Healthcare Digital Marketing

Hospital Marketing: Understanding Why Social Media Users Follow Certain Brands and Companies

Consumers actively use social media to follow a brand not because they have a strong passion for the brand but primarily for the discounts and promotions. Tampon "Free"

In the November 8th issue of MediaPostNews Online Media Daily,  Mark Walsh cited a recent survey by Razorfish  that indicated consumers don’t follow companies in social media just because they love the brand but they follow to get deals.  The study concluded that social media is not about building awareness but it’s more about enticing consumers with specific offers.

In the survey of 1000 “connected consumers”, 44% of those who followed a brand on Twitter said the primary reason was access to exclusive deals and 37% of Facebook and MySpace brand followers cited special deals as their main reason.   The study referenced Starbucks who has accumulated 5 million fans on Facebook because they offered coupons for free pastries and ice cream.  And Whole Foods was cited as the top brand on Twitter with 1.5 million followers because they promote weekly specials and shopping tips.

Razorfish group vice president of experience planning and editor of the study, Garrick Schmitt stressed that marketers need to shift focus from brand awareness and impressions to creating campaigns that drive people to make purchases and spread the word about products and services to friends.

Admittedly, it’s pretty difficult for hospitals to offer discounts and special offers.  However, the finding is still revealing.  Hospitals should use social media to do more than just build brand awareness.  The mediums should be used to truly engage the consumer.  Helpful information, tips, medical advice, offers for free screenings, etc should be a central component of a hospital’s use of social media.  It truly is about engagement and about giving the consumer a reason to follow or become a friend of the hospital.  It’s all about the consumer.  They want to receive a benefit.  It’s about giving them something useful and worthwhile. Otherwise they will not stay with the brand.  

Other interesting information from the study:

  • 40% have befriended a brand on Facebook or Twitter
  • 77% have watched a commercial or video ad on YouTube with some frequency
  • 73% have posted a product or brand review on sites such as Amazon, Yelp, Facebook or Twitter
  • 70% have participated in brand-sponsored contests or sweepstakes

Consumers are connected.  They are active participants in social media.  Hospitals should meet consumers there.

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Healthcare Marketing: Social Media is Where the Moms are

mother and baby girl with laptop

Over one-half of all online moms are now using Facebook regularly.

Mothers are a prime target for hospital and healthcare marketing efforts.  Sure they can be reached using TV, radio, print and other forms of traditional media.  But social media must also be considered.

According to a recent poll by parenting website BabyCenter.com, 63% of online mothers now use social media networks such as Facebook regularly. This is a 462% increase, as just three years ago 11% of online moms were regular users of social media.

Moms “don’t watch TV as much, they are not reading magazines as much but instead they check Facebook, Twitter….where people are really drawn together over parenting issues”, states BabyCenter’s Editor-in-Chief Linda Murray.

Additionally, the survey of 25,000 online moms indicated that now 29% of them read blogs regularly.

These numbers can’t be ignored.  The mothers healthcare marketers want to reach are online and active in social media.  Over 60% penetration is huge in an ever increasingly fragmented marketplace.  Some say social media is no more than a fad.  Even if that proves to be true, the numbers of moms are there now and should be seriously considered in the communication strategies and plans of hospitals and healthcare marketers.

Social media is new.  It’s different. And it has risks involved.  But it can no longer be dismissed without serious consideration.

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Hospital Marketing: Using ER Wait Times as a Marketing Tool

 Emergency Room Sign         

Some hospitals are using new technology to communicate ER wait times.

In the October 12, 2009 issue of Advertising Age , Abbey Klaassen wrote about HCA hospitals in south Florida using technology to communicate their ER wait times.   Current wait times are electronically sent to electronic billboards with a RSS feed and the times are shown on the billboard.  They also have an iPhone app that provides the wait times and a texting service.  Consumers simple text “ER” to a number, supply their zip code to a text reply and the wait time and a phone number is texted back to their phone. 

And Progress West Hospital in O’Fallon, Missouri is using Twitter to communicate ER wait times according to Eric Becker of Suburban Journals.

We must commend these hospitals for embracing new technology and using it to communicate with consumers.  Sure, there may be some risks and some pitfalls.  Melanie Arnold, a spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Public Health points out that communicating ER wait times presents all sorts of possibilities of misunderstandings among patients.  A patient may show up expecting the communicated wait time and be bumped by more serious injuries or health problems.

