demystifying social media webinar 10-20-09

Demystifying Social Media and Making It Relevant to Healthcare Marketing

Social Media Experts?

Social Media Authorities?

– This is a moving target and we’re all working to catch up

How About Social Media Evangelists?

How I Got Started?

Why Is Social Media Relevant?• Marketing is being redefined

• Moving from monologue to dialogue• Conversations are happening without us

• Engagement is what we’re after• This is a gift• Your absence is conspicuous• The quality of information being

shared is suspect

A Curse and a Blessing• Truly a gift to marketers• This is real world - good and bad• Hive Marketing - brand evangelists• Motivate and activate brand advocates -

grateful patients• Turn them into citizen journalists; more

credible• A tool with numerous applications

Who’s using social media?– Two out of every three Web users– 10% of all Internet usage– Time spent on social sites growing three

times as fast as general Internet usage– 35-49 year olds are Facebook’s fastest

growing demo and makeup one-third of the audience

– In 2008 Facebook added twice as many 50-60 year olds (14 million) as 18 year olds

Online Patient Communities

• PatientsLikeMe.com• Medhelp.org• DailyStrength.org• Organizedwisdom.com• Everydayhealth.com• Revolutionhealth.com• ACOR.org• HealthAngle.com

Article yesterday in The Washington Post

A Curse?• Andrew Keen - “The Anti-

Christ of Silicon Valley”• “The Cult of the Amateur”• Distrusts the wisdom of the

crowd• The demise of the expert• Loss of authoritative sources• The Great Seduction:

http://andrewkeen.typepad.com

Kerry - Cancer Patient• Essiac Tea - Alternative

treatment for cancer• Lots of chatter on cancer

patient online communities• National Cancer Institute

studies showed that it actually promotes tumor growth

Why Social Media for Healthcare?

Today, your reputation lives online. Shouldn’t you be part of the conversation? That’s where you’ll find your patients and employees.


• Consumer-driven healthcare

• More skin in the game

• Unprecedented access to information

• Changing patient and consumer expectations

• Expectation of participation in care


• New channels to voice displeasure - or pleasure

• To manage your brand, you need to know what’s being said

• Social media word-of-mouth has greater credibility and authenticity

• Old school marketing has less credibility

What I See Happening Today• Haphazard development of social media

• The rush to social media (ebennett.org)– 391 hospitals using social media– 194 YouTube channels– 203 Facebook pages– 284 Twitter Accounts– 44 Blogs

Our Mantra: Be Strategic

• The social web offers another set of tools in your tool box

• Integration is key

• Look before you leap

• Program: flexible and dynamic, but not haphazard

Our Approach

Step 1 -Strategic planning• Definition of audiences• Determination of social channels to be used

Step 2 - Channel creation• Building branded pages

Step 3 - Content creation and monitoring• Weekly content calendars• Weekly key stat measurement

Social Media Marketing Plan

Mark Shelley and Dan Dunlop, “Developing a Social Media Marketing Plan,” Healthcare Marketing Advisor, August 2009

Developing a Social Media Marketing Plan

Step #1 - Participate

It will be difficult to develop a plan, and sell the value of a plan, if you aren’t engaged in the medium


Step #2 - Culture Preparedness

• Assess you organization’s appetite for social media. Risk averse? Fear in the C-suite?

• Then begin bringing them along.

• They’ll appreciate a strategy!


Step #3 - Define Audience and Stakeholders

How do they use social media?


Step #4 - Objectives & Goals

What are you trying to achieve? It may vary by audience. Grateful patients, board members, employees, influentials, referring physicians, media…


Step #5 - Desired Outcomes

What does success look like? Increase in brand awareness or preference, enhance search engine rankings, web traffic, engagement, patient volumes, brand positioning?


Step #6 - Channel Selection

Don’t try to do everything. Be strategic in resource allocation. What channels allow you to achieve your objectives?


Step #7 - Integration

How will you integrate the program with your other Marcom efforts? Don’t forget PR and internal communication. Also, recruitment marketing.


Step #8 - Plan Resource Allocation

Avoid social media burnout before it occurs. Design a sustainable program.

Learn to repurpose content!

Step #8 - Plan Resource Allocation

It is not always about volume of posts or tweets. (Socialoomph.com)

Repurposing Content

1. Press release on PRLog2. Use share function3. Post on Twitter and Facebook with

one click (del.icio.us, digg, stumbleupon, newsvine, squidoo)

4. Distribute via LinkedIn Groups as “news” or “discussion” using PRLog small URL

http://www.prlog.org/

http://www.linkedin.com

LinkedIn Groups: http://www.linkedin.com/home?myGroups=&trk=hb_side_grps

Healthcare Marketing LinkedIn Groups

http://www.linkedin.com/home?myGroups=&trk=hb_side_grps

Pitch Engine - Free Service

Same Process Repurposing Video

• Post to your website

• YouTube & ICYou.com

• Facebook Group

• Your blog

• Post link on LinkedIn Groups

• Use VodPod to capture news videos

• Etc.


