Archive for the ‘Women’ Category

Social Networks Play A Vital Role In Healthcare

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

There is a great article in the New York Times that starts by stating: For many people, social networks are a place for idle chatter about what they made for dinner or sharing cute pictures of their pets. But for people living with chronic diseases or disabilities, they play a more vital role.

Their article refers to recent research by the Pew Internet and American Life Project and the California HealthCare Foundation. Several people have sent me this research including my insightful colleague @SocMediaRckStr.

The report states “People fighting chronic illnesses are less likely than others to have Internet access, but once online they are more likely to blog or participate in online discussions about health problems.

“People living with chronic disease who go online are finding resources that are more useful than the rest of the population,” said Susannah Fox, associate director of digital strategy at Pew and author of the report. Not surprisingly, according to Pew, Internet users with chronic illnesses are more likely than healthy people to use the Web to look for information on specific diseases, drugs, health insurance, alternative or experimental treatments and depression, anxiety or stress.

The New Times article claims that for the chronically ill, the social aspects of the Web take on heightened importance. Particularly if they are homebound, they also look to the Web for their social lives, discussing topics unrelated to their illnesses. Some schedule times to eat dinner or watch a movie while chatting online.  Sites like HealthCentral, PatientsLikeMe, Inspire, CureTogether and Alliance Health Networks have become lifelines. Inspire alone has 156,979 members who have written 1,170,120 posts about the health issues that are important to them.

The numbers in the Pew Internet and American Life Projects are interesting.  And if you read my blogs, pretty reflective of the social media strategy Anoroc helps our health care clients create. But sometimes numbers seem hollow when you really discover who is on the end of them.  So there I was checking out these sites and being the hospice advocate and social media pusher I am, I searched ‘hospice’.  That’s where I found a women I’ll call Meg.  Meg is a hospice patient. Brave, honest, and loud about her journey.  “Uh, Oh I am Dying Soon,’ She posts, “Every now and then it hits. It hit tonight, big time. I wanted to call someone, but who do you call to say something like that? Who would understand how this realization can just suddenly flood over me … all denial is gone and the raw truth is there.” But Meg received 93 replies to her post. Women like her in their caps, covering the effects of chemo, screaming out their support, their understanding and love through their keyboards. I like to believe that because of social media and sites like these, Meg’s desire to ‘call’ someone was answered.

“How could anyone stay depressed when she has this site and this “family” to step in whenever needed and say all the perfect things to get me past my pity party?! Surf Girl, I’ll work on that list! I just love all of you, and this is going to be a good day, as I enjoy each moment of it. No screaming today :)

I feel as though a group of best friends has come over to my house and held my hand – I feel good,” Love, Meg. And that, my friends is the real power of social media.

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Posted in Healthcare, Hospice, Social Networking, Women | View Comments

Can Hospice Caregivers Benefit From Social Media, Part Three-Engagement

Friday, February 26th, 2010

Beyond creating the strategy that determines what users will gain from engaging in social media platforms, is creating tone and voice. For social media platforms to be engaging to women in the caregiving cycle they must embody key characteristics.

Anoroc’s hospice research has determined much about this target. She will most likely see herself as a caretaker and nurturer and it is important to establish a tone that speaks to her with an understanding of this emotional perspective.

Women, in general, are more emotionally connected and therefore are likely to tune into emotional benefits over functional ones. They include emotions in their decision making as opposed to basing them only on rational elements. So don’t be afraid to give them a ‘feeling’ to show the emotion, the ‘what matters’ behind your brand. She will see hospice services as typical among all hospice providers – unless your hospice provides a unique service that makes her world function better – you better ensure your social media platform provides her with the emotional connection she is seeking.

Women also want a dialogue, not just a transaction. That means encouraging a two way conversation on your social media platforms vs solely spouting company news, successes, facts, or services. She really doesn’t care and if this is all you are doing you can wish her a fond farewell.

