Posted by barbarahales

Whether you are a health writer, B2B writer or an entrepreneur with another business, having a facebook page is helpful when it comes to promotion. But what happens after the page is up? Do you let it get out?

Constant Contact has some good advice for this very topic and I have provided this to you today from them so that you can benefit from their suggestions. Read on.

So You Have a Facebook Page. Now What?

Do you remember the infomercial for the Showtime Rotisserie Oven? The one where Ron Popeil famously proclaimed that you can “Set it, and forget it?”

Well, the inventor and marketing personality was also famous for another catchphrase, “But wait, there’s more!”

When it comes to Facebook, people often think they can pay attention to that first catchphrase. All they have to do is create a Facebook Page and everything will happen on its own. Right? Wrong.

The truth is, Ron’s second catchphrase is even more important. If you want to get the most out of your Facebook Page, you have to do more than just have one. You have to use it to drive engagement and results. Here are four ways to do that.

1. Promote Your Page: Tell everyone about your Page and encourage them to visit and “Like” it. You can add “Like Us on Facebook” buttons to every email you send, but a more exciting way to increase the number of Likes may be with a social campaign. Reward every person who Likes the Page with a coupon, access to exclusive content, or some other incentive. If you’re a nonprofit, you can even offer to make a donation for every new Like you receive.

2. Share and Engage: Keep your new fans engaged with great content, such as videos and photos, helpful tips, inside looks at your business or organization, special offers and discounts, and more. Ask questions that will get your fans to share their thoughts. And when people comment or ask questions of you, make sure you’re ready to respond.

3. Drive Business: Create an offer that’s only available to the people who Like your Page, such as the ones mentioned above. Then promote it (via email, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) to drive more activity on your Facebook Page. How will you know if your offer is a good one? Ask yourself if you would act on it if your favorite business or organization offered it to you.

4. Track Your Results: Is your offer as compelling as you had hoped it would be? Monitor your reporting data to find out. Learn how your social campaign drives Page visits, shares, new Facebook fans, and email subscribers, and what networks are driving the most people to visit your Facebook Page. Knowing this information will help you know where your time might be best spent to get the biggest return in the future.

And then, when you’ve finished one social campaign, start planning another one. Social media is not something you can do once and then move on. Create a steady stream of activity, so your fans, both new and old, will be excited to hear you say, “But wait, there’s more!”

Are you getting results from your Facebook activity? Let us know how you are doing it!

Posted by barbarahales

According to Susan Etlinger, an Industry Analyst with Altimeter Group, companies need a plan to better monitize social media experiences. One needs to first identify goals, followed by implementation of them in a structured, deliberate way.

The five steps that Ms. Etlinger identifies are as follows:

1. Define a strategy
Before doing anything else, it is important to define business objectives and identify required insights. Etlinger says this is the most overlooked step in social media measurement. First, it is important to start with core business objectives, and then lay out business strategies, not social strategies, that support these objectives. Etlinger also points out that while you should always think in terms of the future, you must plan for the present to serve your needs today.

2. Choose your metrics
When deciding which metrics to use to measure success, the first thing to do is determine how to measure success from a business perspective. Success within this vein might mean product or brand awareness, improved search engine placement, lead generation, competitive insights or simply gaining information. Once KPIs are decided upon, only then should you approach metrics from a social perspective.

3. Evaluate your Organization’s Readiness to Measure Social Media
Etlinger says that this is one of the most important elements in social media strategy. Within this step, you must identify required resources, identify any training that needs to take place and identify barriers that could prevent the execution of strategy. Among the things that must be considered in this step are internal resources, the scope of the project, tools and their required expertise and internal workflow. If your company lacks sufficiently trained staff for social media measurement, scale it back. Overcommitted, under-prepared employees, Etlinger says, is a recipe for failure.

4. Choose a technology
This is the step that many companies choose first, but Etlinger says that this should only be done once you know the following:
What you’re trying to achieve
How success will be measured
What resources are available.
Only then are you truly ready to select a tool, and it is important to remember that there is no tool that works best for every objective.

5. Implement, execute and analyze
While Etlinger did not explicitly add this step to in her presentation, she made reference to it as the ultimate goal in creating the framework.
Once you’ve got everything in place, it’s time to put the wheels in motion. Delegate responsibilities for your team members, plan for the transfer of knowledge, both in training on the tool and in the ways to utilize data, and then begin to track the ROI of social media.
Of course, if you get through this process and things are not working as you had hoped, you can always go back and revise from any point within this framework.

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Perhaps Etlinger’s ideas will force you to start from scratch, but if you are lost in a wasteland of social media data, use this framework to build a social analytics strategy that can increase efficiency and, most importantly, increase the amount of relevant judgments you can make from social media.

