Healthcare Marketing: Even the Most Traditional Institutions are Embracing Social Media

October 14, 2011

There seems to be a rush on high-profile, epic-proportion weddings as of late. Some royal and some not (as in Kardashian), but what do they have in common other than seven figure budgets? The use of social media to promote, organize and disseminate information of course! 

Even The Royal Wedding was a social media savvy event proving that even the most traditional institutions can embrace social media.

The British Monarchy is about as traditional you can get.  Established, stuffy, outdated, staid, clinging to the past and resistant to change would be some of the was you might describe the British Royals.  And it might sound very similar to your hospital.  And that’s why you can’t fully embrace and use social media.

But the Royal Wedding certainly proved even highly traditional institutions can embrace and effectively use social media.   Shonali Burke  outlined some of the ways the royal family used social media to promote the wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton.

  • Clarence House (named for the official residence of the Prince of Wales) released a steady and strategically timed stream of information from who’s doing the flowers to photographs of those arriving for the event.
  • Created a hashtag to keep tract of wedding wishes coming to the bride and groom via Twitter.
  • Established a Facebook page where one can like the page by sending a RSVP to the wedding.
  • Their Flicker stream was constantly updated.
  • Live-streamed the wedding on YouTube and invited viewers to leave their own video message for the couple.
  • An official Royal Wedding website.

Quite an unexpected turnabout for the kings, queens, princes and princesses of tradition.   They obviously wanted to engage the public and they certainly accomplished that.  And they used the popular mediums of the day.   Certainly there was tremendous traditional media coverage.  That was a given.  But the extensive use of social media is certainly a lesson to learn.

So your hospital and its leadership are traditional.   Let the Monarchy set the example.  True, the royal family has the resources to do it well.  But with a little time, and not much money, healthcare marketers can choose a few of the social networking tools to build relationships and reach an audience that is getting more and more difficult to reach with traditional media.

Surely if one of the most traditional institutions in the world can embrace social media, even the most traditionally-minded hospitals can say “I do.”

 

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Posted by Jimmy Warren

Healthcare Marketing: Social Media or Traditional Media? The Answer is “YES”

July 16, 2011

Pepsi committed to a heavy investment in social media and they not only lost ground to Coke, they fell to third place behind Diet Coke.

Coke or Pepsi?  That is an age-old question.  The battle between the two soft drinks has been the longest running and, at times, the most competitive marketing battle in the history of branding.  And last year the battle took an interesting turn.

Pepsi announced that after 10 years they were dropping their investment in the Super Bowl and were putting half their budget into social media.   The strategy was their Pepsi Refresh Project.   They committed to Facebook, Twitter, live Ustream video and iPhone apps and encouraged consumers to suggest social causes that would “refresh the world”.  Using social media, consumers could vote for their favorite causes and Pepsi would donate millions to the ones chosen and use social media to promote the positive impact of those donations.  Traditional media was used to promote the social media effort.

Mark Ritson recorded the results for Marketing Week  and they were impressive.

Eighty million votes were cast; Pepsi accumulated 60,000 followers on Twitter and 4 million “likes” on Facebook.  In contrast Coke stayed with traditional media and advertised in the Super Bowl and on American Idol.

Great success right?  Well after all the conversation about Pepsi’s revolutionary marketing approach, Pepsi’s sales began to decline.  And Coke’s didn’t.  Pepsi lost 5% market share which translated into a decline of a half billion dollars in sales.  And perhaps for the first time in history, Pepsi gave up the number two position and fell behind Diet Coke. 

So what does this mean for healthcare marketers?  Does it mean social media is worthless?  No.  There are far too many social media successes to make such a conclusion.  But I think it does mean the advantages of social media have been significantly exaggerated.  And it also means traditional media is not dead.

Social media is a tool, a very useful one – in a brand’s integrated marketing mix. It should be considered, and in many instances, part of the marketing mix.  But social media is not the ONLY real thing.


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Posted by Jimmy Warren

Healthcare Marketing: Social Media Rule One – Start Small

May 12, 2011

Success in social media is not necessarily having a complex social media strategy with multiple tactics – but it’s doing ONE thing well.

The pressure is on.  Social media is here and here to stay.  It is a new way of doing business and if you are not doing it, you are behind.  And there are so many things to do. Facebook, Twitter, blogging, YouTube and viral marketing just for starters.  And as healthcare marketers we need to be engaged in all of these to be successful.  At least that’s what we are led to believe.

