1

:001 THE GATHER PROJECT

Social Media SnapShot: health care

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The GaTher ProjecT

Social and mobile media have altered the marketing

landscape so dramatically in the past five years, even the

most experienced travelers have trouble finding their way.

citrus launched The Gather Project to uncover these changes

and track how companies across a wide spectrum of industries

are adapting. The end result will be a comprehensive roadmap

for marketers to follow as they explore the digital world.

ciTrus

citrus is a new breed of creative agency born to jolt your

audience from the ordinary with rich, integrated, immersive

campaign experiences. With a wicked mix of masterful expertise

and youthful enthusiasm, we perform a flurry of kicks and

chops that elevate brands into the hearts of people. The results

transcend the traditional model by bridging the space between

awareness and continued engagement to form a deeper,

amplified interaction with your story.

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:001THE GATHER PROJECT

IntroductIon

the Importance and

opportunItIes of socIal medIa

Gather project methodoloGy

results

the health care scorecard

core fIndInG

roadmap: Where do We Go from here?

conclusIon

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Introduction

With over 550 million Facebook users, 150 million Tweeters and

50 million Bloggers, marketers can’t afford to relegate social media

to the second page of a marketing plan. In 2011, it will be one of the

most essential elements you use to connect with your customers.

According to the Society of Digital Agencies, more than 45% of senior

marketers named social media and networks as their top priority in 2010.

It’s not a fad, it’s a reality.

In the first of our Gather Series, citrus has conducted a study to better

understand how health care marketers are using social media. The end

result is a definitive snapshot of how the health care industry is adopting

social media and how health care marketers can improve the power of

these programs and optimize their social ROI in the future. The following

pages will paint a comprehensive picture of social media in your industry:

1. We reveal the findings of our national survey taken by your peers.

2. We show you what others are doing and reveal

who’s doing it the best (and worst).

3. We provide a roadmap to successfully integrate

social media into your strategy.

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[ ]

personal networks, thereby providing marketers with exponential

message amplification. Marketers now have the opportunity to

influence the influencers and help them broadcast their brand’s

message. It is this sort of relevant discussion that is proving to

be dramatically more valuable than traditional marketing efforts.

HealtHcaremarketerswHo

donotunderstandsocialmedia

marketingaresimplynotpart

oftHelargerconversation.

Given the growth of social media and its demographics, citrus

can see no way that health care marketers can postpone building

industry-leading social media programs that leverage the interactive

and community-building benefits of social media. This relatively

new media platform, on both the Internet and mobile devices,

will usher in a highly effective relationship-building tool.

The Importance and Opportunities of Social Media

Social media are highly scalable Internet and mobile-based

platforms and applications for sharing and discussing information.

In 2010, the primary social media platforms used for marketing are

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and Blogs. This list will undoubtedly

change as new platforms are created. We are already seeing great

interest in location-based social platforms (geo-social), including

FourSquare and Facebook’s new Places.

Unlike advertising, social media provides the opportunity for brands

and businesses to build and manage real-time direct relationships with

their target markets. As important, if not more so, social media helps

brands build messaging that can be shared by individuals with their

personal networks. People readily share information, thoughts,

impressions and opinions about their experiences across their

11

social neTworkinG use conTinues To Grow amonG older usersThe perception of adult users who use social networking sites in each age group

Source: Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project Surveys, September 2005 - May, 2010. All surveys are of adults 18 and older.

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

18-29

30-49

50-64

65+ Sept May Nov April Dec May 2005 2008 2008 2009 2009 2010

86%

61%

47%

26%

83%

58%

36%

22%

76%

48%

25%

13%

73%

36%

16%

4%

67%

25%

11%16%12%7%5% 7%

The 50+ OppOrTuniTy

If health care marketers are looking

for additional rationale for building

sound, effective social media programs,

they need to look no further than

the growth of social media usage

among people 50 years and older,

a key demographic for the industry.

According to the Pew Internet &

American Life Project (August, 2010),

“Social networking use among Internet

users ages 50 and older nearly

doubled—from 22% in April 2009

to 42% in May 2010.”

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Gather Project Methodology

citrus utilized two techniques to create our analysis.

NatioNal Poll

We held informal discussions and used an online poll with health

care marketers to determine their usage and attitudes towards

social media. The review was conducted in October, 2010.

