Yep…since 2008 we have been working hard! Congrats to Greenville Health System and their commitment to building a strong social commitment. Here is the list off the Top 50 Social Hospitals –> CLICK HERE!
Here is the screen-grab from GHS’s Facebook update!
It just came across this morning. I first noticed it on CNN’s Facebook page, then a local television stations Facebook page (WYFF-TV)….then people started sharing.
CNN recorded the YouTube video from the computer screen, then wrote and produced their own story to fit their news commentary. Many other news outlets just shared links to the YouTube video. But what really happened here…the three girls and their families took control of their message and how they delivered it to the world.
News outlets, journalists, bloggers, and many others have been trying to capture an interview with these three girls after being found in a home, victims of a kidnapping. From the very beginning…the families have contended that they wanted their privacy and have stuck with that strategy.
If you look at the description below the YouTube video released, you will gain more context:
Published on Jul 8, 2013
Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight would like to say thank you to people from Cleveland and across the world who have offered support to them. They are extremely grateful for the tremendous outpouring of kindness they have received and wished to put voices and faces to their heartfelt messages with this video.
The women still maintain a strong desire for privacy and ask that everyone continue to respect their wishes in that regard going forward. Thank you.
NOTES ABOUT THE VIDEO THANK-YOU
The video was filmed on July 2, 2013 at the law offices of Jones Day in Cleveland, Ohio. Visible in the background of the video is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. The male off-camera voice heard in the video is that of Howard Fencl (pronounced FEHN-sill), vice president of Hennes Paynter Communications. The attorneys, public relations firm, social media strategist and videographer involved in the production of this video are all working pro bono on behalf of the three women.
This was not a price gauging event to leverage this story for the immediate monetary benefit of a law practice, pr firm, and video production company. This was done all pro bono. Now I am sure people will be contacting these businesses and even hire them since they effectively executed a strategy to share this story. But…I want to quickly look at the heart of this matter.
These three girls and their families chose not to be subjected to a press conference, which would lead to a feeding frenzy of who would get the next on-camera interview. They chose not to hold a press conference so they would be subjected to some of the most ridiculous questioning from both seasoned journalists and bloggers. They chose to control the message and share it in a way that made since for their lives and fulfill their desire to maintain their privacy.
Now I am sure the feeding frenzy has escalated since this release. But…the video was shot on July 2, 2013…7 days ago.
We have the ability to control our message. Admittedly, there is a need to involve the main stream media for many awareness campaigns; but sometimes it is just best to bypass this process.
As a former journalist…I know first hand how the process happens, especially when we interview people that have experience this type of event. We have time constraints. Whether it is an immediate deadline or the length of the story…time creates a lens by which journalists create and distribute content. Sometimes that lens can minimize the context of a story. Sometimes, the competitive nature of being “the first” to report do alter the message even more.
I have worked with SO MANY large organizations that are consistently challenged by many mainstream media outlets…tired of their story/comments taken out of context. They/We know it best…news outlets chopping interviews into soundbites that meet the needs of their business model and/or deadline constraints. Yes…if you just chop two more words out of that interview…we won’t make the executive producer mad for going 2 seconds over the time limit of their newscast. A 2 second cut can mean the world to these three ladies.
Kudos to Hennes Paynter Communications, law offices of Jones Day, and the video production staff…they put the best interests of these three girls and their families first.
Yep…I said it. It is getting so boring and overused. How is it overused…well, let me put it this way…it is overused as a marketing/pr strategy that we have forgotten the social core.
Social Media is all around us and has become such a common place that the innovation that pushed us to today’s technology is no longer pushing for something more. Yes, there are new technology spin offs from the current platforms emerging each day…but it is the same stuff on a different day.
I walk into more and more meetings and the idea of social has been lost in the social media. We are using Facebook as a pure marketing outlet, sometimes the only social media solution in the bag of tricks. We are designing cover photos like billboards with branded messages…no social messages.
What is social about a logo and a tagline on a cover photo, nothing. It is just the same ole thing moved from our interstate highways to our information highways and is probably just as equally effective, maybe…yawn. Time for some coffee.
We are putting together spiffier quarterly and annual reports, including metrics from our corporate social outlets. We include engagement numbers, clicks, traffic increase percentages, etc…and why…because we can and it makes us feel good. We have successfully transferred our marketing accountability efforts to tracking social outlets like websites. This is the same thing as trying to take the broadcast news industry and transfer it into a website, just the same thing in a different delivery method.
