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Aurora Sinai Persuasion Campaign: Gaining a Foothold in Social Media Nick Michael John Wrend Ian Yakob Marquette University

2. Table of Contents Abstract Page 3 Body Introduction A. Problem Statement Page 4 B. Problem Analysis Page 5 Planning A. Goal Setting Page 6 B. Audience Analysis Page 8 C. Message and Channel Strategy Page 11 Implementation Page 13 Evaluation A. Campaign Impact Page 15 B. Process Evaluation Page 17 Conclusion Page 18 References Page 19 Tables and Figures Page 21 Appendices Page 22

3. Abstract The purpose of this campaign was to promote the use of social media by Aurora Sinai Medical Center so that the hospital could benefit from the positive effects online

networking provides for businesses. The downtown Milwaukee medical center is at a state of consistent economic loss, and its lack of utilizing social media only hurts the hospitals presence within the community. By increasing positive awareness for the hospital, this social media campaign aims to provide convincing support capable enough to influence members of the medical center to employ online networking on their own.

4. Introduction Problem Statement Due to American cultures massive obsession with social media, it has become prudent that businesses use online networking for increasing exposure and advertising. Now more than ever, utilizing social media for commercial gain is an effective way for

companies to stay present in the minds of their consumers (who ultimately contribute to the profits and successes of those businesses). With 73 percent of the United States internet population using Facebook (Swift, 2011), social media is not easily ignored. Similarly, the Business Insider says Twitter adds about 500,000 users per day (Olenski, 2012). Altogether, it is clear that the online sphere is wildly expansive, so the way it translates to the real world is vital for businesses. Unfortunately, Aurora Sinai Medical Center in Milwaukee does not utilize social media beneficially. The hospital is faltering financially, and its ineffective use of online networking is not helping it recover. According to WISN (2012), Aurora Sinai has lost over $27 million in the last five years. Guy Boulton of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (2012) said the hospital, which had 303,402 non-emergency visits and 68,196 emergency visits in 2010, has only turned a slight profit one time in the last ten years. But this problem goes way beyond just the fiscal problems of the hospital. If Aurora Sinai closes its Milwaukee location, the city would be losing its only emergency room downtown. Thousands of citizens would not have anywhere in proximity to go for healthcare, and other hospitals would have an unwarranted influx. Closing Aurora Sinai's emergency department, for example, could result in more than 60,000 patients seeking care from Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare-St. Joseph and Columbia St. Mary's Hospital-Milwaukee (Boulton, 2012). Thus, Aurora Sinais struggle is extremely problematic as a threat to Milwaukee citizens and its failure to adopt social media is a contributor to this problem.

5. Introduction Problem Analysis With social networking occupying the pinnacle of the present online advertising arena, a resistance to participating in it can easily result in negative consequences for business popularity. That being said, Aurora Sinais lack of social media utilization is a

problem that came to existence by its own reluctance to follow societys lead. Considering how expansive social media is, coupled with its profitability as a business-complement, other hospitals are leaving Aurora Sinai Medical Center behind. According to the Hospital Social Network List (ebennett.org 2011), 1,220 hospitals in the United States use social networking tools. With 4,118 social networking sites on behalf of US hospitals, its clear that Aurora Sinai should follow suit to at least begin solving its problem. Although this issue could be considered a mere barrier to success rather than an actual problem, its clear that Aurora Sinai is struggling. Meanwhile, the lack of social media use is a detriment that continues to exist simply because the hospital persists in neglecting social networking. That said, the hope for the networking venture is to promote not only a positive image, but also a pervasive one. If the hospital has a foothold on social media, then it will have a larger audience, and thus a larger potential population for profit. Meanwhile, the hospital needs profit to escape failure, and therefore it needs social media. This issue is significant because Aurora Sinai is a critical member of the Milwaukee community as the only downtown emergency room. Saving its presence through online advertising and persuasive messages is worthwhile as a forward looking prevention of disaster for citizens, students, and the like. However, it takes time and effort to gain a foothold in the social media realm. Nevertheless, getting started and at least trying to catch up with success is paramount. Otherwise, Aurora Sinai is likely to continue dwindling until it finally falls asunder, as many news outlets suggest.

