Hospital Marketing Journal

Measuring Social Media on the Web

by Nancy Daugherty

Digital communications over the internet have opened, to hospitals and healthcare organizations, a growing trove of marketing channels; particularly those built around search and social networking.   With an opportunity of abundance comes a challenge of control. Using social media marketing to build awareness and affinity around your brand and web presence can be a boon, but trying to understand the complexities of how well your marketing vehicles perform online can seem like an anchor.  A solid digital presence relies on your ability to recognize your reach and influence within the world of the web. Significant resources are often applied to this challenge, but there are free options available that give healthcare managers – marketing or otherwise – access to basic measures of engagement and effectiveness. These tools measure an array of elements; from visitor page counts and tracking, to the ‘hottest’ spots on your site (through analysis of click patterns). These examples cover many of the more popular marketing channels on the web: Google Analytics – gives you a view of the traffic flow into and around your website. It can tell you if visitors arrive through search engines, display advertising, pay-per-click networks, or email marketing.  It also provides data on time spent with your site and the next web destination for visitors. FaceBook Insights – a tool for understanding your followers on Facebook. Demographic info, as well as psychographic clues like activities, comments and wall posts, give a glimpse into the consumer who is most engaged with your social media. Feedburner – if you are blogging or providing other content, know more about your content consumers.  This tool gives you data on where and how your subscribers came to find your RSS feeds. Post Rank – if your site is powered by WordPress, get analytics that identify where and how visitors engage your site, and what they do while visiting.  This tool provides near real-time snapshots, as it refreshes data daily. Twitalyzer – analytics for the Twittersphere.  This tool, provided by Twitter, delivers detailed metrics on engagement and ‘clout’ for individual Twitter accounts. YouTube Insights – view detailed statistics about the videos that you upload to your YouTube site. Understand the number of unique viewers as well as total views, broken-out by geographic regions.  Benchmark your data against all videos in that market over a given time period. Maximizing viewer engagement and optimizing your reach is at the core of success in any digital marketing campaign; and social media marketing on the web is becoming a more and more valuable ‘community communication’ channel for healthcare organizations. Measuring the impact of your campaign on the web should give a much better picture of overall effectiveness. Have you had experience or success with measuring your online impact? If so, how has it impacted your present marketing efforts?

 

 

 

Share the Jingle

By now, you have probably received your official Ten Adams Holiday Card complete with donation tin. Which means ‘Share the Jingle’ has officially begun! Your first task? Let us know which charity you’re collecting donations for.

Just post it to the comments section below. And remember, while this is a friendly competition, it’s still a competition. So get the claws out — and
those donations in.

Check back soon for your chance to post your first official earnings report.
And get ready to watch the competition turn greener than the Grinch.

Holiday sweaters get noticed. Period.
Holiday sweaters with cats? Even better.

Keeping Up: Webinars, Conferences and Event Recordings

by Ashley Sollars
Ten Adams Blog Manager

Are you tired of scouring the web for webinars and conferences that will keep you abreast of the healthcare marketing and communications industry? Look no further, we have assembled a list of upcoming events that are exclusively healthcare marketing focused. We keep an updated list of webinars, events, conferences and recordings on the right side of this blog at all times. Check back frequently to see what you should be attending to stay on top of your game! 

Physician Strategies Summit

February 28 - March 2, 2010

Camelback Inn Resort & Spa - Scottsdale, AZ

The 2010 Physician Strategies Summit is an opportunity for senior healthcare executives who are actively involved in the design and implementation of physician strategies and relationship programs to share their success stories with their colleagues. Be part of this cutting-edge, highly-rated, educational event. For the 2010 conference, 200-225 senior level healthcare executives are expected to attend. The target group for the conference includes CEOs/COOs, physician leaders, physician relations directors, sales executives, business development executives, marketing executives, and other senior strategists from hospitals, health systems, and medical group practices. 

