Healthcare Marketing: 25 MORE Interesting Facts About Social Media

October 28, 2011

Sarah Evans, author of social media and PR blog “Commentz” regularly compiles interesting stats and facts about social media. She recently shared her most relevant ones with Ad Age. Some can be useful to healthcare marketers.

1. “In early March, Google removed from its Android Market more than 60 applications carrying malicious software. Some of the malware was designed to reveal the user’s private information to a third party, replicate itself on other devices, destroy user data or even impersonate the device owner.”

2. “Groupon is on track to bring in between $3 billion and $4 billion in revenue this year alone. Facebook’s 2010 sales were reported to be only around $2 billion in its sixth year of existence.”

3. “A study of 24,000 consumers across the 16 largest countries found that those who are most connected, living on the cutting edge of social media tend to be more ‘prosocial’ than average, being more likely to do volunteer work, offer their seats in crowded places, lend possessions to others and give directions.”

4. “99 percent of Android devices are vulnerable to password theft.”

5. “Recent estimates put less than 10% of the population using Twitter, far less than other social sites.”

6. “More than 3.34 million mentions were recorded over a one-month period of people making social asks.”

7. “David Poltrack, CBS Corp., announced that, based on a new research study, ‘age and sex don’t matter when it comes to increasing TV ad effectiveness.’”

8. “An average of 40 percent of the traffic to the top 25 news sites comes from outside referrals, the study found, with Google Search and, to a lesser extent, Google News the single biggest traffic driver.”

9. “Almost one-in-four South Africans use social media as a tool to look for work, but are concerned about the potential career fallout from personal content on social networking sites.”

10. “The percentage of US parents who allow their children between ages 10 and 12 to use Facebook or MySpace more than doubled from 8 percent a year ago to 17 percent now.”

11. “33% of Facebook posting is mobile.”

12. “Fully 69% of visitors to news.google.com ended up 3 places: nytimes.com (14.6%), cnn.com (14.4%) and abcnews.go.com (14.0%).”

13. “85% of media websites now use online video to cover news.”

14. “”Social media advertising spending will increase from $2.1 billion in 2010 to $8.3 billion by 2015.”

15. “Facebook is approaching 700 million users and Google handles over 11 billion queries per month. World-wide there are over 5 billion mobile subscribers (9 out of 10 in the U.S.) and every two days there is more information created than between the dawn of civilization and 2003.”

16. “Twitter reported that the network saw more than 4,000 tweets per second (TPS) at the beginning and end of Obama’s speech [re: death of Osama Bin Laden]“

17. “65% of all social media related to the royal wedding has come from the U.S. in the past month [April]. The U.K. has been responsible for just 20%.”

18. Re: the Royal Wedding: “911,000 wedding-related tweets were tracked in the past 30 days. That’s about 30,000 per day and accounts for 71% of all social media.”

19. “According to NPR’s internal usage data covering January 1 through mid-April, users who request audio — maybe a station stream, a national newscast, or NPR Music content — view twice as many pages as those who only read the apps’ content. On average, audio streamers rack up 4.2 pageviews per visit versus 2.4 for the text-only crowd.”

20. “Twitter penetration rates in Canada are among the highest in the world, according to new data from online tracking firm comScore Inc., which suggests that nearly one in five Canadian Internet users over the age of 15 regularly visit Twitter.”

21. “Traffic from social media has highest bounce rate. [...] If you’re looking for ‘hyper-engaged’ readers, those that click through five or more pages on your site, forget the guy who came from Twitter. A link from another content site is three times more likely to be engaged, and someone coming in from search, is also above average.”

22. “”Digital services accounted for an estimated $8.5 billion (28%) of the $30.4 billion in 2010 U.S. revenue generated by the 900-plus advertising and marketing-services agencies that Ad Age analyzed.”

23. “Total Facebook spent on lobbying, Q1 2010: $41,390. Total Facebook spent on lobbying, Q1 2011: $230,000″

24. “Nearly seven in 10 tablet owners reported spending at least 1 hour per day using the device, including 38% who spent over 2 hours on it. And while just 28% consider it their primary computer, 77% are spending less time on desktop or laptop PCs since they got a tablet.”

25. “According to a Network Solutions survey, the use of social media among SMBs has grown over the years, rising from 12 percent in 2009, to 24 percent in 2010 to 31 percent currently.”

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Hospital Marketing: Boomers’ Use of Social Media is Booming

February 10, 2011

Baby Boomers who provide care for aging parents are heavier users of social media than boomers in general.


Baby boomers are embracing social media.  Faster than any other segment. According to Pew Internet the number of 50-plus who use social networking sites grew 88% during the past year.  Now practically half of the adults over 50 regularly use social media.   In the more narrow 50-65 age group its almost three fourths.   Healthcare marketers are learning that social media can be a very effective way of reaching and connecting with baby boomers.

But those boomers who are caregivers to aging parents are even more likely to embrace and use social media. Age Lessons partnering with Comscore found that approximately 15.5 million of the 78 million boomers are caregivers.  They are split 60/40 female to male and the level of care ranges from daily phone check-ins to live-in help.