But the fact is that each of these social networking options requires time and effort but few of us have a larger staff or more resources.   Healthcare marketers still have all the responsibilities they’ve always had…and more – in most cases.  And social marketing requires time.  So we are left overwhelmed and confused.  We feel the pressure to become engaged but how do we get it all done?

A bit of advice is to relax a little.  And start small.  It’s impossible to do everything at once.  Even more impossible to do all of them well.  And still keep up with your other important responsibilities.   We all have the long list of things to do and the daunting task of getting them accomplished.  And that list includes multiple social media tactics. But maybe this is the wrong approach.  Perhaps the best thing to do is to start with one thing and do it well.

Brian Sheehan, associate professor of advertising at the Newhouse School Syracuse University gave this advice in a recent article in Ad Age, “since most companies have no new people, just do one thing.  And then do it really well. Once you have mastered this, then – and only then—think about doing a second social media program.”  Forget about the list of 10 things to do to be successful in social media or the seven steps in mastering social media.  For most healthcare organizations that’s totally impractical because it will lead to either paralyzation, because you can’t get it done, or a very weak effort, because you are spread too thin.

Social media is about engaging consumers in meaningful conversations.  That’s it!  And if you do a really good job of that, social networking can be very effective.  And if you don’t do it well, you are better off not doing social media at all.  If we are trying to do too much, more than we can handle, it will not be successful.

Choose what you think would work best for your organization.  The thing you think would engage your audience and best meets the needs of your organization.  The one thing that has the best chance of success.   Choose one thing and do it as well as you can. So let’s get started.  But keep it simple.  Keep it small. Do one thing and do it well.  And if you can’t do it well, don’t do it at all.

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Posted by Jimmy Warren

Healthcare Marketing: Six Steps to Break Through Social Media Clutter

April 29, 2011

Here are six basic strategies for using social media effectively without being overwhelmed. 

Healthcare marketers are wading in and getting their feet wet in social media.  There is a very large audience on social media and many of them are open to establishing meaningful and useful relationships with brands.  Especially around topics that are important to them.  And healthcare is certainly one of them.

But there is so much noise in social media.  Like practically all mediums, it’s difficult to be noticed, to be heard above all the noise.  And marketers are also finding, as they begin to utilize social media, it can be all consuming.  It can become a monster that constantly needs to be fed.

So how can you establish or enhance your brand and build meaningful relationships, breaking through the clutter but not letting it consume you?  Dave Olsen, the Community Marketing Director at HootSuite,, writing for TalentZoo.com, outlined several tips for social media effectiveness.  Here are six strategies drawing from his comments.

1.    Start by Listening

Listen to those active on social media.  Listen to what they are saying.  Learn about their desires, concerns, behaviors and attitudes.  Listen with a discerning ear to learn.  And you can respond to relevant comments with advice, information, tips, concerns, etc.  Do not try to sell.  Just engage them when appropriate.

2.    Reach out to Influencers

Engage those who can be influencers.  Build relationships with them and then ask them to share their experiences with others.

3.    Instant Focus Group

You can get instant feedback to just about any question you may have.   New service, proposed changes, patients’ concerns can all be discovered by asking for feedback.  It can provide very valuable input.

4.    Learn about Competitors

Listen to what’s being said about your competitors.  Set up a system to retrieve comments being made about your competitors.  This information can be very helpful intelligence alerting you to changes, new initiatives and issues concerning your competitors.  And it can help you identify new opportunities.

5.    Early Warning System

Rumors, negative comments, criticism, bad reviews can all be very damaging.  You need to be listening to the conversations and weigh in appropriately.  By being aware of what being said about your brand, you have the opportunity to address falsehoods, correct misconceptions and squelch rumors.

6.    Play Party Host

There are all types of people who comment on social media.  Your role is to keep the conversation going.  Make sure everyone is civil and behaves appropriately.   Create the tone.  Make sure it’s helpful and consistent with your brand.

These tips are simple strategies that can help you utilize social networking sites.  They can be implemented without requiring a burdensome amount of effort – but yet be very effective.


