Conference Buddies

The Value of Blogs To Hospitals, New Organizations, and Industry

Speakers: Gary Schwitzer, HealthNewsReview.org, http://blog.lib.umn.edu/schwitz/healthnews/
Bob Stern, MedPage Today, http://www.medpagetoday.com/Blogs/
Paul Levy, Beth Isreal Deaconess Medical Center, http://runningahospitalblogspot.com
Marc Monseau, Johnson & Johnson, http://jnjbtw.com
10/15/2009, 4pm – 5pm

Notes:

• Represent what you and your institution stands for. Why would anyone not do that?
• People like seeing posts of medical institutions, statistics, new medical breakthroughs
• Everyone else is talking about us, why aren’t we? Large Corporations might have legal & regulatory constraints, but they can give out new info, respond to customers, address issues
• Listen, respond, and develop relationships
• People trust others like themselves rather than large institutions and companies
• How do we ensure that medical information available online is accurate? Reach out to the community by blogging about the topic. Use it as a way to deal with product issues. Use twitter to complement the blog posts
• People were proud of the fact that their boss blogged about them.
• Fosters greater confidence in their organization
• “The Terry Schiavo Case” – Blogging about the case gave people the real world insight into what was going on exactly.
• J & J sued the Red Cross for infringement of their logo, became a big news story. People questioned why anyone would want to sue the Red Cross? J & J saw blogging as a way to address the situation. Detailed reasons for doing so, how the trademark laws work, and opened up the screen for people to see what was behind running their organization.
• “Only a fool has to learn from losing, only a bigger fool who doesn’t learn from it”
• Preview comments before they are allowed on the blog, such as discussions about the off-label uses of certain medications, threats, non-topic related comments
• Tap into resources about healthcare on YouTube
• If people come to your blog, it’s because they care about that topic
• ROI on healthcare blogging? Blogging doesn’t cost anything, just time. Can use tools to chart number of visitors, but the value is more important than dollars & cents.
• What is the risk of not being involved? It is more about trustworthiness and source of good information.
• To get around regulatory restrictions and legal issues, blog in baby steps. Start small.
• Blogging about ways to relieve side effects of powerful meds. Although the medical manufacturers refuse to acknowledge the post, at least the information is out there by people who use those meds.

Internet Marketing For Smart People

Speakers: Darren Rowse, Brian Clark, Chris Brogan
@problogger
@copyblogger
@chrisbrogan

Key Take Aways from this Session:

• Learn marketing from anyone, there are always things to learn from people
• Email was “THE” content deliverable (before RSS, etc.) – Spam killed email
• Deliver content that is related to what you sell.
• Community is a privilege not a right
• Find something worth selling, tap the needs of your customers
• Give your members as many places to connect as possible
• Goal is to convert readers to customers
• Treat people so well that they want to go with you
• Position yourself so unique that you don’t have any competitor, that’s where the battle is won
• Deliver exceptional value that makes people raise their hand and want to share
• From Chris Brogan: Selling is not getting more than you give.   It’s giving more than you get.  But not give, give, give, and not get.

Example 1: Darren Rowse, ProBlogger, got a sponsorship from  Canon for his photographer blog, based on his community / tribe getting together on their own and contacting Canon.

Example 2: Brian Clark, CopyBlogger does not take any advertising ($10K a month if he were to advertise), $3M in sales this year by having something to sell. 2 years of not making money to build the audience, first and foremost, now makes $3M/yr