THE LOGO EVOLUTION; an optimistic revolution

A logo update often speaks of a company trying to stay up-to-date in its offerings while strengthening its’ connection with consumers. But, with Starbucks falling into the bucket of recent logo evolutions within the last few months, I was forced to put down my Venti, Non-fat, Carmel Macchiato and ponder – could it mean something more? Could we be on the cusp of a branding revolution?

Every New Year begins with the hope for better things to come. Resolutions are made to convince ourselves that we can try harder and be more than we were the year prior. Every January, we are motivated to turn over a new leaf, conceive and commit to a better version of ourselves, and to accomplish big things. 

Essentially, a rebranding.

I believe the growing appetite for brand evolutions may possibly be an effort by these companies to demonstrate a new promise for the future – even in spite of familiarity feeling more sensible to their consumers.

Perhaps after being smacked around by the impact of the recession – and still jostling from the residuals – we are all eager for a more optimistic perspective.

According to a recent Gallup Poll, twice as many Americans think the U.S. economy will be better rather than worse in 2011.

2011 Expectation (vs. 2010) In Terms of the Economy (Percent of Group)
	Expectation % of Group
Group	Better	Same	Worse
National adults	52%	21	25
East	55	24	21
Midwest	56	25	18
South	51	20	27
West	48	17	32
$75K or more	55	23	22
$30K to $75K	52	21	25
Less than $30K	51	20	27
Republicans	46	23	31
Independents	50	23	26
Democrats	62	19	16
Source: Gallup, December 2010

Recent tracking results show that consumers only became increasingly optimistic about the economy as 2010 came to an end.

Gallup analysts suggest this could be due to our general optimistic nature as Americans, or it could possibly reflect views of a recovering economy.  

Or it could simply mean that we are all ready to move forward.

And, honestly, was it the attempt these organizations made to put forth a new image that has been debated? Or the lack of creativity, planning and strategic foresight that has forced us to question the success of these new brand transformations?

As Paul Rand said, “Good design is Good for Business.”

And bad design will get you posted on every blog and Facebook page known to man!

 

Social Media Unites People and Communities

Over the past year, I have blogged readers to sleep about what a great marketing tool we have in social media. I spend so much time reading and talking about it, it’s easy to forget how powerful it is in action. I got a beautiful reminder over the New Year holiday when our very close friends’ dog disappeared on New Year’s Eve.

Our friends’ dog, Elsa, was spending the night with another friend when Elsa got out of the back yard. Elsa’s owners, the Rudisells, were in Charleston and we were in Greenville. In the old days, we were out of luck ‘til we got home. Today, thankfully, we have Facebook.

I jumped on my profile from Greenville, as others had already done in Columbia, and was instantly in touch with the search for Elsa. Knowing her family was devastated, I was grateful for the opportunity to tell hundreds of people where and when she was lost on the off chance someone I know might have seen her or know someone who had.

As we traveled back to Columbia that day, I hoped Elsa was already home. Sadly, she wasn’t. For the next six days, we would search high and wide, driving through neighborhoods miles from home and combing the statuses and comments of strangers who might have seen a dog that might have been Elsa. We never saw Elsa as we searched the adjacent neighborhoods, but we did see something amazing as the days passed.

Michele Affronte noticed it first, posting this note on her profile. As you would expect, those who knew Elsa and her family were driving the search. Before long the search party included people who didn’t know Elsa or the Rudisells. Soon, it also included people who didn’t know any of us; people who simply said they wanted to reunite Elsa with a family that obviously adored her.

The reach we got through social media was simply astounding. Our neighborhood’s Facebook group actively shared our search. Elsa’s story appeared on countless Facebook profiles and business pages, Twitter tweets, e-mail lists and virtual lost pet directories. Friends and commenters shared leads. Friends with businesses offered rewards. Richland County shared. The City of Columbia shared. Our local tourism Twitter hashtag (#famouslyhot) shared. People who follow that hashtag shared.

