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The original marketing podcast. Advice and insight on marketing, public relations, podcasting and communication from Albert Maruggi, a veteran of radio, television, politics and the corporate world.
Since marketing is about words and positioning, I’m going to remain neutral on this issue by saying that the advocates of global healthcare will use the term globalization and the opponents of global healthcare will use the term outsourcing. The issue outlines how the future of a US orthopedic surgeon (an other healthcare practitioners) may well follow that of the US assembly line worker in that both now have a larger pool of people who do what they do.
The world is getting smaller and social media is contributing to the elimination of boundaries of information. An eye-opening article from Fast Company: Why Americans Are Going Abroad for Health Care highlights how a world class Thailand hospital, Bumrungrad is a destination for patients around the world, more than 430,000 in 2006 for more than a tummy tuck. Global health care facilities are attracting Americans for everything thing from dentistry to transplants.
Whether your call it Medical Tourism
or just plain global health care, the roots for its recent growth are cost and quality of care. Look it’s not that much different than world leaders coming to the Mayo Clinic in good old Rochester, Minnesota. Only now it’s not Arab sheiks, but modest middle managers looking to save thousands on health care.
From Thailand or Tennessee, competition is seen as a means to drive costs down and quality up. Information is a necessary element of competition which is why social media is being embraced by many players of the healthcare equation.
Because healthcare choice is so important, consumers demand health care delivery information from a variety of sources, healthcare providers, patient experiences, mainstream media, government, and others are all available to the patient making a care choice.
Shopping for health care is not limited to global options like this site called Health Base, in Minnesota consumers can shop for local health care online using Carol.com. Carol it is turning heads in the healthcare delivery profession and so is a blog about patient health care experiences called the Health Care Scoop. The Health Care Scoop is produced by Consumer Aware which has a relationship with health care payer Blue Cross Blue Shield. It’s in everyone’s interest to have lower cost health care, right? Their mission, in their words is:
“We believe that consumers should have the information needed to make “best fit” choices. Healthcare shouldn’t be a mystery. Information about all aspects of healthcare should be easy to find, easy to understand, and easy to navigate. Healthcare information should be available to everyone, all the time, and at no cost. We’re going to do our best to help make that happen.”
Now if you really want to have some fun, have a cup of coffee and compare hospitals in your area. This is the once private, now public, hospital survey called the CAHPS produced by the Hospital Quality Alliance, with a great subtitle “Improving Care Through Information.” Well I might quibble about that subtitle, it’s improving the selection of health care with information to the patient, but I would enjoy a conversation about how this public knowledge will actually improve care?
It is sponsored by the Health Care Special Interest Group of the Minnesota Chapter of the American Marketing Association. Representatives from Carol, The Health Care Scoop, and Health East, a healthcare provider in Saint Paul, MN will be on a panel. I am serving as a moderator to this great group of innovators in the healthcare space.
It is being held at the Pool and Yacht Club on Tuesday, May 20 from 4pm-7pm. The panel discussion begins at 4:00pm followed by a reception. Register for the social media in healthcare panel l. If you have questions, shoot me an email amaruggi AT providentpartners DOT net.
In surveys with readers of the San Jose Mercury News, Chris O’Brien, reporter and innovator on the issue of news in the US, presented four major findings about how people get information:
Google
Other people are a major resource of information
Choice
Conversations
There are 5 main theme of the Next generation of the newsroom a project to build the next generation newsroom being conducted at Duke University
1. Integrated - Newsrooms must be fully integrated across blogs and multimedia. It should embrace all platforms. Adapt a consumption model where readers can become so intrigued by the site that they lose track of time as they are immersed in the information.
2. Innovation - The newsroom must be a center for innovation; the 150 year old model was mostly static. We are now in an era of constant change.
3. Collaborative - there must be interactions with other groups outside of your own comfort zone. Cross pollination is a good thing in a new newsroom to expand knowledge and create areas where they will meet each other.