 

2010 Best Practices in Media Relations Summit

March 3, 2010

Con Edison HQ • Union Square, NYC

Price: $695

No theory. No pie-in-the-sky advice. Just proven strategies straight from the PR front lines. Join us in New York City for the first-ever Best Practices in Media Relations Summit from PRSA and Ragan Communications! We've assembled the biggest media relations professionals for a day of training that will give you hundreds of ideas, tips and strategies for your company, your agency and your career. Here's what you will learn: * How reporters want to be pitched today (Hint: it's not your father's tried-and-true pitching formula. It's a new age for media relations pros, and we'll give you the latest proven strategies for landing huge coverage in traditional and mainstream media) * How to use Facebook and Twitter—the two hottest tools in PR today—to pitch the media, build relationships with reporters and bloggers and get ahead in your career * How to keep your company from going up in social media flames. It was the Year of Living Dangerously for many Fortune 500 companies. Think Domino's. Express Jet. Amazon. We'll show you how to prepare for a media relations crisis on YouTube, Twitter and other Web 2.0 platforms * The biggest media relations success stories of 2009 and the biggest media relations stinkers * The best media relations ideas of 2009 packed into a 30-minute, rapid-fire idea-jamming session. Get your legal pad out because you'll be filling it with ideas from our star-studded panel of media pros. Sponsored by: PRSA 

 

 Healthcare Public Relations, Marketing & Internal Communications - Event Recording

How do you communicate to hundreds of thousands of prospective patients, recruit top-notch physicians, entice donors and promote your services through creative marketing and social media? Find out from this special conference that was recorded in Scottsdale, Arizona, at the world-renowned Mayo Clinic. Learn from fellow healthcare communicators and executives turned social media experts featuring three keynote addresses and 10 information-packed sessions.

 

Public Employers vs. Private Sector: Understanding the risk is the first step in developing strategies to effectively manage healthcare costs for public sector populations - Webinar

December 09 - December 09, 2009

Join Thomson Reuters, Tuesday, December 9 at 2 p.m. (Eastern) for an hour-long Web seminar highlighting the results of a recent analysis of public sector healthcare cost and utilization compared to the private sector. In this presentation, we'll do a deeper dive into the differences between the two and discuss what you can do to narrow the gap. 

 

Disruptive Innovation: Challenging the Status Quo  - Webinar

Wednesday, December 2, 2009 2:30PM – 4:00PM (CST)

Innovations tend to follow two routes: either they are assimilated into the status quo, or they fade away because they lack a sustainable business case. But disruptive innovations veer off the beaten path, with a sticking power that has the potential to change the way services are sought out and delivered. In this Webinar, Paul H. Keckley, PhD , Executive Director of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, will examine key disruptive trends in healthcare, including: * retail clinics * medical tourism * patient-centered medical homes * technology-enabled self-care. Be one of the first to hear the results of new research on consumer receptivity to these innovations, current and projected growth trends, sustainability, and the impact on the global healthcare system.

 

 Leveraging Technology. Physician Strategies Summit. The Forum for Healthcare Strategists. Hospital & Physician Relations: An Executive Summit. Webinars 2009 Schedule Customizing Your Physician Relations Efforts: Niche Solutions Offer Result - Webinar

Schedule Customizing Your Physician Relations Efforts: Niche Solutions Offer Results

As more hospitals employ physicians, a new responsibility has been added to the marketer's list ... marketing employed physician practices. Great marketers make it happen, but nothing contributes to success more than framing the right approach upfront, and knowing the pitfalls before they arise. Teri Cardenas, Sr. System Director, Strategic Marketing & Communications, CHRISTUS Health; Carol Fellin Hemker, Director, Physician Services & Marketing, Christian Hospital/BJC; and Kriss Barlow , Principal, Barlow/McCarthy, will offer practical, time-tested solutions to streamline the practice marketing process, maximize your marketing efforts, and get the practice the visibility needed for growth. Attend this program and explore: * key communication tools (Web-based and traditional) and advertising venues * the marketer's role in supporting practice staff and messaging * obtaining organizational and physician buy-in * how approaches differ for new vs. established practices Proven case studies will be shared.

Photo Courtesy of: www.ccsr.ac.uk

What Women Want (in their Healthcare) Part 3

by Ashley Sollars

Ten Adams Blog Manager

BUYING TRENDS

 

Stages of Life

Throughout a woman’s life, she has different healthcare needs and marketing professionals should identify these needs and target the demographic that is most pertinent. Some service lines are very specific to one age group such as geriatrics and OB but others span across a lifetime such as psych and gynecological services. As stated before, women’s services as a whole should include a strong base of primary care providers – but all women’s care services should also fall within the envelop of wellness and lifestyle solutions.  Always focus on the positive: prevention, wellness initiatives, screenings, and a healthy way of life.