Social Media Scorecard

We reviewed 21 predominate health care providers on their Facebook,

Twitter, YouTube and Blogs, as well as other social media tools.

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As you will see in the following sections of this report, there is a wide

range of commitment to social media in late 2010. However, we do expect

that more health care organizations will begin to link the opportunities

of this new medium to marketing objectives and staff allocation.

4. Most organizations have not realized the power

of social media for product or service delivery.

5. Facebook is by far the most used social media tool. Next

is micro-Blogs like Twitter and YouTube, followed by Blogs.

6. Most organizations do not have detailed social media

policies or guidelines.

7. Privacy issues are a constraint. These will need

to be addressed in corporate policies.

Results

Despite the fact that most health care marketers have yet to build

robust social media programs, they are becoming actively involved

with and testing various social media platforms.

some of our findinGs

1. Over three-quarters of health care marketers

plan on investing more in social media in 2011.

2. The top social media priorities: building brand awareness

and stimulating informal two-way conversations.

3. Most organizations do not believe that they are engaging in

meaningful dialogue with customers through social media. Staffing

for social media management will be a pressing issue in the next year.

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Methodology

We are using four criteria in our social media analysis.

IntegratIon - 30%: Is the marketer integrating their social media

program into their overall marketing program? We believe that

synergy breeds efficiency. additionally, each element, from the

website to social media to mobile media, adds to the overall

integrated marketing effort in a world where people now get

their information from a much wider array of sources.

BrandIng - 30%: Building a strong, effective online brand

includes the delivery of consistent branding across program

elements, cohesive messaging and brand voice, and the

establishment of a competitive positioning.

SocIal MedIa relevance - 30%: Brand presence in this relatively new

space, brand and consumer activity, authenticity and marketing dedication.

dIgItal MarketIng - 10%: activity in Blogs, interactive website

elements, mobile marketing and email marketing.

The Health Care Scorecard

IntroductIon

The Health Care Scorecard grades 21 health care organizations,

including hospitals, health care systems and health plan providers,

according to a set of quantitative criteria and citrus’ perception of

social media program maturity. Note that we are not grading based

on overall Internet strategy, including a review of websites. However,

we do believe that an organization’s social media strategy and

execution is an indication of digital marketing prowess. Digital

marketing proficiency is now inextricably tied to marketing success.

The information and data used to create our analysis are dynamic

and time-based, as social media usage is growing exponentially.

It is our intention to keep our data fresh, and we will publish

updates in the coming months.

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COMPANY RANk CATeGORY ASSeSSMeNT

Mayo Clinic 1 Hospital System Though relatively low Facebook numbers, Mayo rules YouTube and Twitter to drive leadership positioning. “They get it.”

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital 2 Hospital System Almost 40 years of a dedication to marketing is reflected in a superior social media program.

Children’s Hospital Boston 3 Hospital System Another children’s hospital recognizes the power of the social conversation. Parents have passion.

Cleveland Clinic 4 Hospital System Smart CeO driven integrated marketing program is beginning to leverage social tools.

kaiser Permanente Thrive 5 Health Care Delivery System “Thrive” positioning owns “wellness” and is brought to life across social media with second highest list of videos.

Johns Hopkins Medicine 6 Hospital System Highly integrated Facebook, Blog, YouTube and Twitter program.

City of Hope National Medical Center 7 Hospital System In the game but could use much stronger social media branding and customization.

Duke University Hospital 8 Hospital System “Connect with your health care at Duke Medicine” positioning is missed opportunity on their social sites.

BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois 9 Health Plans A leading provider in social space but no presence on YouTube. Health care videos are too strong not to leverage.

Rush University Medical Center 10 Hospital System Considering medical college focus, social presence is limited.

Scripps Health 11 Hospital System One of the more active on Twitter but not reflected across Facebook and YouTube.

Oregon Health & Science University 12 Hospital System Tepid social marketing from Oregon’s only health care and research university.

Massachusetts General 13 Hospital System Social media policy stated on home page but limited social media. Privacy concerns outweighing marketing?

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center 14 Hospital System Surprisingly limited social media effort from a leading major market university hospital.

Banner Health 15 Health Plans Middle of the road social program but it is integrated into master website.

BlueCross BlueShield of Minnesota 16 Health Plans Low energy for such a strong brand.

Providence Health Plans 17 Health Plans Twitter and Facebook are well integrated on website home page but little call to action equals low activity.

