HealthLeaders Media Marketing Awards 2007: The Call of New Media

In this age of new media, endless opportunities await hospital marketers, Rhoda Weiss, chair and CEO of the Public Relations Society of America, told attendees at the first HealthLeaders Media Marketing Awards at the Hilton New York. Weiss, the founding president of the American Hospital Association's Society for Healthcare Strategy and Development, was the inaugural event's keynote speaker.

"The time is now to put together a social marketing plan" that includes more than e-mail and more than your organization's Web site, Weiss said. Consider tools like Facebook, YouTube and Second Life, she said. "If you're not using them yet, I promise you will be."

Weiss encouraged participants to get to know these media entities and use them to their organization's advantage. Social networking sites such as Facebook are great places to introduce your physicians to patients--especially those in younger generations.

Online communities are also good places to connect patients suffering from common diseases, she said, giving them a chance to offer each other support and share resources. And it's not just marketers who should be looking into Web 2.0, Weiss said. "If your hospital does not have a blog, go back to your CEO and tell him to get one." She called CEO blogs a "very human way to reach people."

-Maureen Larkin