Google+ Twitter Equals Marketing Opportunity

The platform is a conversation where everyone is talking (or tweeting) at once---very similar to healthcare as a whole. Turning down the noise is determined by who you follow. If you are just getting started try these suggestions:

• @HealthLeadersMedia –industry news
• @Gienna – healthcare information technology (HIT)
• @CherClarHealth –healthcare quality
• @Kevinmd – social media's physician voice
• @Atul_Gawande – author, surgeon, and quality advocate
• @Anna_webster – healthcare marketing
• And check out this list of the HIT100

One problem I have with Twitter is that it broadcasts your posts to your entire audience of followers. Many times, healthcare marketers want to be more targeted and specific. Using Twitter as a messaging tool can be good for broad announcements such as a new CEO or the opening of a new facility, patient wellness education, or a published news article on your organization.

"To move to integrative marketing goes beyond social media use and requires a micro level of customer understanding," says Eric N. Berkowitz, PhD, Professor, Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts. The investment in this level of sophistication is significant not only in terms of the data mining tools, but also the individuals needed to drive the integration of the sophisticated data mining processes to the marketing strategy.

Berkowitz makes the point that healthcare marketing leaders must be able to talk to individuals on a one-to-one basis, knowing their unique healthcare needs and issues. And, as these patients' healthcare needs evolve and change, the organization would learn and respond to these changing needs in the communications it sends.