జర్నల్ ఆఫ్ సోషల్‌మిక్స్

నైరూప్య

Effectiveness of Social Marketing Communication Strategies Amid Covid-19 Pandemic

Reza Sadighzadeh, Sevtap Unal

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of different social marketing communication strategies and evaluate their appropriateness to situational needs amid COVID-19 pandemic. In-Depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants using the Zoom video conferencing tool to investigate the effectiveness of three wearing mask campaign developed by i) health service, ii) celebrity musicians and iii) business company pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey. The findings suggest that during predicaments such as outbreaks, social marketing campaigns with a fear factor are effective to encourage communities to behave appropriately. Direct messages giving clear information about the crises and its risks are effective to change individuals’ behaviour. Besides, a congruence between the message and the source has a great impact on the effectiveness of a health-related campaign during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study was conducted during the lockdown in COVID-19. To measure individual real-time feeling and thoughts, semi-structured in-depth interview method with open-ended questions was used. Therefore, findings of this study may help government, institutions and companies to provide more effective campaigns during extraordinary times like it is in the case with coronavirus pandemic.