Social Marketing in Healthcare

Abstract

Social marketing is a way to influence the behaviors of stakeholders in the healthcare system. This chapter will define the traditional transaction marketing concepts of exchange, segmentation, competition, the marketing mix, and audience orientation. Then it will describe the current paradigm shift to relationship marketing with its logic of collaboration and the cocreation of value. Relationship marketing is enhanced by the arrival of Internet-based “social media” such as blogs, file sharing sites, and social networking sites that place creativity and communication channels under “audience” control. These developments in marketing strategy and social software will profoundly affect the next generation of social marketing programs.