Southwest Washington Medical Center 18 Hospital System Well integrated program including a dedication to the use of video. Could use more fans and views.

UnitedHealth Group 19 Health Plans Huge health care insurer is not a huge participant in the social universe. Missed opportunity given traditional advertising programs.

New York Presbyterian Hospital 20 Hospital System New York’s top ranked hospital hasn’t found its voice. Very limited, low involvement social strategy.

WellPoint 21 Health Plans Very conservative brand position. Little social media presence.

Data collected in October, 2010

HealtH Care SCoreCard

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Activity trAck

We believe that activity data is a clear indication of an organization’s

interest in social media, its on-going support and resulting consumer

participation in messaging.

Activity such as Facebook Likes, Twitter Followers and YouTube

Views are clear indications of a company’s social media success.

Facebook “Likes”: Likes are the ultimate marketing amplification

tool. When someone Likes you or your content, it is broadcast

to their Facebook Friends. (On average, each Facebook user

has 130 friends). Likes are a good thing.

Twitter Followers: Simply put, Twitter refers a ton of traffic

to websites. It’s meant to be a content-referral network,

so link-sharing and click-throughs are a given in many cases.

YouTube Views: YouTube videos are searchable (they

account for approximately 30% of all Google searches).

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COMPANY # FANS CUSTOM TABS # VIDeOS

Children’s Hospital Boston 439,440 Give, Connect, Invite, Interact 0

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital 306,077 Patient of the Month, Thanks and Giving Campaign, Shop 4

Mayo Clinic 31,434 None 143

Cleveland Clinic 16,334 About Us, Facts, Let’s Move It!, Patient FAQs 413

BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois 13,393 Contest, Welcome, ecards, BCBSIL on FB 10

kaiser Permanente Thrive 8,743 RSS/Blog 15

Johns Hopkins Medicine 8,719 Twitter 4

City of Hope National Medical Center 7,338 YouTube 6

Duke University Hospital 2,861 None 0

Massachusetts General Hospital 2,774 email Sign Up, YouTube 16

Rush University Medical Center 1,660 Welcome, Rush Resources, YouTube, Twitter 6

Oregon Health & Science University 1,440 extened Info, e News 0

Scripps Health 1,111 Jobs, Twitter, YouTube, RSS/Blog 12

Banner Health 1,042 New!, Twitter, YouTube, Job, Reviews 7

BlueCross BlueShield of Minnesota 1,020 Twitter 33

Southwest Washington Medical Center 776 Reviews 1

New York Presbyterian Hospital 396 None 0

UnitedHealth Group 347 None 0

Providence Health Plans 331 None 2

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center 231 None 1

WellPoint 175 None 0

COMPANY # SUBSCIBeRS BRAND PAGe # TWeeTS PeR Week

Mayo Clinic 90,641 Yes: MayoClinic 20

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital 10,366 No: StJude 16

Johns Hopkins Medicine 9,029 Yes: JohnsHopkins 29

Scripps Health 6,594 Yes: Scripps Health 25

Cleveland Clinic 6,527 Yes: ClevelandClinic 42

City of Hope National Medical Center 5,191 Yes: cityofhope 20

Duke University Hospital 4,450 Yes: Duke_Medicine 8

Children’s Hospital Boston 3,497 Yes: ChildrensBoston 15

Rush University Medical Center 2,147 Yes: RushMedical 11

BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois 1,604 Yes: BCBSIL 7

Oregon Health & Science University 1,589 Yes: OHSUHealthcare 30

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center 1,021 Yes: UCLAHealth 1

Banner Health 881 Yes: BannerHealth 2

UnitedHealth Group 565 Yes: uhcfeds 5

kaiser Permanente Thrive 491 No: kpthrive 8

BlueCross BlueShield of Minnesota 480 No: BlueCrossMN 5

Massachusetts General Hospital 380 No: Mass General 2

Southwest Washington Medical Center 263 Yes: swhealth 20

WellPoint 178 Yes: wellpointhealth 5

Providence Health Plans 150 Yes: ProvHealth 4

New York Presbyterian Hospital 141 Yes: PAatNYP 0

Data collected in October, 2010 Data collected in October, 2010

Facebook analysis

TWITTER AnAlysIs

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COMPANY # FOLLOWeRS BRAND CHANNeL # CHANNeL VIeWS # VIDeOS

