Enterprise Trend Report: Social Media in HealthCare Marketing

Enterprise Trend Report 

Social Media in HealthCare Marketing 

More than ever, it’s essential for hospitals and health providers to rethink their healthcare marketing mix to include social media. 

The proof is in the numbers: 34% of consumers use social media to search for health information, according to research data from How America Searches: Health and Wellness. 

While it’s easy to identify demand, many healthcare marketers are not exactly sure how they might tap into the social web to reach business goals. To help understand the possible applications, consider these examples of how the social web can work for hospitals and others in the healthcare industry: 

Reach Mainstream Media 

70% of journalists now use social networks to assist reporting, compared to 41% the year before, according to a Middleberg Communications survey reported by PRWeek. With numbers that high, it only makes sense for healthcare marketers to leverage social media channels in order to achieve coverage by both mainstream media and industry publications. 

As part of healthcare marketing efforts, organizations can use social media channels – including blogs, forums and microblogs – to share success stories from out-of-the-ordinary operations or treatments, medical research or other significant achievements. For example, when Aurora Health Care tweeted a knee operation in April, it received significant media attention, both from mainstream media and industry publications including Good Morning America, the local Milwaukee public radio network and Hospital Management Magazine. 

Communicate in Times of Crisis 

When disaster strikes hospitals and healthcare providers are at the center of it all. Healthcare providers can leverage social media networks to provide real-time updates both for those directly affected by the crisis and those watching from afar. 

During the November Fort Hood shooting attack, Steven Widman of Scott & White Healthcare – one of the hospitals that treated Fort Hood victims, used Twitter to provide up-to-the-minute news. 

Through Twitter, Widman provided updates on emergency room access and hospital operation status, re-tweeted news from Red Cross and communicated with reporters.  

Twitter followers increased 78% in just three days. 

Scott & White Healthcare was listed on the front page of Twitter as a “trending topic” The hospital’s YouTube channel was ranked the 79th most viewed non-profit channel during the entire week surrounding the crisis.

Provide Accurate Information to Patients 

73% of patients search for medical information online before or after doctors visits, according to HealthCare New Media Conference. With the magnitude of health information available on the web – both accurate and inaccurate – it’s likely that these patients can easily be misinformed. 

By integrating social media into the healthcare marketing mix, organizations can share accurate, timely information regarding symptoms, diseases, medications, treatments and more. Social sites like Inspire are providing a forum for patients to share their health problems and questions about treatments with other patients, as well as qualified medical personnel. 

B2B Crisis Management: Effectively Communicating in the High-Tech World

C-level executives and managers from B2B companies will ask me about their ROI on social marketing and how they can use social media as part of their overall marketing and sales strategy. The truth is social media should be less about consumer interaction for these companies and more about utilizing for internal communication, especially during a crisis situation. For example, a recent Mashable article emphasized the adoption of Google+ as enterprise business software versus just a social network. The article identified project collaboration opportunities in certain features such as Circles as well as hosting division meetings in features like Hangouts. While the idea of using a public social networking forum to conduct business matters may seem absurd to some people, companies should take into account a couple of factors. First, employees are prone to spending more time on social networking sites versus email or phone calls. Employees are fairly proficient in understanding social media and will be prone to adopting these tools versus complicated hardware. Secondly, companies need to think of social networks as cloud-based software that can help streamline internal communication and ultimately save a company time and money to implement.

So, how can social networks be used for crisis management?

Gone are the days of operating in a vacuum. Emergency communications now involve the highly interactive, high-speed world of social media. Reasons to incorporate and monitor social media include:

Effective communication: Attention needs to be given to social media communication at all phases of the disaster, crisis or emergency. It’s a dynamic, two-way street and the only way you’ll know if you are being heard is by monitoring. You can then respond in a timely and meaningful way.

Awareness of what is being said about your response to an incident.

Enhanced situational awareness, and the ability to keep in contact with staff, suppliers, clients and community activities during an incident or disaster.

The ability to dispel rumors and misinformation.