Research is proving that women are engaging in social media in droves – wonder why? Because women strive to establish links and connect through affinity. Since women seek commonality and look for similarity between themselves and the ‘speaker.’ Make sure your social media platforms are not a nameless, faceless entity. Many organizations newly embarking into social media are making this mistake – remember this online world is about connection, nobody wants to connect to a nameless ‘site monitor’.

Hospice agencies that we have taken down this emotionally supportive and resource driven path have seen an increase in census of 60% plus. Equate that with not only the potential to your bottom line but the potential of increasing the number of families given a better end of life experience. And to those of us who know how profoundly hospice can improve the quality of life for both patients and their families – that sounds pretty dang good.

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Posted in Anoroc, Brand Value, Customer Loyalty, Decision Cycle, Healthcare, Hospice, Marketing, Purchase Intent, Social Media Influence, Social Networking, Women | View Comments

Can Hospice Caregivers Benefit From Social Media, understanding the gatekeeper

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

As we said in Part One, to understand the potential positive impact that social media can have on those who are providing care to a loved one, we first need to truly understand the caregiver. To move the hospice gatekeeper through the decision cycle your social media platform must resonate with her on an emotional level and provide the resources she seeks.

So who is she? What does she want? She will likely be working at least part time and taking care of children. She sees herself as the ‘caregiver’ to the family. She is a nurturer both to herself and others but mainly to others. She is emotionally driven in her purchasing behavior and looks for benefits/outcomes rather than specifics. If she does not have direct experience with hospice she will have heard of hospice through the media. She will not have a complete picture of hospice most particularly in regards to pain control, symptom management and bereavement support.

Her psychological purchase prices (what she must overcome to choose hospice and ask for that referral early on in the caregiving cycle) include:
Am I giving up on a cure?
Am I abandoning hope?
Will my loved-one feel that I am not fighting for them?
Will the care be as nurturing and as compassionate as I would provide?
Will I have the support to really handle this?
Worry about opinions/feelings of other family members.

In the process of creating social media strategies for specific demographics we also need to determine the wants and needs of the on line community end-user. Our hospice research determined our caregiving female’s tangible wants and needs to be:

Information and resources
Knowledge – answers, understanding of benefits
Support
Helping hand in a relevant way
Quality of life for a loved-one
Options
Solutions
Quality of care – physical and emotional
Balance

Her intangible wants and needs include:
Connection
Rational replacement for guilt
Understanding and empathy

The most successful social media strategies that a hospice can engage in are ones that support this key demographic by enabling her to move beyond her psychological purchase price, and that meet both her tangible and intangible wants and needs. More to come on doing just that in part three.

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Posted in Anoroc, Brand Value, Customer Loyalty, Decision Cycle, Healthcare, Hospice, Purchase Intent, Social Media Influence, Social Networking, Women | View Comments

Can Social Media Benefit Hospice Care Providers – Part 1

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

There is little doubt that hospice can profoundly improve the quality of life for those facing a life limiting illness. Yet there remains a large degree of misunderstanding, lack of knowledge concerning breadth of services and the struggle with late referrals. Can social media work to improve these barriers to care? I believe it can. Social media may be one of the best things that ever happened when talking hospice. I am not exaggerating, there is tremendous potential for hospice providers. The key is understanding how to use social media to engage hospice gatekeepers. There is a very real and specific strategy.
To understand the potential positive impact that social media can have on those who are providing care to a loved one, we first need to truly understand the caregiver. Note that positive impact equals referral request.
Here’s a little caregiving data: Out of the more than 50 million people who provide care for a chronically ill, disabled or aged family member during any given year, approximately 60% are women (this is your gatekeeper – get her and you can worry less about early referrals). On average she is 46 years old and caring for her widowed mother who does not live with her. She is married and employed.
For close to two decades Anoroc has been conducting research on hospice caregiving, specifically determining VALS (values, attitudes, lifestyles) and focusing on their wants/beliefs/healthcare buying habits and values. In Part Two we’ll share what we’ve learned about this 46 year old female.