4. Adaptable - Allow for flexibility in assignments, even movable furniture that can be quickly reconfigured to meet a project need.
5. Transparency - Newsrooms need to be open to the community, creating the ability for a dialogue. Changing from a one way medium to a two way organ of information.
New jobs in journalism according to O’Brien
Programmer journalists
Media Conductors
Backpack Journalists
Cybrarian
Community Managers
This is a summary of a presentation given at the NewComm Forum produced by the Society for New Communications Research. I agree and submit that all media is now multimedia. That means companies and PR firms need to determine what other resources are appropriate for specific releases. For example, consider audio soundbites or videos of relevant visual elements that enhance the story. These can be set up on a news page at the company’s website or posted on a unique landing page, all trackable. This is a start toward what will be a new type of news release called the social media release. A topic for another post.
We get into the double edge sword of ROI for marketers, what sold a bunch of web banners, click through ads and email campaigns 5 years ago is now coming back to hinder social media adoption. Why? because relationships take time and are hard to predict. Shiffman suggests the social media measurement metric should be lift around campaigns and to implement small, focused projects with a clear objective. A discussion of that campaign its achivements and failures should be shared across a company to get buy-in and help the learning process.
Shiffman has also set up Marketing Reinvented wiki as a marketing plan for a real restaurant opening in California this summer called Amanada’s Restaurant. It’s a down to earth, health food restaurant. Shiffman invites anyone to register for that wiki and comment about marketing a restaurant.
Congratulations to Murine Juenda, of Seattle, Washignton the winner of the Age of Engage book from the Marketing Edge podcast.
Early adopter companies are making inroads in using social media to achieve tangible business goals.
The H&R Block income tax services brand is quickly building on its brick-and-mortar foundation by effectively using social media tools, including Facebook and Twitter.
Amy Worley is the director of digital marketing for the venerable tax service corporation, and with a supportive senior management team, she’s giving H&R Block a nimble, personable face for online users.
The key to their effectiveness is being a part of the community. Worley and a small team monitor Twitter and offer suggestions through H&R Block’s Twitter profile. Amy has been on Twitter for nearly a year. She understands how it works from being an active member of the community. Her team has developed a quick action approach to people that tweet about H&R Block or taxes and offer a response.
Whether it was me tweeting today or Robert Scoble, who tweeted that he was in an H&R Block office a while ago, the company has responded in quick Twitter fashion. It had the same quick response when I tweeted today with Chris Brogan about filing taxes at the 11th hour. That has little to do with technology and everything to do with customer service (or potential-customer service), both listening and reacting.
The agency 360i worked on this program with H&R Block.
It’s the same approach on other communities in which H&R Block is a participant. Enjoy this podcast.
I’ll feature more of this and other social media practices at the NewComm Forum sponsored by the Society for New Communications Research in Sonoma, California, April 22-25.
Marketers can no longer hide in an ivory tower from the conversations that are taking place among consumers, investors, customers and all of the publics in which companies operate, according to author Joseph Jaffe, our guest on this episode of the Marketing Edge.
We get into the issue of marketers creating a metrics hell. During Web 1.0 days, advertisers and marketers relied on the unprecedented metrics of click-thoughs, page views, time spent on site, and unique visitors. This gave them comfort and reduced the risk with senior management.
Building a relationship is much less predictable and measurable. Why? Because it’s a relationship; it’s an investment in the individual, not a neatly packaged recipe for making cookies.
Do you believe that the lack of predictable metrics and results are holding back marketers from adopting social media?
We touch on the advantages of American Airlines launching its blog, AAconversation.
We have a little fun with author Geoff Livingston for using Jaffe’s Twitter icon, but a tip of the hat to Livingston for donating to charity using Jaffe’s name, in a way. This started at Blogger Social last week.
Joseph Jaffe and I will be among the speakers at the NewComm Forum, sponsored by the Society for New Communications Research, April 22-25 in Sonoma, CA. Marketing Edge listeners: E-mail me for your discount code before registering.
