April 15, 2013
Consumers have become very savvy and bold in their use of social media to express anger and dissatisfaction against corporations and organizations.
Many hospitals are reluctant to become active in social media. Some have no presence at all and others have very limited engagement. Some are reluctant due to compliance issues and others are just afraid of the potential for negative comments. Why provide a venue for negative comments is the argument? And the hesitations are understandable.
BUT, the lack of engagement in social media by a hospital doesn’t mean the conversations aren’t happening. Our reluctance doesn’t stop the conversations. And even more alarming, consumers are becoming more strident and sophisticated in their use of social media to express anger and dissatisfaction.
Here are just a couple of examples. A college student in Washington D.C. used a petition on Change.org to try to pressure Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts to reverse it’s denial of rehabilitation coverage for his father. A mother launched a social media campaign against Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia after it denied a transplant to her child because, as the mother contended, her child was developmentally disabled. Both organizations I’m sure based their decision upon existing standards, policies and practices. But that didn’t stop the individuals from initiating a social media campaign and engaging many others in their effort to damage the brand’s reputation. These individuals were acting emotionally out of anger and outrage, and maybe hopelessness. Many consumers have found that traditional appeals do not get the results desired and so they turn to social media guerrilla tactics. They hope they can create enough pressure to get their desired result and if not, they will damage the brand.
Now the big question for all hospital marketers: is there a campaign being conducted against your hospital right now, that you are not aware of? Are disgruntled patients (rightly or wrongly) fanning the flame, attacking your brand and soliciting others to do the same? If you ignore social media, don’t want to have anything to do with it, or take it lightly, it could be happening.
Every hospital should have means to monitor social network activity about their brand. Every hospital should have a social media presence so that if negative things are being said the hospital can join the conversation and attempt to talk the offended party offline to address the issues. And every hospital should be engaged in social networks to demonstrate the hospital’s concern and responsiveness to concerns and complaints.
Hospitals should engage authentically in social media networks and be part of the human discussion rather than being perceived as unengaged and detached. Remember, there could be conversations going on right now about your brand that you need to be aware of. And in which you should be participating.
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Internet, Patient Experience, Social Media | Tagged: Ad Agency Huntsville, advertiting firm tuscaloosa, change.org, hospital social media engagement, Internet, Jimmy Warren, Lori Moore, Marketing Firm South, monitoring reputation, Nancy Siniard, Patient Experience, Social Media, social media for hospitals | 
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Posted by Jimmy Warren
September 19, 2012
Your brand must be an integral part of your social media strategy.
More healthcare marketers are adopting social media as a component of their marketing efforts. But it must reflect our brand. Social media provides the opportunity to humanize the brand and empower it.
Heidi Cohen identified five tactics for using social media to cultivate a brand and expand its reach. Her comments appeared in SmartBlog on Social Media.
1. Give your brand a human voice (or other sounds) on social media.
A brand can be humanized by how it sounds. Corporate speak doesn’t resonate with consumers. Instead, consider your brand’s language, accent and other noises. Sound like a human.
2. Enhance the visual signals associated wit your brand.
Carefully consider colors, images, icons, type and photographs to make sure they enhance your brand and communicate the brand’s personality.
3. Tell your brand’s story.
Brands aren’t a collection of facts or products or services. They’re about stories. Stories of the company, employees and customers told in a human voice. Give your brand a personality. Create with stories.
4. Develop and incorporate a culture into your brand.
A unique corporate culture is important to community building. Create a special language, actions and attributes to set your brand apart from the competition.
5. Brand your employees.
Brands need real people to represent their organization. It provides a human face. It builds trust and sincerity. Brand employees and let employees project the brand.
Social media can be very useful to hospital marketers. And it’s important to let your brand shine through in those social media efforts. Social media is a unique opportunity to humanize your brand, to create a brand personality and to connect your brand to your consumers.
