TDA2011 Social Media

Using Social Media to Enhance Your Personal, Professional and Community Outreach

for the

Texas Dietetic Association (TDA) Food & Nutrition Conference & Exhibition

Translating Trends into Reality for the Dietetic Professional

Twitter Hashtag #TXFNCE11

Presented by:

Chuck Jones Executive VP - Sales and Marketing

Synergy Broadcast Systems

Social Media – TXFNCE11 2

This is to provide you with a background piece to support our discussion at TXFNCE11. We will focus on the Internet and Social Media to translate these new, exciting tools into reality to understand the impact they have in our world and our marketplace. We will also look at what tools are available, how you can adopt and use them in your day-to-day professional activities and how to use them strategically in marketing, education and patient interaction. Get a head start on your “after conference” Social Media activity by bringing a digital camera or personal video camera to the conference to take photos or video. We’ll talk about what to do with this content during our workshop. What is Social Media? Thanks to the magic of world-wide connectivity and creative people we have the ability to connect, share, collaborate, interact, socialize, meet, and work right from our computers and mobile devices. Our ability to publish, connect and share information has been facilitated by exciting applications that are grouped together in an ever expanding wave of change call Social Media. With Social Media we can:

1. Connect with others of like minds through networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo and Ning.

2. Share information on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, StumbleUpon, Delicious, and others.

3. Communicate with video conversations using Skype or Oovoo or make online presentations using GoToMeeting or WebEx.

4. Participate in Forums and online Community sites to ask and answer questions, seek advice from others or offer helpful advice to people that share similar interests.

5. Publish content and information so people who need our services or expertise can find us easily.

6. Network and build relationships with people that make us stronger. Why Is this Important? Traditional Marketing (Out-bound) has focused on media campaigns that use print, TV, radio, billboards, direct mail and telemarketing to interrupt us and talk about their products and services regardless of need or interest. Using these tools is costly and wasteful. Today, thanks to technology, we “tune-out” irrelevant messages and “block” any intrusion we can.

DVR’s allow us to skip commercials in our favorite TV shows Caller ID and voice mail allow us to ignore any unwanted caller National Do Not Call Registry allows us to block telemarketers Most junk mail goes unread and recycled and you can remove yourself

from mailing lists through the U. S. Postal Service.


Old style interruptive marketing is being replaced by In-bound marketing and in-bound marketing is all about “being found” in a “search driven” world. Thanks to the growth of the Internet and our ability to “search” for products or services we want or need the power is shifting away from the big media companies and now resides at the “grass roots” level.

Why Should You Care About or Use Social Media? That’s where the people are.

Facebook has over 500 million members YouTube had over 700 billion playbacks and users uploaded over 13

millions ours of content in 2010 LinkedIn averages more than 12 million unique visitors per month with over

100 million users Twitter has over 190 million users per month tweeting over 65 million tweets

per day Billions of searches are done each month and Google (#1) 65.1% is the

900 pound gorilla Is Social Media Relevant for Healthcare? Consider this:

More people consult the Internet than doctors for healthcare information. 83% of people search online for healthcare information. 57% are eager to share their new knowledge with others. 33% compare prescription drug options online. 30% compare and choose their physician online. Facebook has over 1,000 communities around chronic illnesses. Patients are only able to recall 50-60% of the information given to them by

physicians. The average length of a primary care visit is 10 minutes. Half of the 2 billion prescriptions filled each year are not taken correctly. 3 of the top 10 health searches on Google were associated with diet and

nutrition.

Your future success depends largely on your ability to create excellent content; be found by those who are searching for you;

and master the communication tools that your clients and patients find most acceptable.


