The spread of nCOV-2019 or COVID-19 through social media is faster than the spread of the virus itself.
As of March 1st, the outbreak has affected an estimated 87,000 people globally. In mainland China there have been over 2,800 deaths among over 78,000 cases (Donghi, D., 2020).
In the meantime, as of 2019, an estimated 7.75 billion internet users have already access to news and articles regarding COVID-19 – in an unimaginable exponent, and think of this amount of people with panic and fear embedded in their lives? Envision how and what type of communication was used to spread such information from one person to another. Think of how information was handed down to non-internet users? Scary and alarming right?
The virus has spread to at least other 60 countries. We don’t know how dangerous the new coronavirus is and how contagious it is. The spread of the virus outside China is worrying but not an unexpected development. The WHO has declared the outbreak to be a public health emergency of international concern but still not a pandemic.
As to what effects do the spread of alternative facts regarding the coronavirus has in the society nowadays? Take for e.g. Italy, the virus is not their real problem, but the confused and poor communication available throughout social media that complicates the outbreak. Philippines, taking as another sample, social media platform like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Tik Tok, Whatsapp to name a few have been sort of weaponized to spread alternative facts. Social media has given people partial information, part facts, part not, and that magnified the concerns.
Other conspiracy theories include;
- News stating that the U.S. government had created and patented the vaccine years ago
- That coronavirus is human made
- Sales of nonmedical immune boosters
- Ingestion of Vitamin C and avoidance of spicy foods to stop the spread
- Modification of diet and many more
This is exactly what unplanned social marketing and mobilization does, it creates inefficiency and useless.
In crafting an effective social marketing material, the below key steps should be observed.
- Campaign purpose – purpose is the generic statement of a certain social marketing material
- Target audience and its objectives – we need to identify who are the target audiences for the material and what do we want to achieve from it
- S.M.A.R.T. goals – goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound are easier to measure plus it brings structure and trackability of goals and objectives.
- Monitoring and evaluation – this I believe completes the whole stage of the social marketing. We can truly measure success with post implementation monitoring and evaluation. It suggests sustainability
- Product, price, place and promotion
- Analyze the barriers and develop tools and strategies to address major barriers. Develop a communication strategy
- Budget and funding sources – where will we source the expenses, would it be through donor, crowd funding, government-backed expenses and etc?
- Piloting the social marketing (Duxbury, Louise, 2010)
One of the steps discusses the factors and forces (elements) that affect the target market and efforts. We have the marketing mix which comprises of Price, Place, Promotion and Product
Then we have the microenvironment and macro environment factors, micro consists of strengths and weaknesses in the SWOT analysis and macro deals with opportunities and threats
Microenvironment is the environment that has direct impact on the target audience. It is related to a particular area where one operates and can directly affect all of the social marketing processes, while macro environment has an effect to how a social environment operates, performs, make decisions, and form strategies simultaneously. It comprises of external factors that no one has control of but definitely has an effect.
Both micro and macro factors have a strong influence on how successful a certain social marketing is. Environmental elements must be considered in-depth during the process of creating a strategic marketing material. Every decision that is made needs to take these two environments into consideration.
References
Donghi, D. (2020, March 1). How Social Media is Spreading the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19). Retrieved March 7, 2020, from https://thriveglobal.com/stories/how-social-media-is-spreading-the-coronavirus/
Duxbury, Louise (2010). Developing Social Marketing Strategies: The basics. Available at url http://www.denmarkcsl.com.au/articles/social-marketing.pdf. Last accessed on 20 August 2014
[The 4 P’s of Marketing] (n.d.) Retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=imgres&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjfwPCet4joAhUFOSsKHVYEDEEQjRx6BAgBEAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fpin%2F441845413412277065%2F&psig=AOvVaw34EnjpwU1-3nxuq1IQumXG&ust=1583672788661695
[Social Marketing Mapping Environment] (n.d.) Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/SAM2020/ch5-social-marketing-ma