Abstract
The best way to capture consumer attention and entice them to purchase is by generating leads using an inbound marketing strategy. The research question raised is about the content marketing influences attraction and conquering leads/promoters. This chapter includes a qualitative method study, with content analysis, of health professionals with social media profiles, in the Brazilian market. The interviews helped to highlight the benefit of using content marketing to capture leads/promoters and that through relevant content, it was possible for professionals to become better known in the market, as well as to establish a closer relationship with their potential consumers. The insights produced by this chapter are particularly interesting for researchers, teachers, small business managers, and digital marketers, as it provides important clues about how often content marketing should be communicated on social media, what types of content, and the most appropriate messages to communicate in the healthcare industry, on Facebook and Instagram, and which formats are most relevant to use.
TopIntroduction
The accelerated evolution of new technologies is putting the world in constant change and marketing increasingly must adapt to these changes and have new ways of reaching its consumer and being more effective. Digital technologies are being integrated into marketing activities and the digital channels used are currently a key strategy for organizations (Vassileva, 2017).
Technological innovation has created several opportunities in online environments. Currently, human beings are connected to the web in multiple ways, through a wide range of digital devices and in their day-to-day lives they frequently use social networks for both personal and professional use. In this way, social networks are a medium that increasingly influences the consumer's purchase decision, whether when looking for information about the product he intends to buy or when evaluating his involvement with a brand. Therefore, it is relevant for organizations to bet on this digital marketing channel to reach consumers and disseminate their content. Du Plessis (2017) states that social media has become imperative for branding by connecting the brand with consumers in a more interactive and individualized way, resorting to content marketing as a branding technique.
It has been verified that an approach with increasing impact in digital marketing is inbound marketing. This emerged as an alternative to the so-called outbound marketing that aims to massify communication to the public with a “pushing” strategy for the product/service to the consumer. Inbound marketing, on the other hand, seeks to attract the consumer's attention with relevant content considering the stage of their consumer journey. This approach is supported by content marketing to develop the best content for the target and social media marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) to distribute and amplify the content (Bezovski, 2015; Dakouan et al., 2019). The use of an inbound marketing methodology based on the sales funnel aims to understand the consumer's life cycle, which are the stages that he goes through in his journey. Therefore, brands must adopt strategies for each of these stages and know how to recognize where the consumer is in the purchase journey stage, as each of these stages requires a different type of communication (Rech, 2018; Santos, 2019).
Given this context, the health sector increasingly seeks to reach its consumer in the best way and work with health marketing to influence the behavior of the target audience, in which the benefits would be accumulated for the physical and/or mental health of the public - target. In turn, the demand for the promotion of medical services is growing, motivated by the specificities of the medical industry and the peculiarities of the relationship between health professionals and their consumers (Prudnikov & Nazarenko, 2021). According to the authors, a successful health marketing strategy aims at improving the brand, using technological solutions, maintaining the reputation of physicians, and most importantly, the proper use of content marketing.
Thus arises the need for health professionals to understand that the implementation of inbound marketing strategies will greatly contribute to “attracting” potential customers and converting these potential customers into effective customers.
The purpose of the study is to answer the question: “What is the content marketing influence to attract and win leads/promoters on pages of health professionals on social networks?” working with the following specific objectives: identify the professional’s profile of who use content marketing; identify the content marketing strategies present on the professionals' pages; examine the effectiveness of content marketing in increasing lead capture/promoters for healthcare professionals; and understand the page layout elements that favor lead/promoter engagement. Thus, this chapter includes an empirical study using a qualitative approach that includes structured interviews. The participants were professionals from the health sector in the Brazilian market with profiles on social networks.
The insights achieved by this chapter are particularly significant for researchers, teachers, small business managers, and digital marketing professionals, as it presents important clues about how often content marketing should be communicated on social media, what types of content, and the most appropriate messages to communicate in the healthcare industry, on Facebook and Instagram, and which formats are most relevant to use.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Social media: Platforms for distributing information, content, and communication on digital channels between companies and consumers and between consumer-consumer.
Content Marketing: Construction, creation, and dissemination of adapted and quality content to the target audience.
To attract: Attract potential consumers (unknown) to get to know the brand by making them visit a digital channel desired by the company through more general and captivating content.
To convert: After the potential consumer (visitor) gets to know the brand, at this stage it is sought that they become Leads, i.e., that they provide organizations with information about themselves in exchange for added value (e.g. e-book).
Inbound Marketing: Approach aimed at attracting potential consumers through relevant content.
Lead: Any potential consumer who provides personal data about himself to a company in exchange for some added value.
Sales Funnel: Represents the path that the potential consumer takes to become a customer with the sale.