Recent News and Updates

New Site Coming Soon

posted by Jason Fleck @ May 13th, 2009

We’re revamping our entire website hence the reason for no recent blog posts. Stay tuned!

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Interview

Jamey Shiels Interview

posted by Jason Fleck @ March 4th, 2009

Jamey Shiels is the Director of Social Media at Aurora Health Care. I was given the opportunity to ask him some questions on the impact social media is having within the health care industry. Jamey represents a position that wasn’t heard of five years ago within any industry. The times are changing from traditional to digital media and Aurora Health Care is embracing the transformation.

Here were his responses:

1. What is your background in health care?

My background in health care is limited. Aurora was interested in my experience based on spending 10 years in the non-profit sector as the communications director for The Salvation Army as well as  6 years in the agency environment with 4 of those spent with digital agencies. My diverse background has allowed me to transition quickly to the needs of a non-profit health care organization. As a non-profit, Aurora Health Care can focus on providing the best possible care for their patients. It also allows us to provide extensive community benefit programs to those who may otherwise be unable to access care.

2. How do you see social media changing the health care industry?

Social Media is going to play a key role in the future of the health care industry. Social networks are already supporting conversations between patients around diseases, treatments and other health related topics. If health care providers want to provide the best possible care, it’s imperative for us to listen to these conversations and participate where appropriate. As a patient-centered organization, social media tools will play a critical role in our delivery of care and in identifying what is most important to the patients we serve.

3. How does Aurora Health Care plan to use social media to reach their patients or connect with their community?

Aurora is taking a broad approach that will help us to listen, engage, and interact with patients. We want to identify where the interactions are happening and be very careful, strategic and transparent in how we interact. We’re creating a presence on key networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube to support our overall mission and values but will be exploring specific niche opportunities to engage in and provide value to the community and patients we serve.

4. Patient privacy is a key issue when dealing with health care, but recently I’ve been reading articles where bloggers are debating things such as individuals being able to view test results online.  What are your thoughts on this?

Aurora provides a secure, private environment called MyAurora where patients will be able to access confidential health care information as well as tools that will help them manage their health care experience and wellness programs. Our communications and activities in social media will promote this service where appropriate but we will continue to maintain the highest level of confidentiality and security. The value of an accessible electronic health record will be a key to provide the best possible care and is something Aurora has committed to providing.

5. Do you think it’s important for hospitals to join the conversations their patient are having about them online?

I think it’s important for any organization to join the conversation. It’s especially important for health care organizations to find a way to engage. Health care is extremely personal and emotional and many individuals have questions, seek resources and support outside the walls of hospitals and clinics. By joining the online conversations, we can continue to provide care that improves outcomes for individuals. With respect to the conversations patients are having about their hospitals, it is an excellent opportunity for us to learn how to provide better service to those who come through our doors.

6. What are your thoughts on sites like WebMD?

Sites like WebMD can be valuable resources as individuals are researching and looking for health care information. I think it’s important for individuals to make sure they consider the source of information as a resource and not necessarily a diagnosis tool. WebMD is a great source for information but reinforces the need for health care providers to participate in the online experience. Aurora has experts, technology and information that is proven, tested and backed by health care professionals. By making those resources available to patients we can provide integrated care at the right time, the right place and in the right way.

7. Is Aurora thinking of starting their own informational content site?

Aurora has a health information section of the web site that features hundreds of pages of content on health related information. This section of the site is one of our top-visited areas and serves as a valuable resource for patients.

Related tags: aurora • healthcare • Social Media

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Social Media

Do incentives work?

posted by Jason Fleck @ February 25th, 2009

Earlier today, I was directed - on Twitter - toward a contest at Smashing Magazine. However, this contest wasn’t your typical contest.  Like usual, there were decent prizes offered, but to enter, you had to comment below the post with your location and what the weather was like outside. Still nothing earth shattering, right?

