Is it a coincidence that the top two hospitals on US News and World Reports honor roll of the best hospitals in the US also have strong social media programs? I’m delighted to make that connection with two friends who do an outstanding job at their respective leadership positions in social media for Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Mayo Clinic.

Elizabeth Tracey is Director of the Johns Hopkins Health Newsfeed and has pioneered podcasting for the large healthcare entity in Baltimore. The podcasting is used to educate patients as well as provide content to other media outlets. For example, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, yes a newspaper, is carrying the Johns Hopkins HealthNewsFeed. Tracey treats the Johns Hopkins organization as a newsroom not just as a provider of information to other news organizations. This approach gives the talents and people of Johns Hopkins Hospital signifcant exposure that builds trust with their communities.

Lee Aase, public affairs manager, at the Mayo Clinic continues to push the social media envelope and capitalize on the wealth of healthcare expertise at Mayo. There is a series of blogs and podcasts that Mayo produces clearly available on their main navigation. In addition, a creative Mayo Clinic channel on YouTube has garnered interesting interaction, from thousands of views to potential participants in clinical trials for new treatment.

Congratulations to both Elizabeth Tracey and Lee Aase. On whether it is just coincidence that both organizations have strong social media programs; let’s put it this way, leadership is the one constant in a hospital achieving such a significant status. These dynamic organizations approach social media as they do healthcare delivery, with innovation and a dedication to serving the needs of their publics.

The conversation on Chris Brogan’s blog about personal branding, strip malls and billboards has developed in a way that I think is a bit off the mark. I don’t disagree with Brogan or the comment on the blog post by Christopher Penn that many social sites can and are used as billboards for personal brands.

I much prefer that social networks be viewed as cafes, restaurants and bars along the road. Not franchises, mind you, although you might get that feel from some of them, but unique places in which you’ll meet some unique and some of the same people. To this environment you will add your own experience, commentary and knowledge. You will pose questions that may well inspire others to enlighten the group. You get a little sustenance, bid good day and come back as often as you like. Oh sure, there are plenty who come in trying to sell flowers from table to table, but that’s a bit of a drag for everyone, isn’t it?

Now it may be that you only frequent a few of these places, but doing it in the manner I described above will give social media more value for you and others. When I hear talk about billboards and strip malls, it begins to sound a lot like Web 1.0. The fact is both of these gents, and plenty of men and women around the world, add tremendous value to the social community in exactly the manner I described. We are grateful for it, and as a result do visit their general stores (websites or blogs).

I just think the billboards and strip malls metaphor conjures up images that don’t truly address the enriching and unique experience to be gained from what we have before us. Some may seek to post up a sign and hawk some goods along the way. Me, I enjoy having a cup of coffee and a piece of pie, even a $.99 Margarita when I can find one, with the Brogans and Penns of the world. Their personal brand in social media is what they share with me all along this winding road, not just what’s at their stores.

Time 24:19

This podcast you’ll get the big picture of social media with Robert Scoble,the co-author of Naked Conversations along with Shel Israel and managing director of Fast Company TV. This conversation is useful for corporate marketers in discussing social media with their senior management as a company evaluates whether and how to participate.

Companies operate in a world with equal access to information (minus the occasional government obstacles like China and Iran) but for the most part it’s all good. It’s a world where distance and time matter little, and sincerity and participation matter a lot.

The downsides of such access are the horror stories of price comparisons and margin evaporation. Let’s face it information used to be power when a few people had it. Now it is more about how people use the information, with whom do they associate with as they exchange it, and how do those relationships add value.

Scoble and I had a great conversation with a few laughs and insights into how he avoids information overload with technologies including Twitter and Friend Feed. He is a prime example of how social media works, give of yourself, and watch others give back to many.

Comment below or call 206-426-1117 and we’ll field some of them on the next podcast.

This month’s book giveaway contest is Millennial Makeover, MySpace, YouTube and the Future of American Politics, by Michael Hais and Morley Winograd. Enter drawing by emailing MarketingEdge AT providentpartners DOT net. Put Makeover in the subject line.

Marketing is at a cross roads and I believe social media will force a major crash of competing values. The crossroad is a dilemma presented by a society based, for the most part, on consumption, a global economy accessible to all, and the wonderful raw rules of capitalism. This mash up has caused a society to feel wanting for genuine substance, generations to reflect on their contribution to the greater good, and a crisis of conscience. This has manifested in a number of ways including increasing calls for volunteerism, greater individual philanthropic giving, and a negative public opinion of the country’s direction.

This crossroads is probably best described by the late George Carlin on consumerism

Marketers are a major part of the issue, why? For generations, marketers have devised ways to generate demand, create locked-in recurring revenue customers, and increase profits. Hey, this is not a knock on marketers, it is just the way the system works.

Oh yes I’m sure someone from the American Marketing Association or Harvard Business will chime in with “no, marketers are focused on delivering customer value and being the voice of the customer to the company. And a company that doesn’t treat its customers well will cease being a profitable company; or words to that effect.

The truth is a little bit of both I suspect. However, the mood of the country, still the most powerful economy on the planet, long held as a model for economic freedom and capitalism, is disillusionment with our economic model. Compassionate capitalism is a concept that has been around for a while now, and chipping away at some of the root causes of our dilemma.