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Leave a Comment » | Branding, Social Media | Tagged: Ad Agency Huntsville, Ad Agency South, Ad Agency Tuscaloosa, Branding, Branding with Social Media, Heidi Cohen, Jimmy Warren, Lori Moore, Marketing Firm Alabama, Nancy Siniard, Smartblogs.com, Social Media, Social Media for Healthcare Organizations, social media for hospitals | Permalink
Posted by Jimmy Warren
May 31, 2012
Social media is often misunderstood. It’s important we understand the truth about social media. Only when we do can it be effective for us.
There are a lot of misconceptions about social media. Everyone knows how pervasive it is. Everyone knows how socially and culturally engaging it is. Everyone knows we need to be participating in it. But it’s important we understand the truth about it. Dimple Thakkar, CEO of Synhergy Marketing outlined some of the important truths about social media in an article in iMedia Connection.
Here are the truths we must accept and embrace:
1. Social media and advertising are NOT synonymous.
Advertising is about selling. It’s about buying exposure. It’s about pushing brands and products and services. But social media is not like that. It’s not like traditional advertising. It’s not about buying exposure or pushing your brand. Social media is not about screaming, “look at me” and “buy me”. It’s more about interacting and building relationships.
2. Are you interrupting or interacting?
People hate being interrupted. No one likes to be interrupted in the middle of a conversation. But that’s what brands do everyday in social media. Consumers use social media to build and maintain relationships. In social media, credibility cannot be bought. It has to be earned. Use social media to create meaningful relationships.
3. A “Like” is not the same as an “Engaged Like”.
It’s not about how many followers you have. You could have thousands but unless they are engaged with your brand they are not worth very much. Brand loyalist and brand advocates are what count. Don’t be fooled.
4. The ROI in social media is relationships.
To evaluate social media in terms of dollars and cents is useless. Because social media is not about the number of procedures but about relationships. Relationships lead to business but it is not about the business, it’s about the relationship. And about those brand advocates recommending your brand to their family and friends. Sure you may not be able to quantify it in dollars but that’s difficult. But it doesn’t mean it’s not important.
5. Social media marketing is an investment, not an expense.
With traditional marketing, you lay out an expense and you expect to get a corresponding return. At least that is what we strive for. But with social media it takes time to build relationships. To be engaging. To build credibility. And to build loyalty. There are no shortcuts. With social media the consumer is in control. They control the message. Our purpose is to engage in the conversation in a meaningful way.
Traditional advertising is a challenge. How do we break through the clutter and be heard? How do we get the exposure we want in a splintered media marketplace? How do we make our message resonate with the consumer? Social media is also challenging. In different ways. Is’ not easy, it’s not cheap, it doesn’t happen quickly. The consumer wants to be social and they control the pace and depth of the relationship. And sometimes that’s hard for healthcare marketers to accept. But the truth will set us free!
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Posted by Jimmy Warren
May 30, 2012
Despite Facebook’s hopes, the site has not proven to be effective as a commerce site. It’s about people being social.
There have been bold predictions by experts and great hope by Facebook executives that Facebook would become a viable and even dominant site for doing business. Because of its over 850 million members, some even predicted it could become as big as Amazon. But that is not proving to be the case.
It is proving to be true that consumers prefer commerce sites for doing business and social sites for being social and they don’t want to mix the two. While some analysts predicted Facebook would combine shopping with social interaction, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Just in the last few months, J.C. Penney, GameStop, Gap and Nordstrom have abandoned their Facebook storefronts. They never gained traction. There was no advantage to shopping the major retailers on Facebook over the company’s website. Their regular websites were already convenient and consumers preferred shopping there.
Facebook and other social media sites are just that – social sites. Social media sites are more for hanging out, like one does with their friends at a bar. It’s not for commerce. Companies can use social sites to communicate sales, product offerings, etc in an unobtrusive manner but that’s about as far as it goes. Users apparently don’t want to shop there. They just want to catch up and interact with their social contacts and friends on the web.
So what does this have to do with healthcare marketers? It’s important to understand, that social networking sites are about socializing and not about pushing our products and service lines. It’s about providing useful information, bringing people with similar interests and concerns together, it’s about engagement and it’s about building relationships.
