Why healthcare marketing
MUST GO SOCIAL
ERIC WEAVER
Brand Dialogue
Tribal DDB!
#hcsig
PHOTO: FLICKR @JOE NANGLE

Today: social marketing &
healthcare
1. Why social marketing?
2. Strategies and tactics
3. Is there an ROI for social marketing?
4. Q&A
How many of you are on Twitter? Facebook?
If you’re one of those types…our hashtag is #hcsig

Chances are…

Frequently-asked questions
Is this a fad?
Do social marketing efforts actually work?
The conversation seems so shallow, so
meaningless.
I’ve got a brand to build and numbers to
hit: whose got time to tend to all these
social media efforts?
Let’s take a step back and look at the
business of promoting one’s brand.

This practice of
Marketing
A trillion-dollar industry
150 years of refinement
Tell, tell, TELL! In as many
places and as often as
possible.
Entire industries built around
channel tools
Buzzword bingo
Job security = efficacy at:
Storytelling
Intrusion/interruption
Retention via repetition

ADVERTISER VS. CONSUMER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heSudg‐tfIk

ESCAPE: Consumers flocked to social networks to find like minds
& shared interests—not products or pitches.

“Oooh, yummeh!!”

Whither the
outbound
voice?
US Ad Spend
Plunges
14.2%; Only
Online Posts
Growth
SOURCE: TNS Media Intelligence

SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
Four major cultural changes are killing
monologue and spurring dialogue.

Change #1: trust has been shattered.

Change #2: customers
have changed.
Attention-deficit
Fragmented by niche
interests
Feeling time-starved
Girl Scouts merit badge
Cell phone in the john
Distrustful of advertising
Spoiled by customization
and media options
“Snack-media” consumers

They are empowered!
SEARCH lets consumers find
people, products, information
and media of interest &
relevance
EXPRESSION through blogs,
podcasts, opinion sites, online
communities
SHARING items of value or
interest – globally
Items they love…. and hate
WHICH MEANS:
To get what they want,
consumers generally don’t need
marketing, advertising or PR.

BLOGGERS
CUSTOMERS TRADE ORGS
Change #3:
EMPLOYEES
the new INVESTORS
cacophony.
MEDIA
ANALYSTS
MARKETERS
GOVERNMENT

Change #4: people now turn to peers.
In chaos, people look to peers for
recommendations.
They do this when:
Risk is higher
More choices to review and filter
They have less time to research

PEERS are the most credible people
providing company/product info
47%
believe what “a
person like me”
says about an
organization
How many think advertisers
and marketers are credible?
13%
SOURCE: 2009 Edelman Trust Barometer

Peer recommendation isn’t just influential.
Trust and distrust are widely shared.
56% of those aged 35-64 and 63%
aged 25-34 were “likely to share their opinions
and experiences about companies they trust or
distrust on the web.”*
*SOURCE: 2008 Edelman Trust Barometer

And trust drives preference.
91%
of the informed public
chooses to buy from
companies they trust.
77% The bottom line:
refuses to buy from
companies they distrust.* Trust drives transactions.
*SOURCE: 2009 Edelman Trust Barometer

Growing your
revenue isn’t about
how clever, elegant,
or loud you are.
IT’S ABOUT
It’s not about the
tools, differences in
PROSPECTS
generations, nor
Ashton or Oprah.
TRUSTING
And it’s not about the
YOU.
changes in how you
promote your
offering.
FLICKR @POWERBOOKTRANCE

So you don’t need
an advertising
strategy.
You don’t need a
YOU NEED
social media A TRUST
strategy.
STRATEGY.
And you certainly
don’t need a
“Twitter strategy.”
FLICKR @POWERBOOKTRANCE

Part II:
Strategies &
Tactics

Strategies to build and spread trust
How do I minimize trust killers?
BE FOUND OR REFERRED, rather than interrupting one’s search.
DEMONSTRATE VALUE, don’t just talk about it.
How do I build trust with prospective customers?
DEMONSTRATE INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL
DEMONSTRATE A VISION for this profession or this market.
SHOW THAT OTHERS TOOK A CHANCE and benefitted.
SHOW THAT YOU’RE TRUSTWORTHY, ethical, easy to deal with.
How do you empower others to spread their trust in
your offering?
GIVE CUSTOMERS A VOICE.
AMPLIFY THEIR TESTIMONIALS.
MAKE SHARING YOUR VALUE EFFORTLESS.