In Japan, for example, after the massive 9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami, Tokyo’s transportation network and communication systems were paralyzed because of the constant network congestion. With the phone lines down for almost 24 hours, people utilized the internet to communicate with others and collect information. The internet and social networks became the platforms to retrieve information about disaster struck areas, nuclear power stations, as well as information to support those suffering and to direct donations.

Once a social media monitoring strategy is developed, it should be incorporated into semi-regular tests or exercises to ensure employees know what to expect and what to do. Additionally, mobile devices are often the easiest way to access social media during a crisis — plan how to best utilize them.

Using Mobile Devices For Company Communications

As smartphone devices become more widely adopted in corporations especially c-level, people can take advantage of tools and apps already available to handle communication.

When looking at these mobile tools, there are key functionalities to consider based upon what your management needs are…

1. Organizing and syncing key contacts
2. Accessing key documents
3. Exchanging notes
4. Communicate and track groups of people
5. To-do lists and reminders

So what are some easy mobile tools that could help you streamline communication between you and staff?

Sync key contacts
One option to consider is iCloud especially for syncing key contacts. If you have an Android device try a service like gmail, Google docs and Google Calendar.

Access to key documents

You can download apps for cloud-based storage services like Dropbox and Box.net. These freemium models also have premium services you can utilize for more storage space and bigger file downloads. You can also invite other people to share these files.

Access to important notes

With Evernote, all of your notes, web clips, files and images are made available on every device and computer you use.

Communicate and track groups of people

Group messaging apps such as GroupMe, Find My Friends, and Kik uses GPS to locate your contacts and send targeted messages with certain groups.

Shared to-do lists and reminders

Wunderlist is a fairly easy and free task management tool that allows you to create lists for projects and to-dos and share with colleagues so they can add to list. Wunderlist works on Android, iPhone and iPad. You can also look at calendar reminders like Tungle.

Avoiding A Mobile Crisis: Protecting Your Company’s Data on Smartphones

While smartphone devices provide ample opportunity for companies to manage day-to day operations away from their desktop, there is also a risk that important company data can fall into the wrong hands if not careful. More than 70 percent of people surveyed by Sunnyvale, Calf based Dimensional Research say the use of personal mobile devices for work purposes have contributed to increased security-related problems. When one of those tools goes missing, not only would the employee's personal information be at risk, but company email, messages, client contact information, company log-ins and access codes all could be potentially exposed.

According to the report, the No 1 factor affecting the security of sensitive data over mobile is lack of employee awareness of their company’s security policies. Companies need to invest in software and gadgets to not only track company-affiliated mobile devices, but protect and manage the work information stored on those devices. In addition, companies should also consider these following tactics to further avoid a corporate mobile meltdown:

1. Employee training on mobile device security. Employees should be made aware of basic safeguards such as updating passwords and having the ability to wipe a stolen device.

2. Give employees the tools they need to make sure they can find their devices in case they go missing. ZOMM and Phone Halo are both devices that alert the user when they're about to leave their smartphone behind. With ZOMM, the user carries a small sensor, say on a keychain. Phone Halo's tag can be attached to keys, a wallet, purse or other items. Both sound an alarm when the user is parted from their phone. Your company can even host monthly or quarterly lunch and learn meetings to give demonstrations to your employees on these mobile tools. Be sure to include your IT staff in these meetings so they can help employees install anti-malware and encrypt confidential data.

3. Create company policies on what kind of company data employees can store on their personal mobile devices. You should also have contingency plans when an employee leaves the company and you can securely remove company data from that device.

4. If your company has an app that primarily stores your corporate crisis communication plan, it’s important to only give key stakeholders access to that plan (company personnel that will be involved in crisis situations). Be sure to keep your plan password-protected and have a policy in regards to the app’s distribution and content management.

As mobile devices continue to become more prevalent in business operations, companies should invest time and resources to stay updated on current technologies and news surrounding data protection. We’ll continue to explore these stories more in upcoming posts surrounding web 2.0 in corporate crisis.