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Posted by Jimmy Warren

Healthcare Marketing: The Future of Social Media for Brands May be in Question

April 20, 2011

 Only 6% of Facebook users ages 14-17 want to be friends with brands. 

Healthcare marketers are beginning to gear up and participate more fully in social media.  And they should.  There are now over 500 million Facebook users.  And those users are spending increasingly more time on the social networking site.

So it only makes sense that healthcare marketers are being called upon to be more active in social media, more proactive, more engaging.  More and more brands are seeing success utilizing social media.

But there could be concern about the long-term effectiveness of social media for healthcare brands.  A recent study by Forrester  evaluated attitudes of young people toward brands using social media and it did not brood so well for brands.  Only 6% of those 14-17 wanted to be friends with brands on Facebook.   And with those 18-24 the percentage is only 12%.

And perhaps even more alarming, almost half of 14-17 year olds don’t think brands should be allowed on Facebook.  Although 74% of them talk about brands on Facebook with their friends, only 16% expect brands to interact with them.

So what does this mean?  It could mean very little if attitudes change in consumers as they age.  Perhaps these young people will eventually accept the use of social media by brands and social networking will continue to be a powerful tool for marketing a brand.  However, if their attitudes do not change, the effectiveness of social media for brands could be very limited in the future.

Who knows what the future will hold?  It will be interesting to watch.  But there are two points to embrace today.  The first is that many of our patients and prospects are active on social media sites and are willing to have relationships with brands.  Therefore we should be engaged and build relationships.  The second point is that all brands have a responsibility to understand social media is about relationships and a brand’s role in this arena is to provide useful and meaningful information and interaction.  By doing so, we build credibility for our brand through social media and earn the respect of users of the medium. Not only is the future of brands ‘ use of social media at stake, the effectiveness and acceptance of brands on social networking sites today is in play. 


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Posted by Jimmy Warren

Healthcare Marketing: 1 in 5 Use Social Media to Make Healthcare Decisions

March 31, 2011
Americans are using social media to gather information about their healthcare. 1 in 5 persons in a recent survey, confirmed they use social media to influence their healthcare decisions.
This according to research conducted by National Research Corporation of more than 23,000 Americans – the largest, most current research on the subject.
Summary of the findings:
  • 94% of the respondents said they had used Facebook as a source to gather information on their healthcare.
  • 32% had used YouTube as a healthcare information source.
  • Twitter came in third – tying with MySpace for 18% of respondents.
  • Location-based website FourSquare received a 2 percent response.

Additional findings:

  • 1 in 4 respondents said social media was “very likely” or “likely” to influence their healthcare decisions.
  • 32% said their trust level in social media was “very high” or “high”.
  • Only 7.5% said their trust level in social media was “very low”.

While consumers think highly of using social media as a source of healthcare information, it is not the premiere source however when considering all options. Fifty percent of the respondents replied that healthcare provider websites are the preferred source of online healthcare information.

Results of the study also provided insight into who is using social media for healthcare information. They are affluent and young – with the average age 41 and household income of $75k plus.

As healthcare marketers this provides current, up to date evidence that in order to be influential in patients’ healthcare decisions, we must be present in their world.

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Posted by Jimmy Warren

Healthcare Marketing: Facebook is Getting Old!

March 31, 2011

People over the age of 65 are adopting Facebook faster than any other age group.

Social media is for young people.  Right?  Well yes but they are not the only ones.   Older people are becoming frequent users of social media.  At alarming rates.

People over 65 are the fastest growing demographic users of Facebook with over 6.5 million joining in May of 2010 alone.  And that is three times more than May of 2009.

Also surprising is the fact that the fastest growing demo on Match.com is adults over 50.  Now a total of over 4 million.  Men over 55 who have become members of Facebook since last fall has increased 138% and women over 55 has increased 175% over the same period.  And overall, 47% of 50-64 year-olds are using social media.  An 88% growth in the past year.

So what does this mean for healthcare marketers?  Social media is not just for the young.  Those older people, boomers, senior citizens who are frequent users of our healthcare system are very active on social media.  And the numbers continue to grow.  Exponentially.  Our paradigm about social networking needs to change to include older adults in our social media strategies.   Social media is beginning to show it’s age.  A much older age.

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Posted by Jimmy Warren

Healthcare Marketing: Why Aren’t We Seeing More Traditional and Social Media Integration?