What is so fun about that? We have bought into the routine, the routine we had before these social technologies began to emerge and excite us. We were excited because it was a new way to engage in new conversations. Now it is just routine because we are trying to track, react, and code engagement so we can justify our resources.
Why can we not just look at the social of the media and just accept it for what it is…it is a place have online conversations. Why can we not just find new ways to have richer conversations whether public or private and not worry so much about accountability? Oh yeah…the bean counters again. Yeah…traditional bean counters. Yawn again.
Where is the new innovative, executive leadership?
We are stagnant…we have become boring…and we are not giving our communities any other reason to engage in conversations other than getting our updates based on a daily metric.
Even the communities, the people truly using these outlets are getting used to the proliferation of marketing messages on these social outlets. We do not fuss as much anymore when we see sponsored messages come across our timelines. We just scroll by them like they did not exist. Why…because we are tired of fussing about it. Maybe we do not see them anymore. Or maybe they are working and we are actually clicking on them.
The social media innovators are stagnant as well…they now have to make money and focus less on the innovation that drove the social adoption. I meet more and more people either dropping their social outlets *or* they accepting the fact that this where they get their news and information. Is that social? Is it social just because it provides news updates that we now depend on?
It is time to take off our marketing hats, our pr hats, our community manager hats, and remind ourselves why we used social outlets in the first place. Because we wanted to connect with new people, find new ideas, engage in new conversations…not just market our widget or share our latest news item.
Time to break away from our new reality. Time to be social again and not marketers and pr professionals.
*Image from ADW.org’s blog: http://bbr.tw/13J20Mb
Over four years ago, I started working with Greenville Hospital System and their social media communications plan. When we started, there was just one Twitter account and a bunch of Facebook groups created by different employees.
As we started trying to get a handle on those initial social platforms, we began struggling with creating a visual brand standard for such a large hospital system. If you look at the current logo (to the left), you will notice it is a horizontal design with brand guidelines that would *barely* us to take parts of a logo and force into a square 250px x 250px avatar.
The goal of the first avatar for Twitter (to the left), and most of the growing number of social outlets, was to represent the brand and to share the main web presence. The more and more we worked, collaborated, and found our way through this social maze…the GHS Creative Services Staff designed the initial Twitter avatar.
Let me say…working with a horizontal logo in a social media space is not an easy task.
Just before Christmas, “Greenville Hospital System officials announced today that the organization is changing its brand to better reflect its current identity and to position the system for future growth. Beginning March 18, 2013, Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center will be known as Greenville Health System, and a new, streamlined logo will accompany the new name.”
If you look at the new logo (at the top), it is amazing the shift from the current design to the new look and name. The new logo incorporates considerations for social media outlets with the new circular design, easy to integrate into social accounts like Twitter, Facebook, and other avatars.
Even though I was not a part of the design and implementation process of the new brand position/logo design, it is *my opinion* the social space had a strong influence with the new design. It has been fun to watch the evolution of GHS’s commitment to the social space. If you go to ghs.org/socialmedia…you will see our footprint has grown.
“It was important to consider all the uses of a logo as we worked through the creative process. There are so many applications today that didn’t exist seven years ago when had our last logo change,“ said Sally Foister, director of marketing, Greenville Hospital System.
Not only has the commitment grown to an integrated approach to socially engaged communication…a commitment to online conversation has exposed new avenues for pr and marketing. Welcome Greenville Health System…welcome.
I was sitting in a church service the Sunday morning after the Newtown massacre, and like many churches that day…the topic of discussion surrounded the events of this tragic shooting. Here we are over a few weeks removed and the discussion is still in full force…we are trying to seek answers.
We are asking ourselves lots of questions. We are wondering why these images of the children are being shared all over the television screens, websites, and social media platforms.
A quote that resonated with me that Sunday morning…something Pastor Johnny Mckinney shared, “During this time, we must lean in as a community of faith.” As I replay this thought, this quote, this statement…I think of the image where first responders from Friday morning’s shooting were huddled together. They were leaning in together, consoling each other, comforting each other especially those who had to witness those horrific images from inside the school.