Do you have a plan for your social media or do you simply check in with your fans sporadically? How have you been dealing with social media?

Posted by barbarahales

You want to create a blog but you have writer’s block?  Take advantage of the information on social media sites.  Find out what your fans on Facebook are interested in and what they are discussing.  According to Facebook, users share 50,000 links with their friends every 60 seconds. That’s a lot of information to tap into!

Ask your followers, questions, ask their opinions or pop into a current conversation.  Solve a problem. Trying out new products or ideas for your business?  Ask for opinions and bounce the idea of the crowd before the product becomes part of your business so that you don’t bomb with useless strategies that you have invested heavily in.

See what is being said on Twitter.  A great feature of this social media site is that you can follow anyone without getting friend approval first.  So, you can see what people are saying and even more importantly, how people are responding and what people are saying back.

Survey monkey is a free site that allows you to ask 5 questions to get an idea on where your target market lies on the issues that are important to them and shared with you.

Jump onto forums with like-minded people to see what they have to “say”. Remember, not every post needs to be educational, but it must be enjoyable.  Engage your readers and fans. Share a story that elicits emotions and you will be “passed on” to friends.

Posted by barbarahales

Healthcare is transitioning from a process where patients passively got all their medical information from the consulting doctor, to one where an individual must wake up to the reality that he or she must take a more active role in their own healthcare. Those who sit idly by may  be in peril of “falling through the cracks” as more demands are placed on the physicians in the number game.

Clearly, this can be a problem as physicians are educated and trained in medicine but the patient is not. How, then can patients make their own decisions?

A solution to this problem is the medical moderator.  This is the “go-between” professional who has a foot in each camp.

The medical moderator  represents the physician, understanding medicine and knowing what tribulations that health providers are now enduring and also representing the patient- an advocate for the individual.  The medical moderator is acting as a translator- one who can take the questions, options for a problem and the reams of information responding to that question and cull it down into language that the average person can understand.  Think of the position in much the same way as a computer interface program in technology where there are two distinct programs that are operating independently.  The interfacing program then allows both of these programs to communicate and run seamlessly.

A greatly experienced professional with a vast knowledge and experience in treating a wide gamut of diseases, the medical moderator works in a capacity of translating the information that you have obtained and explain it in such a way that you can better understand and select options that you would further like to explore for yourself and with your doctor.

There is an pervading perception that  face-time with physicians are statistically shortening now, and it is more difficult to spend a great deal of time sitting down and getting answers to your questions along with voicing your health concerns.

Those who object to this idea cite the national government survey (Mechanic et. al. 2001; NCHS 2001-2006 where the average time that patients spend with physicians during physician office visits increased by about two to three minutes from 1989–1990 (16.3–16.7 minutes) to 2003–2004 (18.7–19.7 minutes).  However, this data was taken by physician reporting (which may be somewhat objective) and the fact that these statistics were obtained before the age where digital recording of patient findings and treatment were established with electronic medical systems.  Whether or not these numbers will change, remains to be seen.

In another national survey, one of five patients said that they did not spend enough time with their physician ( USA Today/Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard School of Public Health, Health Care Costs Survey.Menlo Park, Calif.: Kaiser Family Foundation,. KFF 2005). The idea that time between healthcare providers and patients may stem from the demands placed on doctors now to provide a more extensive explanation of a larger range of treatment options available as more questions are elicited by patients in combination with preventative care.

Posted by barbarahales

Regardless of your niche, whether you are into writing about  health or promoting another type of small business, a great way to get noticed is by “going viral”. There is no easier way to do this, than to make an entertaining video.

In February alone, 179 million internet users in the United States watched almost 38 billion online videos…38 billion! Many of these videos were not produced professionally, nor had some profound message. Clips of babies or pets have garnished millions of views. If it can happen with shots of endearing family events, realize that you too can create a viral video- just by using your smart phone or digital camera.

So, what features make for a successful video?  Like the stories that we like to hear and tell, it is the video that elicits emotions, the ones that make us cry or laugh or even say “Aww”. These are the ones that stay with us like a giant hug.

But since a video needs to be brief, your message must be short and focused.  Figure out the one message that you want to convey to your target audience, one that will resonate with them.  A good video is simple and lasts less than 2 minutes.  This is not the time to brag about your company or products.  People are much more attracted to learning about something or just plain feeling warm and fuzzy. If you can associate this with yourself, you found the key.

A crucial element to the video is one that many newbies forget, however.  This is your call to action.  It’s great when your video goes viral but your purpose is to do more than simply entertain.  You want the viewer to then follow with a particular action- to seek you out and contact you, whether it be by phone, email or stepping into your establishment. This will bring in new leads and prospective clients.