Well, the catch to this contest was Smashing Magazine wouldn’t give away any of their prizes until their comment count reached 5000 entries.  Let me tell you, that’s A LOT of entries. Right now, it’s over 8100 entries which is over 81 pages of comments. I can honestly tell you I’ve never seen so many comments on one post.

Result? They’ve probably pulled in more readers, more subscribers, and more ad revenue off that single blog post than the combined cost of the three prizes. Mission successful? I do believe so, yes.

Another example of a successful incentive campaign is the ShoeMoney Twitter contest. In this contest, Jeremy Schoemaker offered entrance to his contest by following him on Twitter and sending out a simple tweet:

Just entered to win a flip minoHD. Just follow @shoemoney and retweet. http://xr.com/fliphd”

What were his prizes? 2 flip mino’s and a possible MacBook Air if his follower count surpassed 20k. His follower count never hit 20k, but he did get over 6k followers in under 3 weeks. Mission successful? Most definitely.

The moral behind these two examples is that it doesn’t take something with a large monetary value like a car to motivate people to spread your cause. Sometimes all it takes is a fun gadget and some imagination.

Are there any other cool contests going on right now? Let me know by commenting below.

Related tags: contest • incentives • Social Media

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Web Strategy

Does Google have a Threat?

posted by Jason Fleck @ February 11th, 2009

Some say Twitter will take down Google and others say Google owns the NOW web. Who’s right? In my opinion, neither.

Google has all the info and Twitter has the speed, but ultimately they serve two very different purposes. When dealing with a search engine, such as Google, one has to remember that whenever he or she searches a topic, the top results are going to be from sites with the best optimization.  Those results have nothing to do with relevancy in respect to time.  Google’s bots might gather all the most recent blog posts or message-board posts in close to real time, but it’s still not as fast as Twitter.  So in those regards, Google DOES NOT own the NOW web.

However, Twitter isn’t the ultimate solution either.  Does Twitter have the masses of information Google has?

Nope.

Twitter does have the time relevancy and a slew of pertinent information, but it could never be Google. Plain and simple.  Maybe someday, something will overtake Google, but that day isn’t today.

Related tags: google • Twitter

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Interview

Cory Hartlen Interview

posted by Jason Fleck @ February 2nd, 2009

I was given the opportunity to demo the super sweet, super solid Radian6 social media monitoring solution. The nice guy on the other end of the line was Cory Hartlen, one of the account managers for Radian6. After he gave his demo, he allowed me to ask him a couple of questions dealing with social media. Here are his responses:

What exactly is your background in social media?

My background in social media is not very extensive. I started like everybody else viewing different blogs as a way of extracting different information. I was in the financial industry before this and started actively engaging in social media for some clients that were asking hard and tough question that I might not have had an answer for, so I started looking at different blogs and different financial news sites as a way of being able to extract information for clients. I had an opportunity in the last three months, I do believe it was the first of September that Radian6 came across my radar and I was completely blown away. I thought it was such an incredible tool and the ability for it to do what it does I thought was something so neat. Why wouldn’t I want to be a part of it given the state of the financial industry at this moment in time.

…so for other social things that I guess I’ve done. I had been a bar tender for almost a decade and I was a stand up comedian as well. So a lot of my social experience comes from that.

From your interactions with your clients and just being a part of Radian6, what do you think are some of the larger problems companies face when diving into social media, and does Radian6 help alleviate any of these huge problems?

Yes. The biggest thing I find is intimidation. People are intimidated by the space. Now, people that are new to the space, don’t exactly know how to take it on. They prefer to be ignorant and not listen as opposed to at least find out what people are saying. I find the Radian6 tool allows people to grow through social media so in the beginning they can use a bottom-up approach by using the name of their company and see what people are saying about them or perhaps one of their product lines. Then as they grow, they can start to participate in the space by locating the specific areas of the space that are important for their brand and their company. So if they decided to develop an engagement strategy they now have a full list of conversations that are happening so if they choose to participate they now have a tool they can do that with.

