel a sense of health and well-being.

7 Address people’s multiple stakes in health, including their personal ones. All of your publics are part of “the public,” so don’t view any of them through only one dimension of their engagement in health—for example, as “patient,” “regulator,” “payor,” “physician,” or “investor.” Factor in all of a person’s personal and professional stakes in health when engaging with him or her.

8 Be personal. People want to be engaged on the topics that matter most to them personally and through sources and channels that enable interactions with individuals, not faceless entities.

9 Engage through health-expert channels and sources. Connect with people through channels and sources that are seen as health-expert. Health expertise can mean deep personal experience as well as medical or scientific degrees and credentials.

10 Consider the risks of not engaging. Recognize the risks of not engaging, including having your message defined by others, squandering an opportunity to build trust (or worse yet, losing trust), or failing to motivate your publics to take positive actions on your behalf.