To try to use Facebook, or any other social media site, as a tool to push our services and sell our product lines will be futile. Just like the person who is always trying to “sell you” in social settings soon becomes the person to avoid, brands that use social networking sites to push services will also soon be avoided. We don’t need to be antisocial and never show up in social situations. We need to be there. But we need to be engaging and build relationships so when a business situation occurs, the brand has credibility and consumers know us and like us.
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Posted by Jimmy Warren
October 24, 2011
Healthcare executives have many misperceptions about social media. Here’s debunking 10 of the most common ones that commonly undermine business strategies according to Garreth Bloor, writing for memeburn.
It’s worthwhile to look at these myths as they apply to healthcare marketing. 
- Myth 1: “Social Marketing is great because it’s free.”
Even if social media doesn’t cost very much, it does require a tremendous investment of time and energy. And healthcare marketers have very little time to commit to new projects. Especially ones that will be ongoing and continual.
- Myth 2: “Everyone’s doing it, so I need to.”
Even though so many have jumped on the social media bandwagon, many are not doing it well. Doing it half-hearted or without a clear objective and strategy could do more harm than not participating at all.
- Myth 3: ” I can just post our press releases on social media.
”
Not really. It requires much more. The social environment is not another platform for you to promote your hospital. Rather it’s a place to take part in a conversation, in people’s everyday conversation and be there to provide useful information to your readers on their terms.
- Myth 4: “I need to be everywhere, dominating every type of social media.”
Not true. Be present where your patients and potential patients are. And do only what you can do well. The best thing healthcare marketers can do is to invest your time and energy into one or two sites your audience use regularly.
- Myth 5: “Twitter is a tool for egomaniacs to tell people what they had for breakfast.”
This a myth coined accurately by journalist Eric Rice. However, as her research has found, tweeting gives your hospital a more “human” face. They can see your brand personality. Twitter helps turn your organization. Appealing and engaging.
- Myth 6: “Facebook is more for my kids, not for my business.
”
Facebook ‘ fastest growing audience is women 40+ It has become a very adult medium. It allows you to enhance that “human” feeling with photos, helpful healthy tips and ongoing discussions with your customers.
- Myth 7: “Social media won’t take much time.
”
An estimate of 1-2 hours per day may be required to actively participate in the conversations being conducted and created on social media. A busy healthcare marketing director will not likely be able to effectively maintain a social presence if it becomes just another task on the “to do” list.
- Myth 8: “The threat of receiving negative public posts and complaints is too high
.”
Consumers are already commenting in their offline and online social circles. It’s better to be part of the conversation so you can strategically defend your brand and respond in a timely way to problems. Being where the discussion is allows you to address existing problems and discover brewing issues before they get out of hand.
- Myth 9: “This thing’s useless – I tried it for a month and it didn’t work.”
Social marketing doesn’t give you instant, measurable results. It will take time for people to find you, warm up to you, and start adding to your conversations.
- Myth 10: “Our customers don’t use social media sites.”
The audience is there and they’re going to have their conversations with or without you. Take your primary target demo and look how many within your marketing area use social media. It’s easy to research and you might be surprised.
For healthcare marketers, participating in social media is not easy. It requires a commitment of time and energy. And perhaps dispelling some of the myths will be helpful.
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Posted by Jimmy Warren
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
March 17, 2010
Even though The Mayo Clinic has an extremely strong brand, they are not conservative when it comes to their participation in social media. In fact, they are just the opposite.
The Mayo Clinic is one of the strongest healthcare brands with an incredibly strong reputation. So some would argue they should be conservative and not risk their brand to social media and it’s potential pitfalls. Well the Mayo Clinic feels completely differently. Mayo is heavily involved in social media. In fact, they are one of healthcare industry’s leaders in social networking.
Examine their participation:
- Facebook – More than 13,000 fans and used as a forum to distribute content and provide a venue for conversation and patient input.
- YouTube Channel - Over 600 videos that have been viewed 1.5 million times. Most of the videos provide patient education and patient testimonials.
