By Amy Dawson, Senior Vice President/Healthcare Account Director

8 in 10 Internet Users Go Online for Health Information

More physician practices and hospitals are starting to embrace Facebook as an important tool in their arsenal of marketing tactics. As marketing dollars shrink, competition intensifies, and more people look to social media as a way to become informed, empowered healthcare consumers, any hospital or practice would be wise to consider how social media can enhance their existing marketing plans. We’re now in the era of Health 2.0 - using social software and its ability to promote collaboration between patients, their caregivers, medical professionals, and other stakeholders in health. It’s really pretty cool when you think about it.

Consider this: eight in 10 Internet users go online for health information. Sure, there are things to consider like staffing, HIPAA, content and more, but can you really afford to be absent from this space and let your competitors be the only voice in the discussion?

I’ve spent the last week looking at a variety of healthcare brands - both hospitals and physician practices - and how they’re using Facebook as a marketing and commnications tool. Some are early adopters and recognize that as their younger patients age, more of them will seek information online rather than schedule an appointment with their doctor. After all, it’s faster and easier than ever to get information online. One caveat here - accessing information online doesn’t replace the value of seeing your physician face-to-face but can certainly help you ask the right questions.

Here are a few examples of Facebook tactics used by healthcare providers that I think are pretty interesting:

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By Jenny Fuerst, Director, Corporate Communications

Fahlgren, Edward Howard to Join Public Relations Businesses

Neil Mortine and Kathy Cupper Obert

Alignment Forms Independent Powerhouse:

Largest Firm in Ohio and Top 30 Nationally

The acquisition, which joins the capabilities of Fahlgren Mortine Public Relations and Edward Howard, is expected to close during the first quarter of 2010 although integration and coordinated new business and marketing efforts will begin immediately.

Check out more details of today’s exciting announcement in the news release.

By Katherine Zuehlke, Account Supervisor

The Rules are About to Change

Last week I got invited to a lunch and learn titled The Obama Factor & FTC Update. Three associates from the law firm Frost Brown Todd came into our offices to speak about this very interesting subject.

One of the topics they addressed was collecting behavioral data online, which to me, as an advertiser is key information to my clients’ businesses. Today, consumers have control over where and how they receive messages. The purpose of behavioral targeting is to send our client’s message to the right person when they are ready to receive it.

 The FTC defines behavioral advertising by tracking a consumer’s online activities over time (e.g. searches, websites visited, content viewed) to deliver advertising catered to that consumer’s interests. Why is this information important? It helps tailor content to each unique individual. I frequently visit www.target.com or www.gap.com for shopping. So when I’m doing a Google search it’s no coincidence that a Gap, Target or even Macy’s web banner is served up on my screen.

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By Kathleen Ramirez, Fahlgren EVP and Corporate Media Director

(You fill in your own blanks.)

There is no denying that what was once called the traditional media landscape is fast becoming an antiquated term. Most discussions surrounding the changes with media inevitably make their way back to something related to digital applications and technology.  

Our view is that technology has morphed from an additional vehicle to a great enabler and equalizer. We know Americans are more and more adept at multi-tasking. A recent Experian Simmons report revealed that approximately 90% of us watch TV in a typical day and upwards of 70% use some other media while doing so. Surfing the web, using cell phones and emailing were cited as activities most often done while watching TV. 

What does a traditional landscape really mean to today’s overly connected and overscheduled consumer anyway?

Ask a different person….you’ll get a different answer.

So here’s the point of the title of this article….it’s not necessarily the technology or explosion of choices people have today.  It’s understanding where it all fits in the hearts and minds of consumers. 

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By Ann Oliver, Account Director

My key takeaways

We’ve all heard the impressive statistics about women and the online world.

•  Women are the majority of internet usage now – 53%
• The fastest growing group on Facebook is women.
• Women who are on the internet trust the internet information more than other sources

I attended BlogHer ‘09 in Chicago and the focus of this conference was specifically on women and blogs. More than 1,400 bloggers, marketers, media reps, and PR practitioners were in attendance. This is the fifth year for the BlogHer Conference and the largest to date.  BlogHer was created in 2005 with a mission “To create opportunities for women who blog to pursue exposure, education, community, and economic empowerment” according to their website.

During the course of three days, I learned so much and it helped put many of the stats we all hear into context.  I attended Blogher ‘09  not as a blogger but as a marketer trying to better understand the incredibly powerful world of women bloggers. The conference is set up in two parts;  Blogher Business and BlogHer ‘09. BlogHer Business is directed to marketers,  blog writers, and other social media practitioners who are interested in reaching women online. BlogHer Business highlights best practices and case studies for connecting with women online, specifically in the social media space.  Following BlogHer Business is BlogHer, which offers blog writers many tools such as technical labs (called Geek Labs–what a great name!) education workshops, intense breakout sessions focused on hot blogging topics and lots of opportunities for networking, connecting and just plain socializing.

I attended both and was overwhelemed by the experience. From a business perspective, I learned a ton and have many great case studies and best practices to share (the top takeaways follow).  As a woman and mother, I was encouraged by the sense of community, support and camaraderie these women share. You may have seen some less than flattering articles or posts about bad behavior (especially as it relates to “swag”) by the women in attendance. But overall, the women I met were smart, ambitious, considerate and they were in attendance to learn, share and become better at their craft.

At the Business conference, five case studies were shared and each used social media to build successful marketing programs. These case studies were presented by the actual marketers who developed and ran the campaigns–having a first person perspective made the cases more real especially when the marketers spoke of the challenges they faced–internally and externally.  

Key takeaways:

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By Chrystie Reep, Associate Media Director

Using Insight to Influence Action

A few weeks ago, my colleague Alison Momot and I had the chance to attend OMMA’s first ever Metrics & Measurement Conference at The Yale Club of New York.  Despite the torrential downpour we had to wade through to get there, we were beyond thrilled for the opportunity to sit in a room full of like-minded data and analytics geeks. We were not disappointed by the lively discussion and debate we witnessed. 

In a recent study released by Econsultancy and Lynchpin, they find that currently analytics is a picture of two worlds.  The technology continues to get more sophisticated, but the challenges in interpreting and actioning the data are only getting bigger. These findings fall right in line with the thoughts of the OMMA panelists as well.

The morning keynote, Jeffrey Eisenberg, the CEO of FutureNow, started the day with a report card saying that “Measurement gets an A-, but acting on the data gets a D.”  There are so many tools and there is so much data available to marketers, but few are doing a good job of turning that data into actionable insights and plans for improvement.  

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