As the number of people sharing Elsa’s story grew, I saw strangers posting Elsa’s lost dog poster as their profile image. Thanks to a dedicated stranger, the story appeared on WLTX and was picked up in other markets including Charleston and Alabama. It was truly amazing to watch the compassion, sharing and reassuring that went on in this brand new community the week Elsa was lost.

Then, one week after she disappeared, I got the call I‘d been aching for. Elsa had finally wandered into the right hands, all the way over in Eau Claire. She was ten pounds lighter and her pads were painfully worn, but she was finally home where she belonged.

I know social media is not how we found Elsa, but social media helped the search in so many ways.

It helped searchers stay in close contact and share information in real time. It helped quell the hopelessness. It gave people who cared a way to do something in a situation where fate was in control. It showed how local businesses (and their employees) such as Rosso, Tombo Grille and Four Paws Animal Clinic are truly members of our Forest Acres community. It expanded my circle of friends to include new ones and tightened the hold many already have on my heart.

But the biggest lesson for me can also apply to any business or group that’s considering the value of social media. Social media connects people who care. People who care are what power social media.

And that is a pretty amazing thing to have in your corner. Just ask Elsa.

CHPRMS General Session Day One: Social Media Best Practices from Chris Boyer

The CHPRMS Fall Conference kicked off with a general session featuring Chris Boyer, Senior Manager for Digital Communications at Inova Health System. Chris is a long-time Tweeter at Twitter healthcare marketing hashtags #hcmktg and #hcsm and for good reason. He has great insight for both those wading into social media for the first time and for those who consider themselves experienced users.

Rather than rehash what was a great presentation, I’ll pass along what I found to be my biggest takeaway from Chris’ session: pure positioning.

Many hospitals are positioning themselves with a product mindset: with the subject being a surgery, doctor, da Vinci robot, or new patient tower. But the answer is not a pure service message that’s based on amiability and compassion. He suggests it’s somewhere in the middle: a message that focuses on building trust. Patients want to know that hospitals can effectively address their issues and that they won’t get hurt in the process.

One of the greatest tools for building trust in today’s marketing budget: social media.

Whether your hospital participates in social media or not is 100% irrelevant. The conversations are already happening around you. People are telling several hundred friends about a nice nurse who went the extra mile for their family member in a status update. People are crabbing on Twitter about waiting too long in their doctor’s waiting room. People share triumphs, joys, petty complaints and sometimes untruths mistakenly attributed to your hospital. Social media is an opportunity for two-way communication with fans and foes but you have to be there to take part.

There are a million blog posts out there that tell you how and why to get involved in social media already so rather than go there I’ll share these points from Chris as he wrapped up his presentation today.

First, hospital marketers have to realize the role social media has and will have now and in the future. You have to change your message and how you market it. Facebook isn’t going away and it’s somewhere people live; it’s not like search. People do not spend hours sharing and liking on Google.

Second, if your organization is not participating you have to start or risk being left behind. If you participate in social media already, you have to get better.

Third, you need a good social media policy (so everyone knows the rules), to open doors (so everyone has access) and you need a plan (so you’re not wasting the precious little time you have).

Fourth, you need the right team and you need to target the right audience. And last, you need to measure. Rather than striving for friends, fans and followers, search for deeper meaning. Broaden your reach. Build your reputation. Cultivate relationships. And measure your results.

Chris shared several great case studies. The first, from Swedish, promoted their sleep lab services. The second was Innova’s Fit for 50 wellness initiative.

He shared way more than what I have covered here but it’s a lot to think about whether you’re tweeting, blogging or still watching from the sidelines. How will you move forward?

Raising employee and patient satisfaction with social media.

Use social media to engage your customers! It seems like this is all anyone talks about these days – “the 10 best tricks,” “the three worst pitfalls” and don’t forget to tweet.

