PART 1 – Using Web 2.0 Strategies in Health Care Marketing: The Web 2.0 Opportunity

Static Web sites are no longer enough to build lasting relationships with your customer base. Web 2.0 and the growth of social media have created valuable tools for health care organizations to successfully reach their target audience in meaningful ways that can help create lifelong brand ambassadors and loyal customer relationships.

But instead of just jumping onto the Web 2.0 bandwagon, it is important for health care organizations to take a step back and determine how they can strategically use social media as part of their overall communications plan.

The social network consumer

It is a common misconception that social networks are filled only with teenagers and college students. While these populations still comprise a key demographic of social network users, they are by far not the only ones. Earlier this year Facebook stated that women 55 years old and older are its fastest growing demographic. In fact, the 26 to 44 year old age group now accounts for 41 percent of Facebook’s audience. The percent of adult Internet users who have a profile on an online social network site has more than quadrupled in the past four years, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project’s December 2008 survey.

Twitter, the latest Web 2.0 craze, has infected pop culture with celebrity users like Oprah and Shaquille O’Neal and has become part of politics with its user list including President Barack Obama and numerous members of the U.S. Congress. In the United States alone, according to comScore, Twitter recorded more than 4 million users in February, up more than 1,000 percent from a year ago. This includes a number of businesses utilizing this popular medium to reach their target audiences. One of the interesting things about Twitter is that the 45 to 54-year-old crowd is actually the one driving the increased interest in this outlet, as opposed to 18 to 24 year olds who traditionally were the social media early adopters.

These strong trends continue with the multicultural population as well. More than 40 percent of U.S. Hispanics who go online at least once a month maintain social network profiles, according to Ipsos. In addition, the Pew Internet & American Life Project reported that 43 percent of online U.S. African Americans have a profile on a social network Web site – 12 percent higher than whites / non-Hispanics.

Whether it’s Facebook or Twitter or through your own social network, there are multiple ways to reach out and communicate with your target audience. The challenge for any health care organization is figuring out where to start. The first inclination is to jump into anything and everything that is available, but it’s important to find the mediums that work best for each organization and what they are trying to accomplish.

Check-in next week for Part 2 of this series.

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