Crisis on the Seas: Cruise Disaster Spreads on the Internet

Since Tuesday morning, Italian rescuers and divers continued their
perilous work locating a second "black box" and the remains of five
people in the wreckage of the Costa Concordia cruise ship. While we
have watched the tragic events of the cruise ship unfold, what’s even
more disturbing is how quickly more internal information is coming to
light that shows a lack of personnel responsibility.

Transcripts from CNN show an Italian coast guard official demanding
Captian Francesco Schettino return to his ship, the transcripts show.
"You get on board! This is an order!" the coast guard official
instructed Schettino.

"You have declared 'Abandon ship.' Now I'm in charge. You get on
board -- is that clear?" the port official said.
Port Authority to cruise ship captain: 'Get on board, damn it!'

If this same incident happened over ten years ago or even six years
ago, this same transcript wouldn’t have been made public until weeks
after the incident. When a crisis happens to any company, internal
and external personnel information can be made public just as soon
as the crisis occurs. Since this past weekend, Carnival stocks have
already plummeted. What’s more disturbing as this tragic experience
unfolds is the personal accounts and experiences we’ll hear from
survivors through social media channels and the internet. Although
the company can release official statements, they can’t deny the
stories from survivors that will proliferate throughout the internet in
days to come.

Advertising during a Crisis: When No One Wants to See Your Ads

High product quality, ethics, good customer service—all of these components of doing business are important. When a business fails to uphold these characteristics, some consumers are turned off by the things associated with that business. Former patrons scoff at commercials and billboards and turn a blind eye to magazine and newspaper ads. Case in point: When news first broke regarding BP’s oil disaster, many shunned ads from the company and pushed a little harder on the gas pedal when passing BP gas stations.

When a company experiences a corporate crisis and is seen as “the bad guy,” it may seem the company would want to run and hide its head in the sand until the smoke blows over. However, placing strategic ads can actually be a saving mechanism when it comes to public image rebuilding customer confidence and loyalty.

How do you use public relations principles to guide advertising? The answer to this is the difference between an advertising strategy and an advertising campaign. A solid crisis communication plan includes an advertising strategy that seeks out deliberate placement opportunities to put a company in front of audiences key to influencing public opinion. For instance, a public relations firm that represents a pharmacy chain in trouble would not only place the company’s ads in medical publications but would also look for the philanthropic or “doing-good” section of such publications and place advertising opposite those stories.

This leads us to two textbook terms in creating an advertising strategy amid a crisis: inoculation and recasting. Your company must inoculate the audience by dispelling misconceptions and reinforcing the truth of the circumstances. Your company must also recast the negative in a positive light.

For example, after recalling more than two million vehicles earlier this year, Toyota began airing commercial ads stating it was taking a “pause for the customer” (msnbc.com). The company said it was investing “one million dollars every hour to improve [its] technology and [the consumer’s] safety.” Toyota also ran a series of ads featuring customers who testified about how much they loved their Toyotas, and engineers that explained how expertly the cars were constructed (wsj.com). These ads addressed the consumer who drove the car as well as business stakeholders.

These commercials inoculated consumer sentiment that Toyota was putting out a poor product at customers’ expense. It inoculated the myth that Toyota customers no longer loved their cars. The commercials also recast Toyota from a company that made a big mistake to a company trying to rectify a mistake. The commercials worked. People watched.

Using a public relations firm to analyze a situation, draw up a crisis communication plan, strategize ad placement and follow up, manage consumer sentiment, and thus, handle damage control is paramount in getting the consumer to look your way, even during a crisis.

Rebranding: Changing Your Logo? Research, Research, Research

Poor Gap. They were so excited about launching their new “ throwback” logo. The stage was set; press releases went to the media; stories launched all over the Internet. Then, it happened. There was an outcry against the logo from customers; an online campaign opposing it went viral, and the logo crashed faster than a rookie NASCAR driver.

