Good Health and Wellbeing: A marketing perspective

This blog post was written by Ross, a Masters of International Business and Modern Language student, who specialises in Marketing. This section of the website will explore the link which exists between SDG 3 and Marketing, aiming to demonstrate how this perspective can successfully contribute to satisfying the goals laid out by the U.N. 

It is evident that we are currently living in a digital world, whereby more and more people are becoming increasingly reliant on their smart devices such as mobile phones, laptops and various other gadgets. In fact, these devices are the very reason that you are here today – accessing and reading the contents of this webpage. This just goes to show that new technological advances have been able to make global interconnectivity easier than ever, giving birth to a new and exciting platform which if utilised correctly, allows for businesses across many sectors to expand their reach. The Healthcare Industry is no exception to who can join in on this movement.

Methods such as as Social Media Marketing(SMM) can provide a large opportunity for health promotion as it would enable public health professionals to reach out far and wide to the relevant target demographic, promoting whilst also potentially changing any health-related behaviours and issues that exist (Gupta, A., Tyagi, M. and Sharma, D., 2013). Spreading important health messages in this manner (via different online platforms) would be particularly beneficial now more than ever, given the impact and implications of the Covid-19 Virus. I’m sure it can be agreed upon that all tools must be put in play to combat the effects that the Pandemic has had on the world and ultimately, social media marketing could be one of the determinants that sees us return to some normality in our daily lives i.e., by keeping the population up-to-date and informed on the latest guidelines and procedures to follow.

 
In order to strengthen this concept of pushing health and well-being related content/news via social media marketing methods, research shows that it is not only millennials making use of these platforms: almost 90% of older adults have used social media as a health resource to both seek and share information. Furthermore, Google also states that as many as 77% of patients search the Internet before they make a decision as they look for advice (Grbic, M et al., 2019). These two statistics alone help in emphasising the importance that social media/online platforms serve today and why it is imperative that more health organisations recognise the potential it holds. Using social media and other digital channels effectively can provide healthcare professionals with a wider platform to reach their audience (young or old) – promoting urgent campaigns, products or services more easily.
 

Overall, social media and healthcare can combine in numerous ways to serve many purposes which include providing health information on a range of conditions, providing answers to medical questions, as well as health promotion/education (Moorhead, S.A., et al., 2013). In the future, more opportunities to use social media in connection with healthcare will arise and this is why the further implementation of SMM techniques could prove to be monumental in satisfying the goals set out in SDG 3.

 

References:
Gupta, A., Tyagi, M. and Sharma, D., 2013. Use of social media marketing in healthcare. Journal of Health Management, 15(2), pp.293-302.

Grbic, M et al., 2019. Digital marketing in healthcare. European journal of public health, 29(Supplement_4), pp.European journal of public health, 2019–11-01, Vol.29 (Supplement_4)

Moorhead, S.A., Hazlett, D.E., Harrison, L., Carroll, J.K., Irwin, A. and Hoving, C., 2013. A new dimension of health care: systematic review of the uses, benefits, and limitations of social media for health communication. Journal of medical Internet research, 15(4), p.e85.