Monthly Archives: March 2009

Mar
30

Tapping into the power of authenticity, an example for healthy lifestyle brands

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At a time when deception and lies are coming at us from all directions, we search for greater meaning and sincerity from the brands we choose.  Brands that live their values, practice what they preach and try hard not to let us down.  

Here’s a nice example of authenticity (in this case, grass roots qualities) from condiment maker Beerenberg’s introduction of Provenance Pathway. After purchasing the product (strawberry jam), customers enter the items barcode and expiration date on the company website. An overview of the product appears, including photos of the people who made it, the product specs, and an implementation of Google Earth to map the farms where the main ingredients originated.

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Mar
24

Your healthcare brand promise needs to be social

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I led a workshop the other day for one of our healthcare clients. We were refining their brand promise, in light of their new vision and mission. We assembled a cross-functional team rarely involved in this work, which was refreshing because they approached the exercise very simply from the standpoint of “promises are about people.”

Criteria for creating the promise flowed easily from here: 

• One sentence that speaks in a simple and human voice, so that each team member is engaged and inspired to deliver on the promise each and every day
• Believable to, and can be delivered by, all facilities 
• Unique, such that no other organization should fit within the statement
• Compelling in that it addresses benefits that communities are hungry for
• No throwaway words, as they don’t distinguish and just take up space 

But there was one more point that we needed to consider. The promise needs to be deliverable through Web 2.0/social media dialogue. To accommodate two-way conversations when consumers demand.

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Mar
23

Healthcare trails in social media use

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Healthcare certainly isn’t threatening to overtake other industries when it comes to participating in social conversations, communities and collaboration. Based on Peter Kim’s community of social media marketing examples, up to 968 entries, here’s what Eval Sela author of Internet blog ProductiveWise found:

• blogs, social networks, microblogging/microsharing (respectively) are the dominant tools
• healthcare’s conversational share is a fraction of the big three: retail, consumer goods and services high tech;  and trails second-tier verticals media & entertainment, automotive, financial services 

With so much opportunity to do so much real good for people through social channels, can only hope that healthcare (which tends to lag behind others when it comes to marketing and media) starts to get in the game.

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Mar
22

Hospital Twitter use to overtake YouTube

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picture-32Twitter’s proving to be a powerful communications tool for hospitals. It took 26 months for U.S. hospitals to rack up 100 YouTube accounts, while Twitter has only taken about 17 months to reach the same figure. This is according to Ed Bennet, hospital web manager at University of Maryland Medical System, who has kept this running list of social media accounts managed by U.S. hospitals.

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Mar
20

How health brand marketers can use social media to build credibility and trust

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Even back in 2006, Edelman’s Trust Barometer showed that the most credible source of information about a company is a person like me,  which rose to surpass doctors and academic experts for the first time.  That survey “stat” shot up from 20% to 68% in a three year span. 

The organizations that will win our hearts, minds and business are the ones that embrace and enable individuals – both inside and outside – to build relationships and communities with people they trust through social media. Organizations and brands like:

• BannerMoments.com online community of women with breast cancer
• Claritin Perfectly Clear Day website; in partnership with The Weather Channel
• First Response Gather  community for Moms2B.  
• Kashi Community Accomplishments
• Glaxo Smithkline myAlli weight loss community
• J&J health channel on YouTube, www. baby.com web site
• Mayo Clinic Facebook Fan page, medical and health podcasts
• Share Our Strength No Kid Hungry
• Whole Foods blog

Clearly, there are many more examples of health + healthy lifestyle brands incorporating social media strategies into their marketing programs. Please share them in your comments, and I’ll continue to build this list as an information resource for all of us interested in this space. 

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Mar
18

Your primary healthcare provider is you!

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This is the title of this article by Rev. P. Sidney Parker. It’s his opinion that we need to take more responsibility for what happens to us, what goes into our bodies and what our bodies need. Totally agree. But disagree with his conclusion of “let your doctor become your health care assistant!”.
I believe we’re better served by leveraging the large number of health sites and communities that connect users with each other and enable people to share and collaborate together – to be each others health care assistant.
Here are some reasons why:
• quicker access to information
• no red tape to cut through
• 24/7 convenience
• beyond your “15 minutes” with your physician
• emotional support and well-being, e.g. dailystrength.org 
• online health assessment tools, e.g. Revolution Health
• more interactive (2.0) personal health monitoring services, e.g. HealthVault

Other examples of well-regarded resources that people would like to share?

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Mar
16

The one question health brand marketers should be asking (can be listening for) from customers

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Seek to understand the problems customers are facing that they can’t adequately solve today, and probe to understand the “why” behind any response, states Scott Anthony, President of Innosight, an innovation consulting company from his Great Disruption: Silver Lining Questions Webinar for Harvard Business Publishing.

Digging into the why almost always illuminates innovation opportunities. This question reveals more than those companies who typically start the conversation by asking “what don’t you like about what I’m selling you” or “what do you need.” 

You can understand and probe the why through social media. Observing, and (carefully) choosing the right entry point to participate in, the genuine and free-flowing conversations that customers are having (whether through blog, social network or Twitter) will reveal opportunities for you to provide what they’re really hungry for and what’s missing in their lives.

In the end, it should be a win-win situation in which brands and consumers both get something out of the conversation, working together to make each one stronger. Ultimately, the companies who actively and truly listen to their customers are the ones who will succeed.

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Mar
15

Using social media to manage your health

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Sharing Ben Parr’s post on Mashable. He offers these few suggestions for using social media tools to manage one’s health, since it’s an ideal platform for sharing, staying informed and motivated. 

1. Use social media to stick to goals
2. Research healthy habits and techniques
3. Utilize social groups for support 
4. Track progress
5. Help others achieve better health

Of course, not the end all be all, as we’re still connecting with other people like us (not experts in our fields). As with all things, healthy dose of sound judgement about “definitive courses of action” (though also sometimes flawed) is important.

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Mar
12

How health brand marketers can create brand ambassadors by using social media

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Check out this SlideShare Presentation, which lays out Netlog’s 5 “C”s of creating brand ambassadors.

1. Content - that should be useful, unique, newsworthy, first, controversial, insightful, inspirational, extraordinary, unexpected, etc., that captures people’s attention and gives them something valuable and sharable (e.g. Kashi Wellness Hub) 
2. Conversate - the community(s) of people who share the same interests and passions who are speaking (and spreading) content to one another through non-stop brand interaction (e.g. Kashi friends and events) 
3. Continuous - facilitating the ability for brand conversations to take place anytime through any device from anywhere around the world (e.g. Nike Plus) 
4. Context- the conversation isn’t driven from the brand, it’s among friends telling friends, such that the brand becomes intertwined into people’s daily conversations, which can be good and bad (e.g.Restaurant’s creative way of disguising bad health report) 
5. Contribute- how the brand ultimately contributes to making people’s lives better (e.g. LiveStrong)

Netlog: How To Create Brand Ambassadors?  

View more presentations from yizmo.

Do you agree with these 5 “C”s? Are there others?

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