What if we dropped back a level and first engaged our employees. The Mayo Clinic did just that. In 2008 they launched a blog for employees called “Let’s Talk” to help explain and discuss a new strategic plan. They implemented an online vehicle allowing staff to propose ideas that could better their working environment or patient care. The Mayo Clinic also posts department blogs, videos and more for their staff. The point being, that the employees learn what the organization is doing from multiple channels and multiple points of view. They see their colleagues’ ideas and thoughts about proposed initiatives. They are part of the discussion and not on the sidelines waiting for whatever comes their way. They have a vested interest in the organization.

Maybe this is one of the reasons the Mayo Clinic is featured in Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” and why they have low-turnover rates and high patient satisfaction ratings.

People want to be a part of something they are proud of. It’s human nature. If they are part of the team they won’t want to be the person who drops the ball. And if they are happy and invested in their job they are one of the best ambassadors your brand can have.

I once worked with a company whose mantra was “take care of your employees and they will take care of the customer,” a pretty basic but important idea. You can tweet all you want about successes or new services, but an unhappy employee personally sours the patient’s or customer’s experience. So the next time you think about how social media can promote your brand, think close to home first.

 

From Ps to Rs; a shift in consumer expectation

As I continue dissecting my notes from the SHSMD conference in Chicago, building from my thoughts on the theme as well as the overview of its content, I’ve realized that my reporting on the marketing evolution is of little benefit – it’s done. Now what?

The only way to successfully adapt to this new environment is by transforming your communications strategy.

While speaking at SHSMD, Phyllis Marino of MetroHealth in Cleveland, Ohio, stated the 4Ps of marketing are obsolete. The new consumer is no longer interested in your mix of Product, Price, Promotion or Place because they now demand a more personalized approach.

With this expectation shift, the 5Rs are the new principles for ensuring the strategic focus of your marketing efforts is modified to appeal to this highly consumer-centric environment.

Recognition. Only with a clear, compelling identity and message will your audience differentiate you from the competition. You need to define what your name stands for and be able to connect with your audience in a more meaningful way.

Relevance. Your audience wants to readily see the link between what your company offers and how it fills their needs; be it accomplishing a task, solving a problem, education or entertainment.

Response.  It’s a dialogue – not a monologue. Therefore, you need to also listen to the consumer and be able to quickly respond to their informational needs.

Receptivity. What they want when they want it, not when you want to deliver it to them. The consumer has his own schedule and doesn’t want to adapt to yours. This is the reason why the internet is now the CENTER of the consumer universe.

Relationships. It’s no longer about connecting the dots; it’s connecting people. If you want to establish a lifetime commitment, you need to think what will keep your audience engaged for the long-term. Till death do you part.

It may be old-fashioned and fallacious of me, but when constructing a communications strategy based on the 5Rs, I find it easier to tackle them like I would the 5Ws of Journalism: Who (Recognition), What (Relevance), When (Response), Where (Receptivity), Why (Relationships).

The trick always comes with identifying the H.

How have you shifted the structure of your communications strategy?

Breaking the Piñata: When is too much information, too much?

Four days, 6 general sessions, 70 break-out workshops, 119 exhibitors, dozens of exchanges during breaks and luncheons with fellow attendees and the SHSMD 2010 conference is complete.

Rich with content and excited to share these pretty, shiny nuggets of knowledge with you, I’m struggling to find a starting point.

It’s almost like cracking open a piñata and not being certain of the direction in which I should scamper. Which goodies do I want to hoard for myself? Which ones do I want to share with others? Which ones do I find fascinating and you may find irrelevant?

I could craft a summary of the SHSMD conference and provide an overview of all the tidbits I’ve gathered, but the final product would be more like a dissertation rather than a blog entry.

Bursting at the seams, I feel like Adam in Paradise Lost when Raphael warned:

 “But Knowledge is as food, and needs no less

Her Temperance over Appetite, to know

In measure what the mind may well contain,

Oppresses else with Surfeit, and soon turns

Wisdom to Folly, as Nourishment to Wind.”

 Now that consumers have developed an excessive craving for conversation, education and details, what makes for a successful online interaction?

Just like biting into a juicy apple, you want to give your consumer digestible bits of information.