Mayo Clinic 2,203 Yes: mayoclinic’s Channel 183,865 959

Providence Health Plans 1,473 No: otmills’s Channel 78,101 19

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital 730 Yes: MyStJude’s Channel 36,206 8

Johns Hopkins Medicine 692 Yes: JohnsHopkins’s Channel 42,201 13

Duke University Hospital 633 Yes: DukeMedicine’s Channel 26,892 121

Cleveland Clinic 358 Yes: Cleveland Clinic 54,193 424

kaiser Permanente Thrive 302 Yes: kaiserpermanenteorg’s Channel 35,120 125

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center 225 No: UCLAHealth’s Channel 11,160 28

City of Hope National Medical Center 225 No: cityofhopeonline’s Channel 8,492 38

Scripps Health 118 No: ScrippsHealth’s Channel 86,526 170

New York Presbyterian Hospital 100 Yes: newyorkpresbyterian’s Channel 26,128 210

Rush University Medical Center 63 Yes: rushmedicalcenter’s Channel 7,395 117

Children’s Hospital Boston 45 Yes: ChildrensHospital’s Channel 4,627 31

Banner Health 38 No: bannerhealthonline’s Channel 3,251 41

Oregon Health & Science University 35 No: OHSUhealth’s Channel 1,469 16

Massachusetts General Hospital 21 No: MassGeneralHospital’s Channel 1,462 16

BlueCross BlueShield of Minnesota 16 No: bcbsofmn’s Channel 2117 32

UnitedHealth Group 6 No: UHSInc’s Channel 5,298 9

Southwest Washington Medical Center 6 Yes: swstories’s Channel 3,459 16

WellPoint 3 No: ThinkWellPoint’s Channel 813 9

BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois None None None None

Data collected in October, 2010

YouTuBE AnAlYsis Core Finding

socially unhealThy

Our findings indicate that although there is high awareness

of the options, few health care marketers have created effective

programs that take full advantage of the range of marketing tools

and opportunities provided by social media. Bottom line: few marketers

are integrating social media into their master marketing programs.

Most marketers are content to place a Facebook or Twitter logo

on their website as the first step toward integration. This low priority

approach leaves the potential of using social media to build strong,

long-lasting relationships with patients, caregivers and current

and future employees untapped.

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Eight Social MEdia MuStS

1. An Objectives Driven Program

2. Brand Consciousness

3. Integrate

4. Ignite Action

5. Provide Value

6. Authenticity and Voice

7. Think Mobile

8. Measure and Optimize

Roadmap: Where do we go from here?

The chatter about social media is constant. We are bombarded

on a daily basis with advice, white papers, opinions and seminars.

While all of this chatter can be unnerving, citrus believes that

companies ignore the potential of social media at their own peril.

We may not yet know the true power of social media, but we

cannot ignore the fastest growing area of the Internet.

By comparing the social media programs of both leaders and

laggards with the best practices of the overall marketing universe,

citrus has established a set of guidelines to help health care marketers

achieve smarter, more competitive programs moving forward.

In the following section, we outline these eight key Best Practices

and examine the social media programs of five health care

marketers based on these principles.

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1. An Objectives Driven PrOgrAm

All social media programs must start with a high-level marketing objectives

statement. “I need Facebook, Twitter, social media” simply isn’t a starting

point or a sustainable program. Your social media program has to support

your Master Brand Strategy and specific marketing objectives. You must

understand your target market, what you expect them to do and build

on their current social media habits.

The reason to use social media isn’t that it exists. The reason is that

it provides unique communications benefits that can be utilized to meet

clear objectives. Very few media options offer the network effect of social

media. Leveraging your target market’s personal networks across Facebook,

Twitter, YouTube and Blogs provides a significant amount of highly efficient

marketing and brand advocacy.

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The ObjecTive Of fame

Building a strong national reputation is a clear objective of many

major hospitals. By examining the Facebook “Like” numbers for five

of the most famous facilities in America, it is clear who has an objective-

based approach to social media and has dedicated resources to

achieve their goals through the use of social media channels.

