Medical Groups are learning that social media is a helpful marketing tool. Many doctors and Health Care providers are beginning to utilize deals and promotions on sites such as Groupon and Foursquare. Doctors are offering discounted medical services for those who check the sites. This article from The Los Angeles Times illustrates the way the medical field is changing as doctors find innovative ways to attract new patients.
Monica Dillon wasn’t happy with her eye care provider, so when she saw an online deal for an exam and glasses for $50, she clicked on it.
The accountant, who lives in Columbia and works in Washington, doesn’t ordinarily get medical care without a recommendation. But the offer was too good to resist — and, as she notes, there would be no surgery or undressing.
“The timing was right so I jumped on it,” she said about her purchase via Groupon, a deal-of-the-day e-mail sent to tens of thousands of people in the Baltimore region and millions nationwide. “I’d be more cautious about laser surgery or hair removal. That would take more research. But this worked out; they found a problem with my prescription.”
Katzen Eye Group, the company behind the deal, is among the growing number of health care providers testing the latest in social media. They’re intrigued by the opportunity to attract new patients who might have no or little insurance for specialty services, and to provide information and services to current patients.
Web pages, Facebook pages and Twitter accounts have become a staple of businesses. The newest trend are dealmakers such as Foursquare (a mobile application allowing participants to “check in” at locations and win small rewards), Scoutmob (e-mails that promise discounts at hot spots in cities such as Washington, though not yet Baltimore) and LivingSocial (a Groupon-like deal site).
Dr. Robert Patterson, Chiropractor & Internal Health Specialist of Overland Chiropractic recently reviewed social media marketing for the health care industry, which showed up on bussinessweek.com.
A growing number of resort and spa destinations are spreading their wings and reaching a wider customer base via social media. With the help of social networking platforms and niche bloggers, vacation spots are broadening their branding efforts from the sand to the slopes, and connecting with potential patrons they may not have reached through traditional advertising.
Here’s a look at some of the social strategies these getaway companies are employing and what we can learn from their success.
Green initiatives and social media go together like two (organic) peas in a pod. Green companies looking to grow their business, clientele and networking base with other environmentally friendly prospects need to utilize social media to decrease their carbon footprint, while increasing business. Social media reaches green audiences like no other communication medium available today. Green bloggers are blogging about environmental issues and major media sources are listening. Sustainability is at the forefront of everyone’s minds, and now, with social media, green companies are able to be heard in unprecedented ways. One tweet about a tip on greening up your home or a blog about a new green product is now visible for major media forums, not to mention, can be targeted toward the exact green audience companies have been trying to reach for years. Greening our global community is imperative. Mobilizing the forces that can make that dream a reality are most easily reached through social media.
Tweeters like Ecogiant @algore and Eco-friendly Vegan Filmmaker @ecovegangal, know what’s up. In a mashable.com article written by Cameron Chapman about environmentalists to follow on twitter, these two ecologically sound trendsetters, along with 73 others are the focus of top green voices to listen to.
Green Tweets: 75+ Environmentalists to Follow on Twitter
Twitter has a huge green community. There are green media, green companies and green charities all active on the microblogging service, as well as a whole bunch of individual environmentalists and green bloggers. The #EcoMonday hashtag — the environmental equivalent of #FollowFriday, in which Twitter users suggest “green” tweeters to follow and share green news and info — has grown into a regular trending topic every Monday, along with a variety of other green initiatives.
Read more
If your company is not already sustainable or you are still trying to figure out your green strategy for employees, vendors and clients, check out this video from Brad Roderick on greening-up your office!
This week, Valerie Jennings, CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing released her latest promotional video about the changes within our industry. Jennings started her company in 2003 at age 24 from her home in Overland Park, Kan. Now, the business works with companies around the globe.
Watch the history of her business and some featured work by Jennings:
Upon hearing the word “blog,” we often are inclined to revert to the cliché; the odes of tweenage girls venting about boy trouble, feline-fashion tips from recluse cat-ladies, or the perfectly pink posts of Hollywood celebrity gossip gurus. Blogs have long been the regarded as the artwork of amateurs. However, with the emergence of social media marketing, blogs are now booming with new-and-improved content intended to inform a more professional audience.
Looking at our recent video case study release focusing on NewUrbanismBlog.com and the sustainable design market, one can notice the cross-industry perk blogs pertain thanks to social media marketing, the first and most notable benefit being the self-promotional factor. (more…)
I would like share a story that Valerie Jennings, CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing, was presented by Hamptons Green Alliance. The story focuses on the HGA presentation of housing development updates at the AIA Peconic Member Dinner Meeting in Southampton, NY.
