Examining Collaborations with Social Media Influencers: Examination of #NurseTok Scenario

Examining Collaborations with Social Media Influencers: Examination of #NurseTok Scenario

In the heart of Australia's most populous state, New South Wales (NSW), the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA) is leading a campaign for fair and equal pay for nurses and midwives, aiming to match their wages with other Australian states. The campaign, dubbed the "Value Us Public Health Campaign," is ongoing and includes two strikes and protests.

The NSWNMA is not new to leveraging social media platforms to amplify their voice. For years, they have used these platforms to share personal stories from nurses, post visual content from rallies and strikes, engage younger audiences, and make their campaign messages more shareable and viral.

Recently, the NSWNMA has turned to TikTok, a popular social media platform known for its short-form videos. The union has engaged with #NurseTok, an existing online space where nurses and midwives are already creating content and sharing experiences.

The campaign approaches two types of influencers: nurse influencers and regular influencers, each for different purposes. Nurse influencers are tasked with educating and engaging fellow nurses and healthcare professionals, encouraging them to get involved in the union, participate in strikes, and take collective action. Regular influencers, on the other hand, are tasked with educating the general public to garner community support.

The campaign frames the NSW Government as responsible for addressing the ongoing pay disparity and for not remunerating essential public sector nurses and midwives fairly. For 12 years, the Liberal-National Government in New South Wales enforced a public sector wages cap, limiting wage increases to 2.5% per year. Due to this cap and inflation, nurses and midwives are effectively living on 2008 level wages.

In NSW, the baseline rate of pay for Registered Nurses is lower than in Queensland by 8-18%. This, coupled with neighboring states offering higher pay, better staff-to-patient ratios, and a lower cost of living, has led to a significant exodus of nurses and midwives from NSW.

The NSWNMA's approach to TikTok is strategic yet flexible. A campaign brief was created, including campaign goals, key messages, and a call to action. However, the union trusts the influencers to engage with the content in a way that is most suitable to their audience, giving them creative freedom to incorporate the campaign into their own routines.

Maddie Lucre, the Campaigns and Communications Coordinator at the NSWNMA, plays a key role in creating engaging social media campaigns for the union. Lucre emphasizes that influencers should complement the strategy, not define it. The heart of the campaign should remain centered on the message and the cause itself.

While detailed examples or official statements about NSWNMA’s TikTok campaign usage specifically were not found in the provided resources, it is clear that the union is using TikTok creatively to raise awareness about the pay disparity faced by nurses and midwives in NSW and to build support for their campaign. TikTok videos from nursing recruitment accounts share salary breakdowns and expectations for nurses and midwives in Australia, which can help raise awareness of pay issues among the public and nursing community. TikTok content showing nursing strike signs and slogans from protests in Australia, including NSW, illustrates how nurses use social media imagery to spread messages demanding fair wages and improved working conditions.

As the campaign continues, it will be interesting to see how the NSWNMA utilizes TikTok to further engage with nurses, midwives, and the general public, and to drive change in the pay and working conditions for essential public sector workers in NSW.

1. The NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA) is using TikTok, a popular social media platform, to amplify their campaign for fair and equal pay for nurses and midwives in New South Wales (NSW).
2. Nurse influencers in the campaign are tasked with educating and engaging fellow nurses and healthcare professionals, prompting them to join the union, participate in strikes, and take collective action.
3. Regular influencers, apart from educating the general public, are influential in garnering community support for the "Value Us Public Health Campaign."
4. Influencers on TikTok are given creative freedom to incorporate the campaign into their own routines, making the content more engaging and shareable.
5. The NSWNMA's campaign strategy on TikTok goes beyond just raising awareness; it seeks to inspire action, strengthening community support and encouraging participation in the ongoing strike.
6. The capitalization of social media platforms like TikTok in the campaign has opened new avenues for the discussion of social change issues, such as the pay disparity faced by nurses and midwives in NSW.
7. As the campaign evolves, it will continue to blend traditional protest methods with innovative social media tactics, shedding light on the pressing need for fair wages and better working conditions for essential public sector nurses and midwives in New South Wales.

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