————————

If everyone at Radian6 is as friendly and helpful as Cory, they have a great staff there. I also contacted Amber Naslund through Twitter and she was extremely helpful answering the questions I had. They offer a powerful tool that can be used to engage your customers. Keep up the good work!

Related tags: Interview • radian6 • Social Media

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Recent News and Updates

A few good ads

posted by McKenna @ January 23rd, 2009

Last week I was suffering from insomnia. Which meant I was up late reading magazines and watching TV, two things I rarely have time to do, and I saw some interesting ads that I would have otherwise missed.
I don’t know if it was my sleep-deprived state or what, but some of these ads seemed exceptionally good. And they weren’t viral, online or otherwise hyped-up “new” media approaches.

This TV spot from Acura totally mesmerized me. I normally find car ads overblown yet uninspired. This one is neither, and it captured my attention.

This 3D print ad from Kleenex also caught my attention. The tactile component made it jump out to me – much more than anything else in the magazine. I couldn’t tell you what other companies advertised that month, but I definitely remember this one. In fact, I pulled out the insert and stuck it on my office door. I still can’t stop touching the ultra-soft tissue in the middle.

Then I saw a TV ad selling Italian language CDs. At first, I scoffed, thinking that nobody would part with their money on language CDs right now. But then I checked myself and thought: This is brilliant. I’m sure there are many people unable to travel abroad this year, due to the economy. Why not bring a little bit of Italy to them?

Each of these ads relied on a strong strategy and relevant messaging to drive their success. And they were willing to put their advertising dollars into strategies that worked. (In fact, the Kleenex ad is the broadest sampling program in the brand’s history.)

What traditional media are calling out for your ad dollars this year?

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Online Marketing

Interactive video? Yes. Interactive video.

posted by Jason Fleck @ January 22nd, 2009

Video, in terms of advertising space, really hasn’t changed - ever.  We’re all used to those annoying 1o second clips we’re forced to watch or the ads that pop up on the lower section of the video on YouTube.  What if there was a new way to reach out and engage your audience?

Now there is.

Innovid is making some huge advancements in video interaction.  Imagine seeing a Coke bottle within a video clip you’re watching.  Not out of the ordinary right?  Well, what if you could interact with that Coke bottle by mousing over or clicking on it within the video which in turn would cause something to happen?  Maybe it takes you to Coke’s website or displays more information within the video.  What if advertisers aren’t your thing and you want your blog’s RSS feed to scroll constantly across the background giving you greater exposure?

Innovid makes all this possible and more.  I could ramble on, but just go to their site and check out the remarkable things they’re doing.

Do you think it’s going to change the way advertisers display their products within videos?  Let me know by leaving a comment below.

Related tags: advertising • video • youtube

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Social Media • Trends

Getting Your Feet Wet With Social Media

posted by Dan Baker @ January 21st, 2009

A lot of people have heard about blogs, a lot more people are regular readers of blogs, but very few people (relatively speaking) are regular contributors to a blog. The promise of the social web - that we all have something important to say to our community - is going unfulfilled by many small and medium businesses.

Starting a blog to talk about your expertise is a great way to jump into the fray and show off your specialized knowledge. After all, no one knows your business or your product quite like you do. So how do you get started?

Enter Wordpress. We love Wordpress. When I started blogging, I looked into a few different systems. I started with “custom”, which proved waaay too daunting. I dabbled with Blogger (since purchased by the almighty Google), which proved inflexible. I researched pay-to-play services like Typepad, which proved too costly. Then I met Wordpress, and it was love at first site.

Wordpress, rated the number one blogging platform across the web, is easy to use, powerful, flexible, customizable, has an amazing community, and is extremely cost-effective. We believe so strongly in it’s power as a blogging platform that it’s the only system we use for all our clients. The more we use it, the more we love it.

Sound too good to be true? Do we really have a real, emotional attachment to software? Only one way to find out: if you’re looking to get your feet wet with social media, look no further than Wordpress. And yes, I did say “love at first site.” It’s a pun. And I am very ashamed.