6. Planning Goal Setting Altogether, the goal of this assignment is to exploit the intersection of positive

attitudes people have towards Aurora Sinai and online networking to formulate a successful social media campaign capable of influencing the hospitals ownership. Because of the twofold approach, there are various goals and a ton of overlap in the persuasion matrix among what types and targets of change the campaign intends to gain as responses. To successfully persuade the Aurora Sinai Medical Center to use social media in their everyday practices would ultimately call for a creation of behavior. The idea is that the hospital currently does not engage in social networking means doing so would be a new behavior. Once the hospital starts the process, it is an extended behavioral change because it is something it is something the hospital has not done before and it would have to fulfill the necessary requirements to keep the social media platform updated. The change for Sinai would also be a creational goal by the mere initial creation of the media platform itself. This would involve creating various social media accounts such as Facebook and Twitter that would share information about the hospital in order to promote the hospital with whatever success is attained. Overall, this is the type of influence that involves giving advice, which can help save the hospital economically, according to the campaigns plan. However, to get the hospital to make these changes, there are a couple other angles to consider. In order to get the decision to develop a social media platform, there must be some kind of attitude change that tells the members of Sinai that it is worth it to begin social media operations. To achieve this, the campaign aims to demonstrate the raised awareness that social networking provides. Thus, by creating and maintaining a foothold on social media for Sinai, the creation of cognitive awareness is necessary in the target audience of Milwaukee residents. That being said, the effective and inadvertent advertising

6. Planning Goal Setting of having presence across various social media outlets will provide the creational and cognitive changes to gain awareness. Our goals did not change over the course of the

semester because our primary target audience confirmed the link between social media and positive hospital awareness, so the only things we adapted to were the suggestions of what would make the social media accounts successful (See Tables 4-6).

7. Planning Audience Analysis The Aurora Sinai Persuasion Campaign has two elements in its target audience because the campaign is employing a dual stage tactic of persuasion. With the ultimate

hope of having the hospital embrace and promote itself via significant social media activity, the overarching target audience is the Aurora Sinai Medical Center. However, since the end goal requires evidence of the expansive and beneficial reach of social networking on behalf of the hospital, the campaign will first pursue the demonstration of said effective social media use. In order to do so, the secondary (but chronologically first) target audience is made up of those residents of downtown Milwaukee in the proximity of Aurora Sinai. In addition to the residents of downtown Milwaukee, it would also be appropriate to consider students of Marquette University as a subcategory of this target audience. According to the 2010 Census, Milwaukee City has around 266,339 Whites and 237,769 African Americans making of the majority of the population (Census 2010). Out of this majority, it is acceptable to estimate that half are at least familiar with social media. Nevertheless, reaching this half as the target audience does not limit the confine the successes and failures of the networking efforts, since there will inevitably be immeasurable (positive) results in terms of awareness through word of mouth and personal experience as an effect of the social media venture. After targeting the consumer demographic by gaining a foothold in social networking, the next target would be to translate this into a realization for the more important target audience: the Aurora Sinai Medical Center. This includes owners, employees, directors, etc that create the cohesive body of the center. These are the people who help keep the hospital functional (although non-profitable) on a daily basis. By merely being on their side of the spectrum, these people are likely to be already familiar

7. Planning Audience Analysis with the benefits of a social media platform for a business but perhaps are unsure how to implement it effectively in their everyday practices. Historically, this is a result of it not ever being in anyones job description to promote the hospital in new digital medias. Nevertheless, some may have already considered using social media to boost consumer

satisfaction and awareness of information and events pertaining to the hospital, but the ones currently in place are unsuccessful and/or misguided. It is because this audience of Aurora Sinai is either unsuccessful or non-committed to social media that it is the target of the Aurora Sinai Persuasion Campaign. Per our campaign surveying and interviewing techniques, we researched a number of important pre-existing attitudes and involvements regarding the hospital and social networking. The most helpful thing for the social media campaign is that a great majority of people interviewed felt that social media would in fact spread awareness for the hospital at the very least. Through the multiple interviews, the participants ranged from never having been to the hospital itself to having had an operation there over the course of multiple visits meanwhile, there was consistency in the answers about a lack of advertising. Apart from the mixed feelings towards Sinai, some recurring themes in opinion were that the poverty of the city is probably a major factor for Aurora Sinais struggles, and the hospital cant be entirely to blame for its debt when it takes in so many uninsured patients. Still the biggest piece of information that our audience research provided was the fact that most people would have serious concerns if the sole downtown emergency room of a city were to shut down, even if other options were available. The overall hope is that the hospital becomes successful, but most thought that it will not be possible without some kind of changeand