Hamptons Green Alliance Members Present HGA House Update to AIA Peconic Dinner Meeting
Bridgehampton, NY – Members of the Hamptons Green Alliance (http://www.hamptonsgreenalliance.com), believed to be the first group of contractors who specialize in a variety of disciplines in the building industry to formally come together to share their expertise and promote sustainable building practices, recently presented their first project to members of the AIA Peconic Member Dinner Meeting in Southampton, NY.
The HGA project, which was announced last year, is a net zero energy, carbon neutral and LEED platinum house on Long Island. In what is believed to be a first in the Hamptons – if not the nation – this home is being rebuilt from the ashes of a horrific fire.
The presentation, which focused on the planning process for the HGA house project, which followed many of the concepts described in AIA new Integrated Project Delivery forms, also included reviews of the sustainable technologies used to attain the goals of the project as well as those that have been used to create energy in sustainable ways. There was a discussion of how thin film photovoltaic creates electricity with less impact on aesthetics, and a review of the status of residential windmills for this project. Other sustainable technologies required to meet the project’s goals were discussed such as low flow plumbing fixtures, smart home electronic technology, improvement of soil composition organically and reviews of materials to reduce the home’s carbon footprint.
All founding members of the Hamptons Green Alliance were on hand to field questions concerning the technologies that each has brought to the project.
The group, working with the Long Island Chapter of the United States Green Building Council, intends to seek LEED Certified Platinum status for the house, as well as implement a methodology developed by Frank Dalene, president of Telemark, Inc. and a founding member of the Hamptons Green Alliance. In addition to the presentation on the HGA House, Mr. Dalene also presented information on ICEMAN, a mathematical formula that scientifically determines the carbon footprint of any manufactured product. The mechanism is briefly explained on the website: www.carbonfactorindex.com
With all the hype regarding the new Apple iPad tablet I want to share some recent news. Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple Inc. announces the new apple iPad tablet at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco on Wednesday.
“When something exceedes your ability to understand how it works, it sort of becomes magical,” said Apple’s Senior Vice President of Design Jony Ive. The magicians at work behind the tool that changed modern technology, the iPhone, are at it again, and this time they’ve created a product that, at this point, seems like a mere illusion. The iPad, which will be available in two to three months, will truly revolutionize everyday life. This innovative piece of technology will change the way consumers work, with large touch-screen Internet and e-mail capabilities, and play, with videos, photos, iBooks, and a YouTube app. The iPad also comes with a comprehensive contact list, calendar, and an on-screen keyboard accompanying a place to take notes, although now, we’d expect nothing less from Apple.
The iPad has Wi-Fi availability and can also run on AT&T’s third generation wireless network. With a convenient size, around that of a magazine, and weighing only 1.5 pounds, the iPad fits nicely into a purse or briefcase, making it light enough to take to the office, and big enough to read on the subway. Because of its user-friendly lay-out and design, coupled with Apple’s strong reputation of reliability, this new gadget will no doubt become the latest must-have accessory. If that’s not enough to excite even the most savvy technaholic, the iPad is equipped with a battery life lasting up to ten hours, making this little widget nothing short of a wonder.
This is an article from mobivity.com written by Patricia Carson about new NBC mobile alerts for the 2010 Winter Olympics. The article discusses how you can have easier access to all of your favorite winter events using mobile phone software.
NBC Mobile Alerts for 2010 Winter Olympics
January 21st, 2010 by Patricia Carson
NBC is taking full advantage of mobile software technology for the Winter Olympics beginning on February 12, 2010. They’ve set up a whole system using mobile alerts that allows you to be alerted by TV schedules, your favorite sport, athlete, medal counts and more. Just select “Mobile, Alerts, Shop & More” from the home page navigation bar and select Mobile from the drop down menu, or click here to see the full menu of options available for the information that can be sent to you via mobile.
Here is an article written by Galia Myron on Demodirt.com featuring Valerie Jennings, CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing about television viewing becoming more individualistic.
Television viewing is becoming more individualistic, no more family viewing.
The days of the family gathering around the telly to take in an evening show after dinner are over, says a Swedish study that examined society’s ever-changing relationship with television. While trendwatchers have long reported that people are becoming more independent, “We are becoming more and more individualistic also in our choice of TV programs,” researcher Jakob Bjur wrote in a new dissertation from University of Gothenburg in Sweden.