What Does this Mean? The flood gates have been opened. Information overload is now the norm. As a healthcare professional how do you control the message? You don’t, instead you get out in front of it and drive the message by providing compelling and relevant content that people find and share with others. Provide value. Be helpful and you will be successful. Are hospitals riding the wave of Social Media? Not quite yet… Depending on who you ask the number of hospitals in the United States is somewhere between 5,700 and 6,800. In 2009:

391 Hospitals total using Social Media 194 Youtube Channels 203 Facebook pages 284 Twitter accounts 44 Blogs

In 2010 the numbers jumped to:

557 Health Systems, Hospitals and Clinics 254 Youtube Channels 336 Facebook pages 430 Twitter Accounts 70 Blogs

Is There Opportunity? The opportunity within healthcare is huge. The industry is just beginning to understand what Social Media is and how it can be used. Most are still afraid and have not yet jumped into the pool. One of the best sites I’ve found on hospitals and Social Media is a blog run by Ed Bennett, a hospital web manager for the University of Maryland Medical System. Ed tracks Social Media usage by hospitals and keeps a list of what they are doing. His site is http://ebennett.org. Here’s some of the information you can find on Ed’s site in addition to the statistics on the number of hospitals using Social Media:

Hospitals on Facebook http://ebennett.org/hsnl/hospitals-on-facebook/ Hospitals using Twitter http://ebennett.org/hsnl/hospitals-on-twitter/ Hospitals on Youtube http://ebennett.org/hsnl/hospitals-on-youtube/ Hospitals with a Blog http://ebennett.org/hsnl/hospital-blogs/ Hospitals on LinkedIn http://ebennett.org/hsnl/hospitals-on-linkedin/

Social Media Talking Points http://ebennett.org/social-media-talking-points/


How Should You Begin Using Social Media? 1. Get Listed. Start by putting yourself out there so others can find you.

a. Create profiles and groups on public and industry web sites. i. LinkedIn ii. Facebook iii. Google iv. Professional and Local Interest sites

2. Listen. Use search tools to listen. Listen to what others talk about. Listen to

how they describe their problems and issues and how they might want to solve them. Listen to other professionals. What are they saying? How are the professionals reaching out to their patients or clients? Is it resonating or falling on deaf ears? Listening can help you develop a unique strategy to “connect” to your audience. Listening tools include:

a. Google Reader and Blog Search b. Forums c. Twitter Search d. Facebook Groups e. LinkedIn Groups

3. Participate. Be willing to engage others with comments and opinions by

reading and commenting on Blogs or participating in Forum discussions.

4. Publish. Think like a publisher. Create content and publish relevant articles about health, nutrition, weight loss, eating philosophies, guiding principles, diabetes, fitness, or whatever your particular niche. Consider what keywords are important. When people search for what you do, what terms or phrases will they use? Your goal is to position yourself as an expert on your topics but most of all, be real and be credible.

a. Blog. When you are ready it’s time to create your own blog or convince your hospital of the value of blogging and Social Media.

b. White Papers and eBooks. Write and publish White Papers or eBooks on relevant topics within your specialty.

c. Newsletter. Publish a monthly newsletter via email on relevant topics and news to clients and prospective clients.

d. Speak. Offer to speak on relevant topics to business, social and service organizations. The information in your field can be made interesting and entertaining so even Rotarians will enjoy it.

e. Events. Participate or host special events but don’t just stand behind a table. Tweet about it. Offer specials via Facebook and give visitors a reason to come see you.

f. Video. We are a multimedia society. Video no longer requires thousands of dollars and years of professional experience. Now you can have your own YouTube channel.


