Who should be more offended, branders or SM folk?
In a somewhat disparaging “this can’t really be happening, right?” BusinessWeek article called “Twitter, Twitter, Little Stars,” author Felix Gillette manages to slap two disciplines with one fell swoop. In trying to describe the somewhat chaotic rush by businesses to add social media professionals to their staff, Gillette makes this statement:
“The chief social media officer may be supplanting the chief branding officer as the zaniest human resources innovation in memory.”
Wow. Really? I’m not sure who should be more insulted, brand evangelists or social media zealots. Read More
When I say refreshing drink, you think cancer treatment.
Where do I begin with the recent article in Ad Age titled “Health-Care Reform Stokes Spending by Top Hospitals, Clinics”? The story starts by using an example of a live-tweeted surgery to state: “Welcome to the new front in medical marketing: hospitals jockeying to position themselves for growth amid a perfect storm of aging baby boomers and a health-care-reform bill that will result in millions more insured patients down the road.”
There’s the frustrating: The “new front”? Hospitals have been jockeying to position themselves for about two decades now. It seems that whenever a mainstream media source “discovers” hospital marketing, then it must be a new phenomenon. It’s not. Read More
What’s on your mind, healthcare marketer?
I was on the road last week speaking to two healthcare marketing groups. First, we talked marketing measurement at the Cincinnati AMA monthly meeting. Then, I presented “Joe Public Doesn’t Care About Your Hospital” to the Virginia Society for Healthcare Marketing and Public Relations (VSHMPR) in Charlottesville, Virginia. In talking with attendees and fielding questions, a few common points of interest seemed to emerge at both venues. What was top of mind for marketers in these two markets? See if any of these sound familiar: Read More
Social media snake oil
There’s a standing mantra among healthcare marketing consultants and those who follow social media closely: “If someone refers to themselves as a social media expert, run to the hills.” This is driven by the idea that social media is so new, and so little is actually known about its long-term impact, that very few if any social media marketers could have obtained enough experience to claim the title “expert.” Read More
Introduce some Paranormal Activity to your marketing
If you haven’t heard of Paranormal Activity, chances are you tripped over your router cable a few months ago and forgot to plug in back it back in. This independent film has made quite a stir through Twitter and other social networking outlets. In fact, this low budget ($11,000) flick has relied almost exclusively on social networking for promotion. And it pulled in over $7 million last weekend.
CNN covered this story today. In it are a number of valuable nuggets for all marketers – healthcare and otherwise.
Read More
It’s a HealthCampMN party!
To help kick-off HealthCampMN and welcome everyone, Interval is hosting a pre-conference reception on Friday, October 23, from 6 – 9 pm. The event is open to all attendees, speakers and their guests. Come for food, drinks and to meet all the people you’ve tweeted, friended or (gasp!) emailed who are in town for the conference. Should be a blast! Read More
Blog plugging
Our thanks goes out to Piet Levy and Chris Boyer, who covered two Interval client success stories in their blogs this week. In a post for the American Marketing Association’s “Marketing News” blog, Piet covered Read More
Exposing the WeeklyProbe
Well, the secret is out. As exposed in the “exclusive” post on Gienna Shaw’s MarketShare blog, the mask is off the people behind the Weekly Probe – and they are us. Read More
Beer in Billings? Mocha in Minneapolis?
One of the best parts of my job is the opportunity to speak at conferences around the country. It’s always a blast to engage with audiences, visit new cities, learn what’s happening in different markets. But the most fun it getting to meet and hang with new people, whether it’s at a dinner the night before the presentation or a cocktail after. And this fall is shaping up to be one long social hour in that regard. Read More
Pew: Adults are digging online video
In a paper released last month, the Pew reports the adult audience for online video has doubled since 2006 — currently 62% of adult internet users up from 33%. Not surprisingly, this increase far outpaces growth in other online activities. The high-quality video made possible by the prevalence of broadband is pulling adults from away from traditional television to computers and mobile devices which are more deeply engrained in everyday life. Read More