During a keynote session at the conference with Robert Scoble, I realized how new social media is for the majority of communication professionals. He asked how many people are familiar with Twitter and about 20 percent of the room of 600 (that might be generous) raised their hand. Then, on the fly he connected to the web, and took the audience on a journey of relationship building and technology that demonstrated how time and distance simply no longer matter in how individuals communicate. He highlighted Twitter, Tweetscan,(if memory serves me right) FriendFeed, Twittervision, and QIK.
After his keynote and panel, Scoble and I spent time talking about information overload and how to avoid that overwhelmed feeling people get when they see Twitter for the first time. His response surprised me because it wasn’t a technology solution. He uses a tactic called attention management with attribution to Linda Stone This is clearly different than time management and Scoble in our interview takes it to a logical conclusion about focusing on what’s important to you.
Test One
I applied this logic to how companies should evaluate Twitter as a communication tool and determined that the first place to undertake that evaluation is not Twitter at all but Tweetscan. This “google-like” search engine for Twitter posts will give a snapshot of whether the keywords important to your company are also important to any of the million plus users of Twitter. My suggestion, do 10 separate searches of keywords that are relevant to you, your company, profession, or industry.
For example, a search for Kimberly Clark revealed several tweets among them a blog post about CIO Ramon Baez, a representative from Mom Central tweeted that she was meeting with Kimberly Clark marketing folks in Appleton Wisconsin, links to a news release about the Boys and Girls clubs of America and Kimberly Clark, a tweet about drug testing for an employee candidate, and last but not least, this post - Llega info del Programa “Comienzos Compartidos” que realizan Kimberly Clark Argentina y la Fundación Leer, en San Luis y Quilmes. Twitter has a million people around the world so the post in Spanish was made by this Twitter user http://twitter.com/rseonline - I don’t speak Spanish so the translation is up to you.
My point is, searching Tweetscan before you going into Twitter allows you to focus on what is important to you before jumping into the raging river of Twitter. Once you know what is in the water, it makes the ride more productive.
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Test Two
I also traveled south from San Francisco to Palo Alto and the home of the social network company Ning. Ning is a web-based platform people, organizations, and companies use to build social networks that can be public (open to anyone on the web) or private (only accessible to those you invite). There I had a delightful conversation with CEO and co-founder Gina Bianchini about the value of a social network. This discussion was enlightening because Gina peeled away the current fashionable lexicon of “social media” and Web 2.0, to describe the core value of people communicating on a network.
In this case, the issue is creating a place, (specifically a Ning based website) where a group of people focused on, and responsible for, an objective can share ideas. It’s just a place to get things done and in most cases improve, which is the result of sharing ideas. Those ideas can come in the form of words, audio, video, images, dialogue, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. All of these formats can be shared on Ning.
As you’ll hear in Gina’s comments in this podcast, Ning found tremendous benefit in a forum called Ning Network Creators which is comprised of many customers using Ning’s platform to create sites that facilitate communication among group members. It’s kind of like communicators talking about how better to communicate, yeah that works for me. To get to these Ning based sites you’ll need to register with Ning in a simple form, well worth the tour of social networks. There are about 250,000 networks on Ning now and growing.
My observation here and in dealing with many company executives is that perhaps the word social, as in social network, throws off corporate executives as to the business value of such networks. I mean social may inadvertently imply to them not business. My suggestion, lose the term social, and build a quick “business communication website” for a focused project, say a sales meeting, product launch or customer feedback forum over a specific time period. Get a small group of team members to buy in to the concept and use the platform.