Many have debated whether the media coverage of these events have blatantly crossed the lines…from numerous angles. Whether it may be questioning the intentions of journalists trying to question children witnesses right after the events *or* spending too much time in this small town compiling continuing coverage…many believe that “media” has created a division in public discourse. I am thinking through this idea of overall access to media including the news media and coverage of topical items. “Media” brings us access to frontline discussions.
Media is defined as “tools used to store and deliver information or data”. (From Wikipedia).
Oxford Dictionary defines media, “The word is also increasingly used in the plural form medias, as if it had a conventional singular form media, especially when referring to different forms of new media, and in the sense ‘the material or form used by an artist”
“The Media” is also defined by Oxford Dictionary as “(the media) [treated as singular or plural] the main means of mass communication (television, radio, and newspapers) regarded collectively.”
“Media” provides access to information, bridging divides by allowing individuals to share information. We are connected via media through the contextual understanding of events. From images of the events in Newtown to the editorial dialogues of the news media that bring us context from the “inside” of the story.
Stories come in many forms. We see them from the televisions from inside our living rooms. We hear them on the radio and through podcasts. We share them through our connections as we talk amongst each other, either in person or online.
“The Media” or journalists provide this frontline access to these stories as they unfold, painting the picture for us to see, hear, smell, and relive in our daily lives. Technology is the connection point to these stories…these thoughts, these moments in time where we feel so connected. As time moves along in linear fashion…we will shed tears even as those events venture further and further in the past.
We not only “lean in” to the stories that bring us context, but to the people who share and bring to us to the front-lines each and every time. Think…how many times did you share your thoughts about Newtown, shed a tear, then maybe hugged someone. “Media” can connect us in more ways than just interacting online.
I am starting to notice more and more friends in my social space marketing more and more products and services. Specifically, products and services some they represent either by contract or full time employment. Above is one of many updates that have been showing up in my Facebook feed after Christmas. I looked and looked, and there is no disclosure of her relationship to Visalus? Should I care? Does it matter? Do I like to get these updates in Facebook along with all the other advertisements?
Now…I know we all want to share when we are excited about a product or service. But, are we sharing because we are excited or are we marketing a product or service just to market to a sphere of influence? If it is the latter, are we disclosing the relationship (our material connection)?
I am not opposed to individuals using their sphere’s of influence to share products and services that they are excited about.
What speaks to me and calls me to question motives are a few things:
1) Individuals who have built a core sphere of influence online and have switched the sharing focus from personal to business updates. This is especially apparent in more private, closed social outlets like Facebook.
I have a few friends that have switched from complete personal posting on Facebook to a heavy mixture of pushing products and personal updating.
2) Individuals do not disclose their relationships with the products and services we are marketing in our social spaces.
We all should spend a few minutes and refresh our marketing memories with these simple guidelines shared by the FTC and WOMMA. Even I should go through and remind myself when I am sharing content from organizations I represent.
This guidelines are covered in the WOMMA Social Media Disclosure Guide as it relates to the FTC’s “material connections”:
Material Connections
The FTC explains “material connections” as any connection between a blogger and an advertiser/marketer that might materially affect the credibility consumers give to that blogger’s statements. Important examples of “material connections” include:
1) Consideration (benefits or incentives such as monetary compensation, loaner products, free services, in-kind gifts, special access privileges) provided by an advertiser/marketer to a blogger; and
2) A relationship between an advertiser/marketer and a blogger (such as an employment relationship).
Responsibility of Advocates
Advocates also have a responsibility to ensure their relationship to a marketer is adequately disclosed. An advocate must disclose his or her relationship to a marketer when making statements or providing reviews about that marketer’s product or service, or a competitor’s, as part of a marketing program or initiative in effect at the time of review or statement. Finally, an advocate must comply with stated social media or blogging policies.
Clear and Prominent Disclosure
No matter which platform is used, adequate disclosures must be clear and prominent. Language should be easily understood and unambiguous. Placement of the disclosure must be easily viewed and not hidden deep in the text or deep on the page. All disclosures should appear in a reasonable font size and color that is both readable and noticeable to consumers.
Does it bother you more and more people are using their social spaces to market products and services? Maybe or maybe not? Or maybe it is the same thing as marketing blogs like this in my status updates? Do people realize who I am representing or connected to virtually?