7. Planning Audience Analysis

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the majority agreed that social media could help, as one participant said, You have to try something or else youll drown (See: Interview in appendix C).

8. Planning Message and Channel Strategy

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It bodes well for this campaign that many people agreed that gaining a foothold in social media could at least be a start towards profit because of an increased awareness. At the same time, its clear that it is doubtful for social media to be the panacea of all the problems, but its at least a step in the right direction. The interviews provided a tremendous amount of insight on how people feel about Aurora Sinai as a hospital and as a part of the city. The overall conclusions included that creating a better atmosphere for the hospital is something it has to do on its own so that it can have better interaction as a member of the community, as well as that Aurora Sinai does a poor job promoting awareness and advertising (See: responses to questions VI and XI from Interviews in Appendices B and C). This campaign agrees, and understands that social media is a good tool for self-promotion, which would result in better rapport with others in the community. It was an obvious consensus that hospitals are vital for a communitys health. Now, however, its becoming clear that the health of a hospital can depend on the ability for it to be known positively. Fittingly, this campaign recognizes the potential for a positive common denominator between social media and Aurora Sinai. Thus, the campaign developed the strategy of gathering a following for a promotional Twitter account that accommodates the needs of the target audience. After completion, this is likely to be sufficient to persuade Aurora Sinai to get started in a social media campaign of its own. It seems simple, but crossing the threshold between having minimal social media participation and having a stalwart grip on digital networking is a massive leap. The theoretical perspective that provides the basis for our campaign is the logical theory that Fishbein presents regarding attitudes. In his theory, an attitude is the final function of beliefs and evaluations about them (lecture 8). Our ultimate campaign strategy

8. Planning Message and Channel Strategy

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is to change the attitudes that Aurora Sinai members have about using social media, enough to the point where they would finally evaluate employing social media as less detrimental than not. Thus, our campaign had to find a way to prove that social media could make a difference, and we decided that employing it ourselves to have tangible evidence of an increased following would suffice. After gaining enough attention, letting the increased awareness speak for itself would be the main point to potentially present in front of Sinai members. According to these strategies, our choice of channels was a no-brainer. First, our Twitter account represents an online multimedia channel that can spread awareness on its own. Next, our own word of mouth represented a face-to-face channel to raise attention to the account. Finally, after measuring the success of the social media enterprise, a presentation to Aurora Sinai members would also be in the personal face-to-face channel. We chose these channels because of the way that they complement each otherthe online presence, coupled with a real-world personal promotion, helps cover various areas in which the audience resides. When we want to speak to the impact of the campaign, we simply point to the digital channels success.

9. Implementation The first order of business for the campaign was to gather information and ideas from members of the community, or the target audience. Doing interviews was an easy

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choice because individuals can come up with many unique answers that they may not have had a chance to say in a focus group. The design of the interview activity was to conduct research that would provide high quality data to help reach a two-pronged end goal. That said, the interview process for this assignment needed to provide useful information for the relationship between Aurora Sinai and the target audience in terms of using social media as a common link. The goal was to find out what people already believe the benefits of using social media to be, and then uncover what the sample thinks would be the best way to utilize those networks. Meanwhile, the interview activity would also be a way to confirm or deny the initial assumptions made from the first problem analysis (in terms of how much people agree with the campaigns goal). The underlying agenda was to demonstrate the campaigns belief that the hospital is better off using social media, so the questions were aimed to help figure out how best to persuade an audience. Put simply, this activity was meant to find what is going to be successful when implementing and promoting social media accounts. Understanding the target audiences personal involvements with Aurora Sinai and social media was important so that the research could help foster more future involvement. After the interviews, conducting a quantitative survey was the next step. Our previous study helped us understand if a social media presence could work, but this study would help us know what kind would work. With this effort, the second level objective for the questionnaire research was to have the audience inadvertently tell the campaign the ways to produce an effective message to ultimately show to members of the hospital. The

