During the coronavirus pandemic, we are all looking for trusted sources of information. They make us feel calmer. In social networks, such sources are doctors and medical centers. Using three large Russian clinics as an example, we analyzed how their communication with users changed from December 2019 to April 2020 (before and during the global Covid-19 pandemic). We also looked at how subscribers to social media pages responded to the content and measured their level of engagement. Medical SMM: What Clinics Wrote During the Pandemic and How Users Reacted.
Medsi
Medsi is a network of private medical clinics that provides a full range of medical services: from initial consultation and emergency medical care to high-tech diagnostics, complex surgeries, and rehabilitation. It includes 25 clinics in Moscow and the Moscow region, 13 clinics in the regions, 70 medical centers at enterprises, and 2 sanatoriums. In June 2020, the clinic had 6,135 subscribers on VKontakte and 21,400 subscribers on belarus phone number library Instagram*. Medical SMM: What Clinics Wrote During the Pandemic and How Users Reacted.
In December 2019, nothing foreshadowed the epidemic. The country was preparing for the New Year, the content of most commercial pages tried to respond to the current topic. The posts recommended procedures for an instant effect in order to meet the New Year fully armed. On the clinic’s Instagram*, a post about teeth whitening became the most popular in a month and gained 1,290 likes.
In January
Medsi continued to talk about their services and difficult cases in the practice of doctors. They also posted interesting facts from the history of medicine. ER has fallen in both social networks compared to December (0.14% versus 0.18% on VKontakte and 2.37% versus 2.45% on Instagram*).
The first post final stretch 2022 – a brief summary of professional milestones about Coronavirus appeared in the community on database d January 29, 2020. The next post on this topic came out almost a month later, on February 22, and told the story of its origin. At the end of February, the unfolding epidemic was observed as a problem that did not yet affect us.
https://vk.com/wall-28212376_3508
Already on March 5, a publication with facts about the exotic virus was published. Gradually, the publications became more practical. On March 10, the community shared advice on preventing Coronavirus from a foreign expert. Everything changed when the WHO officially declared a global pandemic.
The first post after this event contained advice from a psychotherapist on how not to panic. In the future, Medsi will increasingly publish tips on harmonizing the emotional background as an important component of our lives during the pandemic.
As anxiety grew
So did the uncertainty about visiting public places. In the future, posts about the clinic’s services will be supplemented with this information.
Since mid-March, Medsi began to strengthen its content strategy: instead of one post per day, they publish two or three. This decision is understandable – information from medical professionals in an unstable situation will be in demand. The topic of the Covid-19 pandemic, prevention and treatment began to be covered on the pages of the clinic every day. The increase in video content had a positive effect on engagement: it is better perceived and remembered than the infographic format. Video tips and useful exercises, for example, to strengthen the respiratory system, began to appear in communities.
At the end of March, Medsi was the first private clinic to repurpose its flagship multidisciplinary hospital into an infectious diseases hospital. The clinic began to develop a page on the popular TikTok service. The current agenda influenced the formation of the content strategy. Over 700 people subscribed to the account in two months.