As marketers, we need to get out of broadcast mode where we craft our talking points, add some nice graphics or even a video, and post content to the web as another means of pushing out our messages. As The Cluetrain Manifesto laments, we’re still treating the online market as “eyeballs” rather than as people engaged in conversation.

Similar to chatting it up with a fellow attendee at a conference, you need to have a genuine delivery that leads to a positive exchange of ideas and dialogue. Not too much information where you overwhelm the other person and turn them off. Rather, the right balance of content that leaves them satisfied – and wanting seconds.

I can keep serving up my sampling of the conference, but what are you craving? Click brochure to get an overview of the SHSMD 2010 conference. Then, send me a note at kcionek@adamsgroup.com and tell me what topic you would like discussed next.

Healthcare social media: it’s about location, location, location

One of the biggest trends in healthcare social media is location-based services such as Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt, Britekite, Google Places for businesses, Google Latitude – and now, Facebook Places.   Twitter also incorporates location sourcing as well as the online review site, Yelp!

Location-based social media channels are game-like apps that allow you to “check in” wherever you are – home, Starbucks, a ballgame, the hospital – to share your location and see where your friends are.

Retailers like Starbucks and Gap have jumped on the opportunity to offer benefits to those who check-in frequently at a store or entice those in the area with instant coupons.  Sort of the ultimate in geo-targeting.  Facebook Places also is gearing up for location-sensitive advertising. 

As popular as these social media services have been, Facebook has just brought them to them to the masses – all 500 million members.

So, if you don’t already have a profile set up for your healthcare organization, you soon will – courtesy of your patients.  That could be an important first impression for your hospital.

Check to see what listings may already exist in case they need to be corrected or enhanced.  If none, here are some how-tos on getting your hospital set up:

• Facebook Places – You must claim your Place and validate your information.  Per Facebook’s Help Center: If your business’s Place already exists on Facebook, click on it to visit its page.  At the bottom left side of your Place there will be a link that says “Is this your business?”  Click on the link and you will be directed to a claiming flow.
• Foursquare
• Gowalla.  This app is becoming a go-to channel for travelers, so take note if your hospital is near a major interstate or part of a tourist destination.
• Google Places
• Twitter Places
• Yelp!
• Localeze.  This company is providing some of the business listings for Facebook Places, Twitter Places and other search engines.  You may want to check or set up your listing with them as well.

Location-based services help patients and families integrate your healthcare organization in their social media outreach.  Imagine them sharing “baby’s on the way” or “headed to emergency surgery” or “last chemo treatment!” 

We’d love to hear any other examples or benefits from social media geo-tagging or location listings.

Social Media Use in Southeast Hospitals

Social media in healthcare seems to be growing exponentially. Or does it?  For starters, let’s look at hospitals in the Southeast. 

Based on the Hospital Social Network List (last updated July 24), 112 hospitals across six Southeastern states engage in social media.  That’s an average of just 16% of short term acute care hospitals (not including children’s hospitals).

State	Using SM	Total ST-Acute (AHD.com)	% in SM	YouTube	Facebook	Twitter	Blogs
AL	6	100	6%	4	5	5	0
FL	40	213	19%	20	27	26	5
GA	19	115	17%	12	18	11	2
NC	17	106	16%	8	10	16	5
SC	16	64	25%	7	14	14	3
TN	14	117	12%	8	9	12	2
Totals	112	715	16%	59	83	84	17

While social media may not be right for all of these hospitals, the numbers seem surprisingly low – especially when considering the wealth of facts validating the top social platforms.

Danny Brown recently shared excellent stats on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs.  Some of the highlights: 

Facebook  

• The average Facebook user has 130 friends.
• There are more than 100 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices. [Does your hospital have a mobile-friendly site? What about your Facebook page design?]
• People that access Facebook via mobile are twice as active than non-mobile users.
• More than 25 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) is shared each month.
• The average Facebook user is connected to 60 pages, groups and events.
• People spend over 500 billion minutes per month on Facebook.

Statistics from Facebook press office. 