Ed Fishbough, a spokesperson for HCA acknowledges that communicating wait times is targeted to less serious walk-in patients,  “Obviously, people who have a serious injury or medical condition should call 911 or go to the closest emergency room.”

Despite the concern, and there are legitimate ones, you must applaud those hospitals who are using new technology and channels to communicate with the public.  Those who do will reap significant rewards.  Fishbough added, the network of 12 emergency departments in south Florida has seen “significant increases in the number of patients visiting its ERs”.

New technology and new media as part of the communication effort of hospitals is something that should not wait.

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Hospital Advertising: Online Advertising is about the Creative!

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Study shows creative is more important than placement for effective online advertising.

A study conducted by Dynamic Logic has determined that creative is the most influential factor in determining effectiveness in online advertising.  Marketers spend a great amount of time determining the right placement, the optimal target and web measurements and analytics but perhaps give too little consideration to the most important factor – the creative.

Kunur Patel reports the findings of the Dynamic Logic study in the October 20, 2009 issue of Advertising Age and states that bad creative is what makes online advertising ineffective.  Over 170,000 online ads were included in the study and the company determined that creative factors such as persistent branding, strong calls to action and human faces make for better ad recall, brand awareness and purchase intent.  The recent study supported Dynamic Logic’s past research that found creative quality is 50-75% responsible for the campaign’s success or failure.  “But media people spend most of their time trying to optimize and measure campaigns”, stated Ken Mallon, Senior VP-custom solutions for Dynamic Logic.

While it seems the study’s conclusions are obvious, Amy Taylor, research manager of custom solutions for Dynamic Logic stated the firm still sees a “shockingly large percentage of creative that falls short of it\s potential”.

Based on the study, Dynamic logic, offers some recommendations for better-performing digital creative:

  • Highlight the brand prominently throughout the ad.  Logos should be omnipresent.
  • Make each second count.  Ad should support the message at all times.
  • Reveal ads don’t work.  Get straight to the point.
  • Stay simple.  No more than two messages per ad.
  • Use people.  People imagery works very well.

Of course it’s important to place your ad on the right site to reach a highly targeted audience.  But it’s only effective if the creative is right too!

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Hospital Marketing: Facebook is Growing Up and Getting Older

facebook logo 2 

Teens and students are abandoning their use of Facebook – Privacy Is the Issue

Between January and July of this year about 900,000 high school students and 1.6 million college students have gone missing from Facebook, according to a recent article by Jeff Neff in Advertising Age.   Where have they gone?  It seems they have gone “in-hiding”.  Facebook and Comscore report that users under 18 and 18-24 continue to grow but they are hiding their identity and not using the social media site nearly as much as in the past.

In it’s early stages, Facebook was all about students, high school and college.   But the real growth in the past couple of years on Facebook has been middle-aged adults and primarily women.  That means parents (especially moms), parents’ friends, grandparents, prospective employers and teachers are active on Facebook and can view profiles.  As a result, students are revealing less about themselves.

Students may still visit Facebook but are not providing as much information and are not as engaged.  They are actively using Facebook less and less.  Facebook was once a place almost entirely for students, now students are moving away from Facebook because they don’t want to share the same turf as their parents and older adults.  They are much more private on the site and are seeking new venues, away from adults.

So as a hospital marketer, if you think Facebook is just a place where teens and young adults play, you are wrong.  The adults have taken over and the students have gone into hiding.  Facebook has become a site for older adults and thus perhaps more useful as a marketing tool.

Facebook is no longer your child’s playground.

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Hospital Marketing: Patients Learn from Patients and Marketers Can Too!

baby girl working on laptop

Online medical websites are now more advanced, allowing patients to interact with one another, share experiences and hopefully make better decisions about health issues. Hospitals marketers should follow these. The benefits are that we learn what issues are important to the patient, how to speak their language, and how to better communicate our brand to them.

In a recent issue of the Washington Post, was an article about the many online health sites that have a presence in the Washington, DC area.  A new one, WiserTogether, began when  a couple got some troublesome news in the 12th week of her pregnancy-that there was a strong possibility she would deliver a baby with Down’s Syndrome.  The husband, Shub Debgupta, started WiserTogether after they faced the decision of undergoing an invasive but highly accurate procedure that could spur a miscarriage or wait for an ultrasound that would not be risky but much less conclusive.  WiserTogether addresses expectant parents’ issues that are pregnancy related.