What Tools Are Important to Your Success? LinkedIn – http://linkedin.com This is one of your professional networking sites. Set up a free profile and craft it carefully because LinkedIn is your resume on steroids. Post a professional photo and look for colleagues to start building your network. Search for interesting groups, join and listen to the conversation. If someone asks a question and you know the answer speak-up. Facebook – http://facebook.com Originally started as social network at Harvard, Facebook has grown to over 500 million members worldwide. It’s a great resource for family and friends but also has a business element. Business pages can be utilized by both hospitals and private practitioners. Google Profile – http://google.com/profiles Create your own free personal profile on Google so when people “google” your name you can be found and they can see relevant information about you and what you do professionally. If you don’t have a web site or blog this is a “must have” so you show up in search results. Google is in the process of enriching the features of “Profiles” so they will evolve and become more important. Website – http://youoryourcompany.com A website is the most important item for your hospital or business in a “search driven” world. Websites are no longer brochure displays but interactive information resources that constantly evolve. To compete you have be there so you can be found. Blog – http://blog.yourwebsite.com Blogging is the best way to publish new, relevant and compelling content to keep your website fresh. A good blog can also be your professional web site as well. Content can be original articles you write as well as links to other blogs, articles, news stories and videos that are relevant. Google Reader – A Listening Tool – http://google.com/reader Google Reader is a way to “listen” to what’s going on. Set up a Google Reader account and use search terms that are relevant to your area of expertise. Subscribe to relevant blogs. Create RSS feeds from Twitter and other sources. What’s an RSS feed? It’s an online subscription to content that updates itself. You tell it what you are interested in and it brings you the content. Here’s a tutorial that explains Reader, http://www.youtube.com/GoogleReaderHelp. Twitter – Follow, Relate, Chat, Listen and More – http://twitter.com Twitter is a micro-blogging platform that you use to publish short messages called “tweets” to people who follow you. A “tweet” can be no longer than140


characters. Twitter can be used effectively as a marketing and promotional tool but it also can be used as a “listening” tool using Twitter Search. I use Twitter to promote blog posts, share interesting links and to search conversations that mention important key words. To search Twitter, go to http://search.twitter.com. Enter various keywords or search terms to see what’s being talked about. If you find a particular search that produces good results you can set up an RSS feed in Google Reader to have this information automatically updated and put in your Reader. Within Twitter you will see the “#” next to various words or acronyms. This is called a hashtag and identifies a specific topic. As an example the hashtag for dietitians is #dietitian. Other hashtags of interest are #diabetes; #diet; and #nutrition. The hashtag for this year’s conference is #TXFNCE11. There’s also a hashtag for Social Media in healthcare #hcsm as well as a hashtag for healthcare marketers #hcmktg. To find people to follow visit http://wefollow.com. Search using the tag “dietitian” and you will get a list. There are currently only 105 people listed as dietitians on wefollow.com so there is a big opportunity for exposure here. You can also do a general search in Twitter for broader results. SlideShare – A Presentation Sharing Site – http://slideshare.net SlideShare is a free hosting/sharing service for PowerPoint presentations and White Papers or eBooks. Create a profile and upload your best presentations and relevant documents. To learn more go to http://www.slideshare.net/tour. Flickr - A Photo Sharing Site – http://flickr.com Post relevant photos of events, networking activities, trade shows, success stories and other important activities here and link them back to your Google Profile, Website or Blog. Take photos at every event and post so others can see how active your organization is. This is a great recruiting tool. YouTube – A Video Sharing and Hosting Site - http://youtube.com YouTube is the largest video sharing site on the Web and the second largest search engine. Think YouTube is only for laughing babies and crazy cat videos? Video is an important information-gathering tool for C-level executives (CFOs, CEOs, etc), particularly for those under 50. That’s right: “streaming video, Webcasts, and similar formats are increasing in prevalence, especially among executives under 50,” according to “The Rise of the Digital C-Suite: How Executives Locate and Filter Business Information,” a survey by Forbes Insight in association with Google.


Here are some interesting survey results:

33% of those under 50 said they view work-related videos daily on business-related websites

27% of senior executives under the age of 50 cite Web video as their preferred format for information gathering

24% of all C-suite respondents surveyed indicated a preference for video 23% of those under 50 go daily to YouTube for work-related videos

Newsletter A great way to provide information and announce activities or events. This is usually done using a service provider that maintains your lists, keeps you legal, helps you format your newsletter and handles distribution for a monthly fee. StumbleUpon – A Sharing Site – http://stumbleupon.com StumbleUpon helps you discover and share great websites. A user applet lets you “stumbleupon” or bookmark a web site that can be shared. A search for “dietitian” turned up 2,541 results. Delicious – A Sharing Site – http://delicious.com This is a bookmaking site. If you find an interesting web page or article and you want to be able to find it again simply copy the URL into your Delicious account, tag it and you can return to it any time. A search for dietitians produced 1007 bookmarks, Registered Dietitian only 118. White Papers and eBooks White Papers and eBooks are an excellent way to get your message out. Write an eBook that addresses a problem your patients or clients face and post it everywhere. Here are links to expert sources on how to write white papers and eBooks as well as two very popular eBooks:

http://whitepapersource.com http://thatwhitepaperguy.com http://www.stelzner.com/copy-HowTo-whitepapers.php http://www.davidmeermanscott.com/documents/Viral_Marketing.pdf http://www.marketingapple.com/Marketing_Apple_eBook.pdf