Using this space created at no cost on Ning will allow you to test the waters of social networking. If that is a bit too ambitious, then here’s the next best thing, explore this type of forum in the Provident Partners Sandbox. It is a private network, private meaning I have to invite you to join so that only listeners of the Marketing Edge podcast or readers of this blog are in the Sandbox. We created it as a place to ask any questions you like, upload videos, images, post blogs, just come on in and experiment. It will give you a first hand look at a business communication platform with little effort. Then your imagination will lead you to the ways this type of communication platform can be applied in your own world of business or “social” objectives. Just email me at marketingedge@providentpartners.net with Sandbox in the subject line.
Upcoming Events
Take a look at the NewComm Forum conference agenda. It’s a comprehensive three days where you can get detailed answers to our questions about all types of social media, as well as integrating into a mix of other marketing tactics. This conference covers a spectrum of uses in the corporate, profit, and government arenas.
A major change for a company marketing today is the transformation from “messaging to the masses” to “valuing the individual.” This value can be shown by first understanding lifestyles, priorities and associations of a company’s buyers, rather than their age and income, then tailoring a personal approach that is relevant to their needs.
We discussed this issue with David Meerman Scott, author of the New Rules of Marketing and PR. In the podcast, we highlight the following:
–The need to move away from messaging to return to a more personal style of communicating. I would term it a function of transforming from the industrial age to the service age. Service is about the individual, and industrial is more about the masses.
–How companies can take advantage of the value web search engines place on relevant and fresh content. That means companies need to put greater emphasis on being a provider of valued content. For example, our client Technomic Asia doing the China Business Podcast to discuss issues related to - you guessed it - China business. Or Whirlpool, an example of a company that uses its podcast as a vehicle to discuss issues of concern to its audience, rather than discussing Whirlpool’s products. That podcast covers topics like juvenile diabetes, toddler safe play, and how to get organized — nothing to do with appliances but everything to do with what their audience values.
Scott has a bit of different perspective on the issue of “conversations as marketing.” He does make a distinction from these new marketing and PR rules and the conversation that is usually reflected in social media. He contends social media is a subset of the new rules of marketing. Some situations are more about being relevant for your buyer’s persona and they may not be looking for a dialogue. Companies that are unsure of whether they should blog can still implement tactics hat allow them to benefit from the new rules of marketing.
According to Scott, the new rules of marketing do not necessarily equal conversations. The first steps are about achieving a greater understanding of the individuals in the communities a company is attempting to serve and creating content that they value.
The Marketing Edge book drawing for April will be Scott’s book. Send an e-mail to marketingedge@providentpartners.net with the words “New Rules” in the subject line.
Also the NewComm Forum www.newcommforum.com is coming. As a listener and reader of the Marketing Edge podcast and blog, if you are interested in attending this conference, shoot me an email for a discount code you can use when registering. It has an excellent line up of speakers with focused conversations on strategies for business communications. I will be there and look forward to seeing you.
The Kellogg Foundation describes itself with these words: Where Everyone with Ideas and Dreams for Helping Vulnerable Children is Welcome. Last year it distributed its largest amount of program dollars, $357 million. Communications were much different when it was founded by WK Kellogg in 1930. Today, Director of Public Affairs, Dianne Price realizes the need for an organization committed to helping communities, needs to become part of those communities online.
I was curious about her rationale for dedicating a full-time position, New Media Manager, for social media and looking to someone that is fairly experienced as you can see from the New Media Manager job qualifications and salary. (note this link will expire when Kellogg closes the selection process) In many cases, social media is something that gets dumped on the youngest member of a team and there it can smolder. The fact is social media not reserved for the young or even the techno-savvy. I believe the following qualities are necessary for successfully participating in social media;
Patience to learn about community participants
Thoughtfulness in respecting differing ideas in the community
Persistence in giving of yourself, ideas, and time to the social network
Creativity in using the right media, - print, video, and audio
Innovation in trying a variety of technologies that allow for sharing ideas and dynamic commentary
The Kellogg Foundation also wants your ideas on how children become vulnerable and what can be done to help them. Visit and contribute your ideas to the Kellogg Online Forum on Vulnerable Children.