Earlier sites, like WebMD, are more encyclopedic but newer ones like Inspire, PatientsLikeMe and CureTogether are more interactive and case-study oriented.  Some, like Inspire, partner with associations that advocate for patients with various diseases. Sites generate revenue by selling research (without the personal information) to healthcare companies, by recruiting members for clinical trials conducted by pharmaceutical companies, custom searches and subscriptions with premium features.

In the end, the patient is involved in a dialogue….not with the physician…but with other patients facing a similar diagnosis. Hospital marketers should consider following the dialogue on these sites in order to better communicate with potential patients or better yet consider hosting a similar service in their market.

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Healthcare Marketing: Testimonial Ads Under Scrutiny by FTC

bubble speak

Many hospitals use testimonial advertising, and rightfully so.  They can be very compelling and very effective. But more care must be given to the type of testimonial used.

The Federal Trade Commission has changed the rules regarding use of endorsements and testimonial advertising. Since 1980, advertisers could use testimonials which describe “unusual” results as long as “results not typical” was disclosed. Now the FTC says testimonial ads must clearly disclose typical results of consumers using the product or service

One area of particular concern for hospitals is using testimonials for weight loss services. “Typical results” can be very difficult to determine due to many patient variables. Other ads where patient testimonials reflect a result that is better than the typical patient would be unacceptable unless the typical results are clearly disclosed.

And the guidelines are not only for traditional advertising, but includes social media, the internet, and television/ radio talk shows.

Traditionally bloggers must disclose if they are compensated by an advertiser. And celebrity testimonials must disclose if they are being compensated for their endorsement.

Testimonial advertising can still be very effective for hospitals but should be used with care when a patient talks about results and outcomes. The results and outcomes cannot be better than the typical patient without proper and clear disclosure.


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Hospital Marketing: Is Social Media for You?

 Social media impacts nearly 40% of hospital or urgent care patients.Social media wordcloud glowing

Out of 5700 hospitals in the US, less than 400 utilize social media, according to statistics collected by EdBennett.  Yet a study conducted by Ad-ology found that social media impacts nearly 40% of hospital or urgent care patients and with more than half of 24-54 year olds saying they are influenced by it.

If the statistics stated above are accurate, there is a great underutilized opportunity available for hospital marketers.  Current and prospective consumers of hospital’s services are engaged in social media.  They are active and involved in various social media options.  They cannot be ignored.  Hospitals must begin to understand how social media is being utilized and join in the fray.  Not in traditional ”sell them what we have” manner, but in forms and strategies consistent with the way social media is used by the consumer.  Targeted online communities should be explored. 

There are conversations going on about your hospital.  In many cases, you should be involved in those conversations.  These interactions can become become a vital and effective marketing endeavor.

Sure, there are lots of unknowns and potential pitfalls.  And there are risks involved.  But strategies should be pursued to engage in the mediums effectively while minimizing the risks. 

The consumer is present in social media venues.  They can be highly targeted.   Hospital marketers should be there too.  We can no longer expect them to come to us.  We must go where they are.

 

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Hospital Advertising: Click It…Or Not

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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Hospital Advertising: Increase Effectiveness of Ads with SMS Call To Action

Mobil Phones - Many Hands and Phones

Consumers are much more likely to respond to an ad using text messaging than visiting a website.

Hospital marketers have learned to add a web-based call to action to their ads. It has become fairly typical. But is there a better way to get results?

Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium advertised its new Fantase aquatic show with television ads on the 4 major networks. The ads featured a contest in which the viewers could register to win a hotel stay and VIP seats for the show’s premiere. The ads directed viewers to a website to register.  The one exception was one ad, which gave viewers the option to enter the contest by sending a text message.

The amazing results according to Mobile Marketer.com were that the call to action using SMS generated 325% more entries than the web based call to action. 52% of entries were via text message even though that option was only given on 25% of the television ads. 

The experiment indicated consumers are much more likely to respond by texting than by visiting a website. The reasons texting is more effective is because:

  • Texting is easier
  • Texting is more immediate-real time
  • A text number is easier to remember than a web address.
  • Texting takes less time
  • Mobile phones are almost always with the consumer.

For ads that have a call to action, hospital marketers should consider if texting could be used. If so, the Shedd Aquarium experience would indicate the response could significantly improve. 90% of all mobile phones in the U.S. are SMS capable and texting started outpacing voice calls as early as 2007. The frequent use of texting demands that marketers explore how to use it to increase the number of responses and get more immediate response.

It’s an opportunity that cannot be ignored. Why expect a consumer to go to a website to respond to an ad when it can be as easy as punching 5 numbers on the cell phone which is sitting nearby?

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