March 30, 2011

Traditional and Social Media should be integrated, sure. How much has been written and said about integration of traditional and social media?  How often have we been told integration is essential and is the   true test of effective advertising today?  Most healthcare marketers have struggled with this and have wrestled with ways to integrate the two. Some of us have made attempts at it but generally we haven’t been that successful.

Well healthcare marketers aren’t the only ones.  Even on advertising’s largest stage, the Super Bowl, integration did not occur. With all the talk about the necessity of integration you would think Super Bowl spots would have been loaded with such.  But not so.  Basically the only integration was the listing of a website or Facebook URL.  That’s it.

Lightspeed Research indicated almost two-thirds of 18-34 year-olds planning to watch the Super bowl have smartphones and intended to use them during the game.   Of those, 59% were planning on sending emails or text messages about the game, while 18% planned on checking out ads on their phonies.  With over 106 million watching the game there was a tremendous opportunity to forge new relationships.  The opportunity was missed.

Ian Schafer in a recent article in Ad Age discussed the irony of the situation.   Brands who ran ads in the Super Bowl, looked to social media to gauge their audiences’ reaction.   They carefully monitored how many views the spots received on YouTube, checked what was tweeted about their ads and monitored Google alerts for mentions.   While depending on social media to tract reaction, they failed to integrate social networking into their ads. In fact, practically every ad could have been aired prior to Al Gore’s invention of the internet.

Part of the reason is that’s it’s difficult to integrate the two in :30 secs.  Especially when you are being judged for creativity.  It’s difficult to get high marks for creativity when you take precious seconds to integrate social media. You can make an impression in :30 seconds but it’s difficult to start a relationship much less build one.

Yes, we should explore ways to integrate social media and traditional media. But don’t be so discouraged because, as healthcare marketers, we haven’t done such a great job with it.  Despite all the talk, the largest, most powerful brands in the world generally haven’t mastered the art (or science) of it either which says marketers are still trying to discover effective methods of integration.  We all agree it’s what we need to do, but finding effective and creative ways to accomplish it isn’t easy. Especially when we are being graded on creativity, immediate impact and instant effectiveness.

So we are not the only ones who are struggling to find ways for successful integration.  The big boys are too.  We all have to watch and experiment and learn.  The talk of the “experts” is good.  Their philosophy makes perfectly good sense.  We all agree.  But it will take time and experimentation to do it in practice.


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Posted by Jimmy Warren

Healthcare Marketing: Seven Rules of Social Media

March 30, 2011

Social media success, like most everything, requires mastering the basics.

Social networking can be very helpful to hospitals and healthcare organizations.  And healthcare marketers have used it with varying degrees of success.  But there are some basic rules, which must be followed to build online relationships and leverage the power of social media.

Here are seven fundamentals for social media success:

1. Listen – Social networking for marketers is more about listening and less about talking.  Listen to discover what’s important to your target audience.  Only by listening can you create quality conversation that’s relevant and adds value to your friends and followers.

2. Quality – It’s not about quantity…how many online connections you have.  But more about quality.  It’s better to have a few relationships that value your content and who are loyal than to have thousands you connect initially but never become engaged.

3. Focus – You can’t be everything to everybody.  It’s more important to be narrowly focused providing specifically directed content.  A focus intended to build your brand instead of being too broad and general.

4. Consistency – It’s like any relationship; you can’t be a friend just every-once-in-a-while.  A friend is there consistently.  To have meaningful relationships you need to have frequent contact and dialog.  If you disappear for a while, your followers will leave you for a more reliable relationship

5. Value – People don’t like others who talk about themselves all the time.  A friend must care and bring something worthwhile to the relationship.  You can’t use social networking to always promote your brand or services. It must be about providing something of value.

6. Acknowledgment – People don’t like to be ignored.  If they are ignored for very long, they will find better friends elsewhere.  So when someone reaches out or participates in a conversation, acknowledge them.

7.  Patience – Strong relationships are not built quickly.  And social media success doesn’t happen overnight.  It takes a commitment for the long haul.

As we swim into the waters of social media it’s easy to be overwhelmed and begin to sink.  But as healthcare marketers if we adhere to these basic rules, our likelihood of long-term success is greatly enhanced.

Reference:  Susan Gunelius writing for Entrepreneur Media

 

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Posted by Jimmy Warren

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