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Posted in Anoroc, Customer Loyalty, Decision Cycle, Healthcare, Hospice, Marketing, Purchase Intent, Social Media Influence, Social Networking, Women | View Comments

Social Media, A Society Changed

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

It may be refreshing or boring but I am going to step off my marketing soapbox for a moment. This post is not about the power brands can gain from social media or truths behind building brand affinity. It is simply about another more fundamental role of social media- people.

There is something interesting happening that has never happened before, not in any generation. And it is because of social media. I believe it truly has potential to be life altering and perhaps, as some believe, world altering. And it happened to me this weekend. It is the ability to re-connect. Before social media platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn, lost friends remained lost – how were we to find them other than perhaps calling information? Which when it came to finding women who you knew only under their maiden name- it was, well, hopeless.

Enter social media and the lovely search function on platforms like Facebook. Because of this I was able to reconnect with several long lost friends. Those dating back to high school, as well as my college sorority sisters (yes, I was one of ‘those’). Hence, the point to this blog: this past weekend I reunited with a sorority sister I had not seen in more years then I want to tell you. I had looked for her many, many times over the years. But social media allowed me to find her. It gave me last weekend with her- talking til 2 am, laughing together, reconnecting. The years we were absent in each other’s lives vanished and became replaced with future planned trips to NY for five-star dinners and Broadway. And plans are underway for a DZ reunion.

We’re fortunate to have these modern tools that can bring the best of our past back to us –the people we continued to miss no matter how many years ticked by. And as a social scientist at heart it will be an interesting ride. The opportunity to watch how a simple Web platform will shape aspects of our society. Maybe great, world-altering things beyond selling more Dells can be accomplished. And, if not, it has already done enough for me.

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How Hospices Can Leverage Social Media

Friday, December 4th, 2009

A three part series on how hospices can benefit from social media.

Part One – The Case For Social Media
The psychological purchase price of hospice is steep – that is the decision to move from a curative form of care to comfort care. Simply put; ‘there is a whole lot of baggage.’ After close to two decades of conducting research on the hospice buying decision and a recent in-depth focus group study of patients, families, physicians, discharge planners, hospice nurses and social worker, I can tell you there remains hesitations, misconceptions, fear and guilt involved in the hospice decision.

Our research has shown that the key to gaining earlier acceptance of hospice care and reducing barriers to care is three fold: communication, peer to peer testimonial/experience sharing and education. With the growing rise of social media adopters the opportunity for communication, testimonial and education has never been so ripe. And ripe for the hospice target. From the 45+ year old female who is the healthcare gatekeeper within the family unit and the typical hospice decision maker for a parent, to the physician, to the Boomers/Seniors considering care for a spouse, these audiences are online and in social communities. Beyond just being online they are seeking advice, information, connection and being influenced by social media.

Here’s a quick snapshot:

* In a recent survey of 1,700 social media users nearly nine out of 10 consider the Internet a reputable source of health information. More than 80 percent currently research treatments online. But get this: 44 percent state they would leverage social media to do so in the future. And we know with the exploding social media audience that number can only continue to grow.

* Nearly one-third of consumers use online research to initiate physician conversations, informing their offline experiences with their online ones.

* The 2009 Women and Social Media Study by BlogHer, iVillage and Compass Partners sited that 42 million US women use social media.

* A recent Retail Advertising and Marketing Association study shows that nearly 94 percent of women (moms) seek advice before buying products or services and more than 97 percent said they give advice on products or services purchased.

* According to Forrester Research in 2007, the percentage of Boomers consuming social media was 46% for younger Boomers (ages 43 to 52) and 39% for older Boomers (ages 53 to 63). By 2008, those number increased to 67% and 62%, respectively.

* According to SeniorJournal, “the fastest growth in Internet use is being driven by the older age groups, starting at 55.” Senior Journal also performed a study and found information that reports, “in the 80 plus metropolitan markets surveyed regularly by The Media Audit, 61.2 percent of all adults visit the Internet regularly.”

*Consumers value the health information they get through social media. According to the 2008 Edelman Trust Barometer, people tend to trust  “a person like me” more than an authority figure.

