Work | How to Be Social in an ‘Unsociable’ Environment
by Jacke Tan
Movement Control Orders, Circuit Breakers, Lockdowns, and Social Distancing are now the trending terms as we live in COVID-19 times. The way we socialise has been greatly impacted though we have technology to thank to not getting completely isolated. With increased use, these technologies have enabled many businesses to continue operation and for many brands to be able to reach out to their audiences (maybe in a even greater way for some!).
While the physical human and emotional impact of the crisis cannot be understated, minimising the economic impact on businesses through these digital means could make the very difference between staying relevant and afloat, or going under and suffering massive financial losses.
Increasing your reach online organically
Organic growth is always the preferred type of growth for all brands as compared to paid growth. One way this can be achieved is through content creation. Content creation dominates a huge part of a marketeer’s plan especially if you are looking at growing your brand on social media platforms. Content needs to be relevant and constant. This can be an intimidating and somewhat confusing task where one is left grappling on what type of content to create to attract potential customers.
In current situation, with minimised face-to-face interaction, the online platform becomes a pivotal touchpoint for marketeers to reach their audience. More and more marketeers are feeling the pressure to create new experiences for their target audience and to stand out from the crowd. This is, even more, the case in the healthcare sector. With the surge of information easily available online for patients to access, how do we rise above the noise?
A study from Conductor shows that brands that deliver educational content are more trustworthy than brands that don’t. The study found that one week after reading a brand’s educational content, customers are 48% more likely to buy from that brand. Early-stage, educational content strengthens brand affinity, trust, and conversions.
Here are some options whereby you can do so with your content:
1. 360-degree videos
360 videos are clips displaying a spherical scenario where the camera has recorded all possible angles of the environment.
Some ways it can be used: – Showcase your Product – Promote Destinations/Environments – Share Experiences – Showcase Events – Create Immersive Video Content
Although 360 videos are not totally new to social media, the use of it is growing rapidly, mainly due to its content versatility and high levels of user engagement.
Furthermore, the launch of 360-degree videos on Facebook opens a new battlefront in the war for video supremacy between Facebook and YouTube. In hopes of getting more traffic and gaining market share, these platforms may launch additional features to make 360 videos an even better option for brands and viewers.
2. Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR)
AR and VR are popular buzzwords that we hear so often these days. The fact is, they are excellent tools that are predicted to generate $2.54 billion in healthcare globally by 2020. In healthcare marketing, they are also growing in popularity. Yet, many healthcare marketing professionals may be stumped on how to use these tools to their advantage.
Here are some inspiring ways that AR and VR are being used and how healthcare marketeers can use them to attract new customers, and promote their products/services.
• Live broadcasting of a procedure/training session
Live streaming medical procedures is an exceptional training experience and a fantastic way to connect one of the highest-quality training aids ever created to medical staff who may be located far away or have little experience with rare procedures. • Simulating medical Issues and solutions AR and VR present the perfect opportunity to be utilised for educating patients – delivering the most wanted information in an easily understandable way. Instead of panicked half-understood articles from WebMD, patients will be able to see their medical conditions, or the medical condition they are researching on, displayed in a visually attractive way that makes sense.
• Future casting AR allows patients not only know the effects of treatment or disease but fully and realistically see those impacts on their own body. This eliminates the dissonance that occurs upon seeing a mannequin, diagram, or even a sample photo and trying to imagine the same on one’s own body.
3. Quizzes
Using quizzes as part of your marketing strategy is one of the most underrated type of content creation. Quizzes coupled with rewards, have the potential to drive massive flow of online traffic and attention to your brand. It is also a good way to indirectly educate customers on your products and brand.
How to introduce quizzes to boost your overall marketing efforts?
• Pick the right topic Create your quiz for the specific group of people you are reaching out to. Consider topics that interests your target group rather than trying to reach a broad range of audiences, especially if your product/services are very niche.
• Have irresistible titles
This is your hook to engage your target group. Here are some tried and tested ones that have consistently performed well and encouraged clicks: The ‘Actually’ title: “ How much do you actually know about cancer?” The “actually” title is just a knowledge test, but once you add the word “actually” to “really,” it becomes a challenge, and no one wants to back down from a challenge.
The “Which (blank) are you?” title: “Which type are you?” These quizzes are based off of the traditional Meyers-Briggs personality quiz; just replace the personality types with the appropriate results for your quiz topic.
4. New-breed SEO
Search is a proxy for consumer intent and behaviour. The current COVID-19 crisis is dramatically impacting search behaviour, consumer mobility, media consumption habits, supply chains, and budgets. With these changing circumstances, businesses need to adjust their next marketing campaigns to alleviate risk strategically. People are searching online more than ever before. Regardless of the economic climate, you want your brand to be top of mind for searchers when they are making a decision.
During economic downtimes, SEO is an especially smart investment for the future of your business. One of its key advantages is how cost effective it is compared to other channels, such as media.
Seize the Opportunity All studies have pointed to the conclusion that medical marketeers cannot “not market”. Some marketing touch points, like branding, doctor referrals, and patient experience, need to carry on. Remember, you will need to continually expose your brands through aiding healthcare professionals and organisations in their patient experience and the services they provide to the community.
What’s more, hospitals, healthcare professionals, and such will still want to make sure their public relations teams are communicating openly and proactively to their respective communities during these unsettling times. Right now, it is essential for them to both serve and inform the public. So how can your brand fit into their communication plan? The opportunities are there, let us help you seize it to ethically and effectively position your brand for the future.
References:
https://www.toprankblog.com/2019/02/interactive-content-marketing-statistics/
https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2019/05/14/google-marketing-live
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/conductor-tips-build-strong-seo-program-covid-19/357654/
https://www.conductor.com/blog/2017/07/winning-customers-educational-content/
https://www.smartinsights.com/tag/using-quizzes-for-marketing/
https://www.10thdegree.com/inspiring-ways-healthcare-marketing-is-using-augmented-reality/
https://marketingtechnews.net/news/2017/jul/06/360-degree-and-vr-video-future-marketing/
https://mashable.com/2015/04/29/microsoft-demos-how-windows-10-apps-work-with-hololens-and-its-stunningly-beautiful/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMSpOxIJKWs
Whitewords is a fully integrated creative agency with MedCom capabilities focused on developing branding and advertising solutions for healthcare and medical industries.
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