Giving people additional knowledge or reaching into their hearts, also helps to convert leads.  Everyone wants to do business with those they like.  Release your videos onto multiple sites, ones that your prospective clients and target audience currently come into contact with.

Your video can precede you and do the marketing work for you…but it need not be work.  Enjoy making the video and others will enjoy it too!

Posted by barbarahales

Email is a great tool to keep your patients informed and as a marketing tool in healthcare. It is relatively cost free and is highly effective….usually.

Your health writing will go unheeded if you wind up in spam or have a dull, lack-luster subject line. With so many emails clogging up our inboxes, it is too easy to be deleted and too easy to wind up in the spam folder which goes unmonitored by the majority of people.

Spam folders will suck in your email if you use all capital letters or capital letters for each word of the subject line. Additional words that signal a spam filter include:
-Free
-Deal
-Discount
-Money
-Win

Make your subject line not only compelling in 50 characters but contain keywords that are SEO attractive.
Don’t make the subject sensational- people want to be helped and informed, not sold to.
Have one message, don’t muddy the waters and confuse your readers.

As a health writer, you want to help with help. Make your subject interesting so that you’re heard.

Posted by barbarahales

Health writers, like health care workers are nurturing by nature.  They like to provide information to help individuals and promote health.

But just like unwanted information falling on deaf ears, sending information through the internet to those who have not requested it and do not want it, can cost you.  It can mean taking down your email server or even website.  You can be viewed as spam and your information may never reach your intended target.

So, how do you avoid this?  With an opt-in page.

Like a landing page, an opt-in page allows you to capture visitors who are interested in hearing more from you, whether you have gotten the request through your various social media sites, your website or even through a brick and mortar establishment. Simply, it is a way to build your data base or email list with a name and email address in trade for a premium or bonus.

A synonym for landing or opt-in page is a lead capture page, a place where web surfers land in response to clicking on a hyperlink, page or advertisement related to it. The landing page is to acquire viable leads and convert visitors into active leads.

Sending out information without capturing those who are interested in hearing more from you or wanting to acquire your services or goods is like shouting into the wind- while a noisy train is going by.  How much better if your prospective clients tell you they are interested.  The better for both of you!

Posted by barbarahales

Today I am highlighting a blog written by David Kline which I feel is very helpful to everyone.

Just Another WordPress Confession

 

I came up through the media and advertising business believing that technical people did technical stuff and creative people did creative stuff. For example, when I was in radio, the engineers fixed things and the on air “personalities” (like me) did all the things that people could actually hear on the radio.  When I made the transition to the world of advertising, the same principle, I felt, was true. Typically, the video guys were “technical” and the film people were “creative.” I confess to you that that line of thinking carried over into this modern era of website construction.

I have preached that all websites have three major (and separate) components: 1) Content, 2) Design and 3) Technical. A good site needs all three to be done well. However, keeping fresh and relevant content on a site is so important these days, that content management became a necessity. No longer could we wait for the “web guy” to update our site. But content management systems allowing non-web people to make changes were pricey and out of the reach of many small businesses.

I’m not sure of the history, but somewhere along the line, people decided that WordPress, although designed for bloggers, would make a suitable content management system. In other words, if you sold widgets and weren’t interested in a blog, you could build your site using WordPress and just not use the blog feature. Eventually, web designers started picking up on this and WordPress has become an industry standard for web construction.

Nevertheless, WordPress still seemed rather “techie” for me, at least in the beginning. Just downloading it seemed liked more than I wanted to tackle. Remember, I’m the creative type and the tech side of things has never been a strength or an interest.

But I’m here to tell you, WordPress is absolutely awesome. They have made many changes just in the past few years, and now it is relatively “user friendly.” It isn’t as easy as drag and drop, and it isn’t “idiot proof,” but it is very doable for the average non-techie creative person like me if you are willing to invest some time in learning how to work with it.

Like all software of all time, my abilities just scratch the surface of what can actually be done. Even Word, which I’ve used since the beginning, I only have a limited knowledge base…just enough to do what I need to do. It is way more powerful of a program than I have ever experienced. The same with WordPress.

It wasn’t long ago that I firmly believed that the technical part of building a website had to be left to the technical gurus. And although, believe me, we still need the tech wizards, WordPress allows those of us who are more into content and branding to actually build websites without knowing (or caring about) HTML code. Yes, there is still some coding that one needs to know to do highly customized designs, even on WordPress, and there are many people out there who can do it…but now… now we (the creatives and branders) can at least get in the game. Instead of the tech people having to do everything, we can build it, brand it, and get their help as needed.

