I’m attending the Spring Symposium of the New England Society for Healthcare Communications in Stowe, Vermont. I’m a member of NESHCo and have spoken at their last two conference. Today, I am just an observer – and thoroughly enjoying it. My goal when I attend conference like this is always to pick up a couple of new ideas that I can put to work for my hospital/healthcare clients. And that almost always happens. These are learning opportunities.
This is the second time I’ve seen Dean Browell (Feedback, Inc) speak in the last 12 months. He’s a very good communicator and really understands social media. He’s also a Virginia guys (Richmond) so his home base is only a two hour drive from my office. so we’re nearly neighbors. And we both love craft brew! Vermont is a great place for quality craft brews.
Important message from Dean: “Social media is not a magic unicorn.” His point is clear: Social media is not a silver bullet that can cure all ills. So stop thinking of it that way. It’s another set of marketing tools. You have to be strategic in how you use social media – just as you would be strategic in how you use direct mail or radio advertising. Makes sense, doesn’t it.
“Community is no longer defined by the cul-de-sac.” Today people are organizing communities online. They are being proactive and not waiting for others to help organize them; they’re doing it themselves. Cancer survivors aren’t waiting for hospitals to create online groups; they are going online and doing this on their own. So if we’re not playing in this space as healthcare marketers, we’re being left behind. At the very least, we are missing an opportunity to connect with and support important brand constituents.
Dean went on to take on some commonly held misperceptions of Facebook. I was really pleased to see that Dean pointed out the differences between Facebook Groups and Facebook Pages. This is important because there are strategic benefits to use one over another. For example, with a Facebook Group, you can direct message all your group members. You can’t do that with the Fan Page (“like” page). Another thing Dean hit on is the value of using Facebook ads. My firm’s experience with Facebook ads for hospitals has been very positive. It is affordable and highly targeted.
In the end, Dean did a great job of touching upon LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, blogs and the major social media platforms. His presentation was a great primer on social media. Well done.
Dean’s four rules:
- Listen
- Transparency is what they want; but they’ll accept translucency
- Be part of the conversation – you can’t control it, but you can participate
- You can’t sit on the sidelines if you’re not even in the stadium. Take the time to figure out if you need to participate in these various forums. Be strategic. Get into the stadium.
Post by Dan Dunlop, The Healthcare Marketer
Dan,
Loved your comments on Dean’s speech! I learned you can’t sit on the side lines if you aren’t in the stadium.
That’s how I feel sometimes…not even sure where the damn stadium is!
It will be great to have lunch one of these fine days!
Your friend and admirer,
George M (Jorge)