9. Implementation research showed that it would in fact matter to people if the only downtown emergency

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room closed, and so it is vital that Aurora Sinai remains open. That said, the audience also agreed that social media can actually help, and that is significant because most of the audience participates in online networking. The key at hand here is that the audience demonstrated beliefs that not only will the social media platform help the hospital, but also that it would not be able to hurt it any further (unless by an egregiously foul implementation). As said before, the next step is to get into the social circles so as to find a gateway into the commercial aspects of social media. Since most of the audience uses social media for social circles and consumer enterprises, getting into those circles is the first step towards raising awareness via social media. Our qualitative analysis had previously suggested we gain a Twitter following, and this quantitative analysis confirmed that doing so would actually be convincing to Aurora Sinai members. So, of course, the formative research led us to create a support account on Twitter. After doing so online while including all of the necessary disclosures of information about the account, we started to pursue a following. Gaining attention quickly was difficult, but it involved word of mouth advertising as well as retweeting and following local community members with the account. All three campaign members had access to the account, and in two short weeks it had over 25 followers (See: Appendix A). As such, our methods of exposure were as spread out as possible for us. We could continue in the online sphere by traditionally being active on the social network, while also asking people on the streets in person if they were interested in Sinai, suggesting they should follow the Twitter account.

10. Evaluation Campaign Impact

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The easiest part of our campaign was evaluating the impact of increasing attention and awareness via social media. That said, literally counting the number of followers the Twitter account accumulated let us know that our campaign achieved our initial desired effect. Our initial goal was to gain a significant following on Twitter, and our consensus was that around 30 followers would be reasonably adequate. After just two weeks of having an account, we got the number up to 26. This does include our own Twitters, so the number is more like 23. In analyzing this work, were fairly confident that this quick effort for a Twitter account to support Aurora Sinai is promising and that it would actually be useful in persuading the hospital to step up. Accordingly, the data we previously gathered advised the campaign to primarily use Twitter as a gateway to continue spreading awareness through the eventual use of Facebook and Foursquareand all of this circles back to the first campaign assignment in which we suggested that some initial media platforms would likely be the best options while others would possibly crop up in the future as a good method to branch out further (See: Table 6). Altogether, the goals of this assignment laid out earlier were successfully accomplished, each in its own right. Our campaign reiterated and affirmed the audiences attitudes toward the hospital, it bolstered the idea that social media and the hospital are compatible, and it helped mark out which methods of social media the campaign should tackle and how. The results helped shape our campaign because it showed that the audience was clearly on-board, as the data showed little to no polemic tendencies (See: Tables 2 & 4). Positive attitudes were clearly reinforced by our campaign, and the level of effect could rise to a point where Sinai Members would change their attitudes, and ultimately benefit from the increased attention.

10. Evaluation Campaign Impact We were very encouraged by this because the effort has the possibility of becoming a mutual goal for people in the area.

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11. Evaluation Process Evaluation The procedures we used to plan our campaign were very effective, but slightly

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underdeveloped at the start. We believe this is true because our campaign did not figure out everything with complete thoroughness from the interview process, and our subsequent surveys needed to include additional questions to help us evaluate our position. Fortunately, our surveys succeeded in providing us with the proper information, so the only change we would have made was to streamline our initial interviews to gain more comprehensive insight. Still, we extracted what we needed from the research so that our campaign could be effective in the implementation process. The procedures we used to implement our campaign were successful in that they were very straightforward. Our goal in this step was to gain a following and our approach and efforts got us where we believed we should be. The way our campaign approached the problem was very effective considering the short-lived Twitter account, and so our success depended on our strong research. Looking back, we agree that we should have gotten the accounts up and running much sooner if we were to try to persuade the hospital at the end of this semester. Nevertheless, the group worked very well and our key was consistent communication.