Cleveland Clinic, over 16,000 Likes Johns Hopkins Medicine, over 8,500 Likes Mayo Clinic, over 31,000 Likes New York Presbyterian Hospital, over 350 Likes St. Jude Children’s Hospital, over 306,000 Likes

And, then there is Dr. Oz who has over 814,000 Likes.

in LOve wiTh ST. jude’S

In addition to having focused on building an astounding Facebook

Fan base, St. Jude’s goes even further to meet corporate objectives

by opening their Facebook site on one of their custom tabs that

seeks donations through the sales of merchandise. Another custom

tab called “Donate Now,” links directly to the donation page on

St. Jude’s master website. The St. Jude’s objective is clear, and

with over 306,000 Likes and growing, they appear successful. Many

hospitals have foundations. Why is St. Jude’s alone in leveraging

the power of social media for generating donations?

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2. Brand ConsCiousness

Social media, like all outbound media, is a branding tool and should

reflect, support and enhance the essence of your brand. Unfortunately,

many brands do not use the design tools inherent in many social media

channels to support their brand.

Facebook allows brands to control their image on the left side of their

Wall, or more importantly, open directly to a custom designed page.

Custom branded apps are an effective brand-driver as well. Twitter allows

branding around the core message box, YouTube provides tools for custom

branding via Channels, and all Blogs are 100% controlled by the marketing

department. However, in the health care category, even leading hospitals

are not delivering a robust brand experience.

Case in point:

Massachusetts General, a leading hospital with over 1.5 million patient

visits per year, has a well-designed website, but has chosen to take

a default route to their Facebook page.

Scripps Health’s Twitter page has a brand supporting graphic look

while Kaiser Permanente Thrive has again gone the default route with

the placement of a small virtually impossible to read logo on the top of

the page. It is so easy to take advantage of first stage branding tools that

we wonder why this isn’t an element of many marketing programs.

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3. Integrate

citrus knows that the strongest marketing programs integrate all elements

under common objectives, strategies and creative themes. Social media

should not be viewed as a stand-alone program. Often we see that health

care organizations are content to simply show a Facebook or YouTube logo

on the front page of their website as a means of integration. This is a major

missed opportunity to link messaging across communications channels.

Examples of integration include using YouTube both as a branded channel

and integrated video platform for your Blog, website and Facebook page.

You can integrate your Tweets and Facebook messages across both of

these platforms and your website automatically. This provides a sense

of activity and freshness to all of your messaging and Internet channels.

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On a very simple level, MD Anderson Center at least pushes their

Twitter audience to their Facebook page though the link at the left. While

rudimentary, it is more than most Twitter pages do to deliver synergy.

Johns Hopkins links its efforts through a website page that lists

all of its social media programs.

Alegent Health goes farther by integrating their Facebook Fan effort

on their Blog. Alegent could be going further to include their Facebook

posts as a live stream, but they are at least providing a tool to increase

Facebook “Likes” into their Blog program.

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Mayo CliniC: The leader

The leader in hospital branding and marketing integration

is, without question, Mayo Clinic.

The Mayo Clinic treats over 500,000 patients every year. Because

of the power of their brand, approximately 25% of their patients come

from other states and countries. The Mayo Clinic’s reputation, which

benefits both patients and staff, is not an accident. Marketing has been

viewed as a major element of hospital operations and the Mayo Clinic

clearly recognizes the power of social media. The Clinic frequently posts

YouTube videos on a variety of topics, and has over 1 million views on

their YouTube account and 30,000+ Facebook Likes. This July, the Clinic

announced that it would be launching a Center for Social Media.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Center “will expand social

media tools beyond the traditional P.R. and marketing functions to

use by staff, physicians and patients.”

The Mayo Clinic also offers resources on their website, Blogs

and Podcasts (with dozens on iTunes). This information is easily

searchable via search engines, and drives their marketing reach.

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4. IgnIte ActIon

By the nature of being social, Facebook, Blogs, YouTube and Twitter are

active communications environments. However, many brands do not

actively engage their Fans and social networks beyond the use of default

tools and outbound—rather than truly engagement-oriented—messaging.

Being active in the social realm requires a dedicated communications and

programming effort that many marketers have not staffed to full advantage.

We recommend A four-pArt progrAm.

1. FosTer Dialog

it’s not dialogue unless you foster a two-way conversation. seek out

interaction and visitor comments and posts. Then respond with a sense

of immediacy. Create fresh subjects that your visitors will want to respond

to. in the health care field, we all too often see posts that sound more

like press releases than compelling messages. Most visitors are not that

interested in the name and photo of a new doctor or machine.