Headlines across the nation showed no mercy: “ Gap Logo a No-Go” (Montreal Gazette); “ Gap Scraps Logo After Just One Week” (AOL DailyFinance); “ New Gap Logo, Despised Symbol of Corporate Banality, Dead at One Week” (Vanity Fair Daily).

This Gap marketing malfunction begs several questions: If Gap’ s fans were so outspoken post release, did the company seek their customers’ opinion beforehand? What exactly made the logo so unacceptable? Was it the color? Was it the font? Was it the placement of that little blue box?

Belk, on the other hand, just introduced their new logo into several of its primary markets with successful unveiling ceremonies and grand re-openings across the region. This was the first time in 43 years that the company launched a major rebranding effort. The new logo incorporates elements of the company’ s history and also gives a nod to the future.

Belk talked to their customers first. In fact, they researched customer sentiment about the logo with extensive focus groups and market studies. The company invested the requisite time and money to make a logo well received. Headlines this time: “ A Brand New Look for Regional Retailer Belk” (The Birmingham News); “ Belk Chain Reinvents Itself with New Logo and Identity” (The Florida Times-Union).

The customer may not be sitting in an office at your corporate headquarters, but they are an integral component of the success or failure of your company. After all, where does brand loyalty reside? With the customer.

When the Media Comes a-Calling: Part 3 (Final Installment)

Text at Your Own Risk: Top 3 Things not to Text When Your Company’s in Trouble

No one sees a text message but you and the person you send it to, right? WRONG! I once accidentally left my phone at a friend’s house. When I got back, I discovered that her young daughter had not only gone through my text messages, but my pictures, contacts, and everything else she could access on my phone. I didn’t have anything worth talking about on my phone, so nothing was made of it. But, the experience had me thinking, “What if?”

According to an AOL Small Business story, incriminating text messages are “all the rage.” While the article looks at how text messages that were sent before a crisis is made known can be used as evidence of fault, in the same vein, texts sent once a crisis has already broken out can also be condemning.

Just because we use “smart phones” doesn’t mean we always use “phone smarts.” What I mean is, as a company owner, president, CEO, or manager, any communication that is exchanged during a corporate crisis must be meaningful and wise.

What not to text:

1. “I’d like my life back.”
During the BP Oil Spill, The Huffington Post reported footage of company CEO Tony Hayward saying he wanted his life back. Many found the statement insensitive. While his comment was vocalized, a text message saying something along these lines would have had the same affect.

What to text:
“We’re going to work to get everyone’s lives back in order.” This statement doesn’t exclude the company owner, but does take into account all those who have been affected by an unfortunate corporate crisis.

2. “Guess we’re having our Tylenol moment.”
The phrase “Tylenol moment” has been popping up all over the internet. Anyone who know’s anything about corporate PR crises is familiar with the Tylenol recall of the 80s. Johnson & Johnson is heralded as having handled the situation expertly and deflecting potential damage quickly. Each crisis situation is to be handled as a separate instance and should be taken seriously.

What to text:
“Let’s handle this with care.”
Acknowledging that a crisis situation can be fragile is perfectly acceptable. It let’s your customers and stakeholders know you’re not blowing off the circumstances and that you plan to take action wisely.

3. “Send someone over to talk to the media.”
Sending the right person to speak to media, a town hall of concerned citizens, or group of stakeholders is just as important as what is said. According to a New York Times article, sending a low-ranking official, as was done during the Exxon-Valdez spill, causes people to think that a company is downgrading a situation.

What to text:
“Get our spokesperson prepped for the media.”
Having someone who is well-schooled in handling media or public speaking situations that can speak on behalf of a company CEO or president shows preparedness and consideration. This person can field questions and provide peace of mind by providing much needed information and a corporate presence.

When the Media Comes a-Calling:

Top 3 Things not to Say—Email, Text or Tweet—During a Crisis

Amid a crisis, journalists don’t just listen for comments from the CEO, business owner or spokesperson; they also dig into the social media circuit to find digital comments that may make headlines.

