Social Sharing Best Practices for Cardiovascular Marketers

October 22, 2012

Subtle shifts in how and when you share social media content can make a big difference in your engagement with patients and prospects.

A recent study by content platform, Compendium, examined 200 companies’ social sharing statistics.  Here’s what they found for business-to-consumer content:

  • Ideal message length
    • LinkedIn: 21-25 words
    • Twitter: 1-5 words
  • Using a question mark
    • LinkedIn:  45% fewer clicks if include a ?
    • Twitter: 52% fewer clicks if include a ?
  • Using an exclamation mark
    • LinkedIn: 27% more clicks if ! is used
    • Twitter: 8% fewer clicks if ! is used
  • Using hashtags
    • LinkedIn: 20% fewer clicks if hashtag is included
    • Twitter: 82% fewer clicks if hashtag is included
  • Using a number
    • LinkedIn: seems to have no real effect one way or the other
    • Twitter: 3.5% more click if number is included
  • Best time of day
    • LinkedIn: 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. and again over the lunch hour
    • Twitter:  10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
    • Facebook: during the lunch hour and the late afternoon
  • Part of the hour
    • LinkedIn: fairly even, but avoid sharing content 10-15 minutes into the hour
    • Twitter: top and bottom of the hour
  • Day of the week
    • LinkedIn: Monday
    • Twitter: Monday and Wednesday

While it’s fun to see stats like these, I still think it’s important to use this as a starting point and do your own testing.  But this study does drive home the point that it is important to include metrics like these in the evaluation of your social media strategy.  Several of these items are imperatives in developing a social dashboard.

And, don’t forget.  Great content still rules.  Sending irrelevant messages will never work – no matter what time or day of the week.

*B2B stats vary significantly.  See the study for more details.

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Posted by Julie Robinson

Farmers’ Market Strategies for Cardiovascular Marketers

October 5, 2012

Local farmers just may be the perfect partners for promoting heart-healthy eating.

Those of you who know me personally are aware of my Saturday morning ritual – a class at the gym followed by a trip to my favorite farmers’ market. If I miss a week, I’m genuinely cranky. We talk a lot about farm-fresh food here in our agency. My colleague, Andrea, actually manages a farmers’ market on the weekends. We all get excited when she brings us samples of luscious eggplant and crunchy kale. Some of our other colleagues probably get sick of our constant exchange of recipes and incessant chatter over lunch, cajoling people to try our latest concoction. But, it’s what we do.

And increasingly, it’s what hospitals are doing to promote healthy eating. At the most basic level, hospitals and heart institutes are “sponsoring” fruits and veggies with branded labels. Some are hosting markets on site, encouraging community members and patients to participate. I think it’s a brilliant strategy with a lot of potential.

Apparently others agree. HealthLeaders published an article this week highlighting four ways to maximize a farmers’ market program:

  1. Improve disease management – Saint Anne’s hospital in Fall River, MA, “prescribes” fruits and vegetables to at-risk patients, including heart patients. They can fill a basket for free at the hospital’s weekly farmers’ market. In order to participate, patients also must work with a hospital dietician and visit their doctor each month. Patients’ family members get to participate as well to encourage healthy eating for the entire household.
  2. Conduct on-site health screenings for things like blood pressure, BMI, etc. Ohio’s Parma Hospital hosts screenings at its on-site market, but you could sure do this as a sponsor of a community market too. And it’s a great way to make connections with new patients and to gather information for future communications efforts.
  3. Introduce population health initiatives.  Baptist Hospital – DeSoto in Mississippi hosted a one-off farmers’ market that attracted more than 500 people. They said it built a great sense of community among both patients and farmers. And they have plans to extend the program into a 12-week, larger scale initiative.
  4. Emphasize the importance of healthy eating and give people an easy way to do it. Nutrition education has always been a cornerstone of cardiovascular marketing communications. A farmers’ market is a live laboratory to help people make recommendations come to life. Offering branded recipes and demonstrations are great branding opportunities for your heart program, too. Research says that up to 3/4 of people who shop at farmers’ markets eat more and a greater variety of fruits and vegetables.

If you have pictures of farmers’ market strategies that are working for you, please send them to me. I would love to post them.