Good luck to those candidates for the Kellogg New Media Manager position. Dianne we wish you and the Kellogg Foundation well in your wonderful work.
Another great site for social media jobs is Jobs in Social Media, produced by Chris Russell and his assistant Hannah Hershey.
Spend time understanding the details of social media and getting great ideas from practitioners at the NewComm Forum sponsored by the Society for New Communications Research, April 22-25 in Sonoma CA.
Twitter is a social networking combination blogging site. It is where people can follow the quick thoughts of others throughout the day. Many people share ideas in a sentence or two then link to a long piece, video or audio file. You can even identify people that might be interesting to follow by using a search engine specifically designed for twitter, one of them is called www.tweetscan.com
My twitter follower @pchaney today tweeted (meaning wrote a message for others to see) Love to see a Top 10 Benefits to Using Social Networking with Your Business. You are my inspiration @pchaney, at least for this blog post.
For the purposes of answering @pchaney the definition of social networking I’ll use is, a group of like-minded individuals gathered digitally, in some cases you already know these people, in others they may not know anyone prior to meeting on the network. This may not be the Top 10, but they are ten and I’m sure readers will add more.
Expand knowledge of a topic – benefit: product improvement, market research
Extend your knowledge to others – benefit: increased web traffic or exposure to network
Efficient communications – benefit: speed to knowledge
Test ideas – benefit: reduce market research costs and time
Exponential reach – benefit: you’ll increase the chances of knowing what you don’t know and you never know the potential of that
Get new ideas – benefit: learning from others makes you innovative
Promote your stuff – benefit: drive traffic to your web or physical destinations
Create member style community, example employees – benefit: greater candid communications to improve organizational process, products, working environment yada yada yada.
Training and formalized learning – benefit: speed ways to fix problems or create more proficient customer reps, tech support, etc.
Monetize eyeballs – benefit: yes where there are people there is the potential for revenue
Oh yes, and there is the added benefit of using a social network for business of asking a question and getting a direct answer. Hope this helps? Probably the best place to learn about the variety and possibilities of social networking is to visit Ning. www.ning.com It’s the social network of social networks with thousands of communities using the technology platform.
Tiki Bar TV is one of the most popular vidcasts. This wonderful comedy short-form with colorful characters and a winning drink recipe at the end of every show is an excellent example of great work in this new genre — one in which marketers can access a community of fans. The show, available wherever podcasts are distributed, also has a delightful Web site with excellent tie-ins to merchandise, drink recipes and plenty social media uses, including MySpace badges, a forum and live chat elements.
Tosca Musk of Musk Entertainment is the producer of Tiki Bar TV. Tosca says as a business, this form of art, vidcasting, is still finding its way. Tiki Bar is creative from the business side as well by having excellent main characters and adding other interchangeable characters to keep the show fresh.
As a marketer I look at the show and Web site as a package, with plenty of places to support the art form (as a sponsor/underwriter), contribute valued information (drink recipes, good combos and bad, Tiki Bar food recipes), co-branded merchandise…well, you get it: There’s plenty for a creative mind to play with.
We didn’t discuss this in the podcast, but could there be product character appearances, such as a cameo from Captain Morgan? We do touch on how this kind of package will allow innovative advertisers and businesses to create information (I purposefully did not use the word advertising) that is less disruptive and more constructive.
In the podcast we chat with Jeff Macpherson, the director of Tiki Bar. He believes this genre is also outstanding for actors to create unprecedented relationships with their audience members. Because of the Web platform, these characters seem so much more approachable, and as Jeff says, “We are more approachable!” They even invited me over for a drink.
And yes, as a special treat we even get a couple of questions in with the good Dr. Tiki himself. So sit back, get a drink and enjoy this episode of the Marketing Edge.
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And yes, as a special treat we even get a couple of questions in with the good Dr. Tiki himself. So sit back, get a drink and enjoy this episode of the Marketing Edge.