Related tags: wordpress

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Social Media

Massive response for a miniature ad

posted by Jason Fleck @ January 21st, 2009

Today’s blog post comes from guest blogger Alex Gelhar. Show him some love and comment below.

This morning a coworker forwarded me an article about Miller High Life buying a 1 second advertisement during Super Bowl next weekend (Feb. 2). My first thought was quite literally, “That’s crazy,” but as soon as that gut reaction subsided, I was intrigued.

I wanted to know how a 1 second ad could be effective, and after following the link in the article to the promotional website 1secondad.com, I found out.

The site features rejected takes of everyone’s favorite beer man Windell Middlebrooks filling his one second of fame with everything from catch phrases to painting a picture of the Miller High Life can. Also, there were longer videos of Windell riffing on the ludicrous prices associated with the Super Bowl, from tickets to concessions to advertisements.

Why’s this effective? The Super Bowl is renowned for having the greatest commercials. There are even websites devoted to rating the best Super Bowl ads.

Yet with the reported cost of a 30 second advertisement totaling $3 million dollars for 2009, MillerCoors has found an effective and possibly cheaper method of promoting their brand.

On the MillerCoors website, Senior Brand Manager Kevin Oglesby explains the logic behind the miniature ad.

“Just like our consumers, High Life strives to make smart choices. One second should be plenty of time to remind viewers that Miller High Life is common sense in a bottle.”

That isn’t to say MillerCoors paid pennies for the ad. They had to drop tons of cash for the shoots, website creation, and eventual placement – even if it was less than $3 million. However, the fact that it’s already being hyped online and generating tons of buzz for a commercial is astounding - a 1 second commercial no less. Google the ad or check the Twitter chatter if you need more proof.

In addition to the ad itself, the pre-game publicity and viral response will score MillerCoors tons of attention. For example, while walking around the office I heard “Miller Time!” and other catchphrases echo out of offices, along with subsequent chuckles. And all of this promotion is costing MillerCoors nothing.

While other corporations drain millions in online banner advertising, MillerCoors has embraced the future and accepted new media into their marketing plans. Through PR, promotional websites, and a viral campaign, more people will probably be playing “Where’s Windell?” on February 2 instead of watching the other commercials or even the game for that matter.

This IS social media at its finest.

If this campaign proves successful, and I think it will, it might help usher in a new era of corporate marketing.

Movies have already embraced this trend, as films like The Dark Knight and Tropic Thunder used multiple websites to promote their eventual box office smashes (check out whysoserious.com and rainofmadness.com for examples).

Is it too bold to assume stuffy old corporations that resist change like the plague could embrace such technological advancements? Who knows? But they better decide soon, or risk losing their brand recognition amidst the tides of the recession.

Related tags: Social Media • viral

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Recent News and Updates • Special Events

Super Bowl Splurge

posted by McKenna @ January 20th, 2009

When I saw this headline after I Googled “Super Bowl Spending,” I thought it was current. Whoops. Looks like 2009 isn’t the first year that the economy has affected the Super Bowl.

Wait, what’s that? The economy might not drag down consumer spending (at least for electronics, which represents a big chunk of spending around the big game) or Super Bowl advertising?

Ad prices are higher than ever — $3 million for a 30-second TV spot. Ticket prices range from $1,800 to over $5K for one ticket.

Huh?!

Maybe all those people who foreclosed on their homes have extra cash to spend on a big-screen TVs or tickets in the nosebleed section of Raymond James Stadium. Maybe advertisers think this is their way of helping to stimulate the economy. At least GM isn’t making its situation worse.

Now I wonder how much more (or less) these advertisers are paying their agencies to create and produce ads for the Cards-Steelers game. Have they chopped creative budgets to adjust for the higher placement prices? If so, will this affect the quality of the ads this year? Enquiring minds want to know.

Related tags: advertising • marketing • recession

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