A Little Housekeeping...

I've been thinking about the layout of my blog for a while and I've decided to make a few minor adjustments.

1. I've added a picture of myself- when I first set up this blog, I worried about the privacy aspect of having such a public forum. Now, it's clear that a simple search will turn up any number of photos of me. I might as well put one up here just to make it easier. It's not the greatest photo- but I think it matches the color scheme...don't ask me, I'm not a graphic designer. :)

2. I changed the subheadline in the header to "A Collection of Thoughts on B2B Social Media Marketing."

Obviously, I don't spend a whole lot of time talking about public relations in the traditional sense anymore. The impact of social media on the discipline of marketing, and how to integrate it into the function of selling, has become my professional focus and the prime concern of my agency's clients. Should I still go by the moniker of The PR Guy...?? What do you think?

What Happens if the Healthcare Industry Misses Its Appointment with Social Media?

As we showed in our two healthcare surveys, the healthcare industry hasn't exactly rushed to embrace social media as a platform for various business applications. This regrettable fact has been shown time and time again. Government regulation, fear of liability, and culture seem to have stifled innovation.

The latest data point is an article from Joan Voight at ClickZ, "Health Marketers Drag Feet as Patients Flock to Social Media." Once again, the jarring fact that patients have enthusiastically joined health related social networks and industry is remarkably passive and hesitant.

With health care reform capturing the national agenda and health-related blogs booming, health information sites and sponsorships are making a sharp turn into social media. Users are increasingly sharing medical experiences with each other and are seeking advice from other patients, and potentially from brands. Online health communities give people what they can't get from experts: support, personal experiences, and direct answers from other people. But while patients seem to easily gravitate to DIY health education, marketers have been less enthusiastic.

My question is, by time medical professionals and organizations start to integrate social media will anyone still be listening? Or will their credibility be shot as patients look to family members and peers for advice?

Satellite 2010: How to use social media to support sales at a trade show

My colleague Marc Hausman and I set up a blog (What's New at Satellite 2010) to support and cover the time we spent at the Satellite 2010 trade show. As you can guess, this show, held every year in DC, is the premier trade show for the satellite and space community. Since 1995, we (Strategic Communications Group) have been working with leading satellite companies to develop and execute PR, communications and now social media marketing campaigns. Our client roster over the years has included firms like:

• SES Americom
• Datapath
• Microspace Communications Corp.
• Knight Sky
• Thrane & Thrane
• Tachyon Networks
• Integral Systems
• Helius
• Stratos
• IDB Mobile Communications
• Worldspace

For those of you that read this blog, you know that what differentiates Strategic is its sales-oriented approach to social media engagement, and proven ability to leverage all of its industry connections and market relationships to identify sales, partnership, employee recruitment and financial/M&A opportunities for its clients.

Inviting trade show participants to be interviewed on the blog (http://whatsnewatsatellite2010.com) served not only as a non-salesy, value-add icebreaker with established relationships but allowed us to approach new contacts positioned as industry thought leaders. We pulled in some industry related content via RSS feeds and promoted the site via our satellite related twitter feed, @SpaceTwits, as well as targeted LinkedIn groups. Add in leads generated from inbound comments, and the site turned out to be a low cost, high return trade show sales support success story.

Here are some of the posts we wrote:

See you next year at Satellite 2011 (don’t get lost!)

When Satellite Goes Mainstream

Spending Time with MPEG-4’s Champion

News Coverage of Satellite 2010

Hughes’ Bardo Sees Growth in Broadband, Reliability

Govt Sat Service Buying Remains Disjointed

Great Opening Panel at Satellite 2010

Quiet Press Room Betrays Exhibit Hall Buzz

Satellite 2010 and Social Media

Top Trends to Look for at Satellite 2010

New Location for Satellite 2010 This Year (No, not Las Vegas)

Now That’s Global Connectivity

Local Press Coverage of Satellite 2010

What do you think of the site? Does your company execute tactical social media programs like this to support sales? Do you think they are worth the effort?

Satellite 2010

The Satellite 2010 show is this week and is being held here in DC at the Gaylord Convention Center. My colleague, Marc Hausman and I are going to be blogging at the show and interviewing thought leaders and business executives about the satellite industry, trends for 2010 and its future prospects.

If you are interested in cool things like rocket science (yep, really), check out the blog here: whatsnewatsatellite2010.com or follow the Twitter stream, SpaceTwits.

Already we've compiled a pretty strong list of social media properties in the satellite industry....

Despite Rapid Adoption of Social Media in Other Industries, Healthcare Lags Behind

My company just released the results of our 2nd annual socialmedia adoption in the healthcare industry. For the second year in a row, this annual survey of Internet users shows continued slow adoption of Web 2.0 in healthcare.

Read Strategic's press release here...

While the results seem generally negative, it's worth sharing the full results so everyone can compare with last years results, especially as HIMSS 2010 is going on this week.

Here is last year's post with the results: http://majka.blogspot.com/2009/03/prognosis-negative-on-social-media.html

Here is last year's press release: http://gotostrategic.com/site/index.php/site/news_single/prognosis_negative_on_social_media_adoption_in_healthcare/

Major takeaways:
- prognosis for social media adoption in the healthcare industry is still grim.
- sentiment in question 3 improved from 96 to 91 percent (almost 5%) but that still means almost everyone is still dissatisfied.
- we added a new question this year- question 4. Patient-focused support groups and Government healthcare agencies received generally good marks for effectively using social media.

Here are this year's full results: Let me know what you think- leave a comment...

1. How often do you review blogs, social networks, online communities and discussion forms for healthcare related information?

• Never- 0%
• Only once- 1.7%
• Occasionally- 35%
• Once a day- 20%
• All the time- 45%

2. What kinds of information do you look for in social media and online communities?

• Personal health information- 45%
• Public policy information- 53.3%
• Scientific research and developments- 56.7%
• Market trends- 66.7%
• Employment information- 26.7%

3. Do you think the health care industry, as a whole, is using social media well enough to communicate, share information and engage with consumers?
Yes- 8.3%
No- 91.7%

4. Are there segments of the healthcare industry who are superior in efforts to communicate, share information and engage with patients / consumers?

• Insurers / payers- 3.3%
  
• Healthcare providers- 18.3%
  
• Pharmaceutical companies- 23.3%
  
• Patient-focused support groups- 55.0%
  
• Government healthcare agencies (i.e., FDA, CDC, etc.)- 36.7%
  

(BTW, any comments about statistics, sample size or standard deviations will be summarily mocked. :))