There are thousands of premium WordPress themes available… the only way to go unless you are one of those tech people. You can find one that will accommodate almost anything you want to do. And don’t listen to those who will tell you that to use a WordPress “template” or “theme” looks cheesy. That is absolutely not true anymore.

WordPress and a premium theme are somewhat analogous to the foundation and structure of a new house. You get to pick the flooring and paint and decorate it the way you want, but you can’t change the floor plan. If you want something extraordinary in your house, you will have to custom build it. Same with a website. If you need an extremely custom site for some reason, you will have to have it custom built. And, like the house, you will pay for it. But there are very few small businesses that need that much customization. In fact, a lot of very sophisticated web developers are using WordPress.

I’m referring, of course, to WordPress.org not WordPress.com. If you want a blog  without any commercial interest at all, WordPress.com is probably the way to go. I have a personal blog on a WordPress.com site… it really is virtually idiot proof. However, there are many commercial limitations, so if you are going to build a site for a business, then I strongly recommend WordPress.org. It is FREE software. It will be very helpful  if you use a web host that is WordPress friendly (Bluehost, HostGatorare two examples).

For now, just let me say that I am a former skeptic who now really, really endorses WordPress.

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So for those of you who would like to start a website but it is not within your budget or you fear getting sucked into an abyss of costs by web writers, take this information to heart.  It is now time to jump in.

While you may not want to be found on a personal level, being found on a business level is crucial.

Remember…if you can’t be found on the web, you DON’T Exist!

Posted by barbarahales

Professional speaking is much more than just standing in front of the room and “giving a speech”. Those that succeed, know that it is a business and as such should be run as a business.

In an interview with Lois Creamer, she shared some great ideas on establishing your position, picking a niche, finding and reaching decision makers, and much more!
Here are 3 of the simple (but powerful) ideas she shared.

Idea #1 – Position yourself by concept and outcome, not what you do. Let them know how you can help them and what benefit they get after you work with them. This gets them interested enough to want to learn more about you and how you do it.

Idea #2 – The biggest mistake speakers make is not leveraging every presentation. There is plenty of business to be had just by properly following up from each and every speech. Follow up with audience members, ask for referrals, find out what other associations the company you are presenting for is a member of, find related companies and organizations, etc. Each gig should set you up for many more! And get testimonial letters!

Idea #3 – In Corporations, the VP of Sales is the best person to approach, even if you don’t speak on sales. They are the ones with budgets and meetings. If they aren’t the person organizing the meeting, they should be able to point you to the person who is.
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Remember, it is not just a speech but a message that you want to get out…one that will help others. You can’t get your message out unless you can market yourself and position yourself as well.

Posted by barbarahales

Have you ever felt that you were spinning your wheels and getting nowhere on social media sites?
You heard that they are helpful but you feel like you are wasting your time because you haven’t seen results?

Whether you are a health writer or want to promote any other business, certain principles are the same for each.

Tweeting, Facebook and Linking In or Linking Up along with YouTube have come a long way.  Gone are the days of just entering little tidbits for your friends.  In order to succeed, you need a business plan.  Think of what you represent and what your goals or the goals of the company are.

Tip 1

Once you have established the goals that you are striving for, match the social actions to them. Are you trying to:

• get attendees to your website?
• increase your data base?
• Drive traffic to your site?
• Improve online sales?

What you say must match the above aims.

Tip 2

Tie your actions into analytics. Find a measurement system to see if your actions are getting results and which ones are more successful than others  so that you are not working blindly.

Tip 3

Link your message or site to current events or events that are currently hot and talked about.  When people are researching these hot topics, your name or company name will show up too.

Tip 4

Provide relevant content.  Nowadays, business is not about selling.  It’s about educating your consumer or helping your customer learn what is important to them whether it is where to find a supply, how to perform a function or how to help them in business.

Tip 5

Provide content that is meaningful to a specific client.  Instead of just telling them information that is important to you, find out what is important to your client and provide that.  Hints can be found in forums or through social media sites themselves. Listen and learn instead of spouting off!

Tip 6

Contribute to forums and post guest blogs on similar sites.  This gets your name visible and helps to establish you as an authority.  This may help to promote yourself and get new prospective clients.

Tip 7

Wherever you sign your name, whether it is in a guest blog, your own blog, newsletters, email or on your own website, mention your connections i.e. your twitter account name, Facebook, linkedIn. Let your fans and clients know how they can reach you and find you.

Tip 8

Mention your tagline after your name when writing, so that you are continually identifiable and memorable.

Feel free to contact me at any time for a free analysis of your website and mission statements.  I’d love to help you.