So in full disclosure…this is who I work with and represent professionally. Here is my client list…https://rettewcreative.com/clients
To download the WOMMA Social Media Disclosure Guide, CLICK HERE.
I used this link for information:
http://www.fanscape.com/about/WOMMAFTC_Disclosure_Guide/
I just read a blog post from Mickey Plyler concerning the future retirement of Clemson’ Athletic Director. In his article, he built an argument articulating what the new leadership will “have” to look like when Mr. Terry Don Phillips retires.Regardless who follows, big shoes to fill.
Plyler states in his blog:
“Social media has become a bigger part of athletic departments across the country and Clemson needs an upgrade. Schools are trying to control the message more now than ever and Clemson needs a progressive thinking business person that understands how to create a brand in the modern business world.”
Guess what Mickey…this applies to more than just Clemson Athletics, it applies to many large organizations across the country. As I sat through a strategic meeting for a large organization yesterday, this all day conversation surrounded social media. To quote a person in the room…“It is a culture change.” I agree.
Organizations are having to trudge through a culture change from the leadership all the way down to those who are on the ground level. And it is not just social media or even the digital media strategy, it is an integrated communication approach. Social and digital media are no longer just a tool in the tool box, they are integrated strategies that warrant just as much, if not more, attention that your traditional marketing efforts. (This statement depends on organization and audiences goals.)
To be blunt, it is time for organizations to start curating content ONLY for social and digital efforts. Why…the audiences are looking for this content.
Look at Audi and this year’s Super Bowl, they created content specifically for the social space. They used the #SoLongVampires hastag in the Super Bowl ad that received over 2 million YouTube views and tens of millions of Twitter impressions a week after the ad appeared during the game.
After the 2012 Super Bowl, Murrey Newlands wrote: “Capitalizing on vampiremania, they showed an Audi driving up to a vampire bonfire party and accidentally frying the vampires with its powerful headlights! The vampires immediately turned to ash, (unlike TrueBlood vampires who for the most part slowly burn to death once exposed to the Sun).”
They built excitement for their target demographic around the Audi brand, and it is still paying dividends with over 7 million YouTube views to date! That is what I can integrated marketing.
Look at GoPro and their photo of the day initiative on Facebook. Each day, they share a photo of the day from one of their fans using their GoPro camera. LOVE IT! Talk about engagement, they have over 3 million fans and people love their product. This effort is all on Facebook.
Organizations are learning that it is no longer “just” a push marketing mentality. Brand management involves building community and leveraging word-of-mouth efforts. For the first time, social and digital media efforts provide an opportunity to engage digital word-of-mouth and a measurable outcome. We can build a community and track success. We can build sustainable efforts leveraging online tools and use them in specific tactical methods, then look back and see how we performed.
Organizations are also learning…they must take control of their own brand. Ed Bennet who manages web operations at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) understood this strategy. He brought all web/social/digital efforts in-house. He built a team, he built a culture, and how is a leader in the hospital digital media space.
The Clemson Family is a large family and they engage in many online communities. It is obvious if you look at the Clemson University main Facebook Page and Alumni Page. And even though many organizations like Clemson Athletics have built many online communities, it is now time to really see if they can build sustainable efforts. No more just pushing the message to a group, but engaging in online conversation.
It is a culture shift, not only for leadership but for those working these efforts on the ground level.
I have been reading lots and lots of reaction to Cathryn Sloan’s article “Why Every Social Media Manager Should Be Under 25” featured on NextGenJounral.com. I have to say that I applaud her voice and her premise, whether or not if we like her tone.
I read all the negative and hateful reaction in the comments section below her article, most of which came from seasoned marketing professionals. Here is the funny thing about her article and premise she provided…all the negative comments reinforced the fact the her generation is pushing the traditional marketing glass ceiling upward so high…it is shattering.
Also…I have lost lots of respect for many of those seasoned professionals that thought it was fun to add their jabs in the commenting section of this article. Especially the ones that called her generation arrogant. Your negativity reinforced her argument and I am saddened that you felt it was fun to join in and take a swing at the punching bag. Especially a generation we need to embrace.
As a regular lecturer working with both undergraduates and graduate students, I am amazed each day how the social space is a second language to not only Generation Y…but also Generation C.
