Virality in Healthcare Marketing: Learning from Consumer Brands

Executive Summary

It can be done. Viral marketing can be a reality for healthcare brands, which allows for reaching a wider audience and generating buzz. Through engaging and shareable content, healthcare brands can leverage social platforms and other relevant mediums to increase brand awareness. To successfully execute a viral marketing campaign, it is crucial for brands to stay culturally relevant with patients and healthcare professionals. This means understanding the unique needs and perspectives of these audiences, while tailoring messaging and content to both. The opportunities of viral marketing allow for building trust and credibility across audiences and potentially leading to increased brand loyalty and sales.

The Power of Going Viral

Virality. We love it. We hate it. We honestly can’t get enough. Every week there is something the internet blows up about and captures our attention. How we, the consumers, respond to them, varies. Whether that response is of support and giving praises or violates our feelings, virality is addicting. Let’s admit that. It truly gets us going as a society because it gives us something new to talk about. Social media has not only propelled that, but has allowed for new ways of what defines a moment, a brand, a campaign, anything, to be a part of a moment. When brands respond to those viral moments, there is a sense of validation. Or even better, it causes uproar because the response was not up to the standards of the viewers, which makes it more viral (sometimes). But I think you get the original point. We love viral moments.

The dynamic landscape of social media has seen consumer brands master the art of responding to viral moments with creativity and agility. You can draw inspiration from successful examples (too many to list, but a few recent ones), such as:

· Calvin Klein x Jeremy Allen White x Away Luggage Company

· Elmo asking the internet “How are you doing?”

· Wendy’s Twitter (sorry, X) rants

· Stanley Cups phenomenon

· IHOP’s name change

· Jason Day’s Malbon Pants

· Anything related to Taylor Swift

· TikTok in general

· Meme culture

Navigating Regulatory Challenges

For the most part, healthcare brands find themselves grappling with the challenge of responding swiftly to viral moments. The conundrum arises when the necessity for legal and regulatory approvals clashes with the urgency demanded by the fast-paced nature of online trends. To adapt and thrive in this dynamic landscape, healthcare brands must consider redefining their approach to content approval and encourage more collaboration with regulatory teams. To contribute to a more agile and responsive healthcare marketing ecosystem:

· Establish Clear Guidelines: All stakeholders need to work proactively to establish clear and comprehensive guidelines for content creation within compliance and a defined workflow for ad hoc review. By providing detailed parameters to creative teams, the regulatory review process can be streamlined as teams become more adept at producing content that aligns with legal requirements.

· Foster Collaborative Relationships: Building strong, collaborative relationships between brand and regulatory teams is essential. Regular communication and shared understanding of each team’s role can foster a sense of trust and cooperation. By involving regulatory teams early in the content creation process, potential roadblocks can be identified and addressed in the initial stages, and potentially expediting the approval process.

· Develop Crisis Response Protocols: In anticipation of potential viral moments, brands should develop crisis response protocols in collaboration with regulatory teams. Establishing predefined communication strategies, pre-approved templates, and rapid-responses can enable navigating viral situations more efficiently while adhering to regulatory guidelines. Basic community management is no longer sufficient, and must evolve into a proactive community engagement strategy that provides meaningful value exchange. Preparing response protocols can also lead to opportunities of combatting misinformation that spreads online about misuse of treatment or fighting against negative perceptions.

Where Viral Marketing Make Sense

There is a current trend towards less formal, yet more engaging content. It is the antithesis of traditional advertising best practice, but it seems to be working on the consumer side of things. By no means is there any suggestion in taking marketing of medications to be less formal, but by adapting to these shifts and finding the right balance, healthcare brands can create more organic and authentic content that resonates with their audience and drive meaningful engagement. Here’s how:

· Embrace Authenticity and Relatability: Healthcare brands often find themselves navigating a fine line between professionalism and relatability. The success of consumer brands in viral marketing lies in their ability to authentically connect with their audience. Have culture be a part of the brand’s DNA and ongoing strategy. Strive for authenticity by showcasing real stories, empathetic narratives, and relatable experiences that resonate with both patients and healthcare professionals.

· Humanize the Experience: Move beyond the clinical aspect and share personal stories of triumphs, challenges, and the day-to-day lives of both patients and healthcare professionals. This approach helps humanize the brand, making it more approachable and relatable to a broader audience that can create genuine connections.

· Proactive Social Listening: One of the key elements of consumer brands’ success in virality is their adeptness at social listening. Healthcare brands can adopt a proactive approach by monitoring channels to identify trending topics and discussions beyond the endemic setting. Being aware of ongoing conversations allows brands to engage with audiences in a timely manner, fostering a sense of responsiveness and relevance.

· Timely and Relevant Content Creation: Healthcare brands can respond meaningfully by creating content that aligns with ongoing trends. This requires staying agile in content creation, utilizing real-time marketing strategies to address current events, challenges, or celebrations within the community.

· Engaging Campaigns: Consumer brands often leverage interactive engagements that encourage audience participation. Healthcare brands can employ similar tactics, such as polls, challenges, and Q&A sessions, to foster engagement across relevant audiences. This helps create a sense of community and involvement, making the brand an active part of their lives.

· Leverage Influencers and Advocates: Collaborating with healthcare influencers and advocates can amplify reach and bring a personal touch / credibility to the brand’s messaging. Engaging with influencers who have a genuine connection to the disease state can help healthcare brands tap into existing communities and enhance their impact during viral moments. Forging long-term relationships with creators, rather than one offs, allows a content partner to react to these moments without re-engaging.

· Strategic Use of Humor: While healthcare topics are often serious, incorporating tasteful humor can make the content more shareable and memorable. Wendy’s, which works with WPP creative agency VML, provides an excellent example of how humor can be used effectively on social media. Healthcare brands can infuse humor into their messaging, staying mindful of the sensitivity of the topics they address.

In essence, healthcare brands have the opportunity to learn valuable lessons from consumer brands in responding to viral moments. Embracing a bit of the initial discomfort can have a lasting impact on relationships with the audience. Successful brands will be those which get clear on the role they have to play in the culture landscape, and the engagement levers needed to activate accordingly. Being responsive, as well as gradually shaping and creating, requires understanding and monitoring of what’s happening across all corners of the internet – endemic and non-endemic. Although consumer brands are working at the speed of online culture, healthcare brands can play catch up by taking a less robotic approach and being as human as possible.