What role does social media play in this intersection and how can it prevent a pile up?

1) Opens dialogue that strips away the corporate façade
2) Creates a way for individuals and companies to acknowledge faults without unwarranted penalty
3) Potentially facilitates a place for communities to develop around shared objectives that benefit the whole allowing consumers to mold a company’s contribution to society

To a guy who always made people think, usually while they were laughing, God or Joe Pesci, bless you.

Here are some other resources on the topic of Compassionate Capitalism

Comment on Compassionate Capitalism

A compassionate capitalism classroom curriculum

Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff wrote a book on this issue

Do you believe marketers can have an impact on corporate compassion or are the objectives of marketing at odds with a compassionate corporation?

Time 21:37

I have said for a long time that social media is more a movement than a market.

So when I heard the authors of Millennial Makeover Michael Hais and Morley Winograd interviewed on the News Hour talking about how YouTube, et al social media was going to impact the future of American Politics, I had to reach out to them as guests on the Marketing Edge podcast.

The nature of social media and the timing of this technology fits perfectly with the Millennial generation. The millennial generation is comprised of individuals born in the 80s and early 90s. During their upbringing they were taught to share, play nice, not keep score, and that they were special by their parents, Barney and Mr. Rogers among others.

I also assert that there is a confluence of hardball politics, greater media segmentation spawning like-minded echo chambers and the dissolution of mainstream journalism that has prompted millions of people to connect outside of traditional institutions. They are turning to social media, blogs, twitter, Facebook and many others.

This book and our conversation is not just about politics however, social media is, well social. It can not be segmented like other forms of marketing or communications. The civic minded, and ultra connected Millennial generation are buyers, business leaders, and in a neighborhood near you. Combine this generation with other age demographics that are using social networks like LinkedIn and iGoogle, and you have a whole new paradigm for communications.

If you want to get a chance to win the Millennial Makeover book send me an email to Marketingedge@providentpartners.net with the word Makeover in the subject line.

An excellent panel sponsored by the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association was convened last night, great crowd and questions. The central question of the night however, seemed to be elusive. The panel was billed as Who Controls Social Media in the Enterprise, and it didn’t seem to me that there was a clear answer. Wonderful anecdotes and ways to test social media internally and externally, but no clear answer to the central question, which for me also answers the question.

In general, the conversation about social media among these companies’ and their commentary on social media in the majority of larger companies led me to the following observations:

1) Social media is viewed at best as a tactic to be tested and at worse a side show.

2) Social media is about relationships and those take time, time large companies don’t have given our culture of immediate results. A supporting example of this are loyalty programs that provide a discount for customer, but only if they buy within a certain window. I see how that attempts to accomplish a minor win for the customer and a revenue increase before the end of the quarter for the company, but there is nothing social about that. A catch ‘em, clean ‘em, filet ‘em repeat approach.

3) Social media just doesn’t have the numbers for companies that play in the middle income bracket. Companies on modest and shrinking profit margins are not seeing enough dollars move through their coffers as a direct result of social media. Sure it’s nice to have raving fans embracing your brand, lots of balloons and cake for internal office recognition, but for most senior execs the $ needle isn’t moving far enough in those areas that are directly attributable to social media efforts.

4) Lastly, social media is not viewed as a comprehensive communications platform. So while a retailer may have thousands of loyal fans on Facebook in a program inspired by customer relations, that same understanding about social networks is not shared by say the PR department that dismisses a bloggers inquiry. There is a disconnect in either understanding or appreciation for social media across these large enterprises. When this happens, the cultural tendency is to dig your heels in about your current perspective and not open your mind up to a holistic vision of social media’s implementation throughout the enterprise. There will be more on this topic in a future Marketing Edge podcast with Robert Scoble to be posted June 2.

Panel Members

· Jim Cuene, Director, Interactive, General Mills 
· Brad Smith,  VP of eCommerce & Digital Marketing, Fingerhut Direct Marketing
· Gary Koelling, Creative Director, Social Technology, Best Buy
· Jason Kleckner, Manager, Information Architecture, Target Corporation
· Moderator: Michael Kraabel, Group Creative Director, Gage

Yes I copied this from the MIMA Events page. Thanks

Hat Tips

Gary Koelling – Most candid answers award, he is Twitter gold for any live writer

Jason Kleckner – Best answer of tough question with grace and insight award. Nice job

Here’s a podcast of the MIMA panel Who Controls Social Media in the Enterpriseevent – however, this was an abbreviated file when I downloaded. I’m going to leave the link up just in case it is fixed. Minor gripe here to the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association, why isn’t there an audio player on the page for this podcast? There must be a good reason, standing by. If you fix it, I’ll come back and amend this post.

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?

The answer to that question and many others will be the focus of a panel called Social Media Bringing Change to Healthcare Marketing.

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.

Time 13:04

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.

Time 18:34

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.

Jaffe is in Minnesota to speak at the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association meeting at the Fine Line tonight, Monday, April 14. This is part of the Conversations About the Future of Advertising series hosted by Tim Brunelle. (Tim set up a Twitter profile for Q&A for tonight’s event. Connect with CATFOA and send in your questions.)

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.

Jaffe wrote “Join the Conversation” and “Life After the 30-second Spot”. His popular blog and podcast are Jaffe Juice and Across the Sound.

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.

Time 16:56

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.