I thought it would be helpful to start a list of ways that brands and their customers get re-energized. I’ll keep adding to it.
Here are the first entries:
I just read this article “With new smartphones, doctors reinvent the house call” minutes after my last post. An infectious-disease physician was able to view an injury through a digital photo on his iPhone. He then diagnosed and prescribed antibiotics. And over the next few days, he monitored the situation via photos sent to his iPhone.
Thought-provoking, status-quo challenging e-book by Phil Baumann, RN BSN about the possibilities micro-sharing (using Twitter as the example) offers as a powerful means of healthcare communication and collaboration.
Was thinking about Hawaii’s online health initiative (see yesterday’s post) and wanted to continue the social media theme. As Steve Case, founder of Revolution Health told the World Healthcare Innovation and Technology Congress “community is the killer app in health care.” And why not. The same user-generated content tools that we use to converse, connect and collaborate in our daily lives also provide a great platform for us to use for health information and support.
Jane Sarashon-Kahn, owner of consultancy THINK-Health refers to the Health 2.0 movement as the use of social software and its ability to promote collaboration between patients, their caregivers, medical professionals, and other stakeholders. Again, see post below as an example of this collaboration.
Some complimentary and reinforcing facts:
iCrossing conducted a study in January 2008, and found that the internet (59%) is the leading source (followed by doctors at 55%) used to find or access Health and Wellness Related Information in the past 12 months. And following the docs was the influence of relatives/friends/co-workers (much of which is probably accessed online).
Again from iCrossing, general search engines (67%), Health portals (46%) and Social media (34%) are the top online tools and resources used to locate health information. Again, followed by the influence of relatives/friends/co-workers.
So what’s next. Where is Health 2.0 going? Maybe look for clues from Microsoft Health Vault M and Google Health. And then to take this a step farther, what does Health 3.0 have in store for us?
The traditional doctor/patient visit has just moved to a virtual office via the web.
As of last week, Hawaii residents can pay a flat fee for a 10-minute online visit with a doctor. While the brief interaction won’t be able to address more complicated and emergency-based medical situations, it is an efficient way to handle more routine requirements and patient queries.
Forgetting the questions regarding possible abuse that come to mind, it’s a strong advancement that benefits both patient and doctor and plays into the inherent advantages that the web has to offer. Read the article Hawaii tries out online health care
The results of this Pew/Internet survey show that “the share of adult internet users who have a profile on an online social network has more than quadrupled in the past four years – from 8% in 2005 to 35% now.”
The implication for health + healthy lifestyle brand marketers is that social media (as many other objective sources reveal) can no longer be something that you keep on the back burner. Because Social is not a fad (as these statistics reveal). As the “web” wasn’t a fad in the 1990′s. The truth about Social is that it’s really a tool for human beings to be human – participating in conversations, connecting and sharing with each other through communities and collaborating to create a better future for themselves and others.
You must come to grips with the fact that you alone aren’t steering your fate. It’s like driving class in high school, where your teacher could take over the controls – could steer, go slower or faster – at any time. Social is the next thing in our evolution. And while it might scare you – it will be a fatal mistake to ignore it. Because the old marketing model is dead!
I recently returned from a client meeting where we had a great discussion about the future of health and wellness brands, changing consumer lifestyles and the increasing rise in the popularity of social media. Key discussion points included:
1. Health/wellness segments continue to merge – food and beverages, supplements, pharmaceutical, fitness, beauty care.
2. Healthier lifestyle practices and motivations are a key driver. And expectations are evolving to an “ultimate health” benefit beyond the physical to include emotional, spiritual and even environmental.
4. Layer on the ability of consumers to connect, share, and control where, when and how they consume their media – and it’s clear that the rules of engagement/balance of power has changed.
5. Consider opportunities to deliver innovate and reciprocal benefits that demonstrate genuine interest in helping improve consumers lives, e.g. imparting knowledge and insight (http://www.johnsonbaby.com“>, building community (“http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com“>, and self-expression (http://www.youbars.com/makeashake)
Net, the opportunities for leadership and for creating future business by utilizing the power of digital experiences and social media is limited only by our insights and imagination.
With all the focus on health care marketers crafting social media strategies, it’s important not to forget about (the less topical but still effective) search ads. Because the search volume on leading engines Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask is still tremendous.
Some 66% of respondents to an iCrossing study in December 2007 said that they used one of those engines to find health info in the past year, compared to the 46% who navigated to health portals like WebMD.
Ten ways to re-energize health and healthy lifestyle brands and customers