Step #9 - Measure

Develop metrics: Google Analytics, technorati blog rankings, followers, friend counts, fans, engagement, etc. Also measure your activity: posts, tweets, etc.

Content Creation/MeasurementFacebook

# Fans 197 207 216 218Responses 11 12 14 45

TwitterFollowers 13 85 124 139Retweet Impressions 1083Tweets 6 22 43 64

Blogspot Page Views (per 2 weeks) 38 93 128 176Replies 0 0 0 0518 Posts 18 33 43 45

You Tube Videos Watched 37 89 106Channel Views 31 44 52Videos 2 4 6


Step #10 - Monitor

Track conversations happening online. Socialmention.com, Filtrbox, MonitorThis, etc. Google Alerts at a minimum. Have a process for this.

Step #10 – Monitoring Resources• BlogPulse• BackType Alerts• TweetBeep• BoardTracker• Social Mention• Facebook Lexicon• MonitorThis• Filtrbox• Meltwater News• Google Alerts• Yahoo Alerts• Socialoomph


Step #11 – Policy• Employee social media policy. Check out

Mayo Clinic’s policies online at http://sharing.mayoclinic.org/guidelines/for-mayo-clinic-employees/

• Chris Boudreaux online database of organizations’ policies: http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php


Step #11 - Policy

Also need a policy for physician and physician group activities on social media platforms

Putting Social Media to Work• Crisis Communication - Build up online

communities in anticipation of the need to inform and activate brand advocates

• Brand Advocacy/Positive Buzz - Funnel quality information about your brand to constituents (hive marketing); this includes internal audiences

Putting Social Media to Work• Communicate Key Messages

– Quality and Patient Safety– Patient- and Family-Centered Care– Etc.

• Elicit feedback from the market place• Provide access to quality health info• Educate and build preference for services• Meet consumer expectations• Humanize your institution

Case Study: LMC & The State Newspaper

Case Study: Tufts & BCBS of Massachusetts

Case Study: Tufts & BCBS of Massachusetts

Wall Street Journal Health Blog

A Few of My Favorite Things:

ICYou Video - http://tinyurl.com/6pcmyd

• The YouTube of Healthcare

Flip Video• Size of a cell phone• Great for recording docs• USB jack - immediate download to computer• Upload videos to YouTube, ICYou Video, Facebook and your blog• Record press conferences• Hospital events

Twitter Groups (twittgroups.com)

http://twittgroups.com/group/hcmktg

HootSuite.com

TinyURL.com

http://www.ning.com

http://www.wordpress.com

http://www.blogger.com

Online PR Tools• PRLog - http://www.prlog.org• EPR-Network• FreshNews• Pitch Engine• Twitter• Linkedin• Flickr - Photo Sharing

Some Common Concerns

“What If Someone Says Something Bad?”• They’re going to speak out whether you

provide a forum or not• Wouldn’t you rather know what’s being

said?• Most likely, five people will jump in and

say something good• Difference between a brand detractor

and an unhappy customer

“It Will take Too Much Time.”• A partial truth

• Be strategic in your use of social media

• Repurpose content:– Website– Blog– Facebook

• TweetLater (www.socialoomph.com), pre-date blog posts

“It’s Too Compicated and Only for Tech-Savvy People.”• If I can do it, anyone can do it• Start by getting involved• Join Facebook if you’re not already

there• Get a feel for social media• Start a blog but don’t make it public;

live with it for a while

Social Media Resouces• Burrelles Luce - Free on-

demand webinars on social media: “Adding Twitter to your strategic PR toolbox”

• White Papers everywhere - Vocus, Nielsen, McKinsey Quarterly, Burrelles Luce, Deloitte

Social Media Resouces• Center for Media Research - Free

research briefs on social media. www.mediapost.com

• Healthleaders Media - Free eNewsletters and online content

• www.Ragan.com - Daily headlines• PublicityInsider.com - Free webinars• Business Wire - Free webinar series• Vocus - Free webinars

Good Reading

• Groundswell, Charlene Li & Josh Bernoff• Join the Conversation, Joseph Jaffe• Social Media is a Cocktail Party, Jim Tobin

and Lisa Braziel• PR 2.0, Deirdre Breakenridge• The New Rules of Marketing & PR, David

Meerman Scott

Summary: A Few Sins of Social Media

• Haste - Don’t start without a plan• Fear - You can’t be afraid to lose control• Apathy - Don’t stick your head I the sand;

especially at the C-suite level• Sloth - Content must be updated• Gluttony - Don’t take on too much too fast

Website:Email:Twitter:Phone: 919-929-0225

Dan Dunlop, PresidentJennings

demystifying social media webinar 10-20-09

Health & Medicine