Social media has become the newest way for executive leaders to proverbially stick their feet in their mouths. Take BP’s Twitter missteps for example (as referenced in Fast Company, “Not So Slick,” October 2010). BP’s Tweets made them look as if they were more committed to preserving their brand than actually helping those in the Gulf.

Proven time and time again, crisis communication in a media environment is one of the most important factors in maintaining a company's corporate image. Part of the overall perception of a company and its leadership’s credibility is how well the CEO, owner or spokesperson can internally and externally communicate a message.

Accordingly, there are definitely comments employees and stakeholders should refrain from making public during a crisis—they could be misconstrued by the media and turn one crisis into yet another.

What not to Say:

1. “No Comment”
Classically, this is a no-no. This comes across to stakeholders, the media and the audience as unprepared or even arrogant. It says that you are choosing to give no account, no information, and take no responsibility for a crisis. It tells the world you feel you are entitled to privacy, while anyone knows that high-profile business people and spokespersons do not have that privilege.

What to say:
“As details of this situation unfold, we renew our commitment to this brand, its mission and you, our customers.” This way, you acknowledge the crisis to the media, but show the world that at such a critical time, you’re keeping a cool head and making considerations for the most important things: a commitment to your company’s standards and customers.

2. “We were unaware of the situation.”
A statement such as this causes leadership to look uninformed and out of the loop. People will question: How can a CEO or business owner not know what’s going on in his or her own company? What type of leader does that indicate? It says the company isn’t taking responsibility.

What to say: “We are aggressively gathering information and looking into this situation,” is a more in-control response, without giving the media details about what you do and do not know.

3. “The media misrepresented the situation.”
Blaming the media is a copout and reactive rather than proactive. While the media does sometimes get their facts wrong, trying to play the hurt sheep only makes your corporation look like a whining child. As well, it may be your company’s lack of clear communication to the media in the first place that caused misinformation to be published. Besides, even if the facts are incorrect, the audience will likely believe what is reported.

What to Say:
“We are willfully working with media outlets to clarify and correct misinformation regarding this situation.” This type of open communication shows you are proactively managing the media instead of them managing you. It also says you are directing them in the way that will best protect your brand and actively shaping the stories that will go mainstream.

In summary, a solid crisis communication plan is like insurance for your business. Will you be covered when the media comes calling with hard questions?

Will You Be In The Clouds When Crisis Strikes?

A True Story

She was the public relations manager for a multi-state technology company and had just settled into her seat on the airplane for a quiet flight back to home base. She had cleared all her voicemail messages before boarding and felt all was well.

When she landed four hours later and turned on her cell phone, her voicemail had blown up while in flight. The CEO’s secretary left three messages. There was a message from a federal agency media affairs staffer. A message from a client’s public relations manager on the opposite coast. A desperate plea from a PR colleague who often assisted with media matters. And five media calls, including one from an Associated Press bureau chief and one from a major U.S. daily newspaper.

By the time she triaged those calls from an airport phone booth during a 40-minute layover, the story of the company’s unfortunate event was being filed by the Associated Press and had traveled around the globe in less than an hour. For three solid months, she did nothing else but manage the crisis communications for this event. It took her company more than a year to get back to normal and cost the company many hundreds of thousands of dollars in man hours, legal fees and fines.

The Bad News: Regardless of size, no business is immune to a crisis.

What’s your plan?

Overwhelming obstacles? Look for the “Bright Spot”

In the PR world or at least that of my firm, Panorama Public Relations, when a client is faced with a difficult or seemingly insurmountable problem, assessing assets is always a part of the foundation for a strong communications strategy.

The list of assets we gather is often intangible, things like community goodwill garnered by being a good corporate citizen. Assets in this case aren’t necessarily the ones on the books - but that’s important too.

When an issue boils over to a crisis and a company stands to lose valuable brand equity, then as advisors we begin to look for the nuggets, the intrinsic value, or “bright spots” to build our strategy for minimizing damage and overcoming the obstacles.