Twitter 

• Twitter gets more than 300,000 new users every day.
• There are currently 110 million users of Twitter’s services.
• Twitter receives 180 million unique visits each month.
• There are more than 600 million searches on Twitter every day – more than Yahoo and Bing combined.
• More than a third of users access Twitter via their mobile phone.

Statistics from Twitter and the Chirp Conference.　 

YouTube 

• The very first video uploaded in April 2005. By June 2006, more than 65,000 videos were being uploaded every day.
• YouTube receives more than 2 billion viewers per day.
• Every minute, 24 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube.

Statistics from YouTube press center. 

Blogs 

• 77% of Internet users read blogs.
• There are currently 133 million blogs listed on leading blog directory Technorati.
• Bloggers use an average of five different social sites to drive traffic to their blog.

Statistics from Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2009 .　 
Hopefully, these stats may help you build a case for jumping into social media at your healthcare organization – or expanding your outreach into other channels. 
　

How hot dogs made us socially acceptable.

With a growl in our stomachs, we went in search of the city’s best hot dog. Little did we know what we’d find were the makings of a social media success story.

It all started with a friendly argument. As we wrestled over what makes the perfect hot dog and where one can find such an exalted treasure, we decided there was only one way to settle the matter. We’d put our city’s hot dog vendors to the test.

In true Adams Group fashion, we soon had a name for our little venture, a logo, a scoring system and parameters to guide us on our quest for the preeminent pup.

So, we set out to our first hot dog hawker, ate way too much, took a bunch of pictures, tabulated the scores and posted everything to our Facebook page. The Dog Fight was born, and it was fun.

Every week we ventured into dives and delis, gas stations and gourmet restaurants, in search of perfection. Every now and again, someone would comment on a Facebook photo, or recommend their favorite source of such succulent sustenance. But overall, things were quiet on the Facebook front. Until, one week, we took a frankfurter furlough.

The minute we failed to post our regular update, people began asking questions. What happened? Where are you? Our adventures were being followed on a grand scale – we just didn’t know.

Within weeks, we were at the center of a foodie frenzy. Other companies’ employees challenged us to Dog Fights, we hosted “celebrity” guests, and our own dog fighters were recognized around town (and heavily questioned about where to grab a good dog).

We even got the attention of traditional media, which exposed our Friday lunch activities to tens of thousands. Dog Fight had taken on a life of its own – a life that is thriving today.

Why tell this tasty tale? Because it taught us a lot about achieving social media success:

First – Have fun. Share something that interests you and, chances are, it will interest others as well.

Second – In these cases, traditional metrics may not be giving you the full story. You probably have more followers than you think.

Third – This is not a push marketing medium. Invite people into your experience, and share with them.

Fourth – Be honest, open and transparent. If you are, the medium will reward you.

 Finally, if you know of a great hot dog place in South Carolina, let us know.

The Big List of Smart Hospital Marketing Ideas

Ideas are the lifeblood of what we do.  Particularly, smart healthcare marketing ideas that work.  My colleagues and I have come across some great ones in the last few months at conferences, in blog posts, on social media and via healthcare trades.

Problem is, where are all these ideas when you need a little inspiration?  Maybe tucked in the back of your head, on some Delicious posts, RSS, bookmarked pages, saved emails, Twitter favorites or a good-old-fashioned, printed-out tickler file.  Maybe a little too spread out to be a good resource.

So, here are a few of our recent favorites jam-packed into one post for easy access.

From the South Carolina Hospital Association Conference in June 2010 featuring University of Maryland Medical Center’s Ed Bennett and Reed Smith, a consultant for St. David’s HealthCare in Texas (Full recap here and following #smrev)

