It’s hard to believe, but many hospitals still have not fully embraced social media. While most organizations have at least established a presence, many fail to keep their platforms up-to-date with new information and engage with their audiences. (I can’t tell you how many Twitter accounts or Facebook pages I have seen that haven’t posted new content in months.)…
By: Dan Dunlop At the end of each year, I take some time to reflect on what has been accomplished over the last 12 months. I find without taking stock of the prior year, the years simply fly by. It’s important to me to know that I am making progress – rather than simply churning through the months and years.…
Over the past few months, I have read an increasing number of articles describing a new trend in which businesses sue customers for posting negative online reviews. Whether the plaintiffs are hoping to win damages or simply silence their critics, it seems to me that these businesses have a gross misunderstanding about the value of customer reviews (and the importance…
It is a known fact that women are most often the healthcare decision makers for the family. They are usually the ones who take the initiative to make sure her hubby and the kids receive their annual physicals and other preventive care in order to keep the family healthy. That’s why hospital marketers specifically target women, or most specifically, moms,…
Patient safety is an important issue for every healthcare organization. Yet, remarkably, professional marketers are rarely involved in the process of developing communications programs to support patient safety initiatives. In this video, Dan Dunlop discusses why healthcare marketers should be engaged in these conversations and solutions. For the past several months, the Jennings team has been working with Signature Healthcare to develop…
In my previous blog post, Healthcare Transparency Can Be a Marketing Game-Changer; we explored the idea of implementing a healthcare transparency program. If you recall, the idea is to leverage your CAHPS or other physician survey data as a way to improve your physician’s online reputation, positively impact SEO, elevate your brand, and continue down the road to real, measurable…
By: Dan Dunlop Consider this surgical robotics ad for Venti Medical Center a cautionary tale; it goes to the extreme to demonstrate the banality of many hospital ad campaigns promoting leading edge technology. When I see ads touting new technology I always try to imagine the consumer looking at the ad with a big thought bubble over her head asking…
This week, as I was searching for new social media content, I came across an article on Boston Magazine’s website that sparked my interest. Uber, the popular ride-sharing app, was going to be offering flu shots. I finished the article, wrote some Tweets and didn’t give it any more thought. Later that day, I went on my iPhone to check…
As healthcare or hospital marketers, we use social media in a variety of ways, such as promoting the services a hospital offers, highlighting its use of advanced technologies, supporting or praising staff, creating social engagement and touting accolades or accreditations. Social media platforms are powerful communications tools, and they have become essential elements within hospital marketing campaigns and daily operations. They…
Since patient safety was first brought to light in the 1990s, studies have shown a staggering number of patients have been harmed by preventable medical errors. These errors range from patient falls and medication errors, to data entry errors and hospital-acquired infections, to name a few. It is estimated that preventable medical errors lead to more than 200,000 US hospital…