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3. Build in Action

Facebook in particular offers the ability to create custom experiences

through the use of apps. Facebook can go beyond its core functionality

to offer your visitors an active, participatory, even website-like experience.

We’ve seen simple apps that help broadcast health-related messages like

getting a flu shot. Apps are limitless and can be health quizzes, polls, video

contests, promotions, appointment bookings, etc. When apps are used by

your Fans, they alert your Fan’s Friends that they have taken an action.

Remember St. Jude’s app-based Facebook e-commerce site. if someone

buys from St. Jude’s page, St. Jude’s gets a donation and an automatic

referral to all of the buyer’s Friends.

4. PlAn AheAd

Blogs, twitter, Youtube and Facebook programs and posts will all

be richer and more timely if you first develop an editorial calendar.

Just consider the interest in flu during the flu season, skin cancer at

the beginning of summer, and nutrition messages ahead of holiday

meals. leveraging public interest in these specific subjects should be

of particular importance to health insurers and any hospital interested

in wellness. there are seasonal triggers as well as dedicated messaging

related to your specific programs.

A key benefit of driving conversation between you and your audience,

and even peer-to-peer conversations, is that your Fans will automatically

alert their network about their dialogue. This amplification effect

may be one of the major benefits of your social media program.

An interesting gap is how organizations use their “voice.” The vast

majority of social statements sound like they come from a corporate

drone, not a person. Who is posting the comments, the discussion

points, the Tweets and the Blog posts? Why not provide an air of

personalization and authenticity by leading with one or more

personalities. Real people that your visitors can really relate to.

2. FosTeR AdvocAcy

Ask and you shall receive. Actively ask your Fans and Followers

to “Like” you, ask them to participate in a poll or use Twitter to send

them to a page on your website where they can upload stories and

photos. Again, their advocacy and action beget the network effect

that social media delivers in spades. you know the numbers. If your

average Facebook Fan has, on average, 130 Friends, then each

of these Friends will see all activity in their Newsfeed. That’s 130

free messages. But to get them, you will need to ignite action.

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Flu.gov and HealthySocial is an example of a partnership that

meets all four of our criteria. They are fostering dialogue, advocacy

and action via the delivery of a Facebook app that spreads the word

about flu vaccinations. This simple, timely app could have been

created by any health insurance provider or hospital.

The “I’m a flu fighter” campaign goes even further to best industry

practice by integrating their message across multiple touch points

including Twitter, Facebook, the website, YouTube and an RSS feed.

What is truly inspiring about this program is that it is ultimately

low cost yet highly effective in using the network effect.

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5. Provide value

Because of the educational aspects of social media,

marketers should consider the benefits in providing educational

value. Value can be delivered in the form of consumer-oriented

news, entertainment, conversation-starters, promotions, and,

as discussed earlier, applications. In the video space where over

10.2 billion videos are streamed per month (July 2010, Brightcove),

not all videos should be corporate films with talking heads. Why not

take video to a higher level and deliver a deeper story and message.

Yes, a cancer patient will seek out a doctor’s perspective. But, why

not more preventive or wellness oriented messaging? This is a

social space that is virtually untapped at present.

Given the broad interest and confusion relating to the health care

bill, one would expect that health care organizations would see the

opportunity in commanding a leadership position in helping consumers

to understand the bill and its implications. Our search across the social

space netted one organization, BlueCross BlueShield of Michigan,

leading with this important message.

In respect to our point about integration, another of our Best Practices,

BlueCross BlueShield of Michigan extends the health care reform

messaging to a prominent section of their website with a call to action,

“Join the conversation” across their range of social media outlets.

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7. Think Mobile

Social networking through mobile devices is the fastest growing

use for smartphones, according to digital analytics firm comScore.

All social networks can now be accessed on smartphones either

through a browser or by an app. In fact, the number of people using

social networking applications on their smartphones has grown

by 240% to 14.5 million users since last year.

At this point in time, thinking mobile means being aware that

your social media audience is expanding beyond the desktop and

laptop and that your messages are now being seen in a much

broader 24/7 environment.

6. Authenticity And Voice

We will try not to belabor the point that any social conversation

has to be authentic and must support your brand’s voice. While an

obvious point, we think that the need for authenticity is especially

critical in health care communications.

here Are four simple goAls.

1. Determine your brand voice. This is how you talk and sound.

Most health care companies will fit between authoritarian,

in the good sense, and caring.

