There's nothing like spending a day wandering and observing in the Big Apple.
You never run out of awesome photographic moments — and more than a few reminders to always look up, down and around for brightness and inspiration.
New York Life Building as shot from East 27th Street on July 25, 2013.
Image courtesy of Tom Fishburne. Learn more here.
It's your voice. Don't let someone else speak for you.
Too many health systems (especially smaller ones) outsource their social media voices, usually to those who don't know their organizations or who can't speak in their institutional voice.
Getting help with strategy and content development is fine.
But take internal control of your social voice — and especially how you interact with and respond to your patients, community and customers.
Social media is about building relationships and, ultimately, trust and loyalty. That comes with knowing your audience and participating in genuine conversations. Too many organizations fail to engage with their customers — patients and families and public — thereby squandering opportunities to begin a dialogue with someone who is actively reaching out.
So take control of your Twitter account. And your Facebook account. And Pinterest, Google+ and every other new network that is sure to follow.
After 13 terrific years, I have left Southcoast Health System to take advantage of some new and exciting opportunities.
This was the right time for a move — both for me and for Southcoast.
I invested a great deal of my professional and personal life into Southcoast and our communities. I am proud to have positioned the marketing, advertising, PR and community-focused functions at Southcoast for a very strong and sustainable future.
In recent years, I have become increasingly interested and involved in improving the patient experience — from transparency of quality reporting to improving customer service to exploring new ways to build patient engagement by harnessing marketing principles and social media. All of these will be vitally important in health care’s brave new future.
I was proud to serve Southcoast, our patients and the communities of the South Coast region. I had a great run with an absolutely amazing and creative team. We won boatloads of awards every year — and I enjoyed it immensely.
I’ll be hanging out here online and hope you will continue to stop by.
News will be ongoing. Stay tuned.
Cheers,
— Jim
You want your ads to excite your customers — those loyal and those you want to capture. And there's nothing more exciting than being part of the ad itself.
Testimonials are still tried-and-true effective, but more companies and organizations are embracing crowdsourcing to share their message (think Doritos' Super Bowl spots).
The latest is Lexus, which used 200 people to create a stop-motion film made entirely from stitching together photos posted on Instagram.
Health care has also effectively used crowdsourcing as a marketing tool. Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center created their "Healthy is …" campaign that asked real people to complete the sentence and posted their answers online (as the official hospital of the Boston Red Sox, it helped that they could shoot some video at Fenway Park!).
Patient engagement begins before, during and after care is delivered. Patients are grateful for their care and crowdsourcing ads, videos or websites gives them another way to express their gratitude — and share it with their friends!
Source: Adrants
Soda, that is.
All thanks to a great promotion from Arbella Insurance and Live Nation, which offers its “Road Crew” Designated Driver Program at the Comcast Center in Mansfield, Mass., and Bank of America Pavilion in Boston. [We went to Comcast Center on July 20 to see Bob Dylan, My Morning Jacket, Wilco and Ryan Bingham.]
Here's the deal: Sign up to be a designated driver and Arbella gives you a wrist band, a "roadie style" lanyard and vouchers for free fountain sodas. Want more soda? Just swing back by the booth for more vouchers — it's all you can drink, all night. You even get a free a T-shirt!
What a fantastic idea. Give concert-goers an incentive to enjoy the show without over-indulging and make sure they and their party get home safely — all by attaching the effort to your mission.
“Arbella’s Foundation has consistently taken a stand against dangerous driving practices, including distracted driving and drunk driving,” said John Donohue, chairman, president and CEO of the Arbella Insurance Group, and chairman and president of the Arbella Insurance Foundation. “We want everyone to have a great time at these concert venues this summer, and Road Crew is our way of rewarding concertgoers who also make smart decisions about staying safe behind the wheel after a night out.”
“When it comes to our concert patrons, it is safety first and foremost,” added Bruce Montgomery, general manager of the Comcast Center. “The Road Crew designated driver program makes it easy for everyone to have a fun concert experience and get home safe.”
There are many opportunities for health care organizations to offer similar incentives at festivals, fairs and events — from providing hand sanitizer to sunscreen to first aid kits to healthy snacks. Look for the opportunities to interact with people where they can connect with your mission and message — to live healthy.
Jim Rattray is an award-winning creative professional who has worked extensively in health care, education, corporations and journalism and speaks to marketing and PR audiences on using new tools for public relations, marketing, branding and patient engagement.
The banner photo is of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park in California. It was taken at sunset from Glacier Point on October 1, 2012.
Follow my writing and that of others in the Patient Engagement arena on EngagingPatients.org.