Forums Forums, also called discussion groups, are websites where people go to ask questions, look for answers and find like minded people to chat with. Forums will usually turn up in Google search results. Find the Forums that relate to your specialty. Visit and contribute. Solid contributions will help position you as an expert and help with networking and link building.


Sources on Social Media and Inbound Marketing Hubspot – This company provides web hosting and expert in-bound marketing information. I’m a customer. http://hubspot.com and http://blog.hubspot.com. I encourage you to subscribe to their blog for lots of valuable information. Social Media Examiner is all about Social Media. http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/ Socialnomics – http://socialnomics.com - A blogger who tracks and reports on the use of Social Media by and for business. Mostly consumer but helpful. David Scott Meerman – Social Media Expert and one of the early pioneers on the topic. Author and speaker – http://webinknow.com Healthcare Marketing: Making the Case for Social Media – Blog Article http://www.toprankblog.com/2009/10/social-media-in-healthcare-marketing-5-tips-for-approval/

Social Media Talking Points a blog article by Ed Bennett on his Social Media talking points in his hospital http://ebennett.org/social-media-talking-points/ 20 Free eBooks on Social Media http://www.chrisbrogan.com/20-free-ebooks-about-social-media/ Recommended Reading

1. Inbound Marketing: How to Get Found Using Google, Social Media and Blogs by Brian Halligan, Dharmesh Shah

2. The New Rules of Marketing and PR – by David Meerman Scott

3. Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business by Ann Handley and C. C. Chapman.

4. Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business by Steve Garfield

5. UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging by Scott Stratton


Now What? Just thinking about this stuff might give you a headache. It may seem overwhelming and impossible. Where to start? Begin by doing the simple things. This is a marathon not a sprint. It’s about building an online presence. First Things First

Join Facebook if not already involved and search for Groups within Facebook to join and “listen”. Look for your friends.

Join LinkedIn and begin connecting with your co-workers and their connections. Join several groups to “listen”.

Create a Gmail account on Google and use Google Reader to begin “listening” and reading. Seek out other dietitians who blog and observe.

Get a free Twitter account and follow relevant people and hashtags. Do Google searches on “in-bound marketing” and find bloggers or

websites to follow. Visit YouTube and look for relevant videos. Visit http://ebennett.org to see what hospitals are doing. Take an inventory of all of your writings, articles, presentation, photos, etc.,

and see where they can be posted or published. Once you feel comfortable begin spreading your wings, comment, create and publish content, engage the masses so you can be found. You don’t have to do everything but make sure what you do, you do well. As you try new things, stick with what works. If I can answer any questions or help you please call me at 214-783-1930 or email at [email protected]. About Chuck Jones I am currently the EVP for Sales and Marketing at Synergy Broadcast Systems in Addison, TX. I write a blog at http://synergybroadcast.com/blog called Video Applications that covers video use in education, healthcare, government, cable and other relevant markets. I’ve been interested in the Internet since it began and launched our first web site in 1994. I began using Social Media about five years ago as a blogger and expanded our use to video, Twitter, Facebook and many of the tools discussed here. You can find me here:

[email protected] http://twitter.com/synergybcast

http://twitter.com/iamchuckjones http://facebook.com/iamchuckjones

http://linkedin.com/in/ccjones http://synergybroadcast.com

http://synergybroadcast.com/blog http://www.google.com/profiles/chuckj49

http://slideshare.net/synergybroadcast

TDA2011 Social Media

Education

Transcript of TDA2011 Social Media