THOUGHT-STARTERS
Social marketing applications
BLOGGING AUDIO (podcasts)
Industry-related “found items” Storytelling
Design trends and insights Thought leadership
CEO media/investor relations Testimonials
MICROBLOGGING (Twitter) Sensory branding
Timely insights
Blog awareness WIKIS
Event awareness Event planning
Community-building Product development
VIDEO (one-off or vidcasts) Shared learnings
How-to’s Distributed work-in-progress
Personality pieces SOCIAL & TOPICAL NETWORKS
Company storytelling Brand awareness
Humor
WIDGETS Community/CSR discussion
Content distribution/sharing Community building
Feedback/testing/trials

BRANDED SITE
EXTERNAL MKTG‐MANAGED PRESENCE
EXTERNAL THIRD‐PARTY SITE
Integrated Traditional/Social Marketing Mix TRADITIONAL MEDIA/PR
TOPICAL COMMUNITIES:
IP, HELPFUL TIPS
PRODUCT LAUNCH
MICROSITE
AMAZON
S T O R Y T E L L I N G
HELPFUL RESOURCES RECIPES
SEO
EVENTS DOT‐COM SITE COMMENTS
COMPANY BLOG (IP) ONLINE SAMPLING FACEBOOK FAN
E‐COMMERCE PARTNER PAGE
ONLINE YOUTUBE CHANNEL:
STORYTELLING, IP
PRINT
EXTERNAL BLOGS: IP, HELPFUL TIPS
OUTDOOR
PR
SAMPLING PGMS
RETAIL
RETAIL

Additional tools and tactics
Blogger engagement
Can build awareness, strengthen credibility
Must be done carefully
Conversation monitoring
Provides insights into consumer desires, behavior to
better drive business goals
Social-media-powered events
“Tweetups”

Blogger Engagement “Guardrails”
Positive Posting
Decide if you want to agree with the poster, compliment them, or
leave it alone.
Negative Posting
Is the site dedicated to bashing? Is the post a rant, rage, joke or
satirical?
Are there errors?
Decide if you want to send a polite correction on that board.
Is this posting because of a negative customer experience?
Decide if you want to try to fix their experience.

Blogger Engagement “Guardrails”
No Matter What
Let others know you’re with your company.
If you quote facts, include links, imagery, or references.
Take the time to create a strong, positive response. Don’t
rush.
Use a tone that reflects highly on the organization.
Spell- and grammar-check!
Decide if this is a strong influencer or not, and dedicate
your time accordingly.

Conversation monitoring
Lion’s share can be automated
Blogpulse.com, Google Blog Search, Technorati
Efforts can be coordinated/reported by interns
Specialized tools can report on sentiment,
motivation and topic trending
Radian6, Sentimine, MotiveQuest
Challenge/high cost is due to human sorting (spam
vs. ham)

Where’s the healthcare industry
compared to others?
Consumer-generated health content is among
the most trusted , yet many providers can’t talk
products outside regulatory approval
Regulation makes consumer-generated content
risky, requires more review
Lagging behind CPG, auto
Far ahead of banking/financial services

The good news
Consumer-generated content and connection in
the health arena is centered around FEAR, LOVE
and HOPE: the largest drivers of meaningful,
emotive connection.
Procter & Gamble discovered this in their early
social efforts, when it became clear the
conversation was centered around issues, not
products.

MAKING THE MOVE TO SOCIAL MARKETING
More questions
What if my brand is being trashed in the blogosphere?
Set guidelines before getting into the water
React with honesty, transparency, advocacy
What if I don’t get any traffic?
Consider the content you are posting as well as venues
Is it interesting? Is it easily referred to others?
Is it an example of consumer advocacy?
What if the boss is demanding eyeballs and orders?
Help them use new channels to truly understand customer
desires and tweak the offerings… not to merely validate some
existing strategy

How others are using social
marketing

P&G:
BeingGirl
community
– problem
vs. product
approach
generates
4x sales
increase
over ads
PAGE 36

J&J
YouTube
Channel:
averaging
7,000
views/mo
PAGE 37

Mayo Clinic
Facebook Fan
Page:
marcom and
testimonials
MAYO CLINIC’S TOP SOURCE FOR PREFERENCE-
INFLUENCING INFO: WORD OF MOUTH (84%) –
ADVERTISING (27%)
MAYO TOP-OF-MIND PREFERENCE AMONG US
CONSUMERS IS NEARLY 4X NEXT COMPETITOR.