- Blogs and Podcasts - For consumers, researchers and physicians.
- Twitter - Over 24,00 followers.
Stewart Gandolf referenced Mayo’s acceptance of social media in a a recent blog and gave Mayo the following credits:
- It’s gutsy. They are confident in their brand to put its reputation on the line.
- It’s realistic. Consumers will be having conversations about Mayo. Now Mayo can join in those conversations.
- It’s brand building. Mayo is a leader in everything they do.
- It sells. There is a call to action (“To request an appointment”) on their Facebook page.
Many healthcare marketers are wondering if they should subject their brand to the dangers of social media. And if they should put their brand at risk by providing a forum for consumer-driven conversations. No one has more to lose than the Mayo Clinic. Yet they are leading the way and using social networking tools to enhance their brand even more. Maybe more of us should follow the leader.
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Posted by Jimmy Warren
January 11, 2010
Social media is moving from experimental stage to serious commitment for most professional marketers.
For many serious marketers, social media has thus far been mostly experimental. They have considered, explored, tested and sampled various social media options. But researchers at Forrester Research have concluded that now marketers are beginning to get serious about social media. 2010 “is the year social marketing gets serious” stated Forrester Analyst Augie Ray in a recent article by Laurie Sullivan in Online Media Daily.
Social media is maturing and is being taken more seriously by marketers. The growth of social media sites and the increasing use of such sites by consumers makes it very difficult to ignore. Significant audiences exist there and marketers are challenged to find ways to engage consumers on those sites. Social media is beginning to play a more significant role in marketing strategies and budget allocations are increasing for social media options.
Although the tide is moving toward more emphasis on social media, healthcare marketers are not embracing social networks at the same level as other industries. According to the 2010 Social Media Marketing Benchmark Report from MarketingSherpa, healthcare lags considerably behind other industries in anticipated budget commitments to social media. Only 43% of healthcare marketers anticipate increased budget allocations for social media in 2010 as compared to 79% in retail.
The trend is obvious. Social media is no longer just a fad. It is the place many marketers are engaging consumers and building brand awareness and loyalty. While many healthcare marketers are not yet fully embracing social networking, it provides a great opportunity and potential competitive advantage for those who catch the wave and commit to finding effective ways to use the media. It can be a place where healthcare marketers can dominant the competition and gain a significant advantage.
It is time to get serious about social media!
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Posted by Jimmy Warren
October 15, 2009
Twitter user numbers escalate but some are flying away soon after landing.
Twitter usage is dramatically increasing practically each day. While some do not understand or appreciate twitter, more and more consumers are taking it for a test drive to check it out.
Adults who have accessed Twitter have grown 200% in the past year. In 2008 there were 6 million adults who accessed Twitter at least monthly and that number has grown to over 18 million in 2009. And in June of this year Nielsen Media reported 21 million unique users.
Those numbers represent 11% of total Internet users and that is expected to increase to over 15% in 2010.
Twitter is a rapidly growing phenomenon, and hospitals across the country are recognizing it, and therefore experimenting with it to find ways to use it effectively.
Perhaps the least understood social medium, Twitter is attracting greater audiences than earlier expected. Hospital marketers cannot ignore this fact. Ways to utilize the microblogging site must be creatively explored. There are already many effective uses of Twitter being utilized in hospitals and healthcare organizations.
Even though Twitter is experiencing exponential growth, the same research indicated that large numbers of users are abandoning Twitter after a short period of experimentation.
Twitter is obviously not for everyone. Some try it and leave it. But if it continues to grow at such a rapid growth, it cannot be ignored.
Twitter should be closely watched to determine if it has stickiness and staying power. In the meantime, marketers should develop strategies for its use in connecting with consumers. If you wait, you may find everyone has flown off without you.
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Posted by Jimmy Warren
Many hospitals are reluctant to become active in social media. Some have no presence at all and others have very limited engagement. Some are reluctant due to compliance issues and others are just afraid of the potential for negative comments. Why provide a venue for negative comments is the argument? And the hesitations are understandable.