12. Conclusion

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The research we gathered from our interviews and surveys showed that people were very fearful for downtown Milwaukee if the hospital was to close, and it was clear that some change was needed. As the strongest premise to our campaign, we believe that social media can truly make a difference by providing that change. The campaign recognized the positive support it could receive because it listened to its audience, and so the final step would be for the hospital to listen up. That is, since the people believe social media can make a difference for Aurora Sinai, and the campaign advocates the same, the final leg of the stool is to have members of the hospital believe it as well. At that point, it could finally make the difference our campaign hopes it will make. Still, without taking everything to Sinai, it is altogether difficult to measure the success of our campaign. We could easily measure the increase of awareness and attention that our campaign provoked, but those attitudes only give us optimism for the final step of the campaign. Still, considering the whole process of the campaign assignment, and the fact that our campaign was of two-fold influence, we consider it a great success. The first prong was to increase awareness via social media, and we believe the attitudes reinforced by our effortsin addition to the exposure we achieved in such a short period of timeproved our capabilities in accomplishing it. Now, the change in awareness only needs to increase the attitude of Aurora Sinai members concerning social media to the point where they realize it can help the hospital begin to thrive.

13. References

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2010 Census Interactive Population Search. (2010). 2010 Census. Retrieved February 14, 2012, from http://2010.census.gov/2010census/popmap/ipmtext.php?fl=55 Aurora: Sinai will remain open. (2012, February 10). Milwaukee News, Milwaukee, Wisconsin News, Weather, and Sports - WISN Milwaukee's Channel 12. Retrieved February 14, 2012, from http://www.wisn.com/money/30425915/detail.html#ixzz1mUjePKCa Aurora Sinai's future to be determined earlier than expected. (2012, February 8). Milwaukee News, Milwaukee, Wisconsin News, Weather, and Sports - WISN Milwaukee's Channel 12. Retrieved February 16, 2012, from http://www.wisn.com/news/30414101/detail.html#ixzz1mUbQAoIf Boulton, G. (2012, January 6). Growing losses at Aurora Sinai raise questions about its future. JSOnline.com. Retrieved February 13, 2012, from http://m.jsonline.com/topstories/136793693.htm Boulton, G. (2012, February 10). Aurora Health Care blasts Wheaton over Sinai questions. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved February 13, 2012, from http://www.jsonline.com/business/aurora-health-care-blasts-wheaton-over-sinaiquestions-9h457of-139137959.html eMarketer. (2009, August 31). Social Network Marketing Expands Sphere - eMarketer. Market research & statistics: Internet marketing, advertising & demographics eMarketer. Retrieved February 14, 2012, from http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007252

13. References

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Hospital social network list. (2010, October 19). Found in Cache: Social Media resources for health care professionals from Ed Bennett. Retreived February 14, 2012, from http://ebennett.org/hsnl/ Olenski, S. (2012, January 6). The top 5 things marketers should never say about social media. The Business Insider. Retrieved February 13, 2012, from http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-01-06/news/30596705_1_social-mediafacebook-twitter Swift, M. (2011, January 23). Facebook's growth in U.S. slows, as overseas growth ramps up. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 13, 2012, from http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-01-23/business/ct-biz-0124-facebookworld-20110123_1_facebook-social-network-millionth-user

14. Tables and Figures Figure 1 Figure 2

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Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

15. Appendices A. Twitter Account

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B. Example Questionnaire
Questionnaire 18 Aurora Sinai I. What is your general attitude towards hospitals? Very negative positive II. What is the likelihood that you would go to Aurora Sinai if you needed a hospital in this area? Very unlikely somewhat unlikely toss up somewhat likely very likely somewhat negative neutral somewhat positive very

15. Appendices
III. What do you think the likelihood is for other people in this area to go there in the same circumstances? Very unlikely somewhat unlikely not sure somewhat likely

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very likely

IV. What is your perception of Aurora Sinai as a hospital? Its very successful its successful not sure its not great its awful

V. As the only downtown emergency room in Milwaukee, how important is it for Aurora Sinai to remain open? Absolutely critical pretty important no difference not very important irrelevant

VI. How well known is the hospital in the community? Prominent somewhat well known not sure not very well known invisible