Mayo
podcasts:
1-3 minute
videos,
audio
podcasts
PAGE 39

Mayo
Clinic
“Wordle”:
visual
look at
areas of
interest
WORDLE.NET
PAGE 40

Cleveland Clinic
Facebook Fan
Page: tips for a
healthy life

What not to do:
create a product
ghost town to
promote your
local business

Great to
see local
firms
using
social
media!
PAGE 43

MORE FOOD FOR THOUGHT
The changing landscape requires a
change in how you present yourself.
It’s not “a fad”
It’s newfound power and choice for everyone.
It’s not “shallow, fake connections”
It’s a shift in how you connect with prospective
customers who are time- and attention-starved.
It’s not “one more thing to do”
It’s a shift in how and where you dedicate your time
and energy in promoting your business.

Consider your lens.
Boomers/Tweeners Gen X/Millenials
Trained in formalities Formalities ignored
Don’t offend anyone More interested in
Be the most acceptable to finding those with like
the largest number of minds than worrying
people about turning off others
Privacy highly valued Less privacy means more
ability to be found
Interested in tech Digital natives – tech is
functionality but often ubiquitous and easy
overwhelmed by speed of
change Have grown up with
Don’t do well with chaos “random” behavior

Part 3: ROI

ROI for social media still a challenge
Easy to measure on-site activity
But no way to measure user path to destination sites
Incentive on Twitter is reposted on Facebook, seen by
a friend, and then blogged. RSS feed is aggregated,
then seen by a handraiser. Which presence
generated the lead?

Some typical metrics
Number of video views or podcast downloads
Blog postings, comments, shares and ratings
Corporate priority areas discussed in online
conversations and conversation frequency
Key message coverage, when appropriate,
Including comparison to competitive messages,
opposing views

Marketers can use tools to
Measure perceptual changes (can be subtle)
Measure one of coverage/overall favorability
Analyze audiences: who’s engaging? Which
topics are being discussed?
Determine behavioral trends to help influence
planning and benchmarking

Final thoughts

When in the online social space…
MONITOR THE DIALOGUE. Listen daily. React quickly to curtail
doubt.
COMMIT TO YOUR CONTENT. Once you begin
blogging/podcasting, commit to providing regular, timely and
valuable updates. Do not let your content become stale.
MAINTAIN PROPER EDITORIAL AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT. The
content is an expression of your firm. Ensure that content is well-
written and properly edited, and that the site will maintain
acceptable uptime.
PROMOTE OPEN, HONEST DIALOGUE. Straight talk is important.
Text can often be misunderstood. Be consistently plain and truthful.

When in the online social space…
ACCEPT THE GOOD WITH THE BAD. Some comments will be gushing with
praise; others will feel like a punch to the gut.
DON’T BE TIMID. When encountering a detractor, do not back down.
Silence is often perceived as a sign of guilt.
SET UP GUARDRAILS. Set and stick to brand boundaries – rules of
engagement in open conversation
NO NEED FOR CONSTANT ANSWERS. If talk is within the boundaries, leave
it alone! This isn’t about control as much as it is confidence.
MINIMIZE LEGAL INTERVENTION. Make sure legal guidelines are well
understood but don’t run every post through the Legal Department. The
posts will carry an overly cautious tone that will invite suspicion.

Creating internal alignment
Arm management with knowledge of trends, case studies
Show examples of low $ investment, high buzz/WOM value
Make sure you have brand and message benchmarks to start with
What are you coming to the party with?
Market needs something to react to
Present a strategy to engage customer base without pandering to
them
No Twitter for Twitter’s sake

With social marketing, everyone
wins
Marketers can more fully engage markets, have customers become
advocates, show innovation, forward thinking, extend brand without
increasing marketing spend
Content appears in more channels
Lives on your sites, on enthusiasts’ sites, on cell phones, PSPs
Inexpensive market test compared to traditional marketing efforts
Co-created brands can have additional “enthusiast inertia”

The takeaway: TRUST
Rethink your entire marketing approach from
a prospective of trust and with a wider lens
Build trust by being found, providing value,
demonstrating knowledge and trustworthiness
Use social marketing to leverage the existing
trust already established between peers, rather
than trying to buy new trust

THANK YOU.
slideshare.net/weave
twitter.com/weave
branddialogue.com
edelman.com/trust