As reported by Matt Carmichael in Ad Age these boomer caregivers use social media an average of 150 minutes a month and view 70% more pages than average internet users. They are dependent on social networking sites for information because they have so little time for other types of socializing.  Their free time is limited and they are often restricted by the demands of caring for their parent(s).  It is often the easiest and fastest way to stay connected with family and friends.  They also use social media to validate and reinforce their feelings by finding others in similar situations and communities that provide support and encouragement.

The study also found this group is more likely to use the internet to find information, conduct research and make purchases.  The top sites for boomer caregivers are Facebook with a 91% reach, Amazon with 76% and Wal-Mart at 41%.  Twitter has 21% reach.

These caregivers are important influencers and decision-makers for not only their own immediate family’s health concerns but also for their parents.  This makes this group especially important to healthcare marketers.

Marketing to niches can be very effective.  They are more easily identifiable and the message can be very focused.  The use of social media, especially Facebook – whether in the form of a page or ad, can be extremely useful tools reaching this key demographic.


Healthcare Marketing: Consider Newspaper Website Ads

December 19, 2010

Although newspapers have been pronounced mortally ill they now reach 61% of the adult population -  online.

Newspaper websites reached a total of 102.8 million unique visitors in September of 2010.  That represents 61% of the total adult population. A study conducted by comScore and reported by the Newspaper Association of America found that on an average day newspaper websites attract 20.3 million unique visitors and the average visitor makes 8.5 visits per month.

These web visitors spent more than 3.3 million minutes reading newspapers online and viewed over 4 billion page views. Newspapers readers online outpaced other web news sites.  Yahoo News reached 51% of the adult population, 22% visited CNN online and 26% visited MSNBC.

And those who visit newspaper websites tend to be more affluent too. Twenty-five percent of adult visitors to newspaper websites had annual household income of over $100,000 compared to 21% of all internet users.

So even though newspaper circulation is declining, more consumers are reading their newspaper online.  Healthcare marketers should take notice and seriously consider a web presence on local newspaper sites.  The web audience will undoubtedly continue to grow as circulation continues to decline and healthcare organizations can capture this growing audience by having a significant web presence on newspaper sites. Readers are going web and so should healthcare marketers.

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Hospital Marketing: Online Display Ads Improve Search Performance

March 6, 2010

Recent studies indicate that online banner ads dramatically improve search results for both paid and organic search.

Significant money is now being spent on internet display advertising.  Many have questioned the effectiveness of such expenditures.  However some recent studies have shown that online display ads are very effective and  in ways that were unexpected.

A recent study by the Atlas Institute, “Where Can You Find Your Customer: The Intersection of Search and Display” indicate that internet visitors who are exposed to both search and display advertising convert at a 22% percent higher rate than by search alone.

Similar results were revealed in a study by Comscore, “The Silent Click: Building Brands Online”. Comscore found that internet visitors exposed to display ads spend surprisingly 55% more time on the site and viewed 51% more pages than those not exposed to online display ads.

Yes organic search is still better than display ads for search but when display ads are combined with organic search the results are significantly better than with either one alone.  This means to maximize a brand’s effectiveness on the web, both search optimization for organic search and online display ads are essential?

Just like in traditional media, multiple exposures  over different media or venues increase effectiveness. The same is true for the web. A combined, integrated, coordinated marketing approach will yield the maximum results.

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Hospital Advertising: Click It…Or Not

October 21, 2009

Even though click-thru rates are down, internet display ads are still effective.

Computer mouse and hand with reflection

According to a study from Comscore and media agency Starcom, the number of people who click display ads has dropped 50% in the last two years.  Only 16% of web users actually click through. And 8% of internet users account for 85% of all clicks.

So does that mean web display advertising is not effective?  The answer is clearly “no”.  Even though click-thrus are down, the study found that display ads generate lift in site visitation and search.  Additionally, consumers exposed to a display ads were 65% more likely to visit the site than users who never saw the ad.  Even after 4 weeks, consumers exposed to display ads are 45% more likely to visit the brand’s site.

So the idea that click-thrus is the real barometer of web advertising effectiveness is erroneous.  Even if a consumer does not click through, just the exposure to the ad can lead to a website visit and engagement.  Banner ads are more effective than what click-thrus indicate.

The study indicated that online users exposed to a particular brand’s display ads are more likely to conduct searches for that brand.  So web display advertising works more like traditional advertising than previously believed.  The exposure to a brand’s ad on the web may not lead to an immediate visit to a website but the impression is made and can effect the consumer’s behavior later.

Combined with paid search, display ads can lead to consumers being twice as likely to conduct an online activity on the advertiser’s site.

Also interesting is that half of all clicks come from lower-income young adults.  Not necessarily the most desired audience for healthcare advertising.

Don’t judge the effectiveness of web banner advertising by the number of click-thrus.  That display ad can be working in the consumer’s mind long after the initial exposure.  

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