*Physicians use clinical medical sites regularly, but more and more are also turning to social media — such as Facebook and online physician communities — for professional reasons or networking.

*In general, physicians use social media to seek out clinical information and opinions and discuss medical points of view with other doctors; to increase their professional exposure among colleagues and the general community, and for purely social reasons — to stay in touch with family and friends.

According to a California Healthcare Study, “Sponsorships of social media sites can help bond existing customers (whether patient, plan enrollee, or caregiver), bolster trust with the organization, and ultimately drive healthcare product/service sales that benefit both the patient and the company.”

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Posted in Anoroc, Brand Value, Customer Loyalty, Decision Cycle, Hospice, Marketing, Purchase Intent, Social Media Influence, Social Networking, Women | View Comments

Human Connection via Social Media, Opportunities for Insight

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

Recently Elizabeth Taylor underwent heart surgery.  Of course there where intimate conversations with close friends and relatives. But there was also Twitter. Elizabeth used Twitter (@dameelizabeth) to ask for prayers, share her experience, and gain comfort from her over 169,000 followers:

Dear Friends, I would like to let you know before it gets in the papers that I am going into the hospital to have a procedure on my heart.

It’s very new and involves repairing my leaky valve using a clip device, without open heart surgery, so that my heart will function better.

Any prayers you happen to have lying around I would dearly appreciate. I’ll let you know when it’s all over. Love you, Elizabeth

Dear Friends, My heart procedure went off perfectly. It’s like having a brand new ticker. Thank you for your prayers and good wishes. I know they all helped. Love you, Elizabeth

A friend of mine’s stepmother was recently diagnosed with liver disease, she turned to Facebook to reach out to friends. Another kept us posted about her husband’s heart surgery via Twitter.

Here is yet another friend’s post via Facebook: “Very sad. My beautiful Neesha, family pet of 14 years, went to cat heaven. The studio will never be the same.”

When conducting research for a hospice client Anoroc discovered numerous, really countless Twitter posts about hospice, from hospice patients reaching out, to those considering hospice and looking for advice, to hospice nurses sharing loss, and experiences. Blogs were also rampant with experience sharing, many bloggers sharing emotional journeys.

Social media has become a powerful vehicle for human connection often in 140 characters or less. These intimate conversations can give companies a real look at how individuals feel, think and interact. The 2009 Women and Social Media Study by BlogHer, iVillage and Compass Partners sited that 42 million US women use social media. Beyond offering opportunity for companies to connect to consumers, it can give brand developers pertinent insights on how to speak to those they hope will become their best and most loyal customers.

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Moms and Social Media – They’re Listening

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

A recent Retail Advertising and Marketing Association study shows that nearly 94 percent of moms seek advice before buying products or services and more than 97 percent said they give advice on products or services purchased. Where is this happening? – through social media.

“It’s like the new bus stop.” One of the moms in my ‘Mom Posse’ explained to me recently. My ‘Mom Posse’ is my group of mom friends that I often use as a sounding board when Anoroc is developing mom-focused brands. They are these amazing, smart women some of whom left behind successful careers to mom fulltime and others who are miraculously and very adeptly blending momhood with power careers. They amaze me.

The ‘new bus stop’ is their take on the continued raise in social media usage by moms. “We all stand out at the bus stop in the morning with our kids. It has become our place to share information, ideas and seek advice. Social media is growing more and more like the bus stop for us. I use it to gain opinions I can trust, not only on products but also on much more important decisions. It’s a great resource and you know somewhere out there’s someone who has successfully navigated through an issue you may be facing.” Connie and I were having coffee, she was enjoying a break from the kids and I, as usual, was talking shop.

Two beautiful children later Connie still looks like she should be cast in a Charlie’s Angels re-make. She is one of the Posse members who is balancing an incredible career with motherhood. “A lot of us are out there on line, I think brands that can communicate with us on a real level will get noticed. We share our experiences wherever we happen to be- on line or in line at the bus stop, we’re seeking advice and giving advice and you can bet other moms are listening.” Understand why she makes a great sounding board?

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