VII.How important is it for a hospital to be well known? Vital somewhat important insignificant not sure not very important

VIII. How important is social media in your life? Im totally hooked media? it plays a big role not sure could care less whats social

IX. What best describes your use of social media? I dont use it I only use it when I MUST contact someone I know I check it for friends and social circles I also use it for consumer deals, news updates such as sports stories, current events, and some commercial followings X. How much could a powerful social media presence affect a company? Greatly aid success not at all XI. Social media is good for advertising and awareness. Agree or disagree? Agree disagree not sure somewhat aid success not sure not by much

XII.Aurora Sinais poor reputation has a lot to do with its economic failures? Agree I. disagree not sure

It would be useful to Milwaukee residents (who utilize local social media) for Aurora Sinai to have accounts. Agree disagree not sure

I.

What kinds of accounts could be beneficial for Aurora Sinai to utilize? (Select all that apply)

15. Appendices

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Facebook

Twitter

Myspace

Foursquare

Google+

XIII. Social media could help Aurora Sinais image and reputation? Agree XIV. disagree not sure

If Aurora Sinai can implement social media in a practical and non-wasteful way, it should do it. Agree disagree not sure

I.

Aurora Sinai members could be convinced to make a social media platform if it received a legitimate following online. Agree disagree not sure

C. Example Interview
INTERVIEW #3 I. What is your general attitude towards hospitals? Very comfortable in them, so thats why I volunteer. Physicians freak me out I guess but over time it got better. II. If you need a hospital nearby, where do you go? Aurora Sinai Do you think people in the area are likely to go to Aurora Sinai? Yes What is your perception of Aurora Sinai? Its underserved. Theres a shortage of manpower because of its urban setting. Is it successful as a hospital?

III. IV.

V.

System-wide it is. Sinai itself is not. VI. In fact, Aurora Sinai has lost 27 million over the last five years (yikes); why do you think the hospital is failing? I really dont know. It might be the demographic. The population that it serves is generally the poorer community, which can lead to problems with payment for medical services. I dont know. VII. Aurora Sinai is the only emergency room in the downtown area. What do you think would happen if it closed? It would redesign the whole layout of where people go. Ambulances would be in short supply and time for travelling would be problematic. You dont know what can happen if people cant make it in time. VIII. Have you been treated or been there? Been there. IX. How would you rate the experience? The nurses are nice, they care for the patients. But theyre overworked and exhausted. The patients I saw had positive experience, but I cant speak too much. X. How important is it for a downtown hospital to be successful? Explain... Obviously important. If it doesnt find a way to break even theyre probably going to have to close it. XI. How well do you think Aurora Sinai advertises its services? Could they do better? The only time I ever see something from Sinai is when Im watching locally televised sports. They could definitely reach a broader audience somehow. XII. Do you think it is well known? I think so. I was at a clinic on the north side and people brought it up frequently. XIII. Why is it important for a hospital to be well known? So they can get the greatest amount of care and exposure. Its kind of a business, so you need customers. Social Media

15. Appendices
XIX.

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Do you use social media? Yes XX. Which types of social media do you use? How frequently? Facebook, daily. XXI. What do you gain from social media outside of your social circles? (For example, following a shoe company on twitter) I rarely look at that stuff because I dont use Twitter that much. Its mostly social for me. XXII. Do you think Aurora Sinai could gain similar attention using social media? I havent bought into the whole Twitter thing yet, but I bet if they got good at Twitter it cant hurt. XXIII. In what ways would Aurora Sinai benefit from social media? XXIV. Do you think that any other forms of social media would be beneficial for Aurora Sinai to increase awareness? Yea you get your name out there. XXV. Do you think that more attention would help Aurora Sinai get a head start in turning itself around economically? Yes I think so, but then again I feel like every time I was there they had enough work to do but there was just something about it that made it not work well. XXVI. Would having information about your local hospital on social media be a valuable tool? It really lets people know about certain things and events so spreading knowledge about events is a good idea. XXVII.Do you think social media could hurt Aurora Sinai in anyway? If so, in what ways? No, not specifically. Only if they put out a really really bad image.