Healthcare Advertising

Convincing Your Hospital CEO to Use Social Media

As a hospital marketer you and your team realize the importance of Social Media as a marketing tool. However, chances are your eagerness to take advantage of Social Media is not shared by your hospital CEO, Chairman of the Board or other folks in the “C Suite”. Disapproval thumbs down

Perhaps they just don’t understand. In a recent study of the CEO’s of Top 100 Companies (list according to Forbes.com), the top brass is just not participating in Social Media like their employees, partners, and customers.  Research done from May 29, 2009 thru June 16, 2009 by www.uberceo.com shows:

  • Two ouf of 100 CEO’s had Twitter accounts
  • 13 had LinkdIn profiles
  • 81% didn’t have a personal Facebook Page
  • None had a blog

This level of detachment probably means top management at a lot of institutions, including hospitals, doesn’t realize the marketing opportunities available to their brand.  Thus the Marketing/PR Department has to sell the concept “up the food chain”.

Here are some things to consider when having the discussion with your board:

  • Share the numbers:
    • Facebook just reached the 250 million user mark and is expected to reach 300 million by the end of 2009
    • There are more than 30 million active blogs on the internet
    • According to Compete, Twitter has more than 6 million unique visitors per month and more than 55 million visits per month
    • Growth in newspaper circulation since 1990: -8 million
    • Average age of network evening news viewer: 60
    • Social Media represents more than 15% of time spent online
  • Avoid the “hip factor”. Resist the urge to show your enthusiasm for how “cool” Social Media tools are. Instead cut straight to the value that participating in Social Media will provide your hospital.
  • “Show me – sell me”. Give a demonstration of Twitter or Facebook.  Show results that a search on Twitter yields for your hospital or competitor. Explain how this information can be a benefit. Show how hospitals who are leading the way on Facebook are doing it.
  • Expense: Demonstrate how the expense associated with using Social Media for your hospital is often less than traditional media expense. Not that Social Media should replace traditional media, but demonstrate how by shifting just a few dollars from traditional media, more opportunities arise – possibly at a cost savings.
  • Additional Department Benefits: Show how opportunities are possible beyond advertising, marketing and publicity such as benefits for HR Department with recruitment and retention or how employee teams and committees can use Twitter to keep informed during projects.
  • Viral Marketing: Explain how building a relationship with one person via Social Media can yield “cheerleaders” for your hospital – at no additional cost
  • Permanence: Social Media, while ever evolving, is here to stay in some form. By not participating, opportunities are missed. Hospital across town not involved? Arrive first. Hospital across town is involved? Get going.

Go for “buy in” on small projects. Set goals and timelines for these small projects. Execute them flawlessly. Report back. As more familiarity is achieved – go deeper. Wade in. Don’t try to jump off the diving board into the deep end at the onset.

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Television Ads for Healthcare: Are They Still Effective?

Don’t Eulogize Television Yet – It’s Alive and Well

In today’s rapidly changing media landscape, the rise of social media and digital platforms often leads to discussions about the decline of traditional media, particularly television. You might hear that healthcare marketers are abandoning television ads in favor of online channels. But before you dismiss television ads for healthcare, consider this: TV remains a powerful medium with unique advantages.

It’s true – linear TV, the traditional broadcast method, has declined in popularity over the last few years. However, this doesn’t spell the end for television. A recent Nielsen survey found that audiences streamed 21 million years’ worth of video in 2023, a 21% increase from the prior year.

Audiences may be consuming television differently now, with viewers increasingly turning to streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ to watch their favorite shows on demand. Despite this shift, the audience for television content remains strong. This evolution is particularly important for healthcare marketers. Television ads for healthcare, whether delivered through traditional broadcasts or streaming platforms, are still among the most effective ways to build a brand and create an emotional connection with potential patients. The combination of sight and sound in TV ads remains uniquely powerful, delivering messages that resonate deeply with viewers across all platforms.

As healthcare marketers adapt to the changing media landscape, one effective strategy is to repurpose television ads for paid social media campaigns. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube offer the opportunity to extend the reach of your television ads by targeting specific demographics and interests. By tailoring the original TV content to fit the format and audience of social media, healthcare marketers can maximize the impact of their advertising efforts. This approach not only reinforces the brand message across multiple channels but also ensures that the ad resonates with viewers who prefer consuming content online.

Yes, a media buyer has to be more creative, dig deeper, know the target audience and understand how consumers watch television. It’s not as easy as just buying the major networks anymore. Today it is more of a science . . . and an art. But for those who do it well, the rewards are still there.

Five hours a day average time spent watching television – and it’s primarily for entertainment. Don’t make funeral plans yet. There’s a lot of life left in television.

The more curious question is how do people find five hours a day to watch television?      

TotalCom is a full-service marketing agency helping brands like yours tell their story to the right audiences. Email Lori Moore or call TotalCom Marketing Communications at 205.345.7363 to learn more about how we can help you tell your story.