There is a shift happening in the workplace and Generation Y will soon be replacing the Baby Boomers in the workplace…76 million of them. So what about Generation X…they are the current VP’s of Communications and Marketing working for the Baby Boomers…hoping to land those next positions. They do not want to get jumped.
So let’s look at Cathryn and Generation Y.
Generation Y is the fastest growing segment of the workforce, growing from 14% to 21% over the past four years. Most Baby Boomers will phase out of the workforce in the next 10 to 20 years and Generation Y will rapidly assume the place of the Baby Boomers.
The Gen Y experience is centered around a growing, technologically connected society who are not only learning the common discourse of the web…BUT creating their own discourse in the social space. These discourse communities are the ones driving the advertising market space and they are taking a commanding front seat to not only becoming the lead in purchasing power but social influence.
Gen X is stuck in transitioning from device to device because we were the greatest usability test for this technological era. Gen Y is commanding how these devices are created. Actually…some groups like Neilsen consider the 18-34 age range Generation C.
“The latest Census reports that Americans 18-34 make up 23 percent of the U.S. population, yet they represent an outsized portion of consumers watching online video (27%), visiting social networking/blog sites (27%), owning tablets (33%) and using a smartphone (39%). Their ownership and use of connected devices makes them incredibly unique consumers, representing both a challenge and opportunity for marketers and content providers alike. Generation C is engaging in new ways and there are more touch points for marketers to reach them.”
If you want to look at the infographic from this study…here it is and it is quite intriguing.
Gen C uses technology as their oxygen where networking online is critical with the need for instant gratification. They are and will be multi-focused in work-life. Technology is completely embedded into their daily life and their physical space and technology are well integrated.
So what does all this mean and what does all this have to do with Cathryn’s premise. Let me tell a story. I taught a Business Writing Class last semester and the final project was to work with a large organization to create and social media strategy for an event promotion. The class was split into groups and competed to create the best strategy.
This large organization had been pitched numerous ideas by from well-respected marketing firms, yet they were still looking for something innovative, fun, and engaging for the community. In one month, these 25 college students created six strategies that not only met the needs of the organization, but provided some amazing insight and innovation. They basically blew the socks off this organization, exceeding expectations of the organization that had already been pitched by well-respected marketing firms. Why? Because they live and breathe the social space…they just had to learn how integrate audience analysis and execution.
The social space is not going anywhere. It is here to stay and the next leaders of this space will be the Cathryns of the world. They are confident in their abilities and have an eagerness to show what they have. They also have something much different…they have the entrepreneurial spirit.
Generation C scares the hell out of us not only because of how smart they are, and how connected they’ve become, and how easily they integrate themselves into this social space… but also how expendable Generation X is in this exponentially evolving American economy.
We need to quit fussing and complaining about Cathryn because we might be answering to her one day… sooner rather than later. I already am. One of my former students is now my client in a large hospital system. I have a pretty good time doing business with her.
It is up to us seasoned professionals to help shaped this generation and learn to leverage their knowledge. We may not like the tone of her article, but we cannot escape her reality.
I ask you…are we truly a divided America? Have we thrown up the ideological lines in the sand? Or do we just have better access to media and technologies that provide an outlet for our voice?
The digital chasm has been crossed with more American’s gaining access to connected technologies. Internet access used to be this “elite” luxury where the only access was in metropolitan areas, large businesses, and large educational institutions. Now, more and more areas have become connected from rural America to other socioeconomic demographics; more Americans can go online to read and react.
So has access to knowledge and information created a divided nation? Has access to social websites and mobile platforms provided a place for too many people to voice their opinions.
I say we are the vocal melting pot with a diverse cultural impact. We come from so many different backgrounds, experiences, cultures, knowledge bases that now we can share in places we once had limited access. The smart phone has transformed the way we communicate where we can share our thoughts in real time. A Google search provides real time results to peoples thoughts, pictures, videos, and all the relevant information that provides context to our culture..
The social search is alive and well and it is this technological breakthrough that provides those with an opinion a platform to share. Whether we agree, disagree, or react; we are not a part of a division…we are a sum of all parts. Social media is now the platform that crosses all socioeconomic backgrounds, a platform for our voice to be heard.
We now have a place to share our story.
Happy Birthday to a nation that provides the liberty and the knowledge that allows us to share the one thing that makes us whole…our voice.
***Image from ThomasPMBarnett.com