• Tell people where they can connect with you on social media every chance you get.  Beyond your website, include social media icons in print ads, online banner ads and TV spots – plus direct mail, collateral, health education sessions, registration, discharge, etc.
• Develop custom tabs on Facebook for service lines, news, your Twitter feed, etc.  UMMC features good web content on an active Ask the Expert tab.
• Or kill two birds with one stone like Children’s Hospital Boston, which has a Connect tab of links to all its Facebook pages, Twitter feed, YouTube channels, eBooks and more.
• Consider setting up profiles on user-generated sites such as Yelp, Foursquare and Gowalla so patients and families can integrate your organization in their social media outreach.  Imagine them sharing “baby’s on the way” or “headed to emergency surgery”!  (Not so sure? Foursquare just hit 1 million check-ins per day.)
• Use Facebook as another outlet to discover powerful patient stories. They often start with one unsolicited comment from a reader.
• Facebook walls also are good place for employees to see the impact they make in people’s lives.  Share examples of what consumers saying about your hospital online, as well as through traditional feedback channels.
• Remember that beyond connecting, Facebook is good (and cheap) for target advertising.  See one hospital’s experiment and results here.
• Non-profit hospitals can set up a free call to action to embed on YouTube videos.  That could give a big boost to Foundation efforts.
• To encourage more views on YouTube, include a full explanation with keywords on every video post.
• Does your organization have its own Wikipedia page? Or hi-res pics on Flickr for the media?
• Embed e-newsletters and podcasts on YouTube & Podbean for exposure beyond Facebook or Twitter.
• Ask which social media channels your audiences are using – on exit surveys, class registrations, consumer research, etc – to best target your efforts (and help prove value if needed).  
• During registration for any event, have staff ask if your spouse would be interested in any topics (and draw them in).
• Some hospitals are having success offering couples screening packages, especially about cardiac and stroke.
• During employee orientation, talk about appropriate social media and web use.  Outline your hospital’s social media policy in detail.
• Search Twitter and other social media sites for people asking for physician recommendations and kindly suggest the hospital physician referral services. (Twitter just surpassed Yahoo & Bing as the fastest growing search engine.)  
• Lead a social media workshop for board, senior team, top hospital ambassadors and any doubters.

From the Georgia Society for Healthcare Marketing and Public Relations conference, May 2010. (Full recap here and following #gshmpr)

• If you haven’t already, look into a mobile platform for your website.  Usually these are completely different sites and maintained separately from the main site.
• At a minimum, make sure ER & urgent care info is on your mobile platform. Most people search on their way.
• Explore greater mobile connectivity with additional options. –E-community has a pregnancy text message program (great for hospitals promoting women’s services). — Northshore Long Island Jewish Hospital has the mobile option to share your location while en route.  — Beth Israel Deaconess and Scott White Healthcare have multiple iPhone apps. Some have Blackberry apps due to high physician adoption.
• Be sure to check which browsers access your mobile site the most.  (You may see mostly iPhone and Blackberry but Droid and iPad numbers are rising quickly.)

Other great ideas

• Orlando Health launched an integrated campaign called “Family Is” and asked patients to submit photos, videos, and statements of what family means to them – via Facebook.  The “Family Is e-Scrapbook” has received hundreds of responses so far.
• The No. 1 Element of an Effective Hospital Fan Page is a custom Facebook URL. Then, direct audiences to your URL. Put it in all marketing like your main site.
• Think “find us on” or “follow me on” sound self-centered, not patient-centered? Create your own “talk to us” on Twitter badge.
• Create employee webisodes for consumer outreach, employee relations and recruiting. Peer-recommended staffers can tell what they love about the hospital. Post across social media channels, then put all videos on a loop to show during career fairs.
• Randolph Hospital hosted an event at its cancer center featuring five laptops for staff to show unfamiliar patients how to get on social media – to connect with friends and the hospital. 
• In June, the Mayo Clinic launched The Mayo Effect, an ambitious internal communication effort with a twist. Each face-to-face meeting that leaders conducted opened with an edgy “You-Tube-style” video, followed by a presentation by the CEO (filled with stories rather than lots of PowerPoint) and an open discussion with him.  Mayo made these meetings and discussions available to all employees through different media. The CEO also pointed employees to a refreshed website and new blog as the main resources for the details of the plan. Within the first few weeks, 22,000 employees logged on to the website. 

Of course, this list is just a start.  Add your own, and let’s build a great healthcare idea resource.