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Posted by Julie Robinson

Online Health Information Trends for Cardiovascular Marketers

October 1, 2012

Prioritizing online efforts to fuel your marketing mix can be tricky.

While there’s no question that patients are seeking online health information, it’s sometimes hard to pinpoint the best places to target messages.

A new infographic from Mashable highlights current trends in how consumers are accessing healthcare information and engaging with social networks.

Here are some notable finds:

People who visit doctors more frequently are also more likely to turn to online sources such as WebMD or YouTube. Are you developing relevant content for this segment of engaged patients?

Parents are more likely to seek online information, and people in their 30s are the biggest fans of blogs and patients communities. I suspect this behavior extends to people who are seeking information about their own parents’ health. Adult children are certainly important influencers for cardiac care.

WEbMD still leads the pack in terms of the most accessed online resource. Have you checked out their geo-targeted advertising possibilities? We’re having good luck there for some of our clients.

Patients still trust traditional communication more than digital or social. Even in this age of online frenzy, don’t neglect more traditional media and PR as part of your mix.

More people are still accessing online information via their PCs vs. smartphones and tablets. This will not deter me from recommending that you get your mobile strategy in order. But, I agree it’s critical to make sure the rest of your online content, including your regular website, is updated and relevant first.

What advice do you have for maximizing online efforts?

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Posted by Julie Robinson

Five Reasons Email is Still Effective for Cardiovascular Marketers

September 10, 2012

Email still works.

With so many “newer” digital tools gaining in popularity, it’s easy to wonder if email is passé. However, our clients are still generating great results using email as part of the mix.

I can think of many reasons not to give up on email, but this recent post from Business 2 Community lists five I think make sense:

  1. Inexpensive – With no postage or printing costs, email is certainly more affordable than snail mail. And in combination with social tactics, potential engagement opportunities abound.
  2. Immediate – Compelling email copy with a strong call to action can generate response within 24 hours of sending your message. It’s still a great way to drive traffic to your website and to build your database for a multitude of follow-up opportunities.
  3. Measurable – Who among us is not getting pressure from our CEOs to be more measurable? Email tracking is about as measurable (and immediate) as any medium around. If, at a minimum, you’re not tracking and analyzing click through rates, you’re missing an opportunity.
  4. Transactional – Recipients of email messages from companies and businesses often expect offers or deals. They’re also a great way to promote classes, screenings or other offers that will move people to engage in a personal way with your hospital.
  5. Direct – In today’s increasingly social world of mass messaging, email is still a direct way to communicate with current and potential patients. Research shows that most people still open email from recognized, trusted brands.

What email success stories can you share?

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Posted by Julie Robinson

Communicating with Spouses: An Opportunity For Cardiovascular Marketers

September 4, 2012

Providing a step-by-step game plan to patients’ spouses can certainly aid in patient satisfaction.

Take it from me. I am something of an expert in this area, as my husband has had at least 10 cardioversions. He has paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, the remnants of viral-induced cardiomyopathy that hit 14 years ago.

Fortunately, his episodes have become few and far between.  Unfortunately, he went into the “bad rhythm” as we call it last week for the first time in more than three years.  Last week, he underwent a successful cardioversion, and he has rhythm again. (Insert joke here about a middle-aged white guy.)

This episode marked the first time I had played my recurring role of the patient’s spouse in a while. I am certainly not complaining. However, it was an interesting reminder to me about some issues that are important to this key target audience. With constant advances in medication and technology, things can change significantly in three years.

For example, the options for anticoagulation have changed, as Pradaxa seems to have replaced Coumadin as the first-line drug of choice. The rules for how to take it and how it has to be monitored are quite different from what we’ve experienced before.

Additionally, the hospital where he had his procedure has expanded its facilities greatly since we were last there.  That’s good news for many reasons, but it was kind of confusing to me because the location and the order in which we did things were much different from before. For example, prior to his cardioversion, the doctor performed a transesophageal echocardiogram to ensure he had no blood clots, thereby reducing the risk of stroke. This procedure used to be handled in a completely separate room on a completely different floor. Now, the hospital does both procedures in the same room, one right after the other, using the same anesthesiologist. This is a nice improvement in many ways, but it really surprised me at the time.

