by Craig Gagnon on October 18, 2010
By now, you’d have thought that social media had been discussed to death. The numbers of Facebook and Twitter users continue to grow beyond comprehension. Virtually every major brand has indicated a shift in marketing dollars away from traditional media toward social media (although traditional media channels continue to dominate). It seems that every website [...]
by Craig Gagnon on October 11, 2010
What will health care reform mean for you, your family, your employer or employees? If you’re in the business of hospital marketing, the question is particularly urgent. And it was a common topic at this year’s SHSMD (Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development) conference in Chicago last month. In his General Session address on [...]
by Craig Gagnon on September 21, 2010
This is the second segment from a discussion with Jamey Shiels, Director of Social Media and Digital Communications at Aurora Health Care of Wisconsin – one of the hospital systems leading the way in the use of social media. In this segment, Jamey discusses how Aurora has evolved their use of social media channels over [...]
by Craig Gagnon on September 8, 2010
Craig and Jamey discuss the risks of social media access for hospital employees It’s a topic that’s come up at every hospital in the country – the pros and cons of social media. Despite the continuous and aggressive growth of social media in health care, the majority of hospitals have yet to embrace it. Fewer [...]
by Craig Gagnon on August 30, 2010
Following my last post on the use of “Surprise” as a strategy, I’ve been sent many examples of surprise as both strategy and tactic – in a variety of categories, including health care marketing. My friend Susen Rasmussen made good use of surprise to grab attention with messages placed in unexpected, but very appropriate places. [...]
by Craig Gagnon on August 21, 2010
Imagine it’s a chilly Sunday afternoon in April. What are you apt to do? Take a nap? Watch a basketball game. Have the inlaws over for dinner? Attending the opening ceremonies for a hospital expansion probably wouldn’t make the top ten. Maybe not even the top 100. And yet nearly ten thousand people did just [...]
by Craig Gagnon on August 9, 2010
Social media, in this case Facebook, is once more causing hospital PR, HR, marketing and legal headaches while costing an employee her job. This time the incident involved a hospital employee posting comments regarding a patient to her personal Facebook page. As with so many of these situations, there are two sides to the story. [...]
by Craig Gagnon on May 24, 2010
Most companies approach social media with doubt and fear: fear of what employees will do and say online. But fear not… as long as you begin with a policy tailored to your culture and brand strategy.
by Craig Gagnon on February 26, 2010
More hospitals are getting into social media, but few are finding that it “works.” Make it relevant and work on building your following and wonderful things can happen.
by Craig Gagnon on February 19, 2010
Most social media proponents advise that the best and first step to take before embarking on a social media program is to listen. That is, to actively track what is being said about your organization (and your competitors) on various online channels. And, of course, people do post comments about their experiences. You see this [...]
