Using Social Marketing to Promote Preventive Behaviors Related to COVID-19

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is an infectious disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus, a newly discovered coronavirus, the best strategy to deal with the infection is prevention aimed at reducing transmission in the community. This article aimed to using effective behavior change strategies are needed to control COVID-19. Social marketing facilitates the acceptance, rejection, modification, abandonment, or maintenance of particular behaviors by groups of individuals, often referred to as the target audience. The six-benchmark criteria for social marketing interventions include Behavior change, Customer research, Audience segmentation Marketing mix, Exchange, Competition. Social marketing can promote healthy behaviors. Perceived benefits of the preventive behaviors can be considered. Besides, media, advertising, and other methods to reach out to the consumers to inform and encourage them should be considered. For this purpose, a slogan and a logo should be designed and installed in all educational interventions and media such as posters, pamphlets, face-to-face training sessions, group discussion sessions, telephone counseling, and videos. Advertising using celebrities covering their faces with masks can persuade people to wear face mask. To promote health behaviors, professionals should pay attention to the segmentation of the target audience before providing any service. All plans should be piloted before implementation. Besides, information sources should be organized, and media that should be used to inform the target audience should be identified.

The effects of short messages encouraging prevention behaviors early in the COVID-19 pandemic

“…The field of social marketing [18,19] has studied how to use communication strategies to persuade people to change their public health behaviors. Research on social media campaigns, has found that these campaigns can spread messaging, but there has been limited work on the extent to which social media campaigns change behavior [20,21].…”

Social Marketing and COVID-19 in Greece: What ``Millennials'' Think!

“…Moreover, McKinney, [16] supported that the most important element to understand those behaviours is market segmentation, whilst Nejad et.al. [19] argued that regarding COVID-19, the public which is the main audience can be segmented into different age, job and sex groups, as well as into those with underlying disease which makes them more conscious to COVID-19. This study supported the above findings as it segments Greek citizens of Generation Y. known as millennials, according to their attitudes towards the impact of social marketing on the awareness of people regarding public health in general, and the fight against COVID -19 in particular, and profiled them according to their demographic characteristics.…”

“…The benchmark criteria of social marketing interventions according to Nejadet.al. [19] are: behaviour change, customer research, audience segmentation, marketing mix exchange and competition whilst Olawepoet. al.…”

“…Nejadet.al. [19] argued that regarding the COVID-19, the public which is the main audience can be segmented into different age, job and sex groups as well as to those with underlying health conditions which make them more conscious to COVID-19.…”