“In 1999 social viewing, watching together, accounted for 45 percent, and in 2008 it was down to 37 percent. We are becoming more and more individualistic also in our TV choices, and I’m convinced that this trend will continue. We can no longer speak of TV as a social adhesive, a unifying force,” Bjur said publicly, adding that television is now a source of social fragmentation. There are other avenues for social interaction, he added, including the Internet.
I want to share a article from Allbusiness.com written by Barbara Goldberg, featuring Valerie Jennings, CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing. The article focuses on the Susan G. Komen Facebook page and their recent viral public relations campaign.
What good could possibly come of revealing to the world the color of your undergarments? Apparently, quite a lot.
Just 24 hours after a viral campaign tied to breast cancer awareness exploded on Facebook two weeks ago, more than 2,000 new fans — 10 times the usual number in that time period– joined the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Facebook page. It started when women around the world forwarded this e-mail to their friends:
“Some fun is going on . . . just write the color of your bra in your status. Just the color, nothing else. And send this on to ONLY girls, no men . . . It will be fun to see how long it takes before the men will wonder why all the girls have a color in their status . . . Pass it on & do your breast self-exams!”
The viral campaign raised disease awareness by raising the curiosity of a few good men, sparking news coverage by ABCNews.com, the Associated Press, Good Morning America, and other major outlets. And it’s continued to grow.
I would like to share some valuable online tips from Mashable staff writer Samuel Axom regarding the placement of closed captions on YouTube videos. In his tutorial he runs down the easy steps of applying captions to user videos, making the process almost “an absolute breeze.”
YouTube has a global audience, so if you want to reach as many people as possible, you’ll have to make sure subtitles are available for your videos. You’ll want closed captioning to reach the deaf and hard of hearing, too. Thankfully, that process has shifted from relatively easy to an absolute breeze in recent months. Here’s how to make it happen.
Once you’ve uploaded a video to your YouTube (YouTube) account, you have two options for generating subtitles for the video: You can use the CaptionTube web app that Google (Google) has created, or you can upload a transcript you make yourself and use Google’s speech recognition technology to automatically assign the right times to each caption. In either case, you’ll end up with a text file that you can edit to make corrections if need be, and viewers will be able to either read the captions in their native language or translate them on the fly when watching your video.
CaptionTube
First, direct your browser to the CaptionTube website and you’ll find a well-realized web application for importing videos, adding and timing captions for them, and exporting the captions however you want them. You’ll have to sign in with your Google account. After you’ve done that, you’ll have two options for importing a video; you can either import a list of all the videos on your account, or you can specify the web address for a public video
Word “czars” at Lake Superior State University “unfriended” 15 words and phrases and declared them “shovel-ready” for inclusion on the university’s 35th annual List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness.
“The list this year is a ‘teachable moment’ conducted free of ‘tweets,’” said a Word Banishment spokesman who was “chillaxin’” for the holidays. “‘In these economic times’, purging our language of ‘toxic assets’ is a ‘stimulus’ effort that’s ‘too big to fail.’”
Former LSSU Public Relations Director Bill Rabe and friends created “word banishment” in 1975 at a New Year’s Eve party and released the first list on New Year’s Day. Since then, LSSU has received tens of thousands of nominations for the list, which includes words and phrases from marketing, media, education, technology and more.
Word-watchers may check the alphabetical “complete list” on the website before making their submissions.
Google and Bing, along with other search engines’ newest “real-time Web search” abilities are incredible. Due to the trending available via Twitter, search engines are able to find new Web and social media marketing content in “real time.”
5 Big Real-Time Web Trends of 2009
By Samuel Axon
Web technology and social media change radically from month to month, so it’s difficult to make predictions about what The Next Big Thing is, but you can be confident that the real-time web will get bigger and more essential in 2010. It came to a head in 2009, though, and this year’s applications can give you some idea of what to expect after the New Year.
Twitter’s influence and prominence in the growth of the real-time web goes without saying, but even if it’s the flagship, there’s a fleet of other new services and ventures that are bringing real-time to millions of netizens. Here’s a roundup of the five most exciting general applications of the concept, and examples of each. But if you know of a great one that should be here, fill us in. (Read more)
This is an article from mobivity.com written by Patricia Carson about new NBC mobile alerts for the 2010 Winter Olympics. The article discusses how you can have easier access to all of your favorite winter events using mobile phone software.
CaptionTube