2. Be true to and reflect your mission.

3. Assign an “editor” who is responsible for maintaining consistency.

4. Consider actually naming the person who is responsible

for your social media conversation. Why be so anonymous?

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8. Measure and OptiMize

As we mentioned at the start of this discussion, all social programs

should lead with objectives. While social media is still in its relative

infancy, there are tools to help us better understand the value of our

social programs. We understand that management will be asking,

“Why are we doing this and why are you asking for dedicated social

managers?” Well, in many cases, social media will actually provide

more user data than most health care marketing programs.

sOMe quantitative MeasureMent tOOls include:

The measurement of inbound referrals to your corporate website

from social media sites. Even basic Google Analytics can tell you

how many visitors are coming from social media.

Facebook has improved their analytics in the form of their Insights

Dashboard, which shows data for fully integrated sites and sites that

use Facebook’s social plug-ins. Data includes demographics, daily

Likes, daily shares, feedback per share and re-share rate.

Active Mobile Apps

It has been virtually impossible to find hospitals or insurance

companies that have useful mobile strategies. We see both

patient value as well as health care branding opportunities

in two areas. First, using SMS to keep in touch, as appointment

reminders, even compliance. On a richer scale, smartphone apps

can be created as information and branding tools to help patients:

Take scheduled medicaTions

Track Pain

Track smokinG cessaTion

PromoTe beTTer sleeP

as a dieT Tool

PrePare for Procedures

Why does it seem that only private companies like ThePill.com

and Livehappy.com are executing in the mobile app space?

Shouldn’t your hospital or insurance company’s apps be

listed on iTunes App Store?

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There are a number of third-party tools that help you

track Twitter stats including, Tweets per hour, per month,

Tweet timeline reply statistics, how many Followers are

online presently, who retweets your messages, what

people are writing about you, even your Tweeting habits.

YouTube can be tracked by individual video performance

detail, including number of views, time spent viewing,

geographic data and trends.

You can also track the conversation universe by using

tools that will scour numerous social platforms for any

mention of your brand. These tools will allow you to break

down search results according to where your brand is

mentioned: Blog posts, images, videos, news items and more.

Now comes the most exciting element of social media—

optimization. Digital discussion is constantly moving and

evolving. A good plan will adapt to the changes and build

on the successes. Each conversation with every customer

is an opportunity to strengthen the relationship.

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YouTube

Next we recommend YouTube for added brand visibility. Your videos

should be informative, interesting (not too many white coats please) and

search engine optimized to grow traffic. These health care videos play

triple duty by being shared across your Facebook and primary website.

TwiTTer

After you have created robust Facebook and YouTube channels, add

Twitter to your mix. Twitter primarily offers a platform for promotions

and customer service. Twitter requires daily feeding and offers direct

communications with your Followers. If you publish high-value,

high-interest Tweets, your messages will be shared.

ciTrus services

citrus is a group of marketers, designers, thinkers, and strategists

committed to delivering integrated communication programs

that connect, inspire and motivate.

We believe that it is our job to help clients move their audience

to action. We help provide the fuel that feeds imagination that

ignites action... that moves people.

CONCLUSION

A PAth to SucceSS

Our discussions with health care marketers indicate that they

face a significant daily hurdle: How to staff and manage labor-

intensive social media programs.

citrus recommends that marketers prioritize their needs based

on a combination of business objectives, a clear holistic approach

and the development of a plan based on staffing requirements.

In general, we recommend starting with Facebook.

FAcebook

Facebook offers a very large audience, consumer engagement, two-

way conversations and the amplification of messaging through viral

momentum. Create a branded experience though the development

of a custom designed opening page and apps that deliver active

engagement. A key goal will be building a strong base of Fans

that “Like” your Fan page so be active in asking for those “Likes.”

Assign the management of Facebook to an experienced marketer who

can be trusted with your company’s voice. As we mentioned earlier, we

think that you should consider actually naming this person (Proctor &

Gamble does) so your out-bound messaging and dialogue sound authentic.

5958

ContaCt

If you are interested in our strategic advice on social

media programs and how they fit into and support

your master marketing objectives, give us a call.

citrus

107 SE Washington Street, suite 620

Portland, OR 97214

Peter Levitan, President & CEO

peter.levitan@hellocitrus.com

o: 541.550.4255

Tracy White, Marketing Director

tracy.white@hellocitrus.com

o: 541.550.4246