I was excited to read an article in the February issue of Fast Company magazine about SWITCH, a new book due out February 16. SWITCH, by author’s Dan Heath and Chip Heath, talks about how we in business tend to seek solutions equal to the scale of the problem and not for “bright spots” or “what’s working and how can we do more of it?”

The authors’ philosophy is reflected in the book’s subtitles – “FIND A BRIGHT SPOT AND CLONE IT– How to Change Things When Change Is Hard.”

The Fast Company article provides several examples of seriously tough issues, showcasing the use of the “bright spot” philosophy, and how it can apply to businesses faced with tough times.

One such issue was widespread malnutrition in rural Vietnam and how Jerry Sternin, a staff member at Save the Children, was able to cause sweeping change in a village riddled with child malnourishment. Sternin was given a six-month timeline by the Vietnam government to solve malnutrition. Talk about an insurmountable problem!

Rather than being overwhelmed by analyzing a hugely complicated problem, Sternin quickly uncovered the “bright spots,” a group of children in the village who were healthier, yet ate basically the same amount of food the undernourished children ate. What he and his team of moms from the village discovered was that the mothers of the healthier children were feeding their children four times a day meals enriched with small shrimp and crabs collected from the rice paddies. In addition, the child and parent were actively engaged in the eating process, and the children were fed by hand if necessary.

Six months later 65% of the village kids were better nourished. Sternin’s solution didn’t require a huge capital investment, positioning papers and hoards of experts analyzing the problem. He just found the bright spot and cloned it.

Optimize Your Way to an Effective Online News Room

They say good news travels fast and bad news travels faster. Today it can travel almost instantaneously, and if a crisis occurs involving your company, you can expect the media to come calling (or with the current popularity of Twitter, tweeting). What this means is: prompt response during a crisis and to the resulting attention it brings is more critical than ever.

When a crisis breaks and information is scarce, the Internet becomes a primary source for a reporter looking for facts. A quick Web search will reveal past stories and issues about an organization. It will also lead to the company’s Web site where reporters look for factual information about the company’s key executives, FAQs, products and services. They’ll also look for an online newsroom. They’re on a deadline, so make it easy to find and navigate.

Another important tool for the online newsroom is a crisis microsite designed to be activated at a moments notice. A crisis microsite is developed in advance of an occurrence, using much of the same information that is in your online newsroom. Other information could include a media hotline number, company media contacts, the vetted press release and prepared statements. The microsite allows the flexibility to post specific information in the event of an incident, maintaining the integrity of the primary website and positioning the facts in a streamlined format.

So, how do you streamline access to your online press room and what information should you provide reporters in your offering? Here’s our top ten tips:

Tip # 1
An online newsroom should be easy to find, so give it a prominent position on your landing page reached by just one click. The same applies for company media contacts. One click should allow reporters access to names, numbers and e-mail addresses.

Tip # 2
Prepare a crisis microsite in advance of an occurrence to direct media to event specific information, and test it with your crisis team. When a crisis hits, you will not have the time to develop communication tools.

Tip # 3
Optimize your company’s presence on the web by building key words into your news page architecture; use terms to attract search engines like “media” or “press” in conjunction with your company’s and CEO’s name.

Tip # 4
Leverage online tools like RSS feed options to keep reporters updated on company news or crisis updates as they occur.

Tip # 5
Make your online newsroom interesting. Use video to tell or enhance your story.

Tip # 6
Multi-media offerings are necessary in today’s news environment. Provide photos in a variety of formats and sizes and include b-roll (stock video of facilities and executives).

Tip # 7
Likewise, providing graphics and charts (in a variety of formats) are key to illustrating important stories and also helpful for reporters under deadline.

Tip # 8
Reach out in advance to media in your industry before they need the information. Let them know about your newly-designed newsroom.

Tip # 9
If you want to reach outside your industry to mainstream business reporters, try Reporting On; Help a Reporter Out (HARO) or PitchEngine.

Tip # 10
Remember other than for the convenience of the media, the number one reason you have an online newsroom is to provide a way to keep company information current and front and center of key stakeholders. Optimize to your advantage!