 

Emotional Trends

According to Vicki Lucus, Ph.D., president of Strategic Healthcare Initiatives, 85% of women base their decisions on emotional factors. Focus on the Family conducted a study on why abused women stay with their abusers instead of simply leaving them. Twelve reasons – all emotional – were listed why women do not leave. No where in Focus on the Family’s study did they conclude that women stay to avoid worse physical harm if they left. Ms. Lucus goes on to explain that women perceive almost all interactions within an emotional context and have a higher retention rate with an emotional link. In general, women will reformulate it into an emotional context. Your advertising should appeal to the emotional side of women and their needs and your staff should build positive experiences with their female patients to ensure their return.

At Least One Women’s-Centered Center of Excellence

It has been documented that if your hospital has at least one Center of Excellence in Women’s Services, the entire program will be considered superior. By the same token, if your hospital’s women’s program’s reputation is damaged, it will take decades to become a leader again. If your hospital is fortunate enough to sport a Center of Excellence in women’s services, capitalize on it. If not, focus on obtaining this title and highlighting strengths within your women’s departments.

 

Recap

• Define the key niches within the female demographic
• Benefit from case studies and examples of marketing strategies to women that work
• Educate and involve your consumers to gain loyalty
• Differentiate your facility from the competition

What Women Want (in their Healthcare) Part 2

by Ashley Sollars

Ten Adams Blog Manager

NEEDS

Knowledge

My mother used to be so nosey about everything and it would really drive me crazy, but as I grew older I found out (through my own experiences with my family) that she wanted to know all the details because she was so used to taking care of everything and everybody; it became necessary to stay on top of the particulars. The U.S. Department of Labor reports that women make three-quarters of health care decisions for their families and are more likely to be the caregivers when a family member falls ill.  Blame it on our nosiness or the pressures of maternal instinct, but a when a girl is old enough to stop seeing her pediatrician, she will take it upon herself to make use of all the resources she can get hold of to stay abreast her own health. With the popularity of the internet and social media sites, obtaining information about your health and health care is a piece of cake. My mom relied on the Doctor’s Book of Home Remedies, and her trusty Webster’s Medical Encyclopedia to barely keep up with the doctors that were treating us. Now, she hops on WebMD, the Mayo Clinic, Google Health, eMedicine, or Wikipedia which provide her with more information than she has ever had access to before including: an illness overview, cause, symptoms, what happens to you, what increases your risk, when to call a doctor, exams and tests, treatment and overview, prevention, home treatment, medications, surgery, other treatments, other places to get help, related information and references. Then, she continues her care after she leaves the doctor’s office by joining social sites that cater to those with a particular condition, finding recipes for food that addresses particular issues, and she can even check up on a healthcare provider. Women empower themselves by being knowledgeable about what is happening to themselves or their family. Women also tend to gather information about health and wellness which makes her feel less vulnerable to poor outcomes. By exchanging information with her, a physician not only empowers her and gives the perception of respect, but can also quash inconsistencies and untruths that lurk on the World Wide Web.  

Specialized Care

Just as children are not miniature adults, women are not small-boned men with less hair. Women think differently, act differently and have very different health care needs. In the New York Times, Nancy Folbre writes, “Even health reform is a woman’s issue. Women need more health care than men because of the combined demands of pregnancy and family planning. The typical American woman who wants to have two children will spend about five years being pregnant, recovering from pregnancy or trying to get pregnant, and about 30 years trying to avoid unintended pregnancies.” Many tend to think of women’s health care as the OB/GYN department, but in order to operate a successful woman’s sector, it must be supported by a strong base of primary care providers and incorporate a network of multiple specialists. Many diseases and conditions primarily affect women such as certain cancers, immune diseases and cardiovascular issues and therefore specialized care is necessary. Take inventory of your programs. Growth in women’s initiatives may come in expanding a certain service line to include a specialized women’s department or in developing tactics to mold part of a program to cater to women’s needs.    

Honesty, Trust and Safety

Have you ever heard that saying, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned?” When you break a woman’s trust – especially by not telling her the whole truth – she might forgive but will never forget. According to docstoc, women who have been cheated on by a spouse are more hurt by the emotional relationship their partners formed than the physical relationship. Women build their relationships around these three factors and when the other party abuses any of them, the association is rendered wounded. Also, each one of these factors relies on the other. If a patient feels her physician is not being honest with her, she will feel that she or her children's safety is being violated and her trust goes right out the window. What does that mean for the marketing department? Consistent, clear messaging that reassures her of your compassionate and thorough care and a deep understanding with physicians and staff about women’s needs.  

Next up: Female Consumer Buying Trends in the healthcare arena. Check back for more information about What a Woman Wants (in her Healthcare).