These are just a couple of examples, but they got me thinking as I sat in the waiting room. Wouldn’t it be great if the spouse received an “agenda” for the day at outpatient registration?  It could have the day’s scheduled events, locations, approximate timeframe and names of key personnel who would be involved – very much like an agenda we prepare for meetings at an office. It really doesn’t seem that hard to do for scheduled procedures, and it would be very valuable in terms of patient peace of mind.

Even for “veterans” like me, uncertainty and confusion about what is supposed to happen next can cause undue stress. I am thankful that everything turned out well, and I don’t want to do it again soon. But in some ways, I’m happy to get an occasional reminder about the important role communication plays in patient satisfaction. What are you doing at your hospital to make spouses feel more informed?

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Posted by Julie Robinson

A Breakfast Dilemma for Cardiovascular Marketers

August 17, 2012

Eggs may be the enemy again.

A new study suggests that egg yolks may clog your arteries almost as much as smoking.

Wonderful. This is especially welcome news with back-to-school season upon us. I’m challenged to find a breakfast other than eggs that keeps my 16-year-old behemoth somewhat full until lunchtime.

However, the study’s lead author, Dr. David Spence, professor of neurology at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada, says, “People at risk of vascular disease should not eat egg yolks.”

Spence’s team collected data on more than 1,200 men and women who were taking part in an initiative aimed at curbing heart disease. The researchers used ultrasound to look at the amount of plaque in each patient’s arteries. They then asked patients about smoking, their frequency of eating eggs, other lifestyle factors and any medicines they were taking.

Results showed:

  • Regular consumption of egg yolks sped up plaque deposits in arteries at a rate that was about two-thirds the rate seen with smoking, Spence said.
  • People who ate three or more yolks a week had significantly increased plaque compared with people who ate two or fewer yolks a week.
  • The effect of egg yolks on plaque was independent of the person’s sex, cholesterol levels, blood pressure, smoking, weight and diabetes.

Not everyone is buying it. Not unexpectedly, a statement from the American Egg Board said that the findings come from “an observational study that can only suggest potential relationships, not determine actual cause-and-effect conclusions.”

The Egg Board also noted in the statement that “study subjects with higher egg intakes tended to also be heavy smokers, and only a small percentage of the population consumed more than five eggs per week, meaning that the conclusions were based on a small number of subjects.”

A spokesman for the American Heart Association who is also a cardiologist said the “jury remains out” on the issue pending further study and citing inconsistencies in the evidence for and against egg yolks for decades.

In the meantime, the American Heart Association sticks with its recommendation to eat a variety of nutritious food from all the food groups, with emphasis on vegetables, fruits, whole-grain products and fat-free or low-fat dairy products as well as eating fish at least twice a week.”

At this point, I don’t think our family will eliminate egg yolks from our diet. But, I certainly welcome your ideas for egg-free, healthy breakfast alternatives.

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2 Comments | Heart Health | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Julie Robinson

Twitter Tips for Cardiovascular Marketers

August 7, 2012

When you Tweet, what you Tweet and how often you Tweet can have a big impact on results.

Having grown to more than 140 million active users and 340 million Tweets per day, most brands agree that Twitter is an important platform these days. In fact 77 percent of marketers say Twitter is now one of their top three priorities in social platforms.

But how can you craft strategies that maximize your efforts?

Buddy Media, a social enterprise software company, analyzed user engagement from more than 320 Twitter handles of the world’s biggest brands. They looked at success metrics around reply rate, ReTweet rate and engagement rate.

I encourage you to download the whole report. It contains some good stuff. For those of you want some quick takeaways in the meantime, here are some highlights:

  • Don’t overlook weekends. Twitter engagement rates are 17 percent higher on Saturday and Sunday compared to weekdays.
  • Use both Facebook and Twitter to create an “always on” conversation. Engage with followers on Twitter during “busy hours” (7 AM – 8 PM), but post to Facebook fans during “non-busy hours” (8 PM – 7 AM).
  • Tweet four times per day or less.
  • Use less than 100 characters per Tweet.
  • Add links to Tweets to drive higher Retweet rates.
  • Ensure links are clickable by placing a space before the URL.
  • Include hashtags in Tweets, but don’t use more than two per Tweet.
  • Use images to drive the highest engagement.
  • Use a “Retweet” or “RT” call to action to prompt followers to Retweet. Spell out